The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1909-05-27

kitchin. that these exercises must
be held indoors. instead of outside
where everybody could see and hear.
Today is the Twentieth of MAY. and
my countrymen. il the foods that
hara descended today could NOT
danIpen the ardor of the Tweutiat h
OF Nav spirit. you may know that
that spirit is warmed by the eterna
truth
Mr.. President, understand that
when you were inauyurated i'm Wash
in2ton-a happy event, at which |
could not he presant-the storms
there ragged. but | will guarantee
that we have convinced the President
thnt we could have surpassed any
inauguration time, if it had lust been
winter time.
The Chief Magistrate of this
nation has often faced vaster crowds
than this, in the greater cities of the
country; in immense auditoriums
often have u. 900 and 10. 900 people
heard him, but never did a truer
people; a nobler people. or a more
patriotic people hear him than will
hear him today;-a people who seek
Tor the truth, and worship ut the
shrine OF justice, whose loyalty to
home and country and God is un-
stinted; people whose patriotism is
as boundless as the influence of the
American Republic
Ladies and Gentlemen: The vast
crowds that have gathered in this
beautiful city in this May-time this
year, are not merely paying tribute
to history and heroism and patroit-
ism, but they come, Mr.. President.
to pay tribute to the eminent charac-
ter, the spleudid fame, the worthy
services and the exalted position OF
the President of our common coun-
try Fellow cOuntrymen of the Caro-
linas. this sea of intelligent faces.
this happy audience demonstrates a
welcome to him far beyond the power
OF man to express in words.
And yet it has been fitting that
your honorable servant not merely
in his own behalf, and voicing his
own sentiments of Joy, but in behalf
of the great Commonwealth of Caro-
lima, should participate in the exer-
clses as an official evidence of the sim
cere pleasure of the genuine welcome.
which North Carolina tenders today
to one whose strength was great
enough to make him the leader of a
great POLITICAL party; whose man
hood and magnetism and patriotism
and greatness were sufficient to make
him the highest official of the great
est people in the universe.
| 'Carolinians, | present to you His
Excellency, the President of the United
States. Honorable William Howard
Taft, who will speak to you"
PRESIDENT OUTLINES APPOINT.
MENT POLICY.
| Declaring it the fixed purpose OF
his administration to do everything
which circumstances empower him to
do to remove the last vestige of sec.
tiOnal feeling remaining as an after
effect of the war between the States
and, as a means to that end, an.
nouncing it to be his policy in select
ing men for important positions tC
make his decisions largely on the
basis of the respect and honor il
which they are held by their home
Ipeople with whom they are to serve
President Taft won the enthusiastic
cheers Of 5000 people who filled the
Auditorium, at the intersection o
College and Fifth streets, in the after
noon. Interesting reference was made
to the appointment of Judge Connol
to the Federal bench
'The Federal judiciary to my
mind" said the President, lis the
strongest bulwark we have in all this
country to protect our institutions
Ofcivil liberty. And there is no greater
duty resting upon the Chief Executive
of this nation than that of the ap.
pointment of man to that position
who will strengthen it to all the peo-
pie at large. The Federal judiciary
should be as much appreciated in the
South as in the North and if | have
an opportunity to make any further
appointments in the South it will con
tinue to be my duty to make such ap.
pointments as will appeal to all the
people, whether they are Republicans
or Democrats, and | ask all citizens,
whether they be Republicans or Dem
Ocrats, to accept the appointments
made as men, if they are men, who
will carry on their high duties with
an eye to the administration of JUS
tice, to accept them and congratulate
the people on the appointment and
not make use OF them for any pOliti-
cal or partisan argument or partisan
appeal"
| These were perhaps the most sig.
uificant utterances OF his speech oil
more than an hour, so far as the
South and the country at large is in.
l terested.
| Entirely satisfactory to the most
exacting defenders of the validity Of
the Declaration were Mr.. Taft's refer
ences to that famous document.
There is q controversy" he said
las to what were the exact words
used in that Declaration. Not 6
word was uttered expressive of doubt
as to the fact that Mecklenburg die
declare her independence, though he
did not attach nearly so much i'm
portance to the mere fact of the dec
larations made as to the provision.
made for a new government.
"My friends" said he, "these gen
eral declarations, unaccompanied b,
some general sense of the responsi
bility OF self-government, are wotl
little or nothing. 1t is the men who
J go forward, knowing what they ar
,, doing, when they are cutting off thei
relations to one government and IN
derstand that the only justification
for so doing is the practical prepare
,, ton OF a new government That i
what makes Anglo-Saxon liberty
That is what has distinguished on
race for thousand years-the fac
that we dealt with what was practi
: cal and not with what was poetical
/, and oratorical and rhetorical.
j | x-rr,.