News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1909-09-22
The Presidents Trip

lHc FICSluCuL . Aiip
President Taft started from Boston
Tuesday of last week on trip to the
uttermost parts of the continental United
States, and it is announced that, during
the course of his itinerary, he will cover
1900 miles and will travel throug thir-
ty of the states of the Union.
The President has always been great
traveller, both as such and as the occu-
pant Of official positions which called him
far afeld, and he is probably better in
formed as to foreign parts" than any
other President we have ever had.
| Lincoln was never abroad and Travelled
but little in his own country. Johnson
never Travelled until he began his memoir
able "swing around the circle" hoping
| thereby to induce a second nomination.
Grant only Travelled after he had gotten
| through being President and then made
a world circuit, which was exceedingly
illuminative to him, as recorded in his
memories. Hayes never went very tar
in his own country and never at all
abroad. Cleveland never went to Eu-
rope, nor did he make any very extended
journeys at home Harrison did not
travel very much at home, but went to
| the Hague Conference after he was Presi-
| dent. Mckinley Travelled extensively
throughout the United States while Pres
ident. Roosevelt Travelled in Europe be-
fore he was President and when holding
that office visited the Isthmus of Panama
and Cuba, as well as the Pacific coast.
President Taft is on a tour of prog
ress," which will take him over thou
sands of miles and through many states
and even into our neighbor, Mexico. In
it he will view all sorts and conditions of
men and get acquainted with many diff
ferent classes of people; he will shake
at the end of the trip, know his people
even better than he does now, if that
were possible, and we give him full credit
for knowing the people he rules oyer
better than any of his predecessors.
One of the advantages President Taft
has over his predecessors is that he does |
not have to depend upon hearsay about |
things that happen or are likely to hap |
pen in Europe, or Asia, or Africa or any
where else-he has been there and has
seen the people and noted the character
istics, and the memory of it fingers with |
him, which is an essential gain in a man |
called upon to rule over such polyglot |
people as we have become. His knowl |
edge gained by travel cannot fail to re-
suit in the lasting good of his admins
tration.
All this goes to show that we are no
longer provincial, but are becoming cos
we are taking more and
more widely diffused interest in our own
country and in those of other continents.
What once sufficed for knowege of affairs
with our President was derived from
heresay; now it comes from actual OBJ
This cannot fail to advance
our interest as world power.
The Presidents trip, in some way,
carries us back to medieval times and
reminds us of the "royal progresses
made in those days when the king, or the
emperor, or the car, as the case might
De, made a journey through his realm to
see the people, realize their needs and be-
,ome more intimately acquainted with
hose he ruled over. These progresses
we're marked by such display and osten-
alton as we do not have to put up with
o-dav, and it is doubtful if it at all added
o the effectiveness of the journeys Pres
dent Taft travels in special train, to be
ure, but he will in a much more marked {
way meet and known the people he serves !
han did the rulers of old who used to !
ravel about with such pageantry and '
'omp, and encompassed by "an army t
With banners" c
The journey thus far has been one of 4
uccess in that he has met many people
nd told them in various addresses what d
e is working for-to make his admins :
ration one that will be of good to the Z
eOple of the entire nation and not to build !,
p any section at the expense of another. =
Ill eyes are on the President and what !.
e says as he goes from place to place is !,
agerly sought for by his people in all +
arts of the nation.
Boys and Cigarettes
The effect of the new Canadian law on d