In the Taisho period, he became the president of Ministry of Railways of the second Okuma Cabinet in 1914, and he took over the former president Mitsugu SENGOKU and aimed at widening of the track gauge, which was eventually failed.
大正期に入って、1914年には第2次大隈内閣の鉄道省総裁となり、前任の仙石貢を引き継ぎ日本の改軌論争を目指したが、実現には至らなかった。