The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-15
Excoriation of Defamers
 of Character.
LAYING OF A CORNER STONE
For Office Bidding for Members of
 Congress.
President's Condemnation of Those writers and speakers Who AssaiI Men in Public Life without
 EvIdence to Sustain the
 Charges They Bring.

A
 Washington, April H.-The laying of the cornerstone of the office building fQt the House, of Representatives, with solemn Masonic ceremonies this after noon, was made notable by the speech Of President Roosevelt in the presence of many of his Cabinet, the Supreme Court, representatives of foreign Gov ernments, Senators, Representatives and large proportion of Washington population. The day was ideal TOT such an important ceremony ana without so much as even trihing de- lay the immense stone which occupied the northwest corner of the building was placed in position.
 The rich dress of hundreds of Knights Templar with their waving plumes, the subdued costumes of the Masons with their lambskin aprons and white gloves, the scarlet uniforms of the Marine Band and the blue of the United States Engineers Band, enlivened tho pie ture.
 President Roosevelt, escorted by the offce building commission. Speaker Cannon, Representative Hepburn of Iowa and ex-Representative Richard son of Tennessee, arrived comparative Iy early. A roar of kindly welcome greeted him. Immediately afterward the Senate with President Fair banks in the lead. entered the stand reserved for Congress, followed by 3 large membership of tho House of Rep resentatives.
 Uuon the arrival of the Grand Lodge of Masons of the District of Columbia with Walter A. Brown, Grand Master at their head, the ceremony of laying the cornerstone began. The grand chaplain prayed for the American peo- .la and ttc Chief xarufivp
 A dramatically sealed copper box containing an inside copper box with a glass top. was then placed in posi- ton so that the stone would completely envelope it.
 The box contained the following ar ticles:
 The Articles seaIcd Up.
 The Holy Bible; copy Of the Deeiar' ation of Independence, copy of the Con. stitution of the United States, imprint of the seal of the United States, Amer ican flag, copy of the Congressiona Record showing origin of project, cop, of proceedings Of commissioners in se' lection of site, copy of volume Ills tory of CapitoL'' autograph of mem bers of the United States Senate, April 14, 1906: statement of appropriations 1S73-1e06; copy of L'Enfants original map of the city of Washington, print of the old capitol, prints of the White House, 1874 and 1906; an engraving and autograph of President Roosevelt. en- graving and autograph of vice-Pres- ident Fairbanks, pictures and auto- graphs of the commission in charge oi the building and a large number of other documents and articles connected with the event.
 As the stone was lowered into it's foundation, the Marine Band played the intermezzo from Cavaleria Rusticanna .fI hAk. l upon tho stone by the Grand Master according to ancient customs, an oc- tette of male voices chanting an ac- compartment.
 When the President and Speaker Cannon entered the Presidents box, without waiting for the applause to cease. the Speaker waved his hand and said:
 "Citixens-It is my privilege at this ' time to 'ihtroduce to you one who needs no introduction, Theodore Roosevelt President of the United States.
 The President was In splendid voice and throughout long applause greeted his words He said:
 over a century ago Washington laid the corner stone of the Capitol in what was then little more than a tract of wooded wilderness here beside the Poto mac. We now find it necessary to pro- vide. by the additional buildings for the business of the Government. This growth in the need for the housing of the Government is but proof and ex- ample of the way in which the nation has grown and the sphere of action of the National Government has grown. We now administer the affairs of q na- ton in which the extraordinary growth of population has been outstripped by the growth of wealth and the growth in complex interests. The material problems that face us today are not euch as they were in Washington's s time. but the underlying facts of hu- man nature are the same now as they were then. Under altered external form we war with the same tendencies toward evil that were evident in Wash ingtons time. and are helped by the same tendencies for good. It is about some or these that l wish to say a
 Tn Bunyans Pilgrims Progress you may recall the description or the man with the Muck-rake, the man who the muck-rake in his hand; who was offered a celestial crown for hls muck rake. but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered. but continued to rake to himself the filth Of the floor.
 In Pilgrims Progress the Man with the Muck-rake is Set forth as the ex- ample of him whose vision is fixed on carnal instead of on spiritual things. Yet he also typittes the man who in this life consistently refuses to see aught that is lofty. and fixes his eyes with solemn intentness only on that which is vile ana debasing. Now, 1t is very necessary that we should not finch from seeing what is vile and debasing. There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck-rake; and there are times and places where this service is the most needed Of all the services that can be performed. But the man who never does anything else who never thinks or speaks or writes. save of his teats wItn the muck rake. speedily becomes. not a help to society, not an indictment to good. but one of the most potent forces for evil.
 There are. in the body polite, eco homie and social many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man, whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics or in business. or in social life. hail as benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform. or in book, mag nzine or newspaper with merclless se- verity makes such attack, provided all ways that he in turn remembers that the attack is of use only if 1t is abso- lutely truthful. The liar is no whit better than the thief. and if his men fakaa he aF ell ha