Evening star., 1904-01-05
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
President Congratulated on
His Message.
FIRE PROTECTION
BETTER FACILITIES TO BE PRO-
vIDED BY COL. sYMoNs.
Employees to Be Given Fire Drill
FIRE PROTECTION
Employees to Be Given Fire Drill
corporal Tanner" to Be Ap-
pointed Register of Wills.

pointed Register OF Wills.
President Roosevelts callers were unani-
nous this morning in congratulating him
upon his Panama message yesterday. BE-
fore the cabinet met at IL o'clock the Presi-
dent saw and conversed with half dozen
or more prominent republican leaders OF the
House and Senate. Without exception they
extended theirs Congratulations and assured
him that he had left no ground for opposi-
ton to the ratification of the treaty with
the Panama republic.
Senator Hopkins voiced the general opin-
ion of the callers when he said: THAT was
really great message. 1t did not leave
anything for his friends to say. The clear
ness and force of presentation, the vigor
and timeliness Of the document, all COM
mended themselves to the party and to the
people" Representative Grosvenor of Ohio
was of precisely the same opinion. He and
Representative Gill of that state called and
had talk with the President. They went
away from him full of praise for the man.
ner .in which he had presented the case to
the Senate and to the people. Senator
Lodge said that every republican senator
had felt that the document had greatly
strengthened them and their position.
Congratulations from republican leaders
ana from friends and admirers have been
reaching the President, ever since yesterday
afternoon. He Is not inappreciative of the
general commendation he Is receiving.
Wool and Live Stock Growers.
Senator Warren of Wyoming. who is
about to leave for Portland. Oregon, to
preside at the annual meeting of the
National Wool Growers Association.
which conyenes on the 11th Of this
month, talked with the President about
no ~ I'll ~
the work of the National Live Stock
Association, which will meet at the same
lacs on Of this month The
Pinchot and F. II. Newell who are mem
bers OF the special commission recently
appointed to .inyestfgate the public land
vision of land laws, proceed to Portland
/ to be present "at the meanings Of the
two associations with the object of gain
ing all the information that is possible
relative to public lands and the bearing
of the land laws.
More Fire Protection.
Col Synbns3bsuperiitende of public
buildings find grounds, some time ago
asked CHIEF Belt of the fire department to
inspect the fire apparatus in the White
House andJ executive offices and report
what measures should be taken to add
further safeguards to the protection OF the
buildings. The report was made to- Col.
Symons, who has decided upon some
changes in the. SYSTEM, One of the main
things decided upon is direct connection be-
tN cen points in the White House and the
Washingtgtr 3fye department, so that an
alarm may be turned in directly from the
offices or home of the President without
hunting q fire alarm box on the outside.
The positions of the alarm stations will
! be made known to all attendants in the
White House. A number. of chemical fire
extinguishers are also to be added. to the
q M 1Ic hn tf.sII IIat, yl,as~
these are received and the direct fire con-
nectfon is made Col. Symens will organize
| the White House fprce into fire squad.
drilling themsn the use and locations Of all
fire fighting machinery in the building.
Watchmen at night and policemen during
the day will be required to; visit more
points than heretofore. and turn In signals
from those points A thorough covering
, of all points will then be insured, as the
policemen and watchmen will be required
to touch the time indicators at every point
every fifteen minutes.
In the last few years the fire fighting ap-
paratus in the White House has received
little attention, and the employees in the
building have received no instructions
about the locations of the apparatus or how
to use 1t. The consequences Is that in case
of fire there would probably be confusion,
excitement and lack of information about
the locations of fire fighting material.
When the squad is organized careful and
systematic instructions will be issued in
this line, SO that every employe will he
familiar with the system.
Pardon for a Counterfeiter.
The President has pardoned Robert F.
| Ashley, now serving a two-year term of i'm
| prisonment in the southern Illinois peni-
tentiary for passing a counterfeit SO bill.
| He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on
, June 3, 1902. and has served more than
! eighteen months Of his term OF imprison-
Hent. The President granted a pardon be-
cause he believed the prisoner had been
sufficiently punished 1T appearing that he
| was not a counterfeiter, and the one offense
| Of passing the counterfeit money was COM
| mitted while he was Intoxicated.
Corporal, Tanner to Be Appointed.
It was officially announced at the White
| House last night that the President has Sc
| lected Corporal James Tanner as regis
ter of wills for the District Of Columbia,
and will appoint him in time to take charge
| of the Office April L. Louis A. Dent, who
| Is the present register Of wills, will be ap-
i, pointed to diplomatic post, In which serv-
| ice he was when appointed register of Wills.
1 Corporal Tanners birthplace was Scho-
harie county, N. Y. He was born In 1874
and was the son Of farmer. He received
| a common school education and began
teaching school in 1861. In September Of
! that year he enlisted in the 87th New York
| Volunteers He was in many Of the early
| battles Of the civil war, and at the Second
| Bull Run, August 30. 1862, was struck by a
| piece of shell. losing both legs. He later
! became clerk in the War Department and
| was called by Secretary Stanton to the
| death bed of Abraham Lincoln to take tes-
| timony regarding the. assassination. Re-
! turning to his native county in 1865 he
| studied law and was admitted to the bar in
1869. He served as committee clerk in
| the New York Legislature and later took
a position in the New York customs house,
| rising to be deputy collector under Presi-
| dent Arthur. He resigned that place to
become collector of taxes in Brooklyn,
serving there fer four terms. He was also
| three years IN "the surrogate's office OF his
native county, President Harrison appoint
| ed Corporal Tanner commissioner Of pen.
sions. but he res gned in short time. He
entered the practice Of law in this city
afterward.s - He is a member of the Grand
| Army and OF the Union Veteran Legion
! having been commander-in-chef of the lat
| ter and twice at the head of the former in
| New York state He has always been
/ prominent in the G. A. r. and at this time
| holds a prominent office in the organise
| ton. .-r.,3
Held for Further Investigation.
| rIorr,x E>,51axy tho ooIaraa ,,a,,&l