Evening star., 1907-10-22
today the guest. of vicksburg and of

today the guest. Of f. vicksburg and Of
Mississippi. and I was inexpressibly
touched by the greeting over the great
arch of cotton bales which said 'Missis-
sippi Greets the President I should not
De MT TO be President at all IL I did not
with all my might and main, with all
my heart and brain, seek to be In the
fuil sense the President Of Mississippi,
the President Of every state in this Union.
am glad to be here in this historic city.
this city forever memorable of the con-
nicts In which victor and vanquished
alike showed such splendid courage, such
splendid feaity to the light as 1t was
given to each. Even before the civil war
Mississippi's sons had shown that they
knew how to fight.
1T was from Vicksburg that a COM
pany Of that famous Mississippi reei-
ment which won undying renown In the
Me1lcan war under the gallant leader
came the favor!te son, not only Of Mis-
sissippi. but OF all the south, Jefferson
Davis. came. Think how fortunate we
are as q nation that it Is possible for
the PRESIDENT OF the nation to come here
today to be conducted through your ma
tfonai park by the surviving lieutenant
general Of the Confederate army. and to
reel That every instance of heroism re-
coroed Dy the monuments alike to the
Union and to the Confederate dead on
.sHS>N 10 = SuDJSCt lot JuSl pride
to every citizen Of this nation, no matter
where he lives.
Gen. Lee read to me that noble in
scription on the Pennsylvania monument
an inscription that should make the heart
OF every. true American thrill as he reads
1t: Here brothers fought for their prin-
cipies: here heroes died for their coun-
try. and united people will forever cher
ish the precious legacy Of their noble
manhood
What other war is there Of which we
can say that before the generation that
fought 1t had died away the whole coun-
try rises to feel the same triumph alike
Tor those" who fought so valiantly for
what they believed to be right and tri-
umphed. and for those who fought so val
iantly for what they. with equal SINGER
ity, thought to be right and lost?
Great Inland Waterway.
1T is good thing for an American
President TO travel over the country, not
for what he can teach, but for what ne
can learn. have twice been down In this
aiiuviai delta of the Mississippi. In each
case 1 came primarily for bear
voice-"Did you get any?'
The last time I got 'em; the first time
all L can say is that the bears and
Droke even. l got as many OF them as
they did Of me. But on each occasion 1
learned lot that had nothing to do with
the bear hunting.
1T seems to me that no American Pres
ident could spend his time better than by
seeing for himself just what a rich and
wonderful region the lower Mississippi
valley Is. so that he may 60 back to
washington, as I shall go back, with the
set purpose to do erything that in me
lies to see that the United States does its
full share In making the Mississippi river
a part of the seacOast, in making 1t q
deep channel TO the great lakes from
the gulf. And as an instance of building
the leVees for the lower part of that great
river. l wish to See them SO built as to
remove absolutely and completely from
the minds of all the dweiiers in the low
lands all apprehension of a possible over
flow.
'Mr Williams. it has been suggested to
me that We need to cOnstrue the Consti-
tuition broadly In order to get power to
do what | want. think 1 heard you
mention that you are a federalist The
people of Holland took two-thirds of their
country out from under the ocean, and
they have lived behind the dikes for CEN
turies in safety. With one-tenth of the
enort We. an infinitely greater nation, can
take these incomparably rich bottom lands
of the lower Mississippi out from all fear
OF flooding by the Mississippi.
Will Cost Millions.
While do not like to say in advance
what 1 intend to do. l shall break my
rule In this case and say that in my next
message to. Congress 1 shall advocate
as heartily as 1 know how that the Con-
sress now elected shall take the first
steps to bring about that deep channel
way ana the attendant high and broad