The Days of a Man 



1916 



N.E.A. in the National Education Association held its meeting 

 New York retiring president I occupied the 



Taft de- 

 fends the 

 League to 

 Enforce 

 Peace 



chair at the first general session in the huge Madison 

 Square Garden, the largest auditorium in the world. 

 Leading notables Governor Charles S. Whitman, 

 Mayor John P. Mitchel, Dr. John H. Finley, Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, and others gave 

 addresses of welcome, all of them stressing the super- 

 lative excellence of the great Empire State which had 

 invited us to share its hospitality. Introducing Presi- 

 dent Taft, 1 the principal speaker of the day, I referred 

 to " a fact I had almost forgotten until reminded of it 

 by those glowing eulogies; I was born in New York!" 



Taft's address was a defense of the "League to 

 Enforce Peace," which he upheld against the charge 

 that the principle of enforcement, if not a violation 

 of the national Constitution, might automatically 

 carry the United States into war. The program ended 

 with the formal inauguration of my successor, Pro- 

 fessor D. B. Johnson of Rock Hill, South Carolina. 



At a section meeting of teachers held next day in 

 the Hotel McAlpin, I reviewed the Mexican situa- 



1 1 had three times before appeared in public with Mr. Taft. The first 

 occasion was in the Harvard Stadium at Cambridge. This proved to be a most 

 trying place, because if one looks straight ahead from his station in the middle 

 of the curve, nobody can hear; if he turns to the left or right, only one half his 

 audience even knows that he is talking! That day there were four of us on the 

 program. I was to come first Taft, the new President, last; but as he seemed 

 distinctly bored, I earned his gratitude (permanently, I hope) by changing 

 places with him. The next occasion was on the Stanford football field in 1915, 

 at which time I presided. On the third occasion, at the Unitarian Convention 

 in San Francisco somewhat later, Taft occupied the chair. At the close of the 

 meeting he invited me to take an automobile ride about the city, during which I 

 more than ever recognized his generous tolerance and abounding good nature. 

 Referring to some of his critics, he said: "At least they cannot get around the 

 fact that I have been President of the United States." His references to "Theo- 

 dore" and the latter's lack of interest and training in Law were kindly and 

 interesting but they need not be repeated here. 



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