The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-04

Tenn. In this letter Judge Hammond has a good deal to say of President Roosevelt's attitude to the South, and of his handsome tributes to several prominent Southern men, among them Judge Jones of this State:
 To Commercial Appeal:
 When your reporter asked me, on ar riving home from the summer vacation. for an interview covering "a newspaper story of our visit to the President at Oyster Bay. noted in the press dispatches at the time, as all such visits were, by the army of newspaper reporters hover ing around Sagamore Hill day and night, 1t was promised to you at some later time. declined to give the newspaper men any information at all for the spe- cial they wanted to write up about 1t, and the visit was so purely social in all its features that I still have mis- givings as to the propriety of saying a single word about 1t to you newspaper people. willing as am, as you know. always to give you anything know in- teresting to the public and ''ft to print" as The Times puts 1t.
 But there is a good story in some of the things said on that occasion, inter- esting to our section and State. and I have some impressions of my own about the President and some inferences of my own uTaWn ITOm SilBHt dCQudIntdnCc with him which I should like to express to our people here. with all due regard to the proprieties, if 1t may be done. I am very sure the Southern people judge the President harshly and misjudge him wofully in respect to his feelings and his temper toward them. At all events, have determined to take the chances. as to the proprieties; but not wishing to take the chances as to unavoidable in- accuracies creeping into interviews" I ask of you the privilege of turning what have to say into a letter, rather than an interview so that there may be es- sential discrimination between my own impressions or inferences, and any say ings of the President, which I take the liberty and >the risk of repeating.
 Bouquets for Gen. Wright.
 The very first thing the President said after the hospitable greetings was: Well, you see I have put your friend Luke Wright at the top?"
 Yes" I replied. 'and 1t Is fortunate for you and the people of the United States, MT. President. that you have such a man as General Wright in the Philippines to take Judge Taft's place." It became at once a kind of talking match between us as to which could say the most agreeable things about Luke Wright. I told him some of the things I knew about him and said some of these I have been in the habit Of saying about him everywhere. among others. that he is one of the ablest men In public life. It was delightful to hear the President express his appreciation of General Wright and his entire con- fdence in him based, as he said. upon his experience with him. He expressed pride in the fact that Gen. Wright was a Democrat and@Confederate soldier of his choice for high office.
 And there is another Tennesseean," |" the President went on to say. "our mu- tual friend. Judge Dickinson. whom have sent to London to represent us on the Alaskan commission. He is fine man and an able man, and we expect great things of him."
 An Enthusiastic Admirer.
 The President Is certainly an enthusi- astic admirer. He praised Dickinson un- stintingly almost, and it is gratifying to note here that since then Matt" Dick inson, as we know him in Tennessee. but Jacob" M. Dickinson. as he Is called in the public print. did not disappoint the Presidents great expectations. If we are to take the European correspond ence of the newspapers, Dickinson's ar- gument was a great feature of the fa- nous trial before famous tribunal, noAv historical in its greatness. I sent Colonel John Overton, his brother-in Flaw, some clippings from this correspondence I saw 1t in the Canadian papers, the Boston Transcript, New York Evening Post. Herald and Tribune. all to the same effect, that Dickinson's argument had been the ablest and most effective one made on either side. All the correspond ents referred to the fact that he told Anecdotes" or as some of them put it. jokes" which made the lord chief jus tice laugh, and tickled his adversary counsel, Englands attorney-general, and brought crowds of distinguished men to hear the argument. How far these Jokes" may have gone to win Lord AL verstone to our side in judgment may never be known. but the great argu- ment did a full share for the winning side, and our fellow citizen has leaped into a foremost place among the world s great lawyers by this one achievement. He owes the opportunity to the good opinion of Theodore Roosevelt founded on his personal observation of his ability. He opened the door of opportunity and hope to Dickinson.
 The President. of course. did not re- motely hint at any reward for this great service to his country. for the Alaskan commission had not assembled. when I saw him, but 1t would be just like Roosevelt to put Dickinson on the supreme bench or to make him chief jus flee if Judge Fuller should retire. And what A big chief justice Dickinson would make! If he were willing to give up his lucrative professional income for sal ary only one-ffth as large as the lord chief justice of England who presided over the commission and gave us the gold mines of Alaska by his decision, receives.
 The Peonage Pardons.
 The President referred to his pardon of convicts in the peonage cases in Ala hama of which. having been in the woods in Maryalnd, had not heard, to ask me for an expression of my opinion as to his action in granting the pardon He exnlained that he had acted wholly on inc advice of Judge Jones. which he surnmarized. and then again, In most hearty manner. he praised the Alabama fudge as he had the others. and none the less appreciatively. He gave his req sons for granting the pardon very care fuuv and spoke of his desire to show the Southern people that, as President, he had no animosty toward those who committed such crimes as that against | the negroes to affect his judgment of the public welfare in showing clemency where 1t was safe to exercise 1t toward such criminals. He referred with pleas ure to his appointment of Judge Jones as a Democrat and Confederate sol- ] dier and then with an impulsive earnest ness that was characteristic and impress sIve. turning squarely to me. he lifted | his hand and exclaimed:
 "Why do not the Southern people judge me by such acts as these?"
 The Fifteenth Amendment. | IIara another visitor, Republican mag nate of dominatlng influence in a far