The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-16

have Supported President Roosevelt in many of his measures, so we expect them to support you iH every measure which will lift our public standards"
 Judge Taft had given care to the prepa- ration If his banquet speech. regarding it 1 as his Important utterance of the day, and in its delivery he followed his manuscript | elosely He had come south for rest to 1 tired nerves after a strenuous political campaign. he began. but when he realized he had fallen into the hands of strenuous AtlantaHs he began to realize that his rest was to be seriously broken For he 1 continued, "only three cities suggest the spirit of civic energy and enterprise which one finds here. Those are Chicago, Kan sas City and Seattle, and say this with 1 hesitation, lest there be some among those who hear me who will object to the com parison as unjust and uncomplimentary."
 Political Changes.
 Referring again to his campaign MT. Taft said with feeling that he was proud to have been the first republican candi- date for the presidency who had carried his canvas south of Mason and Dixons l line This led him to a reference to his | North Carolina dinner speech In New York, where he remarked on the advan- 1 tages that might arise from change in the political complexion of some of the southern states, and pointed out the com mon ground upon which, in view of the causes which had led to the political 1 solidarity of the southern states, might now justify many southerners to change their political associations and vote with the republican party
 "In the presence of democrats and re- publicans here, at non-partsan ban quet, expressing the welcome of the whole community, it would neither be courteous nor appropriate for me to go into par tisan discussion" MT. Taft continued. "I can only refer to the fact with gratifca- ton and congratulation that today the expression of any political view in the south is possible without involving social ostracism or any of the penalties with which it mght have been visited in earlier times. Ten years have made great diff ference in the attitude which the con- trolling people of the south occupy toward the north and the gov ornment"
 Cause of Changes.
 The President-elect then summarized the causes which had worked and were effect Ing this change-the Spanish war; the att titude of Mckinley, his lovable character, and the principles he stood for in his cam paigns; the succession of Roosevelt with his Georgian mother, and finally the won derful business development of the south.
 Wealth accumulated he said, in ferring to this southern progress, farm ing became most profitable, the manufac- lures of the south increased by leaps and bounds, and the conditions were brought about which served to render the southern people forgetful of the poverty and strengthened circumstance which they had to endure for a long time after the war The man who is prosperous and suc- cessful loves law and order and peace forgets his traditional enmities and causes of bitterness, and yields easily to the con ciliatory advances of his neghbors.
 Then, too, the course of Theodore Roosevelt in becoming the exponent of the moral awakening among the people and in formulating their demand that the abuses which had crept in with our enormous material development should be stamped out and the business of corporations, railway and industrial, should be carried on within the law and on higher moral plane, found as hearty support in the south as it did in the north. The truth is that the south today contains more of the Puritan religious feeling than any other part of the country, and it re- sponded to the Roosevelt policies with as much emphasis and fervor as there was anywhere in the union.
 independence of Thought.
 ''The result of all this is to promote independence of thought and independence of political action and tolerance of both in the south, and no matter what ones political proclivities' are, this result he must accept, If a reasonable man, as one devoutly to be wished.
 T am republican, but concede fully the great advantage to the country of having a democratic party sufficiently powerful at times to win the presidential elections and always to put the republican party when in control in fear of pos sible or probable defeat And so In the south no one can deny the advantage that will arise in local and state governments when there is a substantial and intelll- gent minority which may become a suc- cessful majority in punishment of the abuses that are likely to grow out of the long continued and undisputed control of one party. Added to that, the uncer- tainty which may attend the result of national elections in a state~is certain to give it additional importance in the coun- cils of the nation.
 No Political Mission.
 'T have not come down here for polti- cal purposes, and am not here to preach a political propaganda, nor if l were would I expect a political revolution in any of the states of the south po- litical change, if 1t comes, in my judg- ment, must come by a continuance of the present movement, to wit the develop ment of independence of political thought and action on the part of a compara- lively small minority, which shall slow ly attain the proportions of a respect able opposition in each state to the con trolling party The south and the south ern people are conservative and they don't change in mercural way. With them traditions are respected and are strong motives of action. And If one were affected by purely partisan motives he must regard the effort to create a suc- cessful opposition in the south to present controlling party in such a way as to secure electoral votes in a national cam paign, as waste of strength and en- ergy. Occasionally a member of Con gress may be secured, but this is not enough to warrant the attention that ought to be paid to encoura ging the movement for political independence and action in the south. The motive for that must be the earnest desire of all patriotic men to make parties non-sectional and to unite and knit more closely those parts of the country which a bloody war oncs divided, but which now ought to be and certainly will be in the progress of events, one in feeling, sympathy and aspira- ton.
 Winning the South.
 q observe that among some prominent members of Congress there is disposi- tion to charge me with an attempt to win the south over to republicanism and