The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-18
soUTH'S PROSPERITY
 IS EMPHASIZED
Functions and Is Completely Tircd.,f Out When He starts Back
 for Rochester


 his train left tonight for Rochester, N. Y.
 During the day he spoke to members of
 the Chicago Newspaper club. the Traffic club to mass meeting. to members and
 guests of the Hamilton club and twice at
 functions provided by the Irish Fellow
 ship club which was his host for the day.
 In these speeches the President touched on statesmen correspondents, who col-
 ored facts to suit their views. To railway
 men of the Traffic club he expressed his
 trust in the sense of justice to the Amer | ican people. He declared that he had | learned more in the first year of his ad-
 mnistraton than he could hope to assim- | Hate in tho next three.
 Speaking of the prosperity of the coun- try, the President referred especially to advance in the south.
 "fd like to dwell upon that" said the speaker 'because down in the south there
 was time when she was hindered and seemingly had little chance of any real progress. But now she is making moro progress than any other section, east,
 west or north. And I know that you
 northerners will welcome that fact be- cause you realize that there was tims
 when she did not have quite fair show" l. C. P. Taft Is Present Tie Presidents brother. Charles P. Taft. unobtrusively edged into the crowd dur
 ing the reception given by the Chicago
 Newspaper club and was also present at
 the luncheon. A harp of shamrocks sent | from Ireland by John E. Redmond, the
 
 the guest of honor.
 | At the conclusion of this luncheon tho President sought his room for half an
 hour of quiet and rest Crowds made
 the hotel corridor noisy but policemen
 warned all who passed the Presidents
 rooms to cease talking When the Presi- dent reappeared he seemed much re- 1 freshed, and there was nothing of weari-
 ness apparent in his manner when he be- 1 gan his address to the thousands of per-
 sons who had gathered at the Auditorium | theatre.
 | At the stage door of the theatre a man
 attempted to follow the President into the
 building, but he was seized by two secret
 service operators. He declared he was a newspaper man, but the paper for which
 he said he worked denied his statement | He was locked up after struggle. He
 gave the name of Dick" Short. At the
 station it was said he seemed to be under | the influence of liquor
 1 Prolonged cheering interrupted the
 speaker when he mentioned the name of
 Theodore Roosevelt.
 Conservation Movement
 "The conservation movement" said Mr. l Taft. owes it's beginning to Theodore
 Roosevelt" (Prolonged applause) Go 1t again. you don't enjoy that any more
 than l do. Who was it that inspired in | Clifford Pinchot that wonderful activity | of mind and body with reference to
 conservation movement? (Applause,) am
 in favor of giving credit where credit belongs (applause) and of withholding 1t where it does not belong
 There are people in Congress. con
 scientious, hard-working. prominent
 statesmen who look at the question of
 conservation as it might have been looked
 at 20 or 30 years ago. They are still in l favor of letting out the land and getting 1 the settlers on it, not in favor of care | full method of conservation and preser-
 vaton. l am not crlticising them. They
 say that l don't understand, and we in | the east don't understand the situation because we don't breathe the atmosphere
 of the west. We'll l think are con
 vincing a good many of them that we
 are right and they are in the wrong. but l there are some of them who are perfect | Ajaxes in debate and who say they will | continue to debate this question and will
 stand against the conservation programme | as long as the leather of their shoes will | last.
 What l want to get is an act of Con gross that shall validate all the with
 drawals of land that have been made and | shall give me power to make such fur l ther withdrawals as ought to be made | until Congress has determined upon the proper disposition of these lands
 Meeting With Opposition | The President said that he was meet | ing opposition both from those who wish | an immediate disposal of land and from | those who question the constitutional | power of the President to make with drawals Speaking of his withdrawal of 1 three million acres of oil land in Cali | fornia the President continued "I want to enable Congress to mako proper rules with reference to the acqui- 1 sition of titles to these lands and with | reference to prospecting over them to find l out where the oil is Now. some gentle men-and they are always the gentlemen 1 with the long purses who can do that | sort of thing because they can stand lt- | igation-are locating on that oil land al- | though I have withdraw it. The little | fellow does not do so because he does not | want to face law suit.
 "We are apt to get into litigation with | respect to all lands that have been with | drawn and if it is decided that the with | drawal power does not exist you can see | where the embarrassment will be- be- | cause if the power does not exist and as | the squatters have the right to fix the | title of the land. We will wake up to | find great deal of that land gone when now by an act of Congress. we can keep 1t in the public domain and relieve our selves from any such embarrassment The Prcsident'r Address | President Taft's address follows: MT. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Irish Fellowship club: 1t is two years since l tested the fine flavor of your In ospitality at a luncheon, where my stay was only too short for my pleas ure When your honorable committee visited me, therefore, l yielded to the temptation and agreed again to become your guest when you should meet to celebrate the day that awakens the hea~t throbs of every true son of Ire land.
 'sr Ratricks day in the mornnSr  | +l nru.r>rurunua x~n-S ~.~x