Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-12
Dignitaries of State
and Town Join in
Reception
TAKES HARBOR TRIP
Parade, Dedication of
School Site, and Banquet
at Night Among Fea-
lures of Program
Men of Local and National Prominence
Join In Doing Honor to Nations
Chief Executive at Shrine
Auditorium
IN AFT and his smile pervade the city.
Somehow or other it does not

m AFT and his smile pervade the city.
Somehow or other it does not
II seem just right to say William
Howard Taft, or Mr.. President Taft.
Those handles to his real name-the
name he has made so potent an infiu-
ence for peace and progress in two
hemispheres in the past ten years-were
all right yesterday morning. But today
| in all the $1,000 persons who yesterday
saw their chief executive on the streets
and in the halls of Greater Los Angeles
there is none who can escape the Taft
personality.
It's Taft who is here.
The president of the United States of
America possesses one of those big
frames which dominate any assem-
blage. He looms up big in any compa
ny. Were he a brick mason his fellow
, workmen would call him Mr.. Taft, or
| Taft--never Bill. There is something
about him that compels attention, re
spect, a hearing. Above the frame Of
! him is large, Well shaped, command
| ing head, and a face that beams peace.
good will, friendliness, understanding,
amiability; such a head and face as
would be turned to under any circum-
stances with confidence and fellow feel
ing.
Hand Shake Eloquent
They say you can read lot of char
acter in a hand shake If you can, the
right hand of the president is a book.
Taft does not hold his welcoming hand
out like a basket-palm up-in which, if
you will, you may lay yours. He does
not proffer it to you as though he were
through with it. He doesn't swing it
toward you so that you may grasp it as
a commuter would a car strap. There
is nothing swell about the hand
shake of thenation's highest priced SER
want Mr.. Taft shakes hands, and when
you are through you know it-and you
feel as though he did, too.
Then there is his voice. Mr. Taft has
been a lawyer all his life, and when you
get one good look at the Taft smile you
expect him to raise his great bulk and
begin, with sort of closing -address-to-
the jury intonation: MY dear
friends"
But he fools you. He doesn't need to
use adtectives or euphonious appella-
tions; his smile does that part of it.
Instead he jumps right into the midst
of you with his speech-a sort of talk
that takes hold of your hand, button
holes you, shoves you up against post
and goes down to your heart by the
shortest route.
Fellow citizens, I'm glad to be here
My entire trip has been a pleasant one.
was particularly glad to reach Cali
fornia and am glad today that the
in San Francisco, is to end in South
ern California among you"
Air of Peacemaker
They have always represented Taft
with a palm leaf in his hand and a
dove of peace f1uttering around in the
circumambient atmosphere. The air
of a peace-maker and peace-keeper
exudes from him, and perhaps the first
words he uttered in the city of Los
Angeles were more portentous of peace
in this state than a casual hearing
would convey in them.
This is the man Taft big in frame
commanding in appearance, kindly in
face, hearty in greeting, direct in man
ner with faculty of going directly
where he wants to go. This is the
president whose private train rolled
into River station yesterday morning
on the dot-the great engine decked in
flags and bunting and looking as proud
as shining machine of steel and iron
and brass could look Mr.. Taft's first
view of Los Angeles was down in the
heart of things-in the center from
which radiates the great stream of
commerce and traffic, and to which
tens of thousands of persons come
every year to add themselves to the
population. He saw a dirty railroad
yard, surrounded by factories. shops
and mills--the very heart of the city.
When he had bowed CHEEKY good
morning to the hundreds congregated
there and had received the committee
men who were to escort him on his
way he was carried away to San Pedro
and shown the ground on which Los
Angeles is even now building a future
replete with possibilities. He saw those
possibilities; he said so.
Then he was faced about again.
bowed en- route to the country-follS
gathered at the Compton depot and
was delivered safe and sound at three
seconds before 1 o'clock yesterday
afternoon at the edge of plot OF
grass in the Arcade depot yards,
where. in the shade of a big evergreen.
he received the official welcome to the
city
In the next two hours President Taft
transacted a large amount of inn
portant public business. He met per-
sonally 225.000 individuals, thousands
OF them little children. viewed the city,
called at the chamber of commerce,
-s Continued on Page six)