The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-09-16

his submarines and aerOplanes made to
order, as he does his chairs and beds.
Even the buying OF a Taft horse
requires the securing Of the country
in order that one may be found that
will stand the strain. One Of the
reasons that the White House auto
mobile is a government machine is
that no mere privately owned one
would be sufficient. In the matter Of
the present tour, however, the roads
are now well ballasted and the cars
strongly built, so no fears need he en-
tertained on that score
Washington Toured In Coach.
The presidential tour has been in
vogue ever since the days Of G. Wash
tngton, who used to go about in a
coach and four, with children ahead
scattering flowers and citizens on the
roadside raising their cooked hats in
homage. Washington's mode of travel
made it impossible to cover much ter
ritory, but then there was not much
territory in those days to cover. There
is also record that James Monroe
made a coach tour of New England
and other parts of the country in days
when there was such an era of good
feeling that partisans had ceased to
call each other names. I am not sure
just what president was the first to
make use of the railroad for touring
purposes, but it was some time before
the civil war. Lincoln did little trav-
cling, leaving that to his generals, who
did quite little going, both on the
advance and the retreat. Mr.. Lincoln
visited the front quite often, however.
and rode horse along the lines. with
his tall hat far aloft and his feet and
coattails close to the ground. Andrew
johnson was lively and violent tray
eler and started the term Swinging
around the circle" He appealed to the
country, but congress nearly got him
in spite of the speed of his circle
swinging. Grant travelled much and
was greeted everywhere as a hero. He
could not make speech, but the coun-
try did not seem to mind We have
so many orators around loose that it
matters little whether our presidents
can talk or not
There is no record of Hayes, Garfield
and Arthur having done much in the
touring line, but Cleveland went out
upon the road and was accused of u.s.
ing an encyclopedia in preparing his
speeches to the different towns he Wis
tied. He wanted to throw in some To-
cal color, you know, and there is moth
ing like an encyclopedia for that, pro-
vided, of course, that one has no up to
date information. Benjamin Harrison
Travelled much and was widely COM
plimented on his happy little speeches.
Mckinley did more touring than any
other president up to his time. and
Roosevelt beat Mckinley.
The Roosevelt Tour de Force.
With the trough RIDER the presiden-
tial tour became more than a mere
outing and qualification of the curl
osity of the people. It was a means of
spreading his principles. It was not
only his method of finding out what
the country believed, but an avenue
through which to tell the country what
he believed. Travel with Roosevelt
was a stirring up time. If he was
not stirring up the people he was STIR
ring up the bears and wildcats. Mean
while he was making it unpleasant for
the trusts, the nature takers and sew
eral other classes of undesirable citi-
zens. No old time preacher went on
zeal than did Roosevelt. 1t was not
enough to write books, magazine arti-
cles, voluminous messages, interviews
and letters galore He also went out
to John Smith at Kokomo and Henry
Jones at Painted Post and told them
about it. Roosevelt not only believed
in publicity for the trusts, but in pub
licity for presidents, and he got all Of
it there was. Whenever "T. R." hit
the trail the pressmen oiled their ma
chimes and the linotype operators pre-
pared for extra hours.
In this respect it is fairly certain
that Taft will follow in the footsteps
of his predecessor. His tour will be a
means of telling the country what he
is going to do. In his various speeches
he will lay down his policies and out
line the program Of his administration.
The vast number Of addresses he will
be called upon to make will give am
pie oppor> .Aity for this. At one point
he can lay stress on one policy, and at
another he can enunciate his purposes
in another direction. Thus his utter
ances on the whole tour will be found
to constitute mosaic which, fitted to-
gether, will give his complete program.
In the central west and in the home of
the insurgents he may be expected to
offer defense Of the Payne bill, in the
northwest to outline his plans as to
conservation, in the south his policy
further to allay sectionalism and ev-
erywhere his plans to regulate the cor
porations, his ideas as to monetary re-
form, his proposals for additional rail
road legislation and his opinions on
other questions agitating the particular
section in which he is speaking or the