Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1901 — THE MAN OF THE HOUR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MAN OF THE HOUR

Congress having given President McKinley full authority—military, civil and Judicial—in the Philippines, it is generally understood that his next move will be to appoint Judge William H. Taft, now president of the Philippine Commission, as governor to rule over the entire “Philippine archipelago in the name of the United States. Judge Taft's task will be a difficult one. He will have to see that the civil laws of the government agreed upon are enforced, and enforced in such a way that a free people will have no cause for complaint, llis accession to power will be an opportunity to prove whether a man educated for the law will make as good a governor under these circumstances ns one whose life has been spent among business pursuits. Judge Taft*will by no means be \oh to achieve his instructions by purely moral force. Gen. Chaffee is to succeed Gen. MacArthur in command of the military forces, and these will always be at the governor’s service to assist in the maintenance of law and order. It is not likely that there will be any material reduction iu the military forces iu the islands for nt least a year. Judge Taft is a son of Alonzo Taft, who was minister to Russia under President Grant, and for a time Attorney General. He was born in Cincinnati in 1857 and graduated from Yale. He has

filled the positions of assistant prosecuting attorney of Cincinnati; internal revenue collector; judge of the Supreme Court of Cincinnati; solicitor general in the department of justice at Washington; judge of the United States Circuit Court in Ohio —a life position which he resigned to accept the presidency of the Philippine Commission about fifteen months ago.

JUDGE WILLIAM TAFT.