The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-08-28
SECRETARY OF WAR
ROOT LEAVES OFFICE
Resignation Is Accepted By
President Roosevelt.
TAFT WILL BE HIS SUCCESSOR.


the Secretary Will Continue In OF.
foe at Least Until January IL.
Oyster Bay, l.. l., August 25.-Secre.
t&ry Root, under date of August 10,
presented his resignation formally to
the president.
The resignation was accepted by the
president with the understanding that
the secretary continue at least until
Jan. 12.
Governor General William H. Taft,
Of the Philippines, will succeed Sec
retary Root as secretary OF war.
President Roosevelt today authoriz-
Cd the following statement:
The president some months ago
rendered the secretaryship of war to
Judge Taft and at that time it was ar
ranged that he would succeed Secre-
tary Root. Secretary Root will go
out of office some time in January,
and Judge Taft will assume the duties
of the office shortly afterward."
The president also authorized the
publication Of the correspondence be-
tween him and Secretary Root con-
corning the latter's resignation. In
Sull the correspondence follows:
Dear Mr.. President: You have
been GOOD to assent to the sufficiency
Of the reasons for which nave wish
dto retire to private life as soon as
practicable after the establishment of
the general staff CT the army and the
completion of my full four years of
service as SECRETARY Of war, while 1t
is understood that you probably will
not arrange to fill the office as you
wish before the end or the year, and
that l am to remain in office in the
meantime. it is probable that you will
be ready to send a name to the senate
IN November or December, and before
you do SO my resignation should be
In your hands.
Il finG myself on the eve of sailing
for England to attend the sessions Of
the Alaska boundary tribunal and am
quite unable to judge how many
months l 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 qualification
OF my successor. l shall carry away
with me unabated loyalty in your ad-
ministration, confidence in the sound
conservatism and patriotic unselash-
ness OF your policy and enduring graf
itude for your kindness and considera-
tion with which your friendship has
honcred me. shall not cease to ap-
1reciate the sympathy and loyalty to
President Mckinley with which you
took up and carried o. bis work-and
I shall always be happy to have been
. part Of the administration directed
by our sincere and rugged adherence
to right and devotion to the true in
forests of the country.
Y am. with great respect and esteem,
Away, faithfully, yours,
"ELIIIU ROOT"
ITO The President,
Oyster Bay, August "a 1908"
Hon Elihu Root, secretary OF war
Washinston-My Dear Mr.. Root: II
10 hard, indeed, for me to accept your
resignation, and I do not only with
keen personal regret, but with a lively
understanding of the gap your with
drawal will create in public life. My
sense OF personal loss Is grsat, and yet
my sense Of the loss to the nation as
q whole is even greater. You have
been over four years secretary of war.
/ wonder IL you will realize how much
you have accomplished during that
period.
IF you will turn to your first re.
ports and will read therein the recon.
mehdations you made in order that the
army might be put on an effective bas-
u, you cannot but be pleased at the
way In which these Recommendation
have now been adopted by congress
rs well as by the administration, and
became enacted law or crystallized
into custom. We have never had a
public servant of the government who
has worked harder than you have
worked during these four years and a
half and this Is not merely in point of
time, but. above all, in point of intsn,
sdty, and your success has been euuaA
to your labor. The only reward you
have had or can have, is the kpoyl.
ddge OF successful achievement of tina
performance in fullest fashion. of
great pdblfc duty, the doing of which
was of vital Importance to the nations
welfare.
Your duties have included more
than merely the administration of the
department and the reorganization of
the army on an effective basis. You
also have been the head of a depart.
ment which deals with the vast and
delicate problems involved In our DOS
session Of the Philippine islands. and
your success In dealing with this