Arizona republican., 1911-03-11
Pres. Taft Reviews Achieve
mpntS Of Three Sessions
A RECORD WAS BROKEN
In Address To Southern
ern Commercial Congress
the President Appeals for
Support BY South of Re
ciprocity Agreement.

Atlanta, Ga. March 10.-The presi-
dent in his speech before the closing
session of the Southern Commercial
congress today made plea To the
young men of the new south to take
up political issues from a broad, lib
eral standpoint. and eliminate con-
sideration of narrow partisanship and
sectionalism. The president reviewed
briefly the accomplishments Of the
last congress, declaring that in three
sessions it had enacted more helpful
legislation than any other congress
since the civil war. Mr.. Taft asserted
that the greatest accomplishment OF
the short session which ended March
4 was the ratification of the Japa-
nese treaty. \ great disappointment,
he said, was the failure of congress
to ratify the reciprocity agreement
with Canada and in this connection
he referred to his action in calling
an extra session Of congress to con-
Vene April T.
1t is nay opinion said Mr. Taft
that a majority Of both houses. dis
regarding party lines. viii seize this
great national opportunity To prompt
t. ratify the agreement before pro-
ceeding to other business" Here the
president paused a moment and evil /
IDENTIFY turned over I'm his mind the /
democratic statement that several of |
the tariff schedules viii be consid- /
cred in the extra session. If" he \
added, significantly. 1t be deemed !
wise and necessary to proceed to /
other business"
Perhaps. unconsciousIy. the presi-
dent uttered a hope that the demo-
Gratis OF the new house might not
deem it necessary to go into other
matters than the ratification of the
Canadian agreement. How far his in
fluencc in that direction will carry
weight remains to be seen. In the
hope. perhaps. that tariff legislation
may be avoided in the extra session.
the president today pledged himself /
to furnish the democratic house at its
regular meeting in December with
report of the tariff commission on
schedule X of the Payne Aldrich act.
the wool and wooden schedule.
Other leading speakers at the clos
ing session of the congress were Gov.
Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey and
Secretary Of War Dickinson. The
president arrived at Atlanta shortly
after II o'clock today and departed at
midnight for Augusta. where he win
have a nine days vacation.
The president said, in the course of
his speech:
Gentlemen of the Southern Com
mercial Congress: | am very much
honored in receiving an invitation
signed by the governors of all the
southern states to be present and take
part in your DELIBERATIONS. The COM
mercial and industrial development OF
this country in the last twenty years
has been greater than that of any
other part of the country. But good
business is not everything in life; the Z
making and accumulation of money |
should not be the chief end of com !
The growth of the south. in
wealth. education. civil order. and
has contributed greatly TO /,
the growth of the country BY max
ing a greater south you have made a
greater country, but, friends. l know
that YOU are not so sectional and
partisan as to cOnfine your interests /,
m southern commerce and trade and
hat YOU will not object if, for the
short time which / am about to take, /
f we turn this meeting into COM +
nittee on the state of the union and I
consider some of the issues which are n
now pending or which have been re- Z
emily disposed. The SiXty-first con- S
gress just closed enacted more useful C
md corrective legislation in its three p
sessions than any congress since the n
lose of the war. The close of its
bird, the last and shortest session. o
vas obscured by such an apparent e
logging of business as to leave an s
Impression that it had done in that Il
session little or nothing in the way h
# helpful laws. II
1T is due to that congress to re- o.
move such an impression, for it has e.
lone several things that deserve COM y
nendation. one of the crying evils G
4 the present day is the expense of II
litigation This congress has passed a
n act making a substantial reduction -
n the cost of appealing cases from -
ourts of the first instance TO courts =
( appeal. Ii has adopted revised -
ode of laws creating federal courts ~
nd fixing their Jurisdiction 1t has :,
polished circuit courts altoeathar -
nd in this way has been able to -,
implify the practice in courts and is
realty reduce expenses 1t has in 10
reased the salaries of supreme court r