w School, and was court reporter for
_The Times Star_ of Cincinnati.

So rapid was his achievement that at the age of twenty-four he was
made Internal Revenue Collector at a salary of $4500 a year. Surely
this was a good salary for a man so young. But other promotions were
destined to come in close succession; for, at the age of twenty-nine
he was made Judge of the Superior Court of Ohio, and a year later was
appointed by President Harrison Solicitor-General of the United States
at a salary of $7000 a year.

After three years of service as a Solicitor-General, President
Harrison made him Judge of the Federal Court of the Sixth Circuit that
included Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. As judge of this
court, several of the most famous cases in our history came before
him, and in every case his power of analysis was so manifest, and his
decision so just that the entire nation learned to look to him with
confidence. Into his court came, on the one hand employers who were
eager for every possible advantage, and were willing to crush labor in
order to gain it; and on the other hand laborers who distrusted their
employers and were morbid and resentful. To preside over a court where
force was thus meeting force, where battle lines were distinctly drawn
was no small task. Mr. Taft, however, since he was always fair and
kind, since he possessed largeness of vision and pureness of soul, was
big enough for the task.

At this time in Judge Taft's life he seems to have had but one
ambition--he desired to become a Judge of the Supreme Court of the
United States. But while he was eagerly looking in that direction,
his nation was preparing other and greater tasks for him.

Far across the broad Pacific lie the Philippine Islands--more than
three thousand of them. On these islands live eight million people. As
a result of our war with Spain these islands came into our possession;
but what were we to do with them? Representing as they did every stage
of development from University graduates to Moro headhunters, the task
of governing them was indeed difficult.

Who should be assigned this task? Where was a man big enough to bring
order out of confusion and mould these widely divergent tribes into a
unified colony?

President McKinley and those in authority with him finally decided
that Judge Taft was the man for the place. Accordingly, he was soon
seen on the broad Pacific hurrying to the task that awaited him. From
island to