The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-07-10
TAFT'S SPEECH AT
GEN. GRANTS TOMB
Rash Talk Resretted-Cannot
Be RecaIIed-ToO Late

On that occasion Secretary Taft
said: 1t is true that Grant re-
ceived an education at West Point,
but certainly nothing was devel-
oped there in him to indicate his
fitness or ability to meet great re-
sponsibilities. He did we'll in the
Mexican war, as did other lieuten-
ants. He manifested as regimen
tai quartermaster energy and famil-
iarity with his duties. But i'll
1854 he resigned from the army
because he had to. He had yield
ed to the weakness of taste for
strong drink, and rather than be
court martialed he left the army.
He returned from Vancouver, on
the Pacific coast, to his family in
St. Louis without money, without
property disheartened man. He
accepted from his father-in-law a
loan of seventy five acres OF land,
upon which he constructed house
for his family to live in, and there
he carried on farming operations.
His chief business seemed to be
that of selling wood, of cutting it,
and piling it in the back yards of
the well-to-do people of St. Louis.
After six years of this life he gave
up farming because of ill-health
and went into the real estate bust
ness for a year. He failed in this.
His associate dissolved the partner
ship. Then at last his father offer
ed him $500 as a clerk in his
leather store at Galena, ILL.,, and
then he moved from St. Louis.
During these seven years, though
everything looked dark, he over
came in a great measure his weak
ness for strong drink. But he was
so constituted that it seemed i'm
possible for him to earn a livelihood
when BE had given hostages to
fortune in the shape of wife and
four children
Secretary Taft's speech at the
Grant tomb brought down storm
Of criticism and Mr.. Tafts politi-
cal enemies in the republican party
have had much to say of his adj
mitted unfortunate blunder. They
point out that Mr.. Taft read his
speech from his manuscript and
that, therefore, they have right
to say that the insult was deliber-
ate and they point out also that the
speech was delivered in the pres
ence Of General Frederick Dent
Grant, a son, and members of his
family. Naturally Mr.. Taft is
greatly grieved because Of his
blunder. He gave to the Associa-
ton Press the following statement:
am very much distressed that
anything l have said should be
construed to be an attack upon
General Grants memory. l yield
to no man in my admiration for
General Grant. in my high estimate
OF his remarkable qualities and
character and of the great debt
mat the nation owes him. In my
memorial address | attributed his
resignation from the army in 1854
70 his weakness for strong drink
because from Mr.. Garland's life of
General Grant and of the evidence
ne cites and from other histories l
supposed it was undoubtedly true.
referred to the matter only be-
cause it seemed to me that it was
one OF the great victories of his
me that he subsequently overcame
'ne weakness. The wonder of his
n'e was that, with all the discour
ssements that he encountered before
tue civil war, including this, he
ocane the nations chief instru-
ment in suppressing the rebellion.
venture to say that no impartial
man can read my Memorial day
saoress and say l do not give tc
0eneral Grant place in history as
WlXn that