President, In Statement, Praises Fidelity of Late Military Aide
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President Taft today issued another statement relative to the fate of Major Butt, in which he dwelt particularly on his incapability to indulge in “intrigue or insincerity.”

The President's statement was as follows:

“Major Archie Butt was my military aide. He was like a member of my family, and I feel his loss as if he had been a younger brother. The chief trait of his character was loyalty to his ideals, his cloth, and his friends. His character was a simple one in the sense that he was incapable of intrigue or insincerity. He was gentle and considerate to everyone, high and low.

“He never lost, under any conditions, his sense of proper regard to what he considered the respect due to constituted authority. He was an earnest member of the Episcopal Church, and loved that communion. He was a soldier, every inch of him; a most competent and successful quartermaster, and a devotee of his profession.

“After I heard that part of the ship's company had gone down, I gave up hope for the rescue of Major Butt, unless by accident. I knew that he would certainly remain on the ship's deck until every duty had been performed and every sacrifice made that properly fell on one charged, as he would feel himself charged, with responsibility, for the rescue of others.

“He leaves the widest circle of friends, whose memory of him is sweet in every particular."