GOVERNOR, 1906
And now I bid farewell, I hope, forever, to that malodorous scandal which followed so closely upon the completion of a marvelous and commendable achievement and whose purveyors may be likened to those vile fish that swim in the wake of a good ship, her prow buffeting the seas and her flag flying proudly in the breezes of Heaven, but seek only to feast their appetites upon the offal which is cast overboard.
The capitol was dedicated on the 4th of October. It
was a cold, dismal, rainy day. Penrose, Knox, congressmen,
the state officials, the National Guard and the state
constabulary all participated. The streets of Harrisburg
and the capitol grounds were crowded with people. I had
been much concerned about the safety of the platform. We
called for bids and one was so much lower than all the rest
that it aroused suspicion. Upon investigation it was found
that this contractor had planned to lessen the strength
of some of the supports. Then the matter was handed over
to Huston, the architect, with my threat to behead him if
anything happened, and he gave to it every care. Roosevelt
delivered a forceful oration. It was thaen that he said,
alluding to the work of the special session: “It is surely not
too much to say that this body of substantive legislation
marks an epoch in the history of the practical betterment
of political conditions not merely for your state but for all
other states.” The notes of this address, used at the time
and signed for me on the platform, I had bound for preservation.
He has a stage habit of singling out some individual
in the audience and giving to him special attention. On this
occasion he picked out an old soldier, much to the delight
of the veteran and his comrades. It had been widely
proclaimed that the President would dedicate the building.
Nothing would have been more inappropriate and I saw to
it that this task was performed by the head of the commonwealth
in an address which ran:
The capitol is much more than the building in which the legislature holds its sessions, the courts sit in judgment and the
