The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-26
LAUDATION OF WOOD
ROOSEVELT ExToLs THE IMMA-
 CULATE BRIGADIER.
The President Also High in His Praise oP Root and Taft-He
 Thinks They Should Be Made Sun Gods.

enCe or freSl0ent hOoSeVeit all aiuitihus of Harvard. class of 1880, who received the honorary degree of LL. D. There were other notable guests who also re- ceived the degree of IL. D., the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D. D. of Boston and many graduates who have brought honor to their university.
 The President and Governor Crane reached Harvard just before 10 o'clock. The visitors were escorted to Massochu- setts Hall where they were presented to President Eliot. At 10 o'clock preceded by the senior class and the graduate mar shal, President Eliot led the procession of fellows. overseers, State dignitaries, faculty, invited guests and alumni to Sanderss Theatre where the graduating exercises were held after the addresses by the commencement speakers.
 Honorary degrees of ILL. D. were con- ferred by President Eliot upon John Hay. "by force of just and liberal thinking. the most successful diplomat now living; Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, from his youth member of this society of scholars, now In his prime. true type of the sturdy gentle man and the high-minded public servant in a democracy
 Among those receiving the degree of Masters of Art were Francis Blake. in- ventor of the Blake telephone transmit ter, and Walter Reed, the army surgeon, who planned and directed in Cuba the experiments which have enabled men to control yellow fever. The alumni ban quet was held in Memorial Hall at 2:5O
 T1-.e. alrx..A .Nf the Alumni Association, presided and in- troduced the speakers. The list of toasts included responses by President Eliot, Governor Crane. President Roosevelt. Secretary Hay. Prof. Alexander Agassiz and Malcolm Donald.
 President Roosevelt spoke as follows:
 Mfr. President, President Eliot, and you, my fellow Harvard men: Before say what I had intended to speak of, let me speak, for all of you, l am sure; let me speak for all Americans today when say that we watch with the deepest concern and sympathy the sick bed of the English King and that all Americans in rendering the hearty sympathy to the people of Great Britain, now remember keenly the outburst of genuine grief with which all England last fall greeted the calamity that befell us in the death of President Mckinley"
 The President then referred to his as- sociaticns with a large number of Har- yard graduates who had rendered great service to the country, mentioning among them former Secretary of the Navy Long, whom he had been obliged to replace by another Harvard man; Senator Hoar, Cabot Lodge whom he called his 'clos- est. staunchest and most personal friend" and Secretary of State John Hay. to set at the same council table with whom he regarded 9s liberal education in high minded statesmanship.
 Continuing. he said:
 "I want to speak of three other college graduates because of the service they have done the public.% l want to speak oe a graduate of Hamilton College, Elhu Root; a graduate of Yale, Governor Taft. and of a fellow Harvard man, Leonard Wood. (Applause)-men who did things, did not say how they should be done, but did them themselves; men who have met that greatest of our national needs, the need for the service that can not be bought the need for the service that can only be renderd by that man willing to forego the material advantage for 1t has got to be given at the mans own material cost.
 When in England they get a man to do W hat Lord Cromer did in Egypt, when
 
 return from South Africa they give him a peerage and a great sum of money. He receives large and tangible reward and our Cromers. our men of stamp. come back to the country and if they are for tunate they go back to private life with the privilege of taking up what they can find of the strings left loose when they sundered their old connections and if they are fortunate they are accused of mal- in office. LaughterD Not an accusation that hurts them. but an accu- sa tion that brands with infamy every man who makes it and that reflects but i'll on the country on which it is made. 1 Loud applauseD
 Leonard Wood. four years ago. went to Cuba; he served there ever since. Had rendered services to that country of the kind performed 5000 years ago they would have made him hero mixed up with the sun god in various ways.
 Credit to him? Yes, in way. In an other no particular credit because he was built so. because he could do nothing else. Loud applause.D He came out af- ter doing that and devoted-himself as to the good of the Cuban people in all their relations as man could. He has come back here and has been attacked forsooth. by people who were not merely unworthy of having their names coupled with him. hut who are incapable of understanding the mo- tives that have spurred him to bring hon or to this republic" CApplause)
 The President then paid a high com pliment to the ability of Judge Taft and spoke of the personal sacrifice he made when he became Governor of the Philip | pines In that position, the President | declared Governor, Taft had to face diff | icult problem which he had done his l pest to solve, President Roosevelt then | said:
 "The man has always had the honora- ole ambition to get upon the Supreme | Court bench and he knew that 1 had | always hoped he would be put on the Supreme Court bench, and when there was a question of a vacancy arising l said to him: Governor 1 think I ought | to tell you that if vacancy comes in the Supreme Court while it would give you an opportunity to be put in the position you would like to have. l think l ought to tell you that if such a vacancy should occur l do not see how l could possibly | give 1t to you for need you where you are
 He said to me: 'Alr. President, it has always been my dream to be in the Su- 1reme Court but if you should offer me now and at the same time Congress should take off entirely my salary as Governor. I should go straight pack to the Philippines. nevertheless, for hose people need me and expect me back md I believe I won't desert them The President thought the country was to be on having a fellow Amer can like Governor Taft"
 The President then smoke of Secretary