The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-07

of Mississippi upon assuming the oihSe If temporary chairman of the national democratic conyention today spoke as fol- oves:
 ..This Is an appropriate place and time tor the democratic convention. The place is St Louis. the chief city of the most popuious state carved out of the Louisiana territory acquired by the father of democracy. This time Is the centennial anniversary celebration of the acquisi- ion of that territory, a vast area of con tfeuous territory whose possession was necessary for self-defense and which was atted in climate and soil for nome-making py the sons and daughters of the repub- lic-the anniversary of real and not pseudo exDansion--an expansion Of our population, our industrial life, and our free institutions over uninhabited lands or lands sparsely settled by savages, whose tribal independence was recognized by trading with them, or settled in spots by white men easily and willingly assim- Ilated not so-called expansion by mere super-imposed force of our flag and our military authority. The democratic party afterwards guided the country to further expansion of this real free character In the acquisition from Mexico of a magni- ficent far west, fit to be made states of the union, and governed under the con stitution.
 Greatest Quadrennial Event.
 'srhe most important quadrennial event in the world is the election by the Amer lcan people of their chief executive. Be fore the great election takes place al which all men are supposed to arrive at a choice by ways of honesty and lnteih- gence-would to God they did-at least Of acter are held There have always been two national parties since the first na- tional political conventions have elected delegates to conventions for the purpose of selecting a candidate and promulgat- ing a platform. One of these parties has gone through it's party election of dele gates; has selected a candidate, and an nounced a platform. It was one of the uuietest and most 'unanimous occasion that history has recorded. Everything seemed to have been fixed beforehand. There are some conveniences about a convention of that sort. One of them is that the temporary chairman knows six or nine months beforehand that he Is going to be temporary chairman. He also knows what he is wanted to say, com pared with what he wants to say. could appreciate that, I assure you. The permanent chairman also knows what is expected of him for half a year before hand The platform comes ready-writ- ten-no discussion about it-and Is per haps revised by the candidate himself, who has also been agreed upon.
 In Sense Historical.
 .'The address of the temporary chair man of the republican national conven- ion was in one sense historical. It dealt much in history at any rate, most of 1t
 
 bad history. There was a labored argu- ment to prove that the party of Roose- welt must, by something like evou- tionary process, act as the party of Lin- coin and Mckinley. This was necessary tn order to disguise the papable fact that 1t is not so acting. Not without reason, this labored argument by this great and ingenious lawyer. It was to draw away attention from Rooseveltism and it's vol canic, eruptive and reckless character by dwelling upon the fact that, at some pe- riod of its history the republican party has been a party which did things, and did them safely. The orator hoped to have the country lose sight of the fact that 1t is now in both of its legislative branches a party of passivity. of non- action of obstruction to reform and progress, in a word, a party whose only sacred precept is the shiboleth drawn
 
 precept born of cowardice and fear to move.
 Root Was Paying a Debt.
 ''I shall not pay undue attention to the temporary chairman of the republican convention. After interrogating in the light of reason a few utterances, I shall pass on to the authoritative voice of his party which is it's platform, for proof of the fact that MT. Root knew how to pay debt The country has not yet forgot ten when MT. Roosevelt paid a glowing tribute to his cabinet which wound up with the sentiment, and the greatest of these is Root. But let me read first what the president did say of the junior member of that mutual admiration so- ciety 1 find it in the American Review of Reviews, from the pen of Walter We'll man: Ordinarily the president of the United States is not to be interviewed. But there are exceptions to all rules. When I asked Prfesident Roosevelt for an expression of his opinion of the char acter and public services of Elihu Root, who within few weeks is to retire from the secretaryship of war. the president re- piled: T am very glad to do that. In John Hay I have a great secretary of state. In Philander Knox I have great attorney general. In other cabinet posts, have great men. Elhu Root could take any of those places and fill 1t as we'll as the man who is now there And In ad- dition, he Is what probably none of these gentlemen could be-a great secretary of war. Elihu Root is the ablest man have known in our governmental service. I will go further. He is the greatest man that has appeared in the public life of any country, in any position, on either side of the ocean, in my time.'
 This is praise, indeed adds We'll man.
 Mutual Admiration Goes On.
 We'll what of it? I have never heard that Secretary Root has denied the soft mpeachment-'praise indeed.' Yes, and what praise in return could be adequate in repayment? In this wonderful mutual admiration society of. me. voo Teddy. and me. too. Elihu.' is the return rhapso- dy of MT. Roots peroratlon not at all ex- travagant considered from the standpoint of repayment, of course? Is 1t any won- der that he was the man selected by the candidate to lay it on strong7 man of , ability, too, MT. Root. He had defended Tweed. Why not defend the republican party in it's hour of non-action, passivity, negation and mere obstruction? Indeed he and the president have had minds SC much alike that they have been sus- pected of unconscious identity of cele. bration, of thinking the same thoughts In the same words.
 q have heard that in October, 1892, MT Root made a political speech in Cooper Union in which he used this language:
 If a tariff law has on tha x~hot<