The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-18
TAFT MAKES ADDRESS TO
 IRISH CLUB IN CHICAGO
CONTINUED FROM PAGE D

(CONTIN f'tOM I never quite understood the sis h,h- cance of the last three words Of the ob rase unless they meant the bright nass of the morning did not wear away until long in the day the spirit or the anniversary had dwindled. Such as any occa sion brings forth loyalty Is well celebrated and especially with the hls- torv of the beautiful island with her face to the west and her back toward England, and the part that St. Patrick played in her civilization and develop ment."
 After reviewing the life and works of St. Patrick, declaring that attempts or critical German scholars to show the life of the patron saint a myth had been shattered by recent discovery of proof of his supposed work, President Taft said:
 "St. Patrick introduced into Ireland the aLtin tongue. It became the Ian guage of the church all over the island, and 1t made a union with Rome that has never been since broken. He laid the foundation of the culture and spread education and aided in the de- velopment of the liberal arts which put Ireland in the forefront of civilization for a thousand years.
 A Sad History
 Her history thereafter is sad one. Had the Romans conquered her as they did Britain; had the Saxons followed and then the Normans so as to make a homogeneous result. there would have been different face to history. Ger tainly not until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have governmental measures been adopted in Ireland with any view to bettering the conditions of the Irish. During the centuries preced- ing the nineteenth and clear back to the times of the Tudors they have been subjected to Legislation which was tainted with selfish exploitation. The result has been that Irishmen have left home.
 From 1920 until 1907 1s,0OO.00c for eigners settled in the United States. Of this number 3,s00,000 are from Ireland. When the immigration from Ireland was at its height and for years there after many of the Irish immigrants. many of them ignorant but sturdy la borers, gave to their children the ben efits of public education and the equal ity of opportunity which has been so characteristic of life in the United States since the beginning of It's his- tory, and today it is not too much to say that the Irish citizens of this coun- tIy anu thciI lNHtHeuldte deScenQantS OC- cupy distinctively higher place in so- ciety than they did generation ago. The proportion of their numbers IS shown to be greatly increased in the last two generations. Amalgamatfon between the Irish and American has gone on and the Irish are rapidly being absorbed and also rapidly contributing their shares to the new and distinct type of American.
 Irish to the Front
 Tn all our wars, the Irish have been to the front; in the revolution, in the war of 1872, in the Mexican war, and in the civil war. They are naturally warlike people, and their patriotic love for their adopted country makes them good sol diers, as there are no more daring, no more effective than they.
 ''The fondness with which they cher ish the memories of> the beautiful island of their origin does not in the slightest lessen their loyalty to the country in which they have made themselves so prominent and successful part. Having religious liberty, they recognize the equal fly of the American law, and are most valuable element in our midst Relieved from the sadness of the surroundings in their island home, they do not. like some of the rest of us, take their pleasures meagerly, but take it in broad fellow ship in the name of Humankind. They create an atmosphere by their presence