Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1910-11-24
THE PRESIDENT In RICHMOND

The following shows how the presi-
dent spent the day in Richmond yes
terday
Ate breakfast with Governor Mann,
who served barbecued rabbit, mallard,
partridge, fish, etc.
Reviewed the Richmond Blues and
the Y. P. l. cadets before the Jefferson
Davis memorial.
Saw an aviator fly over Richmond.
Listened to parodies on popular
songs with his name interviewer at
Richmond College.
Talked a short while to theological
students at Union Seminary.
Drove to a farm six miles away and
heard tales of Gen. J. E. b. Stuart.
Came back for lunch.
Talked to thousands of teachers.
Came back from Elba" as he was
driven to that suburban station by mis-
take.
Left Richmond for Washington.
Stopped at Ashland for three min
utes with Randolph Macon students.
Arrived in Washington at 500.
His final appearance in Richmond
was at the city auditorium at 4 O'Clock
in the afternoon, where he addressed
an audience that filled the hall, the
seating capacity OF which is about
10000. The occasion was the meet
ing of the Virginia Educational Con
ference, and the president there made
the principal address Of the day. Presi-
dent Taft spoke in part as follows:
Il am always glad to stop in Rich
mond. 1t is city that reflects the
wonderful n~lerial growth of the south
and at the same time awakens in the
mind Of the visitor at every street
corner and in every public square an
intense interest by its historical associ-
atoms. At every turn there comes the
local association with Washington,
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Marshall
and Madison and other great partici-
pants in the natal struggle of the re-
public, as we'll as of Jefferson Davis,
Robert f. Lee, 'StonewaIl" Jackson,
and the other great leaders Of the
Southern Confederacy.
Closely following this thought
comes the feeling Of gratitude to God
that we are now united nation, with
the bitter preiudices of the past dis
PEELED, and able, all OF us, to accord
the proper need of praise to the Ameri-
can heroes OF the past, whether their
deeds were performed and their SER
vices rendered in those early days when
all Americans joined in single cause,
or whether they loomed large as lead
ers on either side in those sad four
years when brothers we're engaged
against brothers in an internecine
strife.
Speaking OF the Panama canal, the
president said:
Now it is near completion, | am
delighted to say that if you were to go
through the experience that my party
and l have gone through the four days
we we're on the isthmus, you would
not need an answer or assurance from
me. 1t does not require the Imagination
of an engineer to see that the canal is
there and is being put through, and
that it will be great canal.
We are engaged in taking out of
the Culebra cut an average Of l 800, 900
yards per month. We are taking out
OF the other parts OF the canal enough
to make that average about $500, 900
cubic yards II it were excavation only,
we would not have so much difficulty,
because it would then be completed
about January l, 1918, but there are
those great lock structures, for instance,
at Gatun, which are nearly mile
long and $50 feet wide, with wall on
the outside 40 feet in width and a
wall in the middle of 90 feet in width.
Il think generally the people of the
United States, favored a sea-level
canal.
They thought OF n lock and its gates
as difficult and complicated machinery,
and they thought the idea Of lifting
vessel of %, 900 tons by water and ma
chinory was so full Of difficulty that it
would present obstacles every time
steamer went through. But the adj
vantages Of visiting the isthmus to con-
firm the judgment Of the engineers in
the mind of the lsyman showed that
that thing is now easy. 1t is shaping
itself. The dam which seemed such a
tremendous work is long way toward
completion, and when you walk over it
you don't realize that it is dam. 1t
is so big it seems as il it we're a work OF
nature itself.
Il don't venture to prophesy when |
the canal will be ready for full use. l
think that if it were necessary for us
to put one OF our warships through |
there, it could be arranged very con-
siderable time before the first OF Janu-
airy, 1915, when the canal will be com
pleted, but it is we'll not to press too |
much, but to do what is done thor.
oughly, so that when IL is completed |
there will be no defect which can be
made q basis for complaint against
those who are responsible "
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