The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-05
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

It is right hard to give an old con ven tiongoer a genuine thrill, but that IS
 what I got in Atlanta at the opening of
 the League of Nations congress. It was d warm day and at the hour
 of assembly kind of gloom as per
 vasive as a fog had settled down in the
 great auditorium, and thought in spite
 of the momentous occasion that we were
 in for dull time, for it seemed human
 ly impossible to lift the dead weight of the unpropitious weather.
 There were some songs and an organ prelude to hold the crowd, and then the distinguished visitors were ushered on the rostrum and after an invocation, the audience was asked to sing America and when 10000 patriotic voices join in the national anthem it's worth going far to hear.
 After a few words from s. c. Dobos, the president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Clark Howell, the editor or the Atlanta Constitution, made real hit in his introduction of ex-President Tart He was in good voice and his we'll rounded periods brought forth cheer art CT cheer. His speech had real punch in it.
 Then came the thing which gave me a thrill. When MT. Taft arose to speak he got round after round of applause. Quietly waiting for it to stop he stood beneath a mammoth picture of Wood- row Wilson which was wreathed III American flags. It was unique thins in the history of the political parties or this country. and every one knew that 1t was symbolic of better times
 ahead in the government of the United States.
 The thing which electrified me was that
 as he began to speak the sun. burst through the heavy clouds and seemed to focus itself on the face of our patient President, who through two weary, heart -wracking years bore the burden of the war, and who is at present on hurried explanatory visit home, filling 1t with a new light and shedding an aureole around his head as hamburger that the league of nations was being born in the hearts oe the people of Amer ica.
 There is one thing about MT. Taft and that is he grows on you. Time was when of DOlitiC1l map, and yet he was facing a body or ] democrats many of whom were silently hoping that if the republicans came back into power during the next presidential campaign that he would be the leader l and that the mere fact that he was Tn the White House would be guarantee l that he would represent the whole peo ple and not be a pliant tool of his party. Now, say what you please but it takes i moral courage and craftsmanship of a | high order for man in his position to l go in the face of the dominant leaders l of the republican party and support the | programme of a democratic President in 1 so vital an issue as is brought up by the l league of nations; ana yet we not ohly | find Mr Taft doing it, but doing it so whole as to give him great | joy in it's performance-not to mention the pleasure it affords the admirers of President Wilson.
 1 No one who has ever heard the Taft chuckle'' can ever forget it. for it sweeps ] everything before it; and then there is i d kick in his voice which keeps it l from growing monotonous even though he may be dealing with obtuse ques | lions of law and disputed facts The "chuckle and the kick are gifts of the gods and cannot be cultivated, and
 lucky the man who has the heavenly