Montpelier examiner., 1912-06-14
STANDS BIG STRAIN
Physical Endurance of Taft Is
Extraordinary.
IS DUE TO HIS Temperament
Beautiful Lawn Party at the White
House for international Red Cross
Deiegates-Plan OF Comptroll-
or Murray to Check Bank
Oscillations.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

| ngton.-President Taft has
oeen through some strenuous cam
paigning this year, He has made not
only political addresses. but certainly
SO or more speeches on occasions non
political MIR. Taft is an extraordinar-
lily big man physically. and yet the
strain OF hard work does not seem to
tell upon him as it does upon other
men who carry much less weight
Friends of the president ascribe his
continued good condition to. his buoy.
ant disposition In other words. his
temperament stands him a friend dur
Ing his hard work.
There have been one or two lawn
parties at the White House this year.
and before the spring season closes
there probably will be on or two
more. At one party the guests Of hon
or were the visiting delegates to the
International Red Cross convention
The president and Mrs. Taft, standing
under the trees on the south lawn OF
the White House. received distin-
| guished guests from all over the
world. The president had just re-
turned from a weeks campaigning and
was to leave again at midnight, but
he stood the three hours social siege"
as II he had been resting instead OF
working. Physically, the president OF
the United States is wonder to that
part of mankind which gets a chance
to see him.
At the Red Cross Reception.
The lawn parties at the White
House are the most picturesque social
events of the year In Washington. 1t
Is not probable that those who do not
actually view the scene can realize the
extraordinary beauty of the grounds Of
the White House in May and June.
There are many trees. much shrub
berry and in some places profusion of
lowers. At the back is the house itself.
a fine specimen of colonia. architec-
ture, pure white and impressive, with
each Of its great pillars adding line
Of beauty. The day of the reception
on the lawn given for the RGI Cross
people was perfect. The thermometer
was at 70. and the sun was in a cloud
less sky. The ladies all wore white,
while the men, or most of them. for 1t
was largely an official reception. were
in uniform, many of them being in the
picturesque garbs OF the Latin-Ameri-
can countries and Europe and the
countries of the far east.
Present at that reception, unknown
to most OF the guests and bearing her.
self with extreme diffidence. was
woman who had just returned from
China. She has been connected for
years with a school maintained by the
Protestant Episcopal church In the
heart OF the fiowery kingdom. When
civil war broke out In China recently
and the Young Chinese started on
their crusade, the woman who was a
guest at the White House reception
left of her teaching in ths college and
went into the field as volunteer Red
Cross nurse. She had many hard ex-
periences. but not as hard as 1t was
expected that she would have. China
ordinarily Is not considered thorough
ly civilized, but even In the midst of
the madness of civil strife II was
found that both factions of the Chi
nese observed the Red Cross regula-
tions as implicitly as would the coun-
| tries of the west
To Stop Bank Defalcations.
Comptroller of the Currency Law.
renee o. Murray has made
study OF some OF the methods
by which banks occasionally are de-
frauded by their employees. He has
had number OF specific cases put
before him and as a result of his In
vestigations he thinks that such uu.
fortunate occurrences as these and
many that have preceded them may be
avoided in the future II the national
banks will cooperate with his Office
In the plan which he has just suggest
ed to them. This is nothing more nor
less than the simple device of sending
to his Office carbon copy of the semi
annual report made by the examining
committee of the board OF directors OF
each bank-the report which states in
black and white what the directors
think of their own bank.
When Mr. Murray assumed ofice
about 1900, or between 80 and 40 per
cent OF the national banks. had no by
laws and therefore made no provision
for examining committees. They now
all have adopted bylaws suggested by
the comptroller and are fitted out
with regularly appointed examining
committees. When carbon copies of
the reports are sent to the comptroller
study will be made of them which
will be supplementary to the study
made in the bank. In this way It is be