The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-10-26
TAFT PARTY IS
: ON the WATER
Long Journey Down Mississ.
ippi River Begins.
LARDER WELL SUPPLIED

Queer Looking Green.coVered Tables
Arouse Suspicion and Shock Speak
er Cannon--President Bitterly As.
sails Pork Barrel" Method Of Ap.
portionins Funds For Public I'm.
provements and Says Practice Must
stop-suesests Better Methods.
St. Louis. Oct &c President Taft
started his l200.mile trip down the
Mississippi river 10 the footing of
whistles and the cheers of thousands.
Fifteen big Mississippi river steam
boats bearing notable escort, swung
or behind the little lighthouse ten
der Oleander, on which the president
is quartered. Included in the escort
are the vice president of the United
States, two cabinet members, 20
United States senators, four represen-
tatiyes of foreign nations, the speak.
er of the house of representatives,
With 176 Of his fellow congressman,
and hundreds of prominent business
men OF the middle west, 1t is the
greatest show that was ever pulled
OF In an effort to push legislation
through congress. The excursion is
running under the auspices of the
Lakes.to.the.Gulf Deep Waterways as
sociation, and is to end at the annual
convention of the association in New
Orleans. AS Governor Hadley of Mis-
souri describes the trip. it is to be
for r"exploitation and Investigation"
Mr. Taft himself hardly regards it as
a pleasure trip.
Some idea of the size of this ex.
cursion may be CLEANED from the
stun that had been packed in the
fleets larders before 1t left. There
were $4,000 pounds of fresh meat, 2SO
dozen chickens. $500 turkeys, l25
gallons of oysters, $500 pounds of
fish, $50 bushels of potatoes. 1920
dozen of eggs, 2.400 pounds of Lutter,
$4,000 cigars and wines and liquors
unestimated.
On the boats carrying the COVER
nors from the Mississippi valley
states and the congressman were a
few peculiar looking tables with
green cloth covers. One OF the st.
Louis papers says they are poker ta-
bles with inches for chips, stands for
bottles and a depression in the cen
ter for the kitty. When one or two
OF the Mississippi valley governors
were asked about the discovery they
said: "What is kitty" Uncle Joe
Cannon, who was assigned to one of
the boats that had a table or two,
was shocked when somebody sug-
gested that they might be poker ta-
bles and the committee on transpor-
tation also was grieyed at the asper-
sion. It will be a four-days' run
down the river.
Somebody wanted to know of I'm
Gle Joe before he sailed what he
thought OF the fight the insurgents
were making against him. Get your
pencil out and write this down" said
he, which was done as follows: "Old
Paul you will recollect, II You refer
to his journey finally struck AN atti-
tude and said; Il have been impris.
oned, punished with stripes, met with
robbers of land and have been ship
wrecked and have met the beast of
Ephesus, but none of all these could
discourage me- That is ALL"
AT the coliseum the president ad
dressed an audience of 10000. He
served notice on Speaker Cannon
that the old "pork barrel method OF
apportioning the harbor and river
improvements to the congressman
with a pull will have to cease. The
speech caused q sensation among the
III congressman at the st. Louis
meeting. who regarded 1t as a direct
slap at the speaker Among other
tlAngs he said
We have spent great deal OF
money on waterways. ! do not think
IL has been spent as much to a good
purpose as II would have been had
we adopted some other theory, and
some other method, but | am not
here TO c1ticise that. | do think that
we have now reached time in the
history OF the development of our
waterways when new method ought
TO be adopted
every measure that is to be taken
and adopted must be on the ground
that 1t is useful to the country at
large and not on the ground that 1t
is going to send certain congressman
back to congress or on the ground
that II is going to make a certain
part of the country during the ex-
penditure of that money prosperous.
II that principle and the one which
! deprecate is to obtain, | am in IA
yor of going along the same old way
we have gone before.
"The method which ] favor is this:
that we should take up every com
prehenalve project on its merits and
we should determine by all OF the
means at our command whether the
country in which that project is to
be carried out is SO far developed as
to Justify the expenditure of large
sum In carrying out the project ana
whether the project will be useful"
J Aldrich 10 Open Campaign.
Washington, Oct 26.- Senator Al