The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-10-18
FOR WATERWAYS
ROOSEVELT RECEIVES HEARTY
WELCOME AT ST. LOUIS.
ADDRESSES AUDIENCE OF 5000
men and Women In Jai Alai Cheer
as He Declares the Deepwater
Way a National Affair.

st. Louis, Oct. 2.-His hair wet and
disarranged, and his collar and necktie
soaked by the rain which beat on him
during his five-mile drive in an open
carriage, President Roosevelt spoke To
an audience Of 5000, more than half
OF them women, In the Jai Alai build
ing Wednesday.
n president declared 1t the ma
tons duty to restore the Mississippi
river to its proper place as a great
artery of commerce, and termed the
proposed deep channel to the gulf "a
national task" He warned against
plans which might entail reckless ex-
travagance or be tainted with Job
berry,"
He followed with the statement that
the Panama canal would be dug within
ive or six years more, and with the
declaration that the United States
needs a great fighting navy"
President Roosevelt in his speech
reaffrmed his belief that the Missis-
sippi river was soon to resume it's
place as one of the nations great ar.
teries Of commerce of the country.
He declared 1t the nations duty to
do It's share in making a channel which
Will accommodate the craft, and in
building the levees to protect it and
the lands through which the river
flows.
He said that our world position de.
manded that we maintain a great fight
ing navy, our present one being ele-
mentary.
The president closed his address
with a strong plea for an in%terpreta.
ton of the constitution along lines de.
manded by the present condition of
industrial GENERALIZATION. He upheld
the right of the nation to control not
only interstate railways, but rpora
tons engaging in interstate business.
This he declared to be the greatest
economic question of the times. He
commended this control was not the
province of the individual states.
Goes After the Trusts.
He then gave more than half of
the $500 words Of his address to the
trust question, or, as he termed It.
the problem Of regulating interstates
business.
OF the constitution and the govern
ment's powers over interstate bust
ness, the president said:
81 believe that the nation has the
whole governmental power over inter-
state commerce n the widest dis.
erection in dealing with hat subject;
Of course under the express limits
prescribed in the constitution for the
exercise of all powers, such for in
stance as the condition that due pro.
cess of law shall not be denied. The
nation has no direct power over the
purely intrastate commerce, even
where it is conducted by the same
agencies which conduct interstate
commerce"
The president and the escort OF
governors and st. Louis citizens rode
from the levee to the Jai Alai building
through a rain which commenced q
few minutes after the arrival of the
presidential flagship Mississippi at the
wharf.
The governors put up the tops OF
their carriages, but the president
would not have the top Of his ear
riage, the first in the line raised. He
stood in the carriage, his collar in.
protected by his raincoat, and let the
rain fall alternately on his silk hat
and on his head, which he repeatedly
barred as the throng along the route
cheered him.
Gov. Folk, in introducing the presi.
dent, joked about the d%renching the
parade got, and then in seriousness
turned to President Roosevelt, Of
whom he spoke as the ideal executive,
a man whose principles result in obed.
fence to the laws and in equal rights
to all.
~ introduce to you," he said, in O n
c~lusion, president Roosevelt, patriot.
American and man"
After the speech the president start.
ed on his drive to Hotel Jefferson, the
place selected for the luncheon in his
honor and that of the visiting govern.
ors. The plan for the banquet provided
for no speeches by anyone.
The presidents departure by the
river, at the foot of Olive street, took
place at 3 p. M, following a ride along
Washington avenue Broadway and
Pine street to the levee.