The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-09-02
honesty IS
THE VITAL
Virtue
Former President Talks VigOr-
Ously to the People OF
Kansas City
GIVES HIS STATUS
ASA PROGRESSIVE
Great Issue Today Is to Do
Away With Special Priyi-
lege Evil
THOUSANDS HEAR AND
CHEER THE COLONEL
THOUSANDS HEAR AND
CHEER THE COLONEL

.T[ANSAS CITY, Mo, Sept 1.-The
X people of Missouri today kept
= - up with vim the roar of en-
thusiastic welcome that is following
Theodore Roosevelt everywhere in his
wanderings through the west.
Crowds that blocked the streets OF
Kansas City cheered him whenever he
made his appearance, and the speeches
which he made here were received
with shouts Of applause.
He Is a Progressive
The colonel was told that he was an
insurgent through and through in
song which was sung in his honor at
luncheon today, but he said it would
be better to call him a progressive
The members Of the Commercial club,
who were entertaining him, cheered
his definition of his political status
Although it was raining hard when
Colonel Roosevelt, after stopping at
Kansas City, Kan, to make a speech.
reached this city. thousands Of people
were at the station to cheer him.
Parade and Luncheon
After parade through the business
section of the city and the luncheon
the colonel went to the Westport
school. in the southern end of the
city. and talked to the pupils He
wound up the day by making a speech
to the throng that flied Convention
hall His speech was about honesty
in public and private life. The crowds
that came out to see tine colonel
jammed the sidewalks and at points
blocked traffic. The colonel was
cheered continually and was kept on
his feet, bowling and waving his hands
Talks to Children
The auditorium OF the high school
was crowded with students when the
colonel arrived. and they stood ON
their feet and gave him the Chau-
tauqua salute, while at the same time
they shouted at the tops Of their
voices. As soon as they would let
him speak the colonel said he had
confession to make: that he was a
little afraid of the audience, because
half OF it was composed of girls,
whom he never knew how to handle
Il have four boys Of my own said
he. and only two girls. The girls
were both in charge OF their mother
until they grew up. and then they took
charge of me. They have treated me
kindly, but firmly
Colonel Roosevelt said he was going
to tell them some stories of Africa.
The natives are perfectly wild saw
ages" he said. "and their enemies ac-
cuse them of occasionally and pIayfulIy
Iapsing into cannibalism. That is a
delicate subject and never inquired
into it.
"One day while I was riding up the
railroad to Nairobi telegraph communi-
cation was interrupted" he went on.
That was because a herd OF girafes
had cantered across the tracks and
pulled down the wires with their
necKs.
Stories of Lions
Then Colonel Roosevelt told some
stories about lions
When they were building the rail-
road" he continued. construction was
stopped for two weeks because two
lions established themselves on the
tracks and ate up all the men who
came to work. 1 think they ate about
100 Finally they were killed" He
said the survivor of another encounter
with the lion told him story which
he would repeat.
AT one railroad station he began.
the lions ate up the agent and when
the next train came along they ate up
a brakeman. The division superin-
tendent. an Englishman. took German
and an Italian with him and went out
there to kill the lion.
They sat up during the night watt
ing for the lion and finally the italian
went to sleep at one end of the car and.
the German got into one of the berths
The Englishman sat at the window
with his rifle. on guard. He evidently
went to sleep there.
Grabbed the EngIishnan
The lion. with it's queer. sinister in
telligence. saw that the man was
asleep 1t came up on the platform.
pulled the sliding door open with its
paw and went in. The German was
awakened by the weight of the lions
hind legs on him. The forelegs of the
4