The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-09-03
SECRETARY WRIGHT BELIEVES
MILITIA SHOULD BE PUSHED
ENTITLED TO A VACATION
on Every Subject Except the Phil.
pines the New Head Of the Army
Hid His opinion Behind An
Imitation Taft Sm.e

kdnsaa CITY sept . To amy one
who enjoys ,nigmas uu pleasure
could be kocucr than s. interview
With General Luke T. Wu4nt ul
u W Secretary of Wa. E,uu hI,
smile is a weapon OF dr.ous. AGAINST
the Information hunter
Conditions for an eN, u4r rr con.
/ lideuccs were ideal yesterday after
noon. The seer tary sal Uou, On Gyu.
crl Fmstous office o. lou Icl,ou.
worth ia big leathp. easy CHAIR.
/ tie had just nnished luncheon and
was smoking a cigar, tho., Naa moth
/ ing To induce sense ot restraint
. ,Nc pt the influence OF tlr forts mr.
. niturc. Every time u.r secretary
was about to deliver am opinion hc
warily checked himself and flushed
/ the period with smile Fortunately
/ this smile was no ordinary p.c, of
facial exercise. 1t was spreading
/ hearty TAFT smile. AT rlr climax OF
which TIE secretary looked out be-.
tween narrowed eyelids and chuck
ned.
"R ally now it's this way he
began slowly, I've held my new office
about sixty days. haven't made up
my mind about many things / know
/ We have small army only about
$1,000 mon. I'm not good az remcm.
! bering exact figures. but believe
| 1000 of thes are in Cuba. 1900 iu
/ the philippines. That's small ar
my"
Ought that number be Iucreascd?'
The secretary sank deep into his
chair and said he couldu answer
Those were the facts. lie had no
/ opinions.
I'm not ready to speak from the
platform ne answered. and TAFT
smile protected him from further
questioning along that line
How about the militia? Well. the
militia was an important branch
about the service. The secretary was
glad congress had given it funds.
Employers Of miliuamen ought TO
grant their men months leave of
absence every year TO go to eucam9-
mouts, he said
lie was almost enthusiastic but as
he leaned forward his coat stuck TO
the leather Of his chair as il it was
fresh paint. TIE air of enthusiasm
vanished i'm twnkliug.
'They-they ought to havo that
much patriotism the employers
The men would work all the batter
/ fer tL" vacation, pcrIaps.
Again the Taft smile appeared
/ Luke Wright was a Confederate
soldier had been Attorney general
of 7 nnessee, has been vice-governor
y and tn II governor general of the Phil-
| ippine Islands and American ambas-
sador to Japan Three of his sons
/ fought in the Spanish war. and mill
/ tary operations have been General
Luke Wright's life long study All
/ tnat he could conf SIS, though, was
that he had "a good general know!.
edge OF military affairs to say any
Thing more would bee presumption.
He felt oppressed with what he yet
had to learn lie had some ideas
that he might work out but he
didn't care to talk about them until
he was sure ne was right
The secretary shook himself loose
from the sticky leather of the chair
puffed slowly at his cigar and did
Il five finger eNerci-a on his cane
lie appeared to be satisfied that ey-
cry word SO far had been spoken with
reserve and deliberation.
But there was one more topic left
At the mention of philippines" he
leaned forward almost eagerly yes
and began talking of his own free
viii
Those days I'm the Stands We're the
pleasantast part of my life. We
worked, never worked harder, and
I'm that climate, TOO. We We're all one
big family-tuat group around Taft;
aud he was the hardest worker Of
the lot. The natives thought, be-
cause we were so busy, that we must
De insane. Work Work! i. was
a good thing for u.s. Those prob
lens kept us Interested
Then this tacituru secretary ex-
ploded some facts AZ the end OF
each sentence he stopped short paus
ed; then exploded another. Now and
then he added a TAFT smile, and a
| hearty laugh TO end a paragraph.
| More people in the Islands today
| are speaking English than ever, spoke
u ! IL