It was pointed out that President Roosevelt had indicated his Secretary of War as the best man to carry out the policy inaugurated by the administration of subduing and controlling influential law-breakers. The chief officer of the government has vested in himself powers of wide range--the appointment of the judiciary, the superintendence of the administration of the business affairs of the nation, the guidance of our international affairs. Therefore the President must be a keen judge of men capable of distinguishing the honest, efficient servant of the nation from the self-seeking politician; he must resist political pressure; he must be national in his patriotism and breadth of vision; he must know our foreign relations intimately, that the continuity of policies may not be broken and the efficiency of our foreign service weakened thereby. He must have the capacity to work long hours, with skill, care, and rapidity. In short, the chief executive must be a man who is fit mentally and physically. [Illustration: Crowd surrounding a rail coach from which Taft is waving.] William H. Taft on his trip, stumping for the nomination. Some of these essential qualities the candidates of the two great parties possessed in a high degree. They were honest and sincere; they were familiar with the desires and needs of the various sections of the nation; they were national in the breadth of their policies. But they were different in temperament, equipment, and experience, and upon this difference the Republican leaders made their appeal to the voters. The Democratic nominee was essentially an orator--he swayed the masses by his denunciation of the perils which threatened the nation through the concentration of wealth which had gone on under the Republican rule. His opponents admitted that a man of his stamp was invaluable to the American people, but they contended that his place was in the editor's chair, in the pulpit, or upon the lecture platform, not as the chief executive of the nation. Furthermore, it was said that this great orator had views on political, social, and economic questions which bordered on the visionary, and that any man who had openly supported free silver, anti-imperialism, or even the guaranty of bank deposits, could not be safely trusted with the guidance of the nation's destinies.