William Taft actually said...

"I don't know that I have any right to be here to talk about waterways, unless it makes a man an expert on the subject to have gone down the Mississippi River."

"I am still a consistent advocate of that theory."

"I venture to say that in your whole experience you have never met men of a higher standard of character, of a higher devotion to public duty, and of greater skill in their profession than those same a..."

"You have done it wisely, first, because when you want a thing done it is just as well to get close to the men who are to do it."