Some of the stories that found publication at election time and also during the inaugural festivities are worthy of repetition because of the qualities of the character of the new President that they reflect. A local paper contained the following:
“In the peaceful and benevolent assimilation of the Philippines nothing has ever been so potent as the personality of Mr. Taft, the former Governor General. Taft was just the sort of man the Filipinos needed to reconcile them to American rule. His big human qualities, his strength, and even his corpulency, endeared him to the natives.
“The simple-hearted children of the Orient had been chilled by the dignity of the Spanish officials. But Taft, with his loud hearty laughter, his cordial handshake, his beaming face, travelled about the islands creating good-will wherever he went.
“When Taft went into the Province of Bulacan to introduce civil government, he naturally inquired for the most prominent citizen of the place, who proved to be a former captain of volunteers and a former presidente, Senator José Serapio. The Senator was oozing dignity. He was uniformed like a bandmaster, and he had medals pinned all over his chest. He expected to see the great American Governor coming with resplendent ceremonies and in gorgeous array. But Taft came along in a suit of light linen, and when he was introduced to the grandee he grabbed him by the hand and said ‘Howdy,’ in the most approved American manner.
“Taft appointed the Senator governor of that province, and when the latter appeared to take charge of his office, the natives were surprised to see him in plain white clothes. He had laid aside his dignity with his uniform, and went around shaking hands and saying, ‘Howdy! Glad to see you.’
“Mr. Taft, in the Philippines, preferred to ride a mule, because, he explained, a horse usually saw him first and mutinied, but the mule would stand it a couple of days before showing he preferred not to be ridden. He once kept a formal and gorgeous dinner waiting until he made sure that his hard-worked mule had been fed.
“The story, much to the credit of his humaneness, was known to a Minnesota mayor whose observation of mules had been limited to the smaller breeds. He asked Mr. Taft how big his mule was.
“‘Oh’—indicating the lowest button on his vest—‘about so high. Weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds, I should judge.’
“‘Mr. Taft,’ the mayor remarked solemnly, ‘I believe you’re a nature-faker.’
“So he was, too, for the mules he rode in the Philippines were big and mighty beasts.”