Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-12

was indorsed by President Taft in his
remarks last night at Shrine Auditor
ium. He argued for a protected mer-
chant marine, reaffirmed his belief in
the Roosevelt doctrine and explained
some of the points about the Panama
canal, He said:
The Presidents Speech
President Taft said in part;
Il came into your city this morning
by way of your harbor, and my interest
in your city was originally largely de-
Veloped from an eastern standpoint,
but from the standpoint of a territory
from which 1 have more right to hail
/ think than the state of Ohio-l mean
the Philippine islands. am bound TO
say, first, that l have learned today by
personal observation a great deal about
it and of its value and of its possibility
as one of the great harbors of the
western Pacific coast that l did not
know before.
Il did not know that you were in
tensely interested in it. No man could
live in the neighborhood of your Junior
senator and have anything to do with
the authority concerning that harbor
without having it borne upon him, as
our Methodists say, with an intensity
that he doesn't forget.
1T did not seem to me to be of such
immediate Importance that the har-
Dor lines away out here on the west
coast should be fixed for particular
harbor but there was nothing for me
to do under the circumstances, but to
end that controversy in view of the
attitude that Senator Flint bore to-
ward me, and | made an order that
the engineers should fix those harbor
lines or else some engineers would
suffer No. 1 do not ask your graft
tude on that account. 1t was mat
ter of personal comfort to me, and 1
fixed them, and they are going to
stay there, at least as long as l have
control; but, of course, they are going
to stay there. They were fixed by
an eminent body of army engineers,
thon whom there are no greater or
men of higher character than they.
Refers to Captain Fries
you were greatly concerned, or
some of you We're, when the gentleman
who preceded the present engineer was
assigned to some other duty and the
present engineer put in. 1t is possible
1 have met Capt. Fries 1t is little
difficult to keep all the army officers,
when there are 5000 of them, in your
mind but I have met the present en-
gineer-I met him this morning-and
if there is any citizen of Los Angeles
THAT Is more lllDueu WIFI lll6 LOS All
geles spirit than he is I have yet to
meet him, and 1 have met a good
many. The truth is, with respect to
army engineers, they are put v--ere
they are put to do theier duty, and
when they are there they do their
duty, and the great advantage that
we have in building the Panama canal
today is that while we have the most
eminent men at the head of that work,
If they were to die tomorrow from any
cause yellow fever or death of any
kind, suggesting immediate death to
their successors, we could call upon
the members of that corps immediate |
ly to furnish men who would step into |
their places and die if necessary in the |
discharge of their duty without a
question.
THAT is the kind of men we have in
the army engineers, and if the time
comes under the regulations of that !
department for the present lieutenant
to move on and acquire the at
mosphere of some other entereprising |
port and harbor and city, he will be |
followed by man who will do his duty |
just as well as the present engineer, |
and you can count on it.
Prophesies Success
"The last speaker suggested a num-
Ter OI lLluBS lldl you NOulu llhe " I
have from the general government. 1 /
am not a dispenser of the funds of the
general government. l am its distrib- |
utor, or at least those under me dis
tribute the funds that the congress of |
the United States appropriates, but
living near the seat of government ana
having had some experience in the way |
that the government works and the ,
matters that influence the committees
on rivers and harbors in both houses. 1
can give you the benefit of that expert /
ence enough to prophesy a few things |
in regard to that harbOr.
II do not guarantee it. No wise man
ever guaranteed what the verdict of a
jury would be or what a congress would |
do, but l venture to prOphesy with that
qualification, first, that you have got a |.
harbor now sufficiently constructed to
show that it is worthy of being i'm /
proved to the uttermost; second, that
you have taken the step which most of
all will secure from congress the money |
needed to make the harbor all that you
wish it to be, and that is, you have vot-
ed to put your own money into the i'm
provement of that harbor in order that
the public may get the benefit of the
wharf.
'"The principle that has moved the |
committees in both houses is that the |
Lord helps those who help themselves, |
and that they are most willing to put
the governments money into those en- |
terprises in which the local communi- |
ties are so intensely interested that |
they are willing to make large contri- |
buttons themselves.
Up to the People
"Hence, I say, without hesitation at |
all, that with your Improvement Sc |
cured as you have secured it by a |
vote of bonds. there isn't any trouble |
about the improvement of your harbor |
as you desire. l sayt as you desire it, |
Our friend on the left suggested forty |
five feet depth. Well, that is all right, |
but what you will do with that extra |
ten or fifteen feet 1 do not know un-
til you get boats that have that draft |
We had to make the Panama canal |
forty-five feet because it was a work |
which was to be constructed for all |
time. The locks when put in there |
cannot be changed with any reason |
able expense, and therefore the law !
provided that the canal should be con-
structed of such dimensions that it |
would transport or furnish the means |
of transportation of any vessel they
are now sailing or projected.
"Well, there were two or three ves-
sells projected of 3S feet maximum |
loaded draft, SO feet beam and 800 feet |
long, and we have put in locks that
are Al feet deep over sill, that are
a thousand feet of usuable length and |
are 40 feet wide, but that is for the |
far future, because ii would be most |
and most expensive to |
change those locks, but it is easy
enough to deepen a harbor like this; |
if you conclude that you have so |
many ships Of As feet maximum loaded !