The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-20
Excite a Vein of Sentiment in
Mr.. Taft. zsxs
He Addresses a Girls High
School at Augusta.
MIND HAS CHANGED.
LIS No Longer an Advocate of
Woman Suffrage.
says Women Can Get the Ballot
When They Want 1t.

augusta. Ga. Jan. 2O.-what might
oe CONSIDERED an entirely new point of
attack on the solid so1th ;, yas n,ode
Dy the president-elect when he mt in a
good word for the warmth and aydo,. ~
southern men who know a good thing
"hen tney see it," in the charm and
beauty of southern young women This
ngnter vein of Mr.. Taft's humor was
given vent before what he termed "a
bouquet of bright and charming faces,
the students of Tubman high school for
girls. The charming appearance of the
student body, he said impressed him as
an entirely new and convincing areu-
nent IN favor Of the separation of the
sexes Tor education. Mr. Taft admitted
his point of view had changed some
what on the question of woman suf-
rage since, when sixteen he ardentIy
advocated that doctrine in his gradua-
tion paper because of the admiration
ne mad for the Intelligence of the girl
members of his class in Woodward
high school, Cincinnati
When the trained and Intelligent wo-
men or the country wanted suffrage, he
predlcted they would get it, just on the
very natural ground that thew always
get what they want. But he remarked
in passing the subject for the discus
sion of matrimony, that he did not see
the slightest interest in the faces of his
hearers in what he was discussing
Advice ON Matrimony.
Matrimony, as Mr.. Taft said at
Athens, last week, was not the only
future to which a young woman should
look and no unsatisfactory acceptance
should be made of marriage proposals
simply to avoid being an old maid.
The great success of many unmarried
women of his acquaintance justified
this assertion But Of course in the
south you are not troubled as they
are in Massachusetts" he continued,
where there are so many women that
there is no possibility that they can all
marry and it is a real serious problem
as to what shall be done with the I'M
married women. Here know that the
situation is different but my dear
young ladies, I did not come here to
make a prepared address. I came here
trusting to the inspiration of the mo-
ment for what your bright eyes and
pretty faces and your charming pres
ence might bring out Of me. 1 trust 1
am not too old yet to yield to the
charm of beauty and that to which
even northern man may be awaken
ed to.
Knows a Good Thing.
ST know there is a theory that we are
all cold in the. north. but I assure you
it is not true. I remember while once
in Nashville, of making inquiries re-
garding great many families there
L
war there were great many northern
officers who exercised admirable taste
and who found young ladies of beauty
and charm, formerly on the other side,
who were willing, or who at least were
induced whether willing or not to be-
come the wives of northern men, so
that it might not be the worst lot
should your fate ever carry you north
of Mason and Dixon's line for we know
a good thing when We see it,
Mr "a 70 Hoir o<o1
and industrial institute for negroes,
where he delivered an extended address
on the benefits of Industrial education.
This school, which was founded by wo-
men and has been for % years under
the supervision of Lucy c. Laney, a ne
gress, has 700 students.
Expressing the most profound sym
pathy for the struggle upward of the
negro race, Mr.. Taft remarked, hav-
ing in mind the recent utterances of
Senator Tillman:
Replies to TiIIman.
81 do not think it Inappropriate to
refer to some of the expressions that
fall from the lips of men prominent in
political life that are utterly lacking in
any sympathy of that kind, and that
are cruel and abrupt in their meaning,
If they are to be given the meaning
that the words naturally bear. refer
to those gentlemen who deem it nee
essary to affirm that in the interest of
no education. Now, am glad to know
and believe that those men in their
hearts do not believe that, that it comes
rather from a desire to say something
that shall have a sensational effect than
it does from a real spirit. 1 was going
to say of cruelty toward a race that de-
serves from those of US who are white
all the aid, all the assistance and all
the sympathy we can give them.
know that you know that those express
sions do not represent the feeling of the
great body of intelligent white men in
the SOUTH
Missouri politics was the subject
which Mr.. Taft talked of with w. H.
Dickey, who spoke of the availability
for a cabinet place of Charles Nagel and
President Swinney of the First Nation
al bank of Kansas City. r. c. Kerns
of ST. Louis, likewise. had a Missouri
conference at the Taft cottage.