Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/480

 WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT 457 in America was so well-fitted by nature and by training for the great work he was called upon to perform in the far Pacific. While in the Philippines, he was thrice offered a place on the Supreme Bench of the United States. Each offer was de- clined because he felt he was needed by his Filipino brother. Affairs in the islands having assumed a fairly stable condi- tion, Mr. Taft felt free to accept the place of Secretary of War. As the Philippines were under the jurisdiction of this department of the government he saw opportunities as secre- tary to direct their affairs to a large extent. Fated as he seems to have been all his life to have great and important questions come to him for solution, this oflSce proved no exception to the rule. His years of incumbency of the office were years filled with big things. His first great task was to build the Isthmian canal. Before we could send our men down there to do the practical work of excavating and superintendence, the sanitary conditions of the Isthmus must be changed. He called to his aid a group of experts and clothed them with autocratic powers. The canal zone soon was as safe a place of residence as many portions of the United States. As in the Philippines, there were hostile peoples along the proposed route of the canal and these had to be pacified. He made several trips to the district and was able to convince the people of Panama that our intentions were all of a friendly nature. Much of the credit for the suc- cessful completion of this great water highway is due to Mr. Taft, who in its building displayed executive ability of high order. While Secretary of War he was called upon to go to Cuba to rehabilitate the government there and to start it off on a sound footing. After freeing this island by war we allowed the Cubans to form their own government. In less than three years personal rivalries and bad management got things into such shape that civil war was imminent. As protector and patron, the United States was compelled to intervene. Some one had to be sent there to show the Cubans how to govern themselves. Naturally the choice fell upon Mr. Taft whose