WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was born in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, September 15, 1857; was graduated in 1874 from Woodward High School; graduated from Yale University in 1878; graduated in law from Cincinnati College in 1880, in which year he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio; appointed assistant prosecuting attorney in 1881; resigned in 1882 to become collector of internal revenue, first district of Ohio, under President Arthur; resigned collectorship in 1883 to enter the practice of law; in 1887 was appointed by Governor Foraker Judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati; resigned in 1890 to become Solicitor-General of the United States under appointment of President Harrison; resigned in 1892 to become United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit; in 1896 became professor and dean of the law department of the University of Cincinnati; resigned in 1900 the circuit judgeship and deanship to become, by appointment of President McKinley, president of the United States Philippine Commission; in 1901, by appointment of President McKinley, became first Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands; was appointed Secretary of War by President Roosevelt February 1, 1904.

Nominated at Chicago on June 18, 1908, as Republican candidate for the Presidency, and was elected at the Presidential election following.

On the 10th of February, 1909, by a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the electoral vote was counted, which resulted in 321 votes for W. H. Taft and 162 votes for W. J. Bryan, giving Mr. Taft a majority of 159 votes.

He was duly inaugurated President of the United States on March 4, 1909.

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INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

MY FELLOW-CITIZENS:

Anyone who has taken the oath I have just taken must feel a heavy weight of responsibility. If not, he has no conception of the powers and duties of the office upon which he is about to enter, or he is lacking in a proper sense of the obligation which the oath imposes.

The office of an inaugural address is to give a summary outline of the main policies of the new administration, so far as they can be anticipated. I have had the honor to be one of the advisers of my distinguished predecessor, and, as such, to hold up his hands in the reforms he has initiated. I should be untrue to myself, to my promises, and to the declarations of the party platform upon which I was elected to office, if I did not make the maintenance and enforcement of those reforms a most important feature of my administration. They were directed to the suppression of the lawlessness and abuses of power of the great combinations of capital invested in railroads and in industrial enterprises carrying on interstate commerce. The steps which my predecessor took and the legislation passed on his recommendation have accomplished much, have caused a general halt in the vicious policies which created popular alarm, and have brought about in the business affected a much higher regard for existing law.

To render the reforms lasting, however, and to secure at the same time freedom from alarm on the part of those pursuing proper and progressive business methods, further legislative and executive action are needed. Relief of the railroads from certain restrictions of the antitrust law have been urged by my predecessor and will be urged by me. On the other hand, the administration is pledged to legislation looking to a proper federal supervision and restriction to prevent excessive issues of bonds and stocks by companies owning and oper ating interstate-commerce railroads.

Then, too, a reorganization of the Department of Justice, of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department of Commerce and Labor, and of the Interstate Commerce Commission, looking to effective cooperation of these agencies, is needed to secure a more rapid and certain enforcement of the laws affecting interstate railroads and industrial combinations.

I hope to be able to submit at the first regular session of the incoming Congress, in December next, definite suggestions in respect to the needed amendments to the antitrust and the interstate commerce law and the changes required in the executive departments concerne in their enforcement.

It is believed that with the changes to be recommended American business can be assured of that measure of stability and certainty in respect to those things that may be done and those that are prohibited which is essential to the life and growth of all business. Such a plan must include the right of the people to avail themselves of those methods of combining capital and effort deemed necessary to reach the highest degree of economic efficiency, at the same time differentiating between combinations based upon legitimate economic reasons and those formed with the intent of creating monopolies and artificially controlling prices.

The work of formulating into practical shape such changes is creative work of the highest order, and requires all the deliberation possible in the interval. I believe that the amendments to be proposed are just as necessary in the protection of legitimate business as in the clinching of the reforms which properly bear the name of my predecessor. A matter of most pressing importance is the revision of the tariff. In accordance with the promises of the platform upon which I was elected, I shall call Congress into extra session to meet on the 15th day of March, in order that consideration may be at once given to a bill revising the Dingley Act. This should secure an adequate revenue and adjust the duties in such a manner as to afford to labor and to all industries in this country, whether of the farm, mine or factory, protection by tariff equal to the difference between the cost of production abroad and the cost of production here, and have a provision which shall put into force, upon executive determination of certain facts, a higher or maximum tariff against those countries whose trade policy toward us equitably requires such discrimination. It is thought that there has been such a change in conditions since the enactment of the Dingley Act, drafted on a similarly protective principle, that the measure of the tariff above stated will permit the reduction of rates in certain schedules and will require the advancement of few, if any. The proposal to revise the tariff made in such an authoritative way as to lead the business community to count upon it necessarily halts all those branches of business directly affected; and as these are most important, it disturbs the whole business of the country. It is imperatively necessary, therefore, that a tariff bill be drawn in good faith in accordance with promises made before the election by the party in power, and as promptly passed as due consideration will permit. It is not that the tariff is more important in the long run than the perfecting of the reforms in respect to antitrust legislation and interstate commerce regulation, but the need for action when the revision of the tariff has been determined upon is more immediate to avoid embarrassment of business. To secure the needed speed in the passage of the tariff bill, it would seem wise to attempt no other legislation at the extra session. I venture this as a suggestion only, for the course to