Evening Star Newspaper, March 9, 1930, Page 5

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. MARCH 9, 1930—PART ONE. TAFT, INDIFFERENT TO POLITICS, DEDICATED LIFE TO GOVERNMENT BREACH INPARTY FEATURED RECIME Former President Refused to Believe Split Had Develooed With Roosevelt. The enduring fame of the greatest traveler in American public life, Wil- lam Howard Taft, twenty-seventh President of the United States and tenth Chief Justice, may be nmlbed‘ in history to the confidence he radiated and his ability to inspire in others an appreciation of his scrupulous honesty | of purpose and justness of decision in | all problems intrusted to his arbitra- ment. Caring nothing for politics, he was not influenced by partisan motives. ‘With an equitable, judicial mind, inex- haustible patience and a dependable | serenity, he had the exceptional faculty | of impressing upon others the genuine- ness of his friendly motives and his purpose to help them bear their bur- dens, to enlighten them whenever pos- sible and to present the best avallable eolution for their problems. His life was unselfishly dedicated to the service of his Government, and, like & patriotic soldler, he responded to all | demands made upon him by his com- | mander-in-chief, the President. His | real introduction to public life came | through President McKinley of his na- | tive State of Ohio, who commissioned | him to assist in bringing order out of | chaos after the Spanish-American War, | when the United States found that it | had inherited.from Spain, along with its colonial possessions in the Pacific, the grave obligation ‘of shaping the des- tinjes of the Asiatic races inhabiting | the islands. | By a strange coincidence it was an- other Ohioan, President Harding, who made it possible for him to real the greatest ambition of his life. Mr. Taft was the first man in American history to fill the two great offices of Chief Ex- ecutive and Chief Magistrate. Repre- sentatives in Congress frequently have | been elected to the presidency, and a| President once became a Congressman, | but never before had any one served as | the head of the two it administrative | and judicial co-ordin: branches of | the Government. Became Roosevelt Friend. Mr. Taft was precipitated into poli- | tics from a law office in ctncln:ol 3 Oddly enough, both he and Theodore Roosevelt became known in Washington public dife about the same time. They first met when Mr. Roosevelt was civil service commissioner and Mr. Taft was Solicitor General. They were quickly attracted to each other, and there be- gan a friendship which resuited in the dominating - influence Mr. Roosevelt later exercised over his friend’s polit- h‘lllr career. i . Roosevelt generally was credited with making Mr. Taft President, and most political observers agree that he unmade him four years later. Backed by the Roosevelt influence, Mr. Taft was elected President in 1908 by the overwhelming majority of 321 electoral votes out of a total of 488. With the Roosevelt influence against him and Col. Roosevelt himself a candidate on a third-party ticket in 1912, Mr. Taft re- ceived but a paltry 8 votes out of a total of 531, It was said of Mr. Taft at this time that, although he was the worst defeat- ed President, he was the best ldser of any.’ 'He left ‘the White House in the | happiest frame of mind, apparently glad to lay down the cares OF state, which had beén far greater than he antici- pated. His brief tenure in the office of Presi- dent was made notable for the, greatest split that had ever occurred in the Re- gxhlicln party and by the birth of the ational Progressive party, headed by Col. Roosevelt and his friends. When the split started or how it first grew, ho one has yet related with any degree of certainty. None of the explanations offered seems to account for a rupture of that strong bond of fMendship which had existed between the two men up to the moment Mr. Taft took the oath of executive office and Col. Roosevelt set sail for his African hunting trip. It is known that some of Col. Roose- velt’s friends in Washington did not fare as well at the hands of the Taft administration as they had expected, and it is also known that Mr. Taft, as President, did not consult the colonel | 80 freely as he did when he was in the gubordinate position of Secretary of War in the Roosevelt cabinet. Letters dispatched from the White House to the wilds of Africa were few and far | between and it was later intimated by some of Mr. Taft’s friends that this silence on the part of the new President was not regarded with great favor by his old chief. Then, too, it was said that Col. Roosevelt felt that Mr. Taft had not been as assiduous in developing and carrying forward the “Roosevelt | policies” as the former President had | expected. Refused to Believe “Break.” In any event, it developed that by the time Col. Roogsevelt emerged from the jungle and headed back to the United States the “break” was an es- tablished fact—established to every- body except President Taft. He was the last to acknowledge that Col. Roose- velt's feeling toward him had changed, and he refused for several years to be- lieve that Col. Roosevelt had deter- mined to array_himself in_opposition. Some of Col.- Roosevelt'’s Washington friends hastened to meet him as he came from Africa, and it was be“!\'rdi in Washington that they had much to do with influencing him against Mr. Taft. These men later were promi- | nent in the councils of the Progressive party. They had clashed with Mr. ‘Taft from almost the first day of his administration. | Shortly after his return to Ameri- ca, in 1910, Col. Roosevelt called on President Taft at the Summer White | Hous», in Beverly, Mass. Those who witnessed this meeting will never for-| get it. Three was a brave display of the old cordiality between the two men, but it was palpably on the surface only and there was apparent a distinct feel ing of constraint. There were few meetings after this and the breach continued to widen, until in the Spring of 1912 all attempts to conceal the CLmEOINST R 1. Mr. Taft and his President. 4. On the golf links. 5. Mr. Taft with one of his grandchildren. 6. Mr Taft with President Roosevelt, whom he succeeded. Rl AR S - BT co President, James S. Sherman. 2. Mr. Taft delivering his Inauguration address. 3. The former President throwing out the first ball at American League Park, opening one of the base ball seasons while he was 7. Mr and Mrs. Taft, photographed while occupying the White House. 8. Mr. Taft with Woodrow Wilson. 9. A meeting of the Taft cabinet. 10. The former President when he went horseback riding on the Capital bridie paths. 11. Taking the oath of office as Chief Justice of the United States. attorney of Hamilton County, Ohlo, at ! Nation-wide rush for patronage began, 23 years of age; collector of internal | Mr. Taft was all but dumfounded. He | revenue at 24, judge of the Buperior | had no patience whatever with the of- Court of Ohio, at 29, Solicitor General | fice seekers, and the fact that & man of the United States at 32, judge of the | sought office seemed to Mr. Taft to un- Federal Circuit Court at 34, civil gov- | fit him for that office. He turned many ernor of the Philippine Islands at 43| faithful party workers away from the Secretary of War in the Roosevell| White House empty handed and cabinet at 46, and President of the | he was In the hot political waters thit United States at 51. At the age of 55| bojled during most of his administra. he was again a private citizen, later| tion, Mr. Taft took many of the trips becoming Chief Justice at the age of 63. | for which he was famous as President It was this wonderful record in public | just to get away from the sordid office | office that led so many people to predict | seeker, that Mr. Taft would make an ideal | President. His training, they said, had all been in that direction and he would bring to the office a broader and more varied experience in public affairs than any other President previously wulu‘ oast After he was installed in the White e, however, many of Mr. Taft’s most loyal friends realized that per- haps his training had not been alto- gether of the right sort. His offices had been held almost wholly through appointments. He had been before the electorate but once in ¢l his public career prior to the time he was elected to the presidency. This v;'fl(.‘\ wl;en"ht successfully off imself for election s i e ior court. judge | had @ judicial objection to discussing in Ohio after having served on that | matters in the press. This lack of in- bench by appolfitment as successor to | terest in newspapers and misunder- Judson Harmon, who had been invited into the Cleveland cabinet. Did Not Know Political Motives. He declared it was the only way he could “get & moment's rest.” | The Secret Service men who went along were as carefully warned against office seekers as they were against sus- | picious “cranks.” Under-valued Publicity. Mr. Taft’s judictal turn of mind led {him to cemplete publicity in the conduet of his adminis- | tration. Not once during his term as | President did he show a comprehension of the benefit that might accrue from using the newspapers to test public sentiment on important issues. He read few newspapers and did not appreciate their influence upon public opinfon. He undervaluation of | real state of affairs came to an end. | Mr. Taft, therefore, had not been Long aftet Col. Roosevelt had let it reared in the school of practical poli= be known to his friends that he Wwas | tics; he had not rubbed elbows with opposed to the renomination and re- |the men in the political trenches, nor election of Mr. Taft, the latter would |fought his way up from the ranks. not believe the reports were true. | Consequently, he lacked that keen in- FPriends of Mr. Taft, who had talked |sight into the motives and the methods with friends of Col. Roosevelt and knew |of the practical politician which many the extent of the Ilatter's feelings|of his predecessors had possessed in against Mr. Taft, tried to convince the |large degree and had used in effective President that the colonel was openly | measure. arrayed sgainst him. But Mr. Taft| Public office had been thrust upon remained unconvinced almost up to the Mr. Taft all the way up to the highest time the split came in the Chicago |gift of the people. convention of 1912 and the Progressive |was set in advance and the carpet party took the field with Col. Roose- |laid for his triumphal entry into some velt in the saddle. |Rew berth of public trust.” 8o it was that Mr. Taft coul not understan Showed No Bitterness. the ravenous appetite of many of the To all who rushed to him with an “I men of party politics; he could not told you so,” Mr. Taft replied only with | comprehend the thirst” for office, the one of his tolerant smiles, Not once cry for preferment beneath the polit- did he utter a harsh word toward the |ical plum tree, the storm for & place man he always referred to as the Presi- |on the public pay roll that ragsd and was in his cabinet,” said Mr. Taft, “and | Taft could not conceive the ambition i of all Mr. Taft's political | career, up to the very portal of the remarkable e presi- office which carried patronage with it. drm.]” i | howled about him the moment he was gomehow or other 1 cannot thinl graphic idea of his|White House, he had never held an dency. He was tant prosecuting When he became President and the The stage always “1 that while I|seated in the presidential chair. Mr. " other light. political worker. In all his publ ities gives and rapid rise to the k of nursed in the breast of the lverlfl; i prices cided)y eccord- ing to the type you Best-Bilt GARAGES Finest Construction and Materials. guaranteed. A real protection for your car. c to the cost, ASHINGTON CONSTRUCTION 1205 Eye St. N.W. T DNC MET | standing of the benefit of newspaper publicity caused him to delay the prep- |aration of many of his messages and state papers until it was too late to mail them in full throughout the country and he had to be contqnt with hurried telegraphic summaries of some of his most important utterances. ‘The feeling that he was a party man and owed a lasting debt of gratitude to the Republican party for having bestowed the presidency upon him led Mr. Taft to give perhaps too willing an ear to the men he regarded as domi- nating Republican forces at the Na- tional Capital. For his intimacy with Senator Aldrich and his many con- sultations with Speaker Cannon and others who were regarded as reaction- aries by the Progressive wing of the party Mr. Taft was sharply and con- stantly arraigned. Mr. Taft was not particularly fond of Mr. Cannon, but Mr. Cannon was at the time all- powerful in the lower branch of Con- gress. Mr. Taft sincerely admired Senator Aldrich and belleved absolutely in his integrity and high-mindedness. He place entire confidence in Mr. Al- drich during the bitter tariff revision fight that marke the first Summer of the Taft administration. . Mr. Taft inherently believed in the sacredness of the three great branches Terms) [, T Teng "8 Just iy, Y rent . Metal Fully Concrete Block and Terms in proportion Frame, Garages, LM of government—the executive, judicial, and legislative—and felt that each | should be respected. He did not believe | he had a right to infringe upon the | prerogatives of the legislative branch by dictating what Congress should do, despite the fact that such precedents already had been set at the White House. ‘Thus it came about that the Payn: Aldrich tariff bill of 1909 was not that Mr, Taft thought it would be. But he earnestly belleved it was the best tariff bill enacted up to that time and he felt that it met in large degree the platform promises of his party. For his defense of this bill, particu- larly in the famous Winona speech, which it afterward developed had been prepared “between stations,” Mr., Taft was bitterly assailed by the Progres- sives. The controversy arising from this speech and the “reading out” of the Republican _party of all Progressives who had differed with Mr. Taft, brought | about the great rupture in the party which made it impossible for Mr. Taft to stcceed himself, The letter which read the Progressives out of the party was prepared for Mr. Taft by one of his earlier secretaries, who aspired to po- litical, leadership without having had | any experience in that line. Mr. Taft| never could get it out of Mis head that this letter was anything but a great joke on the secretray. He always regarded it as such and had many hearty laughs | over it, not realizing that it was one of the rocks which was to help wreck the | ship of his political fortunes. ‘The Ballinger-Pinchot dispute over the conservation of natural resources, which marked the earlier days of the Taft administration, brought out a typical phase of Mr. Taft's character. He did not regard the controversy as serlous at first, but was rather inclined to look only at' what he regarded as the humorous side of the meeting between the two men. When the full seriousness of the affair finally came home to him, Mr, Taft found himself in deeper than | he imagined. The President had great regard both for Pinchot and for Ballin- ger. He particularly felt that the latter was being badly misrepresented and un~ Justly assailed. It was perhavs due to the feeling that he had himself been unjustly treated in many ways that Mr. Taft hesitated to act harshly toward or con- demn any man during his term as President. Numerous friends urged him | and Ballinger | to drop both Pinchot and thus get rid of the trouble all at once, but Mr. Taft felt this would be an injustice to either one or both men and declared he would rather suffer For All Purposes New Wall Board Compare These Low Prices on This First Quality! FOR FIREPROOFING | PARTITIONS and for partitions Wood Pulp Rockboard Wallboard Per 537.50 Per 1,000 $29 INSULATING Insulating Board st ) 3—Branches—3 MAIN OFFICE—6th & C Sts. S.W. 1,000 | il Sq. Ft. | himself the ill effects of the controversy than do an unjust act. Pinchot finally climinated himself. One of Mr. Taft's closest friends once characterized him in these terms: Never Struck Back in Passion. “He is so clean in his own mind that he cannot see anything unclean in an other. His refusal to employ the usual THIS IS YOUR 'SOUGHT OUT HUMOR INCRAVEISSUES Livened Sessions of U. S. Su- preme Court With Laugh- Provoking Comments. petty tricks of the professional poli- tician, the big-hea: indul ‘with | which he treats those who deliberately | misrepresent him, his willingness to suf- | fer himself rather than use the power | of his great office against an individual | —to rest under a false light rather | than strike back in the heat of passion and thus risk the chance of committing an act of injustice—have won for him | the distinction of bel:fi called a poor | politician. Mr. Taft will never under- | stand that in politics it often is nec- | essary to be unfair, unjust, and to bring into play the ruthless rule of the sur- | vival of the fittest.” | Mr. Taft's natural bent was to be outspoken at all times, and after he be- | came President he chafed under the re- | urging | to say certain_things | others. "As a judge Mr. | dered decisions which brought him mto conflict with organized labor. He was at one time urged not to discuss these decisions, but he did so whenever the occasion warranted. He was at his best as a speaker when addressing a hostile audience. His prepared ad- dresses were never so good as those cx- temporaneously delivered. Under such circumstances the instinct of the advo- | cate always told in Mr. Taft's favor. | Feeling that the nature of his office | limited the expression of many of his | real views of life and politics, Mr. Taft | delighted to have about him a’ little | eircle of friends to whom he could | speak freely. | _Mr. Taft himself felt a lack of that character of political training which | would have thrown him into closer con- 1'.::: with the mass of the people. He had never been an alderman, mayor, legislator or governor; his work d been judicial and executive, and his cir- cle of contact limited. | He did not know the people of his | own country as well as he would have | liked, and he sought to make for a previous lack of intimate -nglmon | with them by his many travels. He found, however, that meeting the people as ident was different from | his way up among them. At a time when his travels were criticized as ex- «;.e‘:i:;. Mr. Taft once told an intimate riend: “It seems to me that I ought to trav- | el as much as I can. I have seen very little of the people, in spite of my long ars in public office, and the people ave seen very little of me. I thought that by traveling I could give them an opportunity to look me over and see :;h-lz m‘lnner nrlm“tl nm.' P | tively few people get to Washington, | and yet I cannot but feel that a ma- | joriay of the people would like to see | the man who, for the time is | the head of their Governmernt—their | cholce for their highest office.” Desired to See People. | In all of his travels Mr. Taft let it | be understood that automobile parades | through the cities were to be a part | of the program. He wanted to see and be seen by as many le as ral‘lhle. | Mr. Taft liked to travel. In faet, he | had gained such wide fame as'a. ! trotter that when ina | March 4, 1909, some {3 haled him as the first “traveling man” to be selected President of the United on | ably will stand for many years to comie. His desire to travel gained imj . | after he escaped the maternal and spent four years at Yale. While his father was United States Minister at Vienna the young student made thres trips to Ewrope. His honeymoon was | spent abroad. and two years later he | crossed the Atlantic for the fifth time His real official travel began in 1900, | when President McKinley made him chairman of the Philippine Commis- sion. Later, becoming civil governor,of the islands, it was necessary for him to visit Washington to appear before *s congressional committee, and he made | the trip from Manila by way of the | Mediterranean to confer with Pope Leo XTII on the friar lands, thus com- pleting his first circumnavigation of the lobe. . Roosevelt summoned him to Washington to join the cabinet, but he soon returned to the Philippines with a congressional party, and- two years later again visited the mhtfi ago to open the new National Assembly. on the latter occasion returning to the United States through Siberia and Burope, compl: his second circle of the world. While Secretary of War he visited Panama seven times in eon- nection with the construction of the canal, and was sent to Cuba to adjust affairs there arising out of the insur- rection, becoming provisional governor of the island. During his fizst campaign as a presi- dential candidate he toured the country as far west as Denver, and as President he made two long trips the country, visiting the Pacific Coast as ' well as making innumerable short runs. (Continued on Sixth Page.) OWN MESSAGE Everybody Do You Carry a Watch or a Real Timepiece? HERE'S a v TIMEPIEC a st difference between a watch and a X SCHWARTY. real timekeeper. No sale is complete with Chas. Schavartz & Son until’ the watch “makes good.” That's why we are recog- nized as WASHINGTON’S LARGEST WAT HOUSIE Throw That Cheap Watch Away Buy a “SCHW ARTZ” Timepiece Today - SCHWARTZ $1 a week Payment Plan enables Mr. and Mrs. Everybody to wear a stylish timekeeper while pg..a& small weekly or monthly sums. 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