The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-13
War Secretary Speaks A Ban- qust of Lincoln Club in
 Grand Rapids, Mich
PROFOUND STUDENT
 'OF HUMAN NATURE
Taft Dwells Upon the Great Qualities of the Martyred President and Then Takes Up the Govern
 ment of Philippines.

Grand Rapids, Mieh. February 1a me Lincoln club banquet here tonivb+ was brilliant success with a soIsv,, or speakers never equalled in Michigan poi''ical oanquets. Ii was held fin the -Niii man furniture exposition building ana more than 20eO persons occunied seats al the table. The hall was elab- orateiy decorated and as a comnlina,t 10 Ambassador Jusserand of rranoa rreheh colors were mingled win th,
 ieah' President Roy H. Watkins ~ ene Aoung Mems Republican c,nh anu President Charles Holden of n. i"ncolh club, opened the banouet n-,,,. greetings. United States sana,o. ,,,,' ,s. 4aioen smith was toastmaster ana n, oeueeu the guests of the eveniny me speakers were Ambassador The seiano' Congressman George Ednonns ross' secretary of War Taft. Iovern.,n oureis Guild Jr., of Massa cbusetts ar, Yo"n barrett, director of the bprea, ,, 7 nerlean republics al washinston 'ioueh all of the speakers wa,a e'e'eed With enthusiasm 1t was sao
 e'aiy Iaft who received the vraata.. outburst of applause. interrupted frequently bv onn,. he spoke as follows. os7' Taft's Address. what would Lincoln do todsy,.
 did not select this toast ana s"ouio not have chosen it of my orn i'ee Will. It is difficult to fiji ,nt, ne" niche of history a really oraa- man whose greatness is ind,sso1;,,s,.. associated with a particular cr,vi. which he lived. There are e.n. ,,.
 i seem to have been shaped so ioei'eheialiy to meet a countrys great "eeu as that of Lincoln with reference to slavery and the Civil war. Con,,,r rom childhood of the 1rea+ost penury and dscomfort and so,.,o. minsllng with the humbIest and ,, poorest in western settlement rt,- com acquired sense of eouaIitv an5 ueniocfacy and love of equal rights mat never left him and gave deep color 10 ms whole life His soul revoltsd at human slavery He had tenaar ness of heart and sympathy with his leilowmen that manifested itself |, | hA hao a power of putting himself in an others place which gave him nra i round sense of justice He undersfoo5 the play Of human nature as few ma, nave lie was the greatest politician of the age and while he had deeplv im- bedded in his moral nature the Presi oent In favor of human liberty he did not propose to sacrifice his influenca to bring about the goal of his whole lifes ambition by going so fast in ex treme declarations of abstract princi- pies as to deprive him of future use fitness.
 I have read and re-read with pleasure the story of Lincoln by Herndon. his partner and noted with intense interest his unwillingness to attend a meetin, or aboltionists lest he might lose his i'm nuence with whigs. who did not sym pathize with the aboltionists Nor did ne wish to offend the abolitionists. So He made a court engagement for himself some 70 miles away, which made t im- possible for him to attend the meeting Now, 1t would be easy to say that this was cowardly. that this was the trick of a mere politician, but I think we may we'll ascrloe the motive to desire not to lose ms usefulness at a time when the fu- ture seemed big with an opportunity for him. His whole life showed that while he had ideals, he never allowed the long ing for the impossible to interfere with the securing of the possible He was a party man as every man must be who wishes to leave his individual impression upon the individual character of the na- ton.
 Independence Admired.
 'I don't mean for a moment to denre cate independence of party or mugwump- ism, because I believe that the inde- pendent vote on the whole exercises mora direct effect in an election than A marty no hrtf fIo pendent voters a mass exercise mora control over the decisions in an election as individuals they don't do so. The man who would retain his individual nfiu- ence and effect good measures in our country, where parties are a necessary in the carrying on of the government must be party man. And no one rec osniZed this more fully than did Lin, coin. For that reason, we say in the first place. that if Lincoln were living today. he would be republican
 "Lincoln's economic views were not dis tinctly marked Early in his career he favored internal improvements in Illi- nois as member of the legislature to such a point as to involve the state fin heavy indebtedness. which inured uargey to the benefit of the people. His mind was not directed. even during the war to economic subjects He safely delegated the finances of the country to his Secretary of the Treasury. MT. Chase. As follower of MT. Clay. he was in favor of the protection of the American system as 1t was called. During his ad- ministraton the Merrill bill was passed The system of prolonging American in- dustries on the Morton plan then was fully inaugurated. We can, therefore as- sign and proclaim hlm among protec- tionists.
 Absolute Freedom.
 Would he, as the anti -imperialists take the pCSitiDD. 1i1,fu ff- day. that the republican party in it's action in respect to Porto Rico Cuba and the Philippines, had departed from the principles that actuated him in be- coming republican and in retaining that party in national control? Mir. Lincoln relied greatly in his discussions on the slavery question upon the terms of the declaration of independence He
 
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