The Washington herald., 1907-01-17

The banquet Of the national convention
for the extension Of foreign commerce.
held al the Arlington last night. was
marked by the presence Of President
Roosevelt. who spoke strongly in favor
Of the ship subsidy project. commendatory
OF the nations work in Santo Domingo.
pointed out the advantages the nation
derives from the Monroe doctrine. and
showing how, Congress having failed. the
Executive power mas been used TO better
the consular service. The speech was
/ checred 20 the echo.
/ Il was a speech evidently carefully pre-
pared and most deliberately uttered. At
/ the table with the President were two
members Of his Cabinet-Secretaries Root
and Taft-and both listened with the
/ deepest interest and applauded it as
/ heartily as any Other prominent guests
were Robert Bacon. Francis Loomis. john
| Barrett. Edward Everett Hale. Cornelius
/ \ Bliss, and Isidor Strauss.
! President Roosevelt, accustomed as be
is 10 the homage Of the people. must have
/ been gratifod at the way in which he was
received. lie entered about the time the
dinner was over, and made his way al
I once 70 the head Of the table The guests
received him standing, and some one I'm
! tie rear proposed three cheers for
/ Teddy Roosevelt. which were given
with a wiz Some other enthusiast cried
/ out What's the matter with Teddvg,
and the reply from so throats. Hes all
right" shook the chandeliers.
! The band ia the anteTOOm played The
! Star fSpdngled Banner as the President
/ came in, but the band was far away and
! the music was Unheard. After he had
J taken his seat and the cheering had sub
/ sided, he heard the strains. lie instantly
rose to his feet, and with a motion Of
/ his hand brought all the other guests 10
their feet.
/ didn't near what they were playing
/ he said with a smile.
Waits for Better Half.
/ When he arose 10 speak he held
manuscript in his hand, to which he
seldom referred, however, and be waited
while the ladies fled in from an ante
/ room. The wait seemed a long one. bat
/ the President said: Il ara not going 10
untl The better half Of this con-
vention gets in, which brought forth an
/ other cheer
/ The big banquet hall OF the Arlington
was beautifully decorated with the flags
I Of all nations, gracefully iatertwined.
/ Back Of the chair reserved for the Pres
I ident hung silken banner, on which was
1 inscribed the arms of the United States.
/ The menu cards. furnished by Tiffany. of
/ New York were really works OF art.
/ The dinner was SO elaborate that II
/ took a long time, and the President came
| in with the ices. Ie was introduced bv
[ William McCarrci. who was acting as
chairman, who frst of all proposed The
/ health of the President. which was drunk
standing.
Text Of speech
| The Presidents speech was as follows.
Mr. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen.
II is a peculiar pleasure to me to greet
1 you here this evening on behalf Of the
national government, and in greeting all
/ of you let me say how particularly
/ pleased I am THAI we should have the
/ governors OF the great States Of Virginia
and Maryland with Us this evening.
Every public official who has a proper
/ sense of the obligations of his Oath Of
Office, whatever party he may belong To.
once that he Is in office must feel that
he Is the servant of all the people That
is true OF all public officials. but perhaps
1t is in an especial sense true of the Sec
retary Of State Of the Union: for our
party lines stop at the waters edge. The
minute that we get beyond the limits Of
our own country we are all of US Ameri-
cans and nothing else. It is in the full
est recognition Of that spirit that Secre-
tary Root acts and has always acted
In speaking to you this evening. ! need
say but little beyond stating to you that
what Mr.. Root has already said TO YOU
has my fun and unqualified Endorsement
In the few words that I have 10 say L
shall have to dwell purely on three policies
which Mr.. Root has developed that are
completely nonDartisan. completely in the
interest Of the nation as a whole I in
tend to say just a few words to YOU on
the question Of our relations to Santo Do
ming0, upon our consular service. and
upon the effort to secure better trade reIa-
tions with South and Central America and
the Orient
Discusses DominEO's Position.
First, as 60 our relations with the Do
minican republic. The United States
holds. and must hold. a peculiar position
in the western hemisphere. This posi-
ton must never be one of oppression OF of
aggression toward her weaker neighbors:
il must be one of hel9fulness toward
them; it must DE an attitude of helping
them to stand on their own feet Under
Mr.. Roots guidance we are now endeavor-
ing to secure by treaty with Santo Do
mingo an arrangement designed to make
it absolutely unnecessary for this country
ever TO think OF intervention ia Santo
Domingo: because ii is an effort 10 pre-
vent the possibility of the occurrence Of
conditions there which would necessitate
such Intervention. Two years ago things
in the island got into such a shape that
we became satisfied that certain European
powers, If we did not take some steps to
better conditions. would themselves take
possession Of certain ports in the islands
We had to act tc prevent action by others.
Since then We have been striving TO
develop some scheme by which SantO
Domingo could secure a financial pros
perity and stability that would enable
her to pay the just debts that she owed
TO outsiders, while at the same time
being free from any possibility of aggres-
sion by outsiders or By ourselves. / viii
not go into the details Of the present ar
TaBgement-an arrangements as yet in
part but tentative-but the salient fea-
lures are that we are trying TO nego-
tiate a treaty by which We shall loan to