Newspapers / The Spencer Crescent (Spencer, … / Dec. 12, 1908, edition 1 / Page 1
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nil i ... v ' ''is "- "c v ".- )"w ' ' '" I i I " 1 i K ,.' .."I !!h ; rK'Vu mk s?S ft..-, 1 LAiBOR, COMMENCE AND EDUCATION. VOL. I. SPENCER, N. 0.. SAT0RDA& DECEMBER 12. 1908. no. m. h THE rt(JQH X The SpengeI Crescent -- . - . ; . - , rn 'X '. y lsta 4) lariff is a iBal- Toy llitia Ken-ate- Ifrlc- Imei ween Tle- Imib- Fork Bend per New hiost 5lop- Ii an fer of the fclrlt- lat a Is re pwr Im el iding lench Id as the OP- ward- ' own buto- and Itside - for fcetal tha leves. IcufTa lored anl Lin- with Small Irlms cor- Imlng ai- ts. !Vlr. Roosevelt Makes Recommendations Concerning Needed Legislation THE NATION PROSPEROUS Ge commendations Covering a Wide Eange of Subjects Finances, Com binations, Transportation, Natural Resq&rcts and Other Interesting ToWcb Brought to the Attention of Ottr Lawmaking Body. The message of President Roosevelt to the second session of the Sixtieth Congress was read in both houses, and was in substance as follows: To the Senate and House of Repres entatives : Finances. The financial standing of the nation at the present time is excellent, and the financial management of the na tion's interests by the Government during the last sev. years has shown the most satisfactory results. But cur currency 'system is imperfect, and it is earnestly to be hoped that the Currency Commission will be able to propose a thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was an increase in the amount of money m circulation of $902.991 .399 The increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this tune there were several occasions .when it was necessarv for the Treas ury Department to come to the relief or the money market by purchases of reaemptions-of United States bonds; by increasing deposits in national banks; by stimulating additional is sues of national bank notes, 'and by f acili ti tating importation from abroad of gold. Our imperfyfit cur rency system has made these proceed ings necessary, and they were effec tive until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 immensely increas ed the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By the middle of Novem ber the available working ialanee in thl "Treasury had been reduced to ap- Eroximately $5,000,000. Clearing ouse associations throughout the country had been obliged to resort to the expedient of issuing clearing bouse certificates, to be used as money. In this emergency it was de termined to invite subscriptions for $50,000,000 Panama Canal bonds, and $100,000,000 3 per cent certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, 1908. It was proposed to re deposit in the national banks the pro ceeds of these issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional cir culating notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so great that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama Canal bonds and $15,436,500 of the certifi cates of indebtedness. During the seven years and three months there has been a net surplus of nearly one hundred millions of re ceipts over expenditures, a reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of the extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly nine millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly satisfactory showing, es pecially in view of the fact that dur ing this period the Nation has never hesitated to undertake any expendi ture that it regarded as necessary There have been no new taxes and no increase of taxes; on the contrary some taxes have been taken off; there has been a reduction of taxation. Corporations. As reeards the great corporations engaged in interstate business, and especially the Tailroads, I can only repeat what I have already again and again said in my message to the Con gress. I believe that under the inter state clause of the Constitution the United States has complete and para mount, right to control all agencies of mterestate commerce ,ana x Deiieve that the National Government alone can exercise this right with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from, and to do justice to, the great corporations wnicn are tne most important factors in modern business. I. believe that ,it is worst .than folly to attempt to prohibit all combina tions as is done by the Sherman anti trust .law, because 6uch a law can be fiaforced onl impertectly and un nnaW. and - its enforcement works almost as much hardship as good. strongly advocate that instead of an "unwise effort to prohibit all epmbine ' tions, there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly permit combina "i"' tions which are in the interest of the public, but shall at the same time ; cive to some agency oi tne nationa Government full power of control and supervision over them. One of the " chief features of thi control should be securing entire publicity m al matters which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, the power, not by judicial but by executive action, to prevents or put a stop to -oerery form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing, .'ii The railways of the country should -r be ' put completely " underthe Iflt&r- state Commerce Commission and're moved from ibe domain of the anti- i trust law. The power of the Commis ' sion. should be made throughgoing, so Mhat U-could exercise complete super- vision" and control over tie issue of ISSM securities as well as over the raising and lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, this power should be summary. The power to investigate the financial operations and accounts of the railways has been one of the most valuable features in recent legis lation. Power to make combinations and traffic agreements should be ex plicitly conferred upon the railroads, the permission of the Commission be ing first gained and the combination or agreement being published in all its details. In the interest of the pub lic the representatives of the public should have complete power to see that the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course this power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is dne to the railroads. The share-holders, the employees and the shippers all have interests that must be guarded. It is to the interest of all of them that no swindling stock speculation should be allowed, and that there should be no improper issuance of securities. The guiding intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful management of railroads should re ceive ample remuneration; but no man should be allowed-to make money in connection with railroads out of fraudulent over-capitalizations and kindred stock-gamblins: performan ces; there must be no defrauding of investors, oppression of the farmers and business men, who ship freight, or callous disregard of the rights and needs of the employees. In addition to this the interests of the share holders, of the employees, and of the shippers should all be guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue and improper consid eration is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be made as low as is com patible with giving proper returns to all the employees of the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper returns to the shareholders; but they must not, for instance, be re duced in such fashion as to necessi tate a cut in, the wages of the employ ees or the- abc4itioh' ole prop:Md f legitimate profits of honest sharehold ers. Telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should be put under Jpe jurisdiction or the Interstate Commerce Commission. Labor. , There are many matters affecting abor and the status of the wage- worker to which I should like to draw your attention, but an exhaustive dis cussion of the problem in all its as pects is not now necessary. This ad ministration is nearing its end; and, moreover, under our form of govern ment the solution of the problem de pends upon the action of the States as much as upon the action of the Nation. Nevertheless, there are cer tain considerations which I wish to set before you, because I hope that our people will more and more keep thera in mind. A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the re form of abuses and for the readjust ment of society to modern industrial conditions represents not true conser vatism but an incitement to the wild est radicalism; for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand in hand, one bent on progress, the other bent on seeing that no change is made unless in the right direction. I be lieve in a steady effort, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many different direc tions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which the men who work "ii i i . it . ii .i. . wiin nana or Drain, tne laDorers, me superintendents, the, men who pro duce for the market and the men who find a market for the articles produced, shall own a far greater share than at present of the wealth they produce, and be enabled to in vest it in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. , As far as possible I hope to see a frank rec ognition of the advantages conferred by' machinery, organization, and di vision of labor, accompanied by an effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership ;by wage-workers of railway, mill, and factory. In farm ing, this simply means that we wish to see the farmer own his own land; we do riot wish Jo see the farms so large that they become the property of absentee landlords who farm them by tenants, nor yet so small that the farmer beeomes like a European peas ant. Agarn the- fdepositors in our saving banks now number over one tenth of our entire population. These are all capitalists, who through the savings banks loan their money to the workers thai is, in many cases. to themselves to' carry on their var ious industries. The more we increase their number, the more we introduce the principles of cooperation into our industry. Every increase in the num ber of small stockholders in corpora tions is a good thing, for the same reasons; and where the employees are the stockholders the result is particu larly good. Very much of this move ment must be outside of anything that can be accomplished by legislation; but legislation can do a good deal. Postal sayings banks will make it easy for-tine poorest to keep their savings in absolute safety. The reg ulation of the national highways must be such that they shall serve all peo ple with equal justice. Corporate finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than at present for the man of small means to invest his j money in stocks. There must be pro- i hibition of child labor, diminution of woman labor, shortening of hours of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be prohibited, and stock gamb ling so far as is possible discouraged. There should be a progressive inheri tance tax on large fortunes. Indus trial education should be encouraged. As far,as possible we should lighten the burden of taxation on the small man. We should put a premium upon thrift, hard work, and business ener gy; but these qualities cease to be the main factors in accumulating a for tune long before that fortune reaches a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheritance tax such as I propose. It is eminently right that the Nation should fix the terms upon which the great fortunes are in herited. They rarely do good and they often do harm to those who in herit them in their entirety. The above is the merest sketch, hardly even a sketch in outline, of the reforms for which we should work. But there is one matter with which the Congress should deal at this session. There should no longer be any paltering: with the question of taking care of the wage-workers who, under our present industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn out as part of the regular incidents of a given business. The majority of wage- workers must have their rights se cured for them by State action; but the National Government should leg islate in thoroughgoing and far-reaching fashion not only for all employees of the National Government, but for all persons engaged in interestate commerce. The object sought for cuold be achieved to a measurable de gree, as far as those killed or crippled are concerned, by proper employers' liability laws. As far as conecrns those who have beon worn out, I call your attention to the fact that definite steps toward provding old-age pen sions have been taken in many of our private industries. These may be in definitely extended through voluntary association and contributory schemes, or through the agency of savings banks, as under the recent Massachu setts plan. To strengthen these prac tical measures should b our imme diate duty; it is not at present neces sary to consider the larger and more general governmental schemes that most Europena governments have found themselves obliged to adopt. . I renew my recommendtiBad in a previous message that half-hoh-aaysTtf-frranta dnriJu summer to all ay,i)i wage-workers in Government employ. I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far jus practicable be extended to the entire work being carried on by the Govern ment; the present law should be amended to embrace contracts- on those public works which the present wording of the act seems to exclude. The Courts. I most earnestly urge upon the Con gress the duty of increasing the to tally inadequate salaries now given to our Judges. On the whole there is no body of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose moneyed re ward is so inadequate compared to their work. Beginning with the Su preme Court the Judges should have their salaries doubled. It is not be fitting the dignity of the Nation that its most honored public servants should be paid sums so small compar ed to what they would earn in private life that the performance of public service by them implies an exceeding ly heavy pecuniary sacrifice. It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administra tion of justice, and which operate with peculiar severitv against persons of small means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most de sirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy should be devised. Much of this intolerable delay is due to im proper regard - paid to technicalities which are a mere hindrance to justice. In some noted recent cases this over regard for technicalities has resulted in a striking denial of justice, and flagrant. wrong to the body politic' Forests. If there is any one duty which more than another, we owe it to our children and our ennaren's cnildren to per form at once, it is to save the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most important element in the conservation of the natural re sources of our country. There are of course two kinds of natural resources. One is the kind" which can only be used as part of a process of exhaus tion; this is true of mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and of course ultimatelyby far the most important, includes the re sources which can be improved in the process-of , wise use; the soil, the riv ers, and the forests conie under this head. Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future: Just as a farmer, after all his life making his living from his farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave it as an asset of increased value to his sou, so we should leave our national domain to our children, increasd in value and not worn out. There are small sec tions of our own country, hi the Bast and in the West, in the Adirondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appa lachians, and in the Rockv Mountains, where we can already see for oursel ves the damage in the shape of per manent injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reck less deforestation. It matters not whether this deforestation is due to J the actual cutting of timbe?, to the fires that inevitably f&low such reck less cutting of timber,, or to reckless and uncontrolled srgm RTuillv 3L A8"8 mi4ry bands f sneep, the unchecked panderings of which over the cou means de struction of forests M disaster to the small home makeS; the- settlers of limited means. fef Inland Watcrtrjys. Action Should Via knife. . during the present sessibn of the Congress, for the improvident of our inland waterways actiod. which will result in giving us noi only navi gable but navigated rivers: We have spent hundreds of millfcms of dollar upon these waterwaysje: the traffic on nearly all of then jkiteadily de clining. This condition j'ahvet result of the absencejrf any compe-, hensive and far-seeing1, plan of water way improvement. Obviously we can not continue thus to expend the rev enues of, the Government without re turn. It is poor business to spend money ifor inland navigation unless we get it. f Denatured AlaohoL I had occasion in jpay message of May 4, 1906, to urg4' the passage of some law putting alcohol, used in the arts, industries, and manufactures, upon the free list; thafj is, to provide for the withdrawal frfee of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those purposes. The fcw of June 7, 1906, and its amendment of March 2, 1907, accomplished What was desired in that respect, and -the use of de natured alcohol, as intended, is mak ing a fair degree of progress and is entitled to further encouragement and support from the Congress. Pure Food. The pure food legislation has al ready worked a bene it difficult to overestimate. Indian Aft lira. It has been my pui xse from the beginning of my adi inistration to take the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphete of political activity, and there has been steady progress towanj thstjfnd. The last remaining stronghold t politics in that service was the gency system, which had seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces, from nat ural or purely evolutionary eauses. but, like all such survivals, "was de caying slowly in its Uter stages. It seems clear that its lextincition had better be made final now, jo that the ground emfcJ-eafeil for larger con structive work on behalf? of the In dians, preparatory tihiir induction tnte-the- ttrn measgJlK ftf i gswmsiblg citizenship. On November 1 only eighteen agencies were left on the roster, with two exceptions, where some legal questions seemed to stand temporarily in the way, these have been changed to supenntendencies, and their heads brought into the classified civil service. Secrer Service. The law enacted by the last session of Congress to provide that there should be no detail from the Secret Service and no transference there irom seems to nave been only in the interest of the criminal classes, both large and small, and as a mat ter of common interest should be re pealed and the old system re-enact ed. Corporations are necessary instru ments of modern busiess. They have been permitted to beeome a menace largely because the gjvermental rep resentatives of the people have work ed slowly in providing adequate con trol over them. 1 Control over the graat corporations doing interstate business can be ef fective only when sich control is vested in the executve department of the government. Postal Savings Banks. I again renew my ; ecommendation for postal savings bar ra, for deposit ing savings with the s ;curity of the Government behind th m. The object is to encourage thrifl and economy in the wage-earner e id person of moderate means. In i ourteen States the deposits in savin? r banks as re ported to the Comp: oiler of the Currency amount to $2 590,245,402, or 98.4 per cent of the i ntire deposits, while in the remaining $2 States there are only $70,308,543, r 1.6 per cent showing conclusively hat there are many localities in the United States where sufficient oppo-tunity is not given to the people t deposit - their savings. The result is that money is kept fn hiding and unemployed. It is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought in to circulation through the instrumen tality of the postal savings banks. While there are only 1,453 savings banks reporting to the- Comptroller there are more than 61,000 post-offices 40,000 of 'which are money order of fices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in practically all the great civilized countries with the ex ception of th United States. Parcel Post. In my last annual message I com mended the Postmaster-General's re commendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to the mu tual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is de sirable that the routes, serving more than 15,000,000 people, should be utilized to the fullest practicable ex tent. An amendment was proposed in the Senate at the last session, at the suggestion of the Postmaster General, providing that, for the pur pose of, ascertaining the practicability of establishing' a special local parcel post system on the rural routes throughout the United States, the Postmaster General be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the Congress, the result of such ex periment by establishing a special local parcel post , system on rural de livery routes in not to exceed four counties in . the . United . States for packages of fourth-class matter orig inating on a rural route or at the dis tributing post office for delivery by rural carriers. It. would seem only proper that such an experiment should be tried in order to demon strate the practicability of the prop osition, especially as the Postmaster- Uenenu estimates that the revenue derived from the opeation of suet a system on all the rural routes would amount to many million dollars. Education. The share that the National Gor eminent should take in the broad work of education has not received the attention and the care it rightly deserves. ' The immediate responsi bility - for-s. the -support and improve ment of our educational systems and institutions rests and should always rest with the people of the several States acting through their state and local governments, but the Nation has an opportunity in education work which must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be neglected. With the limited means hitherto provided, the Bureau of Education has rendered efficient service, but the Congress has neglected to adequately supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth of the coun try. The appropriations for the gen eral work of the bureau, out side edu cation in Alaska, for the year 1909 are but $87,500 an amount less than they were ten years ago, and some of the important items in these appro priations are less than they were thirty years ago. It is an inexcusable waste of public money to appropri ate an amount which is so inade quate as to make it impossible prop erly to do the work authorized, and it is unfair to th great educational interests of the country to deprive them of the value of the results which can be obtained by proper appropri ations. Census I strongly urge that the request of the Director of the Census in connec tion with the decennial work so soon to be begun, be complied with and that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil ser vice law, waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the Di rector of the Census. The supervisors and enumerators should not be ap pointed under tbs civil service law, for the reasons given by the Director, I commend to the Congress the care ful consideration of, the admirable TJoTtrioTrTne and I trust that his recommedations will be adopted and immediate action thereon taken. Soldiers' Home. All Soldiers' Homes-should be plac ed under the complete jurisdiction and control of the War Department. Independent Bureaus and Commis sions. Economy and sound business policy reqaire that all existing independent bureaus and commissions should be placed tinder the juridiction of ap propriate executive departments. It is unwise from every standpoint, and results only in mischief, to have any executive work done save by the purely executive bodies, under the control of the President; and each such executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a Cabi net Minister. Statehood. I advocate the immediate auffli, sion of New Mexico and Arizona as States. This should be done at the present session of the Congress. The people of the two Territories have made it evident by their votes that they will not come in as one State. The only alternative is to admit them as two, and I trust that this will be done without delay. Interstate Fisheries. I call the attention of the Con gress to the importance of the prob lem of the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the G-eat Lakes we are now. under the very wise treaty of April 11th, of this year, endeavoring to come to an international agree ment for the preservation and satis factory use of the fisheries of these waters can not otherwise be achieved. Lake Erie, for example, has the rich est fresh water fisheries in the world; but it is now controlled by the statutes of two Nations, four States, and one Province, and in this Prov ince by different ordinances in dif ferent counties. All these political divisions work at cross purposes, and in no case they achieve protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and justice to the localities and individ uals on the other. The case is simi lar in Puget Sound. - Fisheries and Fur Seals. :' The federal statute" regulating in terstate traffic in game should be ex tended to include fish. New federal fish hateb-ries should be estbalished. The administration of the Alaskan fur-seal service should be vested in the Bureau of Fisheries. Foreign Affairs. This Nation's foreign policy is based on the theorv that ri?ht must be ddne between nations precisely as between inaiviauais, and m our ac tions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith by our deeds. We have behaved and are behaving, towards other nations, as in private life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows. Latin-American Republics. The commercial and material pro gress oi the twenty Latin-American Republic is worthy of the careful attention be Congress. No other section f the world has shown a greater proportionate development of its forei'- 'rade during the last ten years a'-icl n"ne ther has more special claims on 'he interest of the United States. If offe. to3ay probably larger . -portumties for . the r legiti mate extension of our commerce than any other group of countries. These countries will want our products in greatly increased quantities, and' we shall correspondingly need theirs The International Bureau, of the Am erica Republics is- doing a. useful work, in making- these nations- and tieir Tesourees better known to us, and in acquainting them not only wftfe us as a people and with our purposes- towards them, but witb what we Rare to exchange for their goods. It isF an international insti tution supported by all -the,goTen-ments of the two Americas. Panama Canal, The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and entire devotion; to duty, which make it a model for all work of tire kind. "No task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any nation; and no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men on the Isthmus, from Colonel Goe thals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their duty, have won their right to the ungrudg ing respect and gratitude of the Am erican people. Ocean Mail Lines. I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail aet of 1891 so that satisfactory American ocean lines to South America, Asia, the Philipines, and Australia may be established. The creation of such steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the battle fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panama Canal. Even under favorable con ditions several years must elapse be fore such lines can be put into opera tion. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act promptly where fore sight already shows that action soon er or later will be inevitable. The Army. As regards the Army I call atten tion to the fact that while our junior officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of promo tion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No man should regard it as his vested right to rise I to the highest rank in the Army any more than in any other profession. It is a curious and by no means cred itable fact that there should be so often a failure on the part of the public and its representatives to un derstand the great need, from the standpoint of .the service and the Na tion, of tpnfWJgi6Wrpi able, elderly focompetents. The higher places should be given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least seniority should be treated as only 'one consideration. In the stress of modern industritl competition no business firm could succeed if those responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that they were the oldest people in its employment; yet this is the course advocated as regards the army, and required by law for all grades except those of general officer. As a matter of' fact, all of the best officers in the highest ranks of the army are those who have attained their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection. "he Navy. I approve the recommendations of the General Board for tbe increase of the Navy, calling especial attention to the need of additional destroyers and colliers, and above all, of the four battleships.. It is desirable to complete vas son as possible a squad ron of eight battleships of the best existing type. The North Dakota, Deleware, Florida and Utah will form the first of this squadron. The four vessels proposed will form the second division. It will be an improvement on the first, the ships being of the heavy, single caliber, all big gun type. All the vessels should have the same tactical qualities, that -is, speed and turning circle, and as near as possible these tactical, qualities should be the same as is in the four vessels before named now being built. The American people have cause for profound gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of the fleet as shown by this cruise ,and in view of the improvement the cruise has worked in this already high con dition. I do not believe that there is any other service in the world in which the average of character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the case in our own. I believe that the same statement can be made as to our officers, taken as a whole ; but there must be a reserva tion made in regard to those in the highest ranks as to which I have al ready spoken and in regard to those who have just entered t1 - service; because we do not now get full bene fit f rom 'frar excellent naval school at Annapolis. It is absurd not to graduate the midshipmen as ensigns; to keep them for two years in such an anomalous position as at present the law requires is detrimental to them and to the service. In the aca demy itself, every first classman should be required in turn to serve as. petty officer and officer; his abil ity to discharge his duties as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line, and his success in com manding should largely determine his standing at graduation. The Board of Visitors should be appointed in January, and each. member should be required to give at least six days' service, only from one to three days' to be performed during June week. which is the least desirable time for the board to be at "Annapolis so far as nenenting tne navy ty weir po-j servations in concerned. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The White House, Tuesday, Decem ber 8, 1908. ..... JUDGE JMMKS Discusses" Live Issues Before Southern People' ; SPEAKS OUT ON RACE PROBLEM The President-EIect Urge goirthera Voters to Break Away From Out- Lived Sentiment and Cast Their Ballots in Acordance With Their Heal Economic and Political Belief New York, Speeial. President elect Wifliam H. Taft. who came to New York to address the North Caro lina Society of this eity. was girea a tumultuous reception by the mem bers of the organization and by prom inent men from all parts of the South, at the annual dinner of the North Carolinians at the Hotel Astor. Five hundred members and guests of the society filled the brilliantly deeoratedr banquet hall, which was redolent of the pines of the Tar Heel State, the cones and branches of the resinous trees forming the background for more fragrant blooms which were scattered everywhere over snowy linens and flag-draped wills. Inter twined ensigns of the State and na tion were conspicuous in the decora tions of tbe banquet hall and larger, flags were displayed in front of the hotel throughout the day and even ing. Mr. Taft. in the course of an ad dress which was eonfined entirely to the South and its problems, urgecV again that the voters of the Soutft should break away from the oat-lived sentiment and traditions of their past political affiliations and cast their ballots in acordance rather with their economic and real political beliefs. Mr. Taft declared that nothing would, give him greater pride during bis coming term in tbe Chief Executive? office than to so direct the policy of the national government with respect to the Southern States as to convince) the intelligent citizens of the Souttt of the desire of his administration tf aid them in working out satisf actor-' ily the serious problems before then and eif bringing them and their. North era s fellow eitizens ctoser- afldcloser in sympathy and point of view. At the conclusion of practically every one of his pointed sentences Mr. Taft was interrupted by applause anot cheering. He frankly expressed him self regarding the so-called " negro question" and declared that neither he nor the Republican party had any idea of forcing upon the people of the South the dominance of an ig norant class Mr. Taft declared that the North yearns for a closer association with the South and quoted statistics to show that the industries of the South had grown and prospered more dur ing the past decade than any other section of ihe country. As to the negro, Mr. Taft said he should neith er ask nor receive more than an equal chance to qualify himself for the franchise. In discussing the race issue "Mr. Taft used the following language: "The proposal to repeal the' fif teenth amendment is utterly imprac ticable and should be relegated to the limbo of forgotten issues. What w are considering is something practi cal, something that means attainable progress. It seems to me to follow, therefore, that there is. or ought to be, a common ground upon which wo can all stand in respect to the race question in the South, and its politi cal bearings that takes away any jus tification for maintaining the contin ued solidarity of the South to pre vent the so-called negro domination. The fear that in some way or other a social equality between the races shall be enforced by law or brought about by political measures really ha no foundation except in the im agination of those who fear such a result. The Federal government has nothing to do with social equality. The war -amendments do not declare in favor of social equality ; all that the law or constitution attempts to secure is equality of opportunity be fore the law and in the pursuit of happiness and in the enjoyment of life, liberty and prosperity. Social equality is something that grows out of voluntary concessions by the in dividuals forming society. In concluding his address the President-elect said: "The recent election has made it probable that I shall become more or less responsible for the policy of the next presidential administration, and I improve this opportunity to say that nothing will give me greater pride because nothing would give me more claim to the gratitude of my fellow citizens if I could so direct that policy in respect to the Southern States as to convince their intelligent citizens of the desire of the adminis tration to aid them in workins out satisfactorily the serions problems before them and of bringing them and their Northern felkrw , citzens closer and closer in sympathy and point of view. During the last de cade, in common with lovers of our country, I have watched with delight and thanksgiving the bond of union between the two sections grow firmer. I pray that it may be given to m to fifrrmctlien ibis tnnvMnMit. t.n nh)itor- -seetionl lines and Jeave notb- ing ot Giuertriaces uuiweu mc.ona c f J':.i": i L .a i ' St V.i. . -1 VT j and SouTh savea inenaiy emulation. v:u- i for the benefit, our common, i co nat- i nr try." 'X , 4 j-. - ji. v'-'Vt' N v.?: it ''. , t ' 4 1 i o 11
The Spencer Crescent (Spencer, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 12, 1908, edition 1
1
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