hief Justice Fuller
should retire and the President should send me a commission as
Chief Justice, I would take it now."

It is my purpose to practically close these memoirs with the end
of the Roosevelt Administration, for the reason that I do not feel
at liberty to write in detail of events occurring within the past
two years. All that I will venture to say is that my relations
with Mr. Taft as President have been of the most cordial and friendly
character; and no one can question that he has been thoroughly
conscientious in the discharge of the duties of President of the
United States. That in 1910 the party went down in defeat for the
first time in eighteen years cannot be charged to President Taft.
Nothing that he did as Chief Executive was responsible for that
defeat. I myself believe that it was simply the result of the
people becoming tired of too much prosperity under Republican
administration. The newspaper agitation over the Aldrich-Payne
Tariff Bill was mainly instrumental in turning the House of
Representatives over to the Democracy.

The Hon. Philander C. Knox was Attorney-General in President
Roosevelt's cabinet, as he had been in the cabinet of his predecessor.
He is now serving as Secretary of State under President Taft. He
has had a long and highly distinguished career at the bar, and is
probably one of the greatest lawyers of his day. He served in the
Senate of the United States for some years, and upon entering that
body he at once took his place as a leader on all questions of a
legal and constitutional nature. As a member of the Judiciary
Committee, he had quite a commanding influence on important
legislation coming from that committee. As Secretary of State Mr.
Knox has been successful to an eminent degree, and I have no doubt
that his career as the Premier of the Taft Administration will add
to his great fame as a lawyer and statesman.

I cannot refrain from saying a word in reference to the Hon. James
Wilson, who was appointed Secretary of Agriculture by President
McKinley, in which position he has been retained by both President
Roosevelt and President Taft. He has served as a cabinet officer
for a longer consecutive term than any man in our history.

I have been more or less familiar with the administration of the
Agricultural Department ever since its creation, and I do not
hesitate to say that Mr. Wilson has been the most efficient Secretary
of Agriculture that we have ever had