American Toby Jug Museum 

William Taft 3/4 body toby jug produced in Germany circa 1910 and marked Ges Gesch. William Howard Taft (1857-1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. As president, he focused on East Asia more than European affairs and repeatedly intervened to prop up or remove Latin American governments. Taft sought reductions to trade tariffs, then a major source of governmental income, but the resulting bill was heavily influenced by special interests. His administration was filled with conflict between the Republican Party's conservative wing, with which Taft often sympathized, and its progressive wing, toward which Roosevelt moved more and more. The mark Ges Gesch is short for "Gesetzlich geschuzt" meaning registered in German. Ware marked in this way is commonly referred to as Ges Gesch ware.