The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-15
PRESIDENTS TALK
 WAS THE FEATURE
New Office Building for House
 Dedicated in Washington
BRILLIANT THR0NG PRESENT
President Talks on the Muck Rake Brigade" Paying His Respects to Modern Sensational Writers
 for Magazines.
lcontInusd from FIrst Pasal

(Continued from First Paca)
 United States capitol and for that spe- cihc purpose was used for the first time in laying the corner stone of that edifice, September IS, 1793 This ceremony was performed with full Masonic rights by General George Washington, acting grand master, and upon the completion of the ceremony this gavel was presented by President Washington to Valentine Relnt- zell then master of Potomac lodge of this city, which lodge has ever since possess ed and guarded with zealous care this historic relic.
 Five other Presidents, James K. Polk, Willard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Will liam Mckinley and Theodore Roosevelt, have also used this gavel on notable oc- casons. It is by the courtesy of Poto- mac lodge that 1 am permitted to use il. at this time.
 "'rhe Congress now sitting will be not able, not only for the efforts put forward by the servants of the people to enact wise and needful legislation for better government. but the Fifty-ninth Congress will be notable for the laying of this corner stone and upon it the erection of a building made possible by the marvellous growth and development of this magnfi- cent republic. The American people hav- ing confidence in the wisdom, the hon esty and loyalty of their representatives in the lower house of Congress, will glad ly hail the erection of this building, which Is already taking shape, because 1t will add to your comfort and make your bur dens lighter by conveniences that the fa- thers never dreamed of.
 Laws Will Have Beginning.
 Within these walls the nation Is to he beneficiary through the laws that shall here have their beginning. We not only hope that this structure which has had the best thought of many minds in its planning, will have faith, honor and duty and that selfshness and passion will be noticeable by their absence. In wonder capitol will be pronounced the judgments on legislation that will here take form and so We lay this corner stone with the hope that from this building will emanate- those laws that will but strengthen Us as nation and accentuate that for which the founders of the re- public so unselishly labored
 Here we fondly hope will assemble the nations representatives imbued with high ideals to frame the laws necessary to a free and enlightened people
 Here we hope the constitution will be defended and illuminated by lSnightly courage to do the right Here before this august assemblage here before the Pres ident of the United States, here in the presence of the supreme court and the Senate. here in sight of the representa- tives of foreign governments. here before the speaker of the House, and it's mem bership and in the presence of this great concourse of people. we lay the corner stone and dedicate the structure to rise thereon to the larger glory, the greater wisdom of the nation, this land, the radi- ant center of the Anglo-Saxon power. . An instrumental selection followed and then the President and Speaker Cannon entered the Presidents box. Without waiting for the applause to cease, the Speaker waved his hand and said;
 "Cltlzens: It Is my privilege at this time to introduce to you one Theodore Roose- welt, President of the United States"
 President in Good Voice.
 The President was In splendid voice and throughout the long speech applause greeted his words. The President said
 lover a century ago Washington laid the corner stone of the capitol in what was then little more than tract of wooded wilderness here besides the Poto- mac. We now find 1t necessary to pro- vide by great additional buildings for the business of the government. This growth in the need for the housing of the government is but a proof and exam pie 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 nation in which the extraordinary growth of popu- lation has been outstripped by the growth of wealth and the growth in complex of wealth and the growth in complex in- terests. The material problems that face us today are not such as they were in Washington's time, but the underlying facts of human nature are the same. now as they were then Under altered eXter- nal form we war with the same tenden- cies toward evil that were evident in Washington's time, and are helped by the same tendencies for good. Ii is about some of these that I wish to say word ! today.