The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-27
TAFT IS HAPPY ON RIVER BOAT Makes Three Very Brief
 Speeches. DIMES WITH THE GOVERNORS Citizens of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri Greet President. President's Weasel. With Great Escort, Leaves Waters of Mississippi for
 Visit to Banks of Ohio
 Roar of Cannon An-
 nounces Arrival.

with mile or so on the Ohio thrown l in. President Taft arrived here shortly after o'clock and made an address from a stand erected on the levee.
 This being Mir. Tafts only stop in
 Kentucky on his recent trip, people came from all parts of the State to greet him.
 i Tonight the excursion fleet of doz-
 en or more packets, which the Presi- | dent Is leading to the Lakes to the l Gulf Deep Waterways Convention at New Orleans. Is proceeding down the big river under a brilliant moon just | rounding to fullness. The weather Is delightfully."- cool and more hitting
 season for the voyage could hardly have been planned.
 President Taft Is finding tho river trip. a hit resting and enjoyable. On | the light house tender Oleander h is
 surrounded only by a few members of his own party and Is the guest of Com
 nander E. H. Tillman of the United States Navy. in charge of the light | house district from Cairo to New or | leans, a distance of more than 1000 miles.
 Commander Tillman has been on the l Mississippi River for four years. and knows its possibilities, it's difficulties. | its disappontments and its vagaries about as well as anybody. The Pres
 dent is hopeful that some plan can be
 devised by which at least ten feet of
 water can be secured at all seasons to | the Gulf. He saw today, however,
 many caving banks, evidences of how
 the channel is constantly undergoing 1 radical changes and how the piecemeal work of improvement in the past has gone practically for naught. Three Brief Speeches. | nI the three brief speeches he deliv- I H...st oN fNs..x
 Girardeau. Mo. at Cairo. III. and herA
 MT. Taft reiterated his position in fa- ! yor Of deep waterways where 1t can | be d6InonKtrataa that the plans for inl- E Eprovemsnt are feasible. are necessary
 and can be carried into completion
 without a too great expenditnrs Of 1 money ss At
 At Cairo the President was followed I by Speaker Cannon, who declared that
 he approved President Tafts deciara- tion in nearly every particular, and wished he could approve them in all. l He still balks, however. at the Presi- dents proposition to issue bonds to | carry forward the work of improve
 ment once 1t has been decided upon.
 He declared the work should be carried on only as rapidly as 1t can be paid for out of the current funds in the Treasury.
 The President tonight was tho guest | of the Governors, who are making the | trip down the river on the steamer St. Paul, which immediately follows the Oleander. He had been invited to din-
 ner last night, but was so fatigued and worn out from the effort of speaking several times in St. Louis, that he begged to be excused until this even ing.
 The St. Paul was brought up in mid stream alongside tho Presidents boat this evening and lashed there, while he and his party were conducted on
 board. The same proceeding was gone through today shortly after the fleet | left Cairo and the President. was pre- | sented with a 'possum. already cooked and surrounded by delicious sweet po- | tatoes ready to be served at his lunch | con table. While the possum was be- | ing trannferred to the Oleander a band on the St. Paul played the old negro
 melody. Carve Dat Possum; Carve
 Him to de Heart. 2
 ground since the Atlanta dinner of last winter that the President was | fond of 'possum meat. today was only | the third time he has eaten 1t. AL though enjoying the novelty of the | dish. MT. Taft has admitted to hts
 most intimate friends that he does not
 altogether Tanker" after 1t as a steady article of diet. Leaving Cairo today, Postmaster General Hitchcock and Secretary Ma gel of the Department of Commerce and Labor who had made the trip from St. Louis to this point on the steamer Erastus Wells, joined the
 President on the Oleander. They were also guests of the Governors at dinner
 tonight. Secretary of War Dickinson
 will rejoin tho Presidents party at Memphis tomorrow.
 Up Before Daylight. The President arose before daylight
 to keep his appointment at Cape Girar-
 reau. It was his earliest speech of the trip and he declared the novelty of
 speaking to the rising sun. The Pre-
 ident said he also enjoyed the novelty at Cape Girardeau of being escorted to
 the speaking stand by man larger than himself, attributing that distinc-
 ton to Eugene Regenhardt, chairman of the reception committee. who was the Presidents superior in height and
 almost if not quite his equal in breadth. He has sons named for Presidents Me- KinIey and Roosevelt.
 Whenever the Presidents boat passed today a point of the river near a set- clement, the banks were lined with people. who shouted a greeting to him over the waters.
 The zigzag course taken by the Ole ander in following the channel which leads from one side of the river to the
 other, often took President Taft with in speaking distance of those gathered on the banks. Shouts from small groups who were up late last night to see the fleet go by seemed almost to come from the very decks of the Pres idenes boat.
 Flights of wild ducks and geese, frightened from the river bars by the passing boats were an interesting fea- ture of the day.
 Two boats of the fleet. the St. Paul and the Erastus Wells, touched sand bars last night. but slid over them with but little delay.
 Passing the Congressional boat. which 1t was stated in St. Louis had been provided with nine poker tables. Pres ident Taft today called out to Speaker Cannon on the hurricane deck: "If YOU catch anybody blufing, Uncle Joe, take the money"
 Stop at Cairo.
 Cairo Ill. Oct. 26-The roaring can