The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1902-06-26
EAlTH is fully restored by the
II great Alternative and tonic, Hoods
Sarsaparilla, and You remember the
old saving, i health is WEALTH..
ROOSEVELT EXPLANATION.

Raleigh Times.
President Roosevelt has at last
made an excuse for his attack on JET
ferson Davis when he termed him
1.-The arch orator" This excuse is
not made publicly but was stated to
ex-Attorney General Zeb Vance
Walscr apom the latters recent visit
to Washington. The Washington
correspondent Of the Charlotte o.
serUcr gives this interesting account
of Mr.. Walser'a recent visit to Presi-
dent Roosevelt:
Mr.. Walser asked the President if
he remembered certain day in May,
1889, when he, the President, sat in
room occupied by the civil service
commission, surrounded by a group
of newspaper men. ''Your hair was
towseled, d." Mr.. Walser told the Presi-
dent, land you were at work in your
shirt sleeves. A certain North Caro-
linian entered the room and ap-
preached your desk to ask you about
one Of your books, and YOU presented
to your questiOner the book, after
writing on one of the cover pages
that you were an ardent admirer of
North Carolina and its history, and
that the State was one Of the most
conservative and admirable in the
Union, characterized by much pure
Whiggery and pure Democracy In
stantly the Presidents face lit up as
the incident required to him. 1t was
on n fly-leaf Of the book, the life of
Thomas II. Benton, that the President
wrote his high regards for the old
North State and its people, and the
question of what Mr.. Roosevelt had
said in this book in relation to Lee
and Jefferson Davis was discussed
The President remarked that he had
rated Lee as the greatest military
captain of the English-speaking
peoples, and Grant, his mighty an
tagonist, as the equal of Marlborough
and Wellington. He had attacked
Davis for his views upon reputation
but this was done in connection with
his defense of the rugged honesty of
Benton, known as "Old Bullion" who
had always opposed reputation and
dishonesty in every form. 1t was
recalled that but three States, Michi-
gan. Mississippi and Pennsylvania,
repudiated their State debts in ante
bellum days. The President said he
considered Benton as possessing one
of the grandest and most heroic spir-
its of the many great men of the
West and Southwest. "Whv,n con-
tinued the Pesident, placing his hand
on the shoulder of Senator Pritchard,
your North Carolina Senator here
has many of the traits of Benton
Then the President went on to say
that it had always been his resolute
purpose to write history as he under
stood it to be, without fear, favor,
reward or the hope OF reward; that
this was the only true historic spirit
and that present conditions had not
the slightest influence upon him.
This. then, is President Roosevelt's
excuse; he claims that when he called
jefferson Davis an arch traitor he
referred not to his part in the seced-
ing of the Southern States, but to his
justification of the reputation of
the debt of Mississippi before the
war. On this alleged Reputation we
are not posted sufficiently to express
an opinion. but it may be rememb ered
with pride that Benton, who is
praised so highly. was n son of the
Old NCrth State.