Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-08-25
TAFT MIL Be
WAR SECRETARY
Official Announcement of the
Resignation of Secretary
Root Made Today
CORRESPONDENCE is GIVEN OUT
Roots Letter Formally rendering His
Resignation and the Presidents RI
ply-Root to Serve Until Jar>
Roosevelt Praises the Wor's y me
Present War Secretary. 80

Oyster Bay. Aug. 25.-Secretary
Root. under date Of Aug. 10, presented
his resignation formally to the presi-
dent The resignation was accepted by
the president with the understanding
that Root continue secretary OF war at
least until Jan. /.
Governor General William H. Taft, Of
the Philippines. will succeed Root
The president today authorized the
following statement:
THE president some months ago ten
dered the secretaryship of var to Judge
Taft and at that time 1t was arranged
he would succeed Secretary Root. Root
will go out of office some time in Janu-
ary and Taft will assume the duties Of
the office shortly afterward."
The president also authorized the
publication Of the correspondence be-
tween hifhelf and Secretary Root con-
cerning the latter's regisnation.
Roots Letter.
In full the correspondence follows:
My Dear President: You have been
good to assent to the sufficiency of the
reasons for which have wished to re-
tire to private life as soon as practica
BILE after the establishment of the gen.
eral staff of the army and the compile
ton of my full four years services as
secretary o6 war. While it is under
stood you probably could not arrange
to fill the office as you wish before the
end of the year and that am to re-
main in the office in the meantime. it is
probable you will be ready to send a
name to the senate in November or De-
cember, and before you do so my resig-
nation should be in your hands. 1 find
myself on the eve of sailing for En-
gland to attend the sessions of the
Alaska boundary tribunal quite unable
to judge how many months I shall be
kept away from this country, and l.,
therefore. now tender my resignation
of the office of secretary of war, to take
effect upon the appointment and quail
ification of my successor l shall carry
with me unabated loyalty to your adj
ministration. confidence in the sound
conservatism and patriotic unselfish-
ness of your policy and enduring graft
tude for the kindness and considera-
ton with which your friendship has
honored me. / shall not cease to ap-
preciate the sympathy and loyalty to
President Mckinley with which you
took and carried on his work.; and l
shall always be happy to have been a
part of an administration directed by
your sincere and rugged adherence to
Of the country.
II am. with great respect and esteem,
always, faithfully yours
Roosevelt's Reply.
Oyster Bay, L. l., Aug. 25.-Hon. Eli
hu Root. Secretary of War, Abingdon,
D. c., My dear Root-It is hard. indeed.
for me to accept your resignation, and
do SO not only with keen personal re-
gret, but with a lively understanding OF
the gap your withdrawal Will create in
public life. My sense of personal loss
is very great; and yet, my sense OF loss
to the nation as whole is even greater.
You have been for over four years secre-
tary OF war. l wonder If you yourself
realize how much you have accomp-
lished during that period. If you will
turn to your first report and read there
in the recommendations you made in
order that the army might be put on
an effective basis, you cannot but be
pleased at the way in which these rec
concentrations now have been adopted
by congress as well as by the admin
istration. and become enacted into law
,a5 irfn
had a public servant of the government
who worked harder than you have
worked during these four years and a
half, and this not merely in point OF
time, but above all in point of intensity,
and your success has been equal to
your labor. The only reward you have
had, or oan have, is the knowledge of
successful achievement, of performance
in the fullest fashion of great public
duty, the doing of which was OF vital
Importance to the nations welfare.
"Your duties have included more
than merely administration OF q de-
partment. and reorganization OF the ar
my on an effective basis You also
have been the head Of a department
which dealt with vast and delicate
problems invoked in our possession of
the Philippine Islands and your success
in dealing with this particular work
has been as signal as your success in
dealing with purely military problems.
To very few statesman, indeed. in any
country is it given at one and the same
time TO achieve signal and striking
triumphs in administration and reform
OF the military branches of government
and in administration of what was in ef-
feet a department ofinsular dependan-
denotes where problems new TO our peo
ple and were in themselves of great
difficulty Moreover, aside from your
work in these two divisions of the gov
ernment service, 1 appreciate mosr
keenly the invaluable advice and as
sistance you have rendered me in in
Vulnerable matters of weight not COM
ing directly in your departmental pro
vince. but in which l sought your aid
with the certainty of not being disap-
pointed. Your position on the Alaskan
boundary commission at the present