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SPEECH BY THE
Hon. Chauncey M. Depew
ON HIS
EIGHTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY
AT THE
MONTAUK CLUB OF BROOKLYN
April 29, 1916

Being the Twenty-fifth Annual Dinner Given Him by this Club.

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SPEECH BY THE
Hon. Chauncey M. Depew
ON HIS
EIGHTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY
AT THE
MONTAUK CLUB OF BROOKLYN
April 29,'~1916

Being the Twenty-fifth Annual Dinner Given Him hy this Club.

(Mr. Depew's birthday is the 23d of April, but Club conditions
fixed the 29th for the dinner.)
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Montauk Club :
All anniversaries are interesting. Each has its historical
significance or celebrates an event worth remembering to those
who participate, or has a sentiment of lasting interest. Of
patriotic celebrations, of centennials and semi-centennials of
great importance, we have had an unusual number in the last
quarter of a century. With one after another came recur
rences of the birthdays of the Republic and of the organiza
tion of the different departments of our government. In the
life of the individual the 25th anniversary is the most in
teresting. We, here tonight engaging in the twenty-fifth an
nual recurrence of this most gratifying compliment which you
have paid me for a quarter of a century, have feelings both
pathetic and joyful. We cannot forget and we contribute
the wreath of afifection and memory to those who have joined
the majority during this period. But wc extend our con
gratulations and felicitations to those who are still with us
in full vigor, health and happiness; we welcome the younger
men who have come into this association and join in this cele
bration.
THE MOST IMPORTANT AGE IN LIFE.
Twenty-five is the most important age in the life of a
young man. At twenty-one he becomes a voter and a citizen,
but in most cases he is a callow youth of violent opinions and
immature judgment. At twenty- five his feet are standing upon
more solid ground. In estimating himself and his powers and
comparing them with his ambitions, he has decided upon his
career and entered hopefully and joyously upon it. We are
misled when we take the example of extraordinary geniuses
for judging Our own average selves. William Pitt at twenty-
3

four was Prime Minister of England. He organized the
forces and reorganized them and again reorganized them,
which finally resulted in Waterloo and the defeat of Napoleon.
But he had a wonderful heredity in a marvelous father and
was himself one of the few constructive geniuses of the ages.
Delane, famous editor of the London Times, entered upon
his duties at twenty-four. Walters, the sole owner of the
Times in the second generation, a remarkable judge of men,
discovered the singular maturity and the wonderful powers
of Delane. For thirty-seven years, Delane was the London
Times. He made it the "Thunderer" of Europe. He foresaw
events, he recognized budding statesmen, his vision encom
passed all European and Asiatic activities. With genuine
foresight, with the ability to select incomparable aids for
the different departments of the work, a courage which knew
neither fear nor apprehension and honor of the purest and
highest type, he made the Times a leader of public opinion,
a maker of measures and a tremendous factor in the creation
of Greater England. But there again we have the exceptional
editor, who had no predecessors or successors.
At twenty-five the average man knows the kind of a
woman he wants for a helpmate for life. I do not exclude love
from this selection, but I do say that love and judgment are
more likely to go hand in hand together at this period than
at twenty-one and under. Everybody in the teens and up
to twenty-one has had his first passion which he calls love.
He is lucky, if matrimony follows, in discovering that the
accident is a success. Too large a proportion of our divorces,
which are the disgrace of our modern social life, come from
early indiscretions.
MATRIMONIAL CELEBRATIONS.
The happiest of matrimonial celebrations is the silver
wedding. The golden one is reminiscent; it is for grown up
children and grandchildren; they look upon the old couple
with affection, are glad that they are still upon the stage,
feel a guardianship of their health, and yet have flown from
the nest and made their own. But at the silver wedding, the
bride and groom are in the zenith of their intellectual and
physical powers, they have overcome most of the difficulties of
life, they are established in the security of the present and
4

the future and they still have a guiding hand and a lifegiving
interest in shaping the careers and helping the progress of
their boys and girls.
Twenty-five years of effort is the climacteric in business
and the professions. By that time the clerk has become man
ager or partner or head of the firm ; the reporter has become an
editor ; the telegraph operator or the head of the section gang or
the conductor has become general manager or president of the
road; the apprentice in the machine shop has become the
foreman or the master mechanic. In other words, the under
brush has been cleared away, the road has been leveled and
macadamized, the bridges have been built and the way is clear
for advancement, or for retirement and rest.

ORATORICAL REMINISCENCES.
In 1893, I delivered the oration at the opening of the
Columbian Exposition at Chicago. It was the first one of
these great expositions after the centennial one in 1876. I
addressed the largest audience under one roof that any orator
ever had. The exposition building covered many acres, was
about a half mile long and a quarter mile wide. It had 90,000
chairs and standing room for 50,000 more. In that vast audi
torium the unconscious movement of such a mass of people
made a roar like Niagara. Mr. Blaine, who was a great and
successful public speaker, said to me once, that he was certain
after much experience that the largest audience capable of
hearing perfectly and enjoying an orator, was 6,000. I am
sure that more than 6,000 heard me then. I spoke afterwards
in the Coliseum in Chicago, which held 28,000, and while
they could not hear with comfort I felt by those signs which a
speaker so well understands that the whole audience did hear
the address. I have many times had little or no difficulty
in reaching 10,000 people. I afterwards delivered the open
ing address at the Omaha fair, the very successful, delightful
and beautiful one at Charleston and one other. I remember
the shock to my vanity which occurred at the Omaha fair.
My guide was Mr. Morton, the father of Paul Morton and
Secretary of Agriculture in Cleveland's cabinet. In speaking
of the different shows he said: "There is a ballet from New
York. It is the only show which is a total failure, because
5

probably a worse lot of dancers never were got together.
They have neither art, nor grace nor beauty." I said, "Out
of loyalty to my State of New York, I suppose I must attend
the sho'w." So we took seats in the empty auditorium. His
verdict was correct as to the show, but soon every seat was
filled, the aisles were jammed and people were standing almost
on each other's shoulders. With great difficulty we made our
way out. Then the secret was revealed. The barker was
shouting, "Ladies and gentlemen, this way. In this show is
the only opportunity to see the orator of the day, the only
chance to see the great orator from the East, Chauncey M.
Depew. Admission only ten cents, ten cents, ladies and gentle
men, to see the great orator of the day."

"HOW SOON WE ARE FORGOT."
Reminiscences recall how rapidly time flies, and as dear
old Rip Van Winkle, in the person of that most delightful
actor of his time, Joe Jefferson, used to say, "How soon we
are forgot." One of the most brilliant and forceful of my colleagues
during my time in the Senate was Foraker of Ohio. He
commanded the attention of his colleagues and largely of the
country. Within the last few days, there has come from
the publisher two volumes of his reminiscences. They are
written with his accustomed vigor, incisiveness and positive
ness. I was reading a few days since a long and discrim
inating criticism upon the book. The period covered, so far
as the Senate is concerned, was from 1898 to 1908. Several
Senators and questions were uppermost in the public mind
during the whole of that period. Some of the ablest and
most famous men who have ever adorned that great body
participated in these discussions and were the authors of
measures of vital importance at the time, but the critic says,
"While these reminiscences are interesting from an historical
standpoint, they have no co-temporary meaning." The actors
are either dead or have passed off the stage. There is little
or no recollection of them at present. The measures have gone
upon the statute books or they failed and have passed out of
sight, and yet the period covered by Senator Foraker, and it
was one of the most interesting and exciting in the whole his-
6

tory of the country, began eighteen years ago and ended eight
years ago. "How soon we are forgot."
I had the good fortune to become well acquainted about
thirty years ago, with Mr. Gladstone. He is one of the very
few statesmen or men of note whom one meets in a lifetime
whom it was a supreme privilege to know. I have never
met anyone of such wide vision and varied acquirements.
There seemed no limit to his knowledge, and intimate knowl
edge, of questions in every realm of human activity and in
quiry. He had to an extraordinary degree the faculty
of acquisition, absorption and assimilation. Whoever he met,
man or woman, instantly became the victim of those inquiring
tentacles which fastened upon the subject and drew from him
or her in a short time the results of the study and work of
a lifetime. I came to know him better because, like most
Americans, I was deeply interested in Home Rule for Ireland.
It is curious how American sentiment on that subject was
misinterpreted on the other side. Most of the distinguished
people I met expressed amazement that there should be such
intense hostility in the United States against England. The
Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward the Seventh, an
exceedingly open-minded and fair-minded man and always
most cordial to our country, inquired of me with deep anxiety
one day, "Is this home rule sentiment which seems to be so
universal with you in America a desire to break up the British
Empire?" I told him not at all, but it was the faith which
we Americans had in federated government, our union of
sovereign states with certain powers in the general govem
ment and others reserved to the states, that had been in our
judgment the cause of the growth, prosperity and power of
the United States and the success of our experiment in gov
emment. Mr. Gladstone, while probably not the greatest orator
who had ever appeared in the House of Commons, was the
greatest orator of his time. He certainly was one of the great
est party leaders who has ever appeared in the politics of a
free government and he envisioned the future as few statesmen
ever did. In the world tragedy of today, the Parliament of
which he was master for so many years, is meeting questions
which involve the very existence of the Empire and all the
possibilities of its future. There are a number of strong men
in the House of Commons who were there with Mr. Glad-
7

stone, and yet in the debates which are taking place one fails
to find any mention, reminiscence or recollection of this great
statesman. Twenty-four years ago, at 83 years of age, he
had one of the greatest triumphs of his life. He had over
thrown his enemies, he had become supreme by a great major
ity in the House of Commons and was again Prime Minister.
I know of no instance of a man of that age enduring the
hardships of such a canvass, coming out triumphantly and
then assuming the reins of government. This he crowned
by hammering through the House of Commons his favorite
measure of home rule, which of course met an overwhelming
defeat in the House of Lords. I met a lady recently who
during the many years she had lived in London was a frequent
attendant at the House of Commons. I said to her, "Tell
me something about Gladstone and his oratory and what you
thought of it." She said, "O, Gladstone. He pounded the
table." "How soon we are forgot!"
HARRISON AND CLEVELAND.
When we met here first, the Harrison administration was
closing and Cleveland's was imminent. Both of these states
men went out of office singularly unpopular. They were mis
represented, abused and hated. If I read the history of the
administrations of American Presidents aright, both Harrison
and Cleveland will grow in fame with time. Harrison was
certainly one of the ablest and Qeveland one of the most
courageous of our chief magistrates. Harrison's unpopularity
was due to a singularly cold and repellent manner. He was
a great lawyer, had been an admirable volunteer soldier and
possessed executive qualities of rare distinction, but he re
pelled all who came in contact with him. The favorite
designation of him among Senators and Congressmen was
"The Iceberg." I happened to hold the position as nominee
of the State of New York and outside for President in 1888,
where I could have much to say as to who should be the selec
tion of the Convention when I retired, and I selected Harrison.
The support of New York made his nomination good and
his election followed. I led his forces in the Convention
four years afterwards, where he was renominated. Now as
to the question whether he was a cold, isolated, selfish man,
which were the charges against him. He offered me after

his inauguration every place in his Cabinet except Secretary
of State, which he said he had promised to Mr. Blaine, or any
mission abroad. It was impossible for me at that time to
enter public life and I declined. I never shall forget the
interview after his renomination in 1892. He said to me,
"My life has been one of intense struggle, a continuous and
bitter fight, everything I have got I have won by hard knocks,
most strenuous work and fierce contests. You are the only
man who has spontaneously supported me, and eflfectively so.
I want to show my gratitude. I can offer you at present
nothing but broken bread, the Secretaryship of State for the
balance of my term, but its continuance if I am re-elected."
All this was said with an emotion so deep and profound that
it was painful. Beneath that cold exterior, harsh voice and
repellent manner, was one of the warmest of hearts and the
most responsive of sentiments, but afraid, from long experi
ence with hostile elements, that a show of feeling would be
taken as an evidence of weakness.
THE CURRENCY QUESTION.
Two questions whose wise solution is essential to the
prosperity of the country are the currency and railroads.
Both of these have received more attention and legislation
during our quarter of a century than in all preceding years.
It is interesting to take note of the epoch-making character
of the effort by Congress and the courts to give us a currency
in harmony with that which has been demonstrated to be right
by the experience of the highly organized financial and indus
trial nations of the world, and a regulation of railroads and a
solving of the railway problem which will be in accordance
with the proper development, progress and defense of the
United States.
We had, early in our history, reached a sound basis
for banking when it became a football in politics. In all
countries, a central bank is the regulator and the United
States National Bank was increasing in efficiency in serv
ing that purpose in our system. When General Jackson,
the most autocratic and masterful of our Presidents, wanted
to use the bank for his political ambitions and could not,
he vetoed the renewal of the charter and was surprised
to find that the power of the bank was still potent in an-
9

other way. He peremptorily ordered the withdrawal of
the United States deposits. His first Secretary of the Treas
ury, a financier, absolutely refused and was dismissed. His
successor, also a financier, absolutely refused and was dis
missed. His third appointee, who neither knew nor cared
anything for finance, but was an obedient servant of the
President, promptly removed the deposits ; the Senate refused
to confirm the Secretary, he lost his job but the bank was
destroyed. The Senate passed a resolution declaring the act
of the President not only unconstitutional but a usurpation of
arbitrary powers. The politics of the country were largely
dependent for four years upon that resolution remaining on
the records of the Senate, and in 1837, it was expunged and
Gen. Jackson's reputation as a financier reincarnated. Then
the country waded through the welter of state banks and
their bankruptcies, state bank bills and their uncertainties,
frequent panics and frightful financial and industrial disasters,
until the Civil War. Out of the necessities of that conflict
came the National Banking Act, which was progress, and
decided progress. Then came fiat money, happily set aside by
education, and then the gigantic struggle for the parity of
fluctuating silver with the fixed standard of gold.
As we look back over the period covered by the recol
lection of comparatively young men here, we are amazed to
find how the silver microbe entered the mental machinery
and controlled the thinking apparatus of the leading men of
both parties during these ten years. For the rescue of the
country from plunging over the precipice into financial chaos
by reason of this silver heresy, we are indebted to the ability
and stubborn courage of President Grover Cleveland. With
the enormous power, greater then than now, of a President,
with vast patronage to hand out and favors to bfestow, Cleve
land forced the repeal of the silver act, which was reducing our
currency to a Mexican or Chinese standard, through a Congress
of whose members scarcely any of his own party voted as
they believed, and not many of the opposition. More than any
thing else, this farsighted and patriotic action of the President
lost him popular support and he retired from the Presidency
practically by unanimous consent. I saw much of him when he
returned to private life. He had no regrets and no misgiv
ings, was absolutely certain he was right and that time would
vindicate him, and so was one of the most happy and con-
10

tented of ex-Presidents. The vindication has come more
rapidly than he thought, and today he stands deservedly high
among great Presidents of the United States.
The adoption of the gold standard under McKinley was
one of the signal triumphs of his administration.
TRIBUTE TO SENATOR NELSON W. ALDRICH.
Here I pause to pay tribute to a statesman little known
by the general public, because he possessed none of the arts
of popularity and apparently cared nothing for popular ap
plause. I mean Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island. He
was thirty years in the Senate. He had that incalculable ele
ment of independence which came from the certainty of
continued backing in his own State. He was a close student
and finance was his hobby. The ambition of his life was to
place the currency system of the United States upon a wise
and permanent basis which would prevent panics and furnish
an elastic currency whose expansion and contraction auto
matically would be equal to every demand and every crisis.
As the result of his great experience, his profound study, his
analytical mind evolved the reserve system. The failure to
secure its adoption was a disappointment more acute than
even his best friends understood, because he was one of the
most reserved, reticent and self-contained of men, and he
retired voluntarily to private life. There is very little of the
administrative acts of President Wilson with which I agree,
but he certainly deserves lasting credit for making one of
the fundamentals of his scheme of government at the begin
ning the settlement of the currency question. He had a power
over Congress almost equal to that of Gen. Jackson. In this
case, it was a useful autocracy and it forced through a reluc
tant Congress the Federal Reserve Act. It practically settles
for the future our financial system upon a proper basis. The
best of the act is Aldrich's; its weak points are those which
were injected for political reasons. But those weak points are
not fatal and will be obviated in time. There is no more
remarkable illustration of the power and continuing strength
of a mighty personality, even when wrong, than that it took
this country, with generation after generation of vigorous
thinkers and independent actors, from 1832 to 1914, eighty-
two years, nearly a century, to correct the evils and remove
11

the. eflfects of the arbitrary acts and imperial whims of Andrew
Jackson.
THE RAILROAD QUESTION.
Important as was the currency question and our financial
conditions, the railroad question, still unsettled, is of greater
moment to the country. In all ages of the worid, transpor
tation routes have built up empires, great cities and prosper
ous communities, and the change of them has led to their
decay and ruin. The railway has largely taken the place of
the water routes for transportation, because the railroad can
go anywhere and is not dependent upon nature. At the close
of the Civil War, our railway system was in its infancy,
but now it has 250,000 miles in operation, an investment in
round numbers of twenty billion dollars, gross revenue of
three billion dollars, two millions of employees directly on the
payroll and two millions more indirectly but nevertheless
equally dependent upon railway prosperity. In other words,
about twenty millions of men, women and children of our
one hundred millions are dependent directly upon the railway
treasury for a living. They carry yearly one thousand mil
lions of passengers, with a safety that is a marvel. While
they have crossed the Continent and reached and developed
vast interior territories, yet their work is still incomplete. As
irrigation and water power are understood and permitted,
more railroads are absolutely required if any benefit is to come
from these improvements. At least ten thousand millions of
dollars more must be invested in construction and extension
if the resources of our country are to provide for coming
and increasing generations of inhabitants.
From 1870 to 1880 the construction of railroads was en
couraged by land grants and local bounties. When the prod
ucts of the farm on the market fell below the cost of produc
tion, a granger movement led to drastic legislation. When
New York State presented me as its candidate for the Presi
dency in the National Convention of 1888, I was then president
of the New York Central Railroad. Granger legislation and
granger sentiment were exceedingly violent in the Middle
West. A representative came from a delegation of one of
these States, who said, "If you are nominated, you now being
a railroad president, it will ruin our party in my State." I
said, "We have got all over that in New York. Why does
12

it survive in your State?" He said, "Because both parties
have cultivated it." And further, "Every town in my State
has a grange that meets weekly. The local attorneys and
candidates for office address these granges upon the railroad
question. We tell them that freight rates are robbery and
that if their farm products were carried free, as they ought
to be, it would make all the diflference between prosperity and
bankruptcy. We Republican lawyers and politicians have
outpaced our Democratic opponents and captured the grange
vote." "Well," I said, "who are your clients?" His answer
was, "I am the county attorney of the Rock Island railroad,
and that is my living."
After rate legislation, which proved a failure because it
crippled the roads so that they could not render the service
which communities required, came happily the commission
system. I think I was the first American railroad man to
advocate commissions. They were first advisory, afterwards
mandatory. Then came, in 1887, the Interstate Commerce
Commission. It was constructed on a wrong principle of
encouraging, promoting and forcing competition among rail
roads, which led inevitably to the bankruptcy of the weaker
lines and the ruin of the territory which they served, but has
been enormously improved since, first by the Anti-Rebate Act
of 1903, then by the Hepburn Act of 1906, increasing the
powers of the commission and including in its authority sleep
ing cars, the express companies, private cars and pipe lines,
and further by the amendments of 1910, enlarging still more
its powers and gathering in telegraphs, telephones and cables.
The powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission have
also been greatly enlarged by the construction of these laws
by the courts. Now the railroad in almost everything essen
tial to its welfare is under the control not only of the govem
ment of the United States, but of forty-eight State govern
ments. That situation is intolerable, because no enterprise,
great or small, can perform proper service or properly develop
under forty-eight masters with conflicting interests. Twenty
per cent of the traffic of the United States is intrastate, or
within the lines of the State, while eighty per cent is interstate
and interests the whole country. The one hundred per cent
should be wholly in the power of the Federal Commission.
The income of the railroads was in 1914 $3,118,920,318. Of
this income 45 per cent goes to employees, 5 per cent to stock-
13

holders and the other half goes for supplies, coal, rails, cars,
ties, locomotives, repairs, maintenance, interest and taxes.
Our country and conditions are so diflFerent because of
the powers of the States, sovereign in many ways, that it is
difficult to find precedents to guide us in the experiences of
other countries. The German govemment has taken over
all the railroads and they are government owned and con
trolled, but they are part of the military system needs and
ambitions of the country and the industrial life is subordinate
to the military power. Extensions and new construction
which are necessary for a growing country are far behind the
needs of Germany under this system. In its relations to its
employees, they become a part of the high militarism of the
German Empire. They are virtually enlisted soldiers and sub
ject to martial law; their pay is one quarter that of the
employees of the railways of the United States. The French
government has taken over one line, with results disastrous
to its efficiency and income. The demands of the members of
the legislative assembly and powerful politicians for patronage
have crowded the employment so far beyond the needs of the
service that inefficiency has resulted and deficiencies in net
revenue cause an annual loss to the govemment treasury. Great
Britain has the better system, somewhat like ours, with a
Board of Trade possessing power over the management, con
duct, rates and conditions of the railroads. The results of
the foreign systems and our own so far as the public is con
cerned, of which rates is the most important, are these: In
1867, the freight rates on American railroads were 1.92 cents,
or practically 2 cents, per ton per mile. They have declined
until in 191 5 they were .76 of a cent per ton per mile, or
otherwise a decline of one and one-third. They are 2 cents
per ton per mile in Great Britain, 1.51 cents per ton per mile
in France and 1.21 cents per ton per mile in Germany. When
a mill per ton per mile makes such a difference in revenue,
one can easily see how almost incalculably enormous is the
difference between these foreign rates and our own to the
benefit of the shippers of the United States.
TRIBUTE TO A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER.
I pause here to pay tribute to a locomotive engineer whom
I have long known, Dennis J. Cassin. The Empire State
14

Express, one of the famous trains in the world, has been
running for twenty-four years. It has carried eight millions
of passengers and never lost one. During sixteen years of
that period Dennis J. Cassin was its engineer, and except by
slight accidents to the machinery, occurring marvelously few
times, has never been late and never lost a day. He was
worthily the recipient, in a hot competition, of the Harriman
medal for distinguished record in handling his locomotive.
TRIBUTE TO RAILWAY OFFICIALS.
I want also to pay tribute to the executive officers of the
railways of the country. All of them, with scarcely an ex
ception, have come up from the ranks. They have been ad
vanced from humble positions not by influence, but by merit.
They have little or no flnancial interest in the companies of
which they are the executive heads, but they have a keen
and conscientious sense of duty to the public, to the em
ployees of the railways, to the stockholders and bondholders.
They believe that true popularity in the administration of
their most exacting duties comes from the efficiency of the
machine which they manage, the service which it renders, the
perfection in which it is maintained and the reasonable re
turns which it gives. Acting as they do in semi-public capaci
ties, their ability, their integrity, their honor and their effi
ciency are deserving of public confidence.
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THE RAILWAYS?
Now, what is the matter with the railways? The prob
lem is so nearly solved that it is most unfortunate it should
be halted by demagogism or half-informed or misinformed
clamor. The railway lives, pays its employees, buys its
material, keeps its road in order, adds to its efficiency, extends
its line only by the monies which come into the treasury from
the rates which it is permitted to charge. This the govern
ment regulates absolutely. Just now a crisis is impending
which illustrates the situation and its conditions. Four hun
dred thousand of the two millions of employees, the most
highly paid and of high intelligence, who operate the trains,
have formulated demands upon the whole railway system of
the country, which will exact in addition to their present pay,
15

one hundred millions of dollars a year. The railways can
get that money only in three ways. One is to stop dividends
and the payment of interest on their indebtedness, which means
bankruptcy and deterioration fatal to efficient service for the
public. It means the ruin of savings banks and life insurance
companies and the dislocation of our whole system of credit
and income. It also means the end of extensions and con
struction, because capital under such circumstances could not
be procured at any price. Another is to cut down the train
service, the shop work for repairs and replacements, the main
tenance of the track and other economies, which would lay
oflf one-third of the force and cripple beyond calculation the
farming, commercial and manufacturing interests desiring
rapid and regular transportation to market. The third remedy
is an advance of rates sufficient to meet the expenditure. This
should be in the hands of the government; it should be in the
control of the Interstate Commerce Commission. That body
should have full power and it should be made its duty to
investigate this demand for one hundred millions, and all
other demands, ascertain if they are right and proper that the
whole or what part of it should be granted, and then adjust
a rate which would meet the expenditure. I see no other
way in which an elastic system can be created which will meet
the requirements of labor and permit the maintenance and
necessary expansion of the railways.
THE DANGER OF STRIKES.
There is a suggestion that if the demand is not granted
it might be enforced by a strike. I do not believe that the
wise leaders of the railway organizations would go to that
extreme, but if it did happen, and it might, has anyone con
templated what it would mean if all the railways in the United
States were stopped? There is no city which has supplies
of food for a week, nor any village or town. In two days,
bread would be a dollar a loaf and meat not to be had at any
price. From lack of coal and inability to relieve the conges
tion of their warehouses of accumulated products, factories
would shut down. With the necessaries of life not procurable
at any price, the well-to-do would be no better off than those
who were dependent upon their daily wage, except for a while,
while food lasted, but for those who were dependent upon
16

their daily wage, with wages stopped and prices beyond the
reach of their savings, the European war, with all its horrors,
would form an insignificant chapter in history, compared with
American anarchy and chaos.
CENTENARY OF SAVINGS BANKS AND
ILLUMINATING GAS.
But let us dismiss our fears and be in harmony with the
octogenarian who said the only troubles he ever had came
from worrying about things which never happened. Our year
of 1916 is the centenary of the savings bank. One hundred
years ago the first institution of this kind was established, on
December 13th. Today there are in the United States 2,159,
and the savings deposited with them, in round numbers,
amount to five thousand millions of dollars, almost exactly
the vast sum which Germany exacted from France after the
war of 1870, and not a dollar of which has France since then,
with all her prosperity, been able to pay, though she has kept
up the interest. Only think, just for a moment, what that
five thousand millions of dollars is, the story it tells of thrift,
of economies, of little contributions made from self-denial to
the provident fund; think for a moment of what it means for
homes, for independence, for salvation in sickness and unem
ployment, for better citizenship, better manhood, better wom
anhood, hopefulness for childhood and happiness in old age.
1916 is also the centenary of illuminating gas. I do not
mean gas of the political orator, that has existed ever since
Grecian and Roman times, but the substitution of gas for
the candle and the lamp, for the coal stove and the oil
burner, is one of those discoveries which add to contented
and comfortable longevity. Speaking of longevity, I had occa
sion to take issue with a citizen who a few months ago retired
from business and gave up a large salary at sixty. He claimed
that a man's powers begin to diminish at fifty, and before
he became ineffiicient and miserable, he should devote the rest
of his life to rest and recreation. I have been a close student
of this question for many years. The result of these studies
has convinced me that the mental, physical and moral powers
of men and women either grow or deteriorate ; nothing stands
still. One occupation can be substituted for another, but so
long as one lives, he must have something to do which will
17

occupy his mind and his muscles. He cannot play off his
muscles against his mind by giving his days to golf and his
leisure to mental rust, nor play off his mind against his muscles
by giving his days and nights to reading and study while he
becomes anemic and an invalid. But I make an exception
because we have no data covering that period. I saw a few
days ago in the paper that a Mr. Britton of Plainfield, New
Jersey, has been an active citizen not only in his business but
in every department of the neighborhood life until he has
reached the age of 102. He declared that then he intended to
retire and devote the rest of his years to recreation. I have
a suspicion, however, that Mr. Britton is making a mistake.
Peter Cooper's appearance on the platform, with his rubber
ring on his arm upon which he sat, when he was in the 90's,
and the active interest he took in the welfare work which
was the object of the meeting, were inspirations for hope
and effort to the whole audience.

TALK WITH A DEMOCRATIC STATESMAN.
I had an interesting talk some months since with one of
the ablest jurists and most distinguished Democratic states
men in the country. I said to him, "It is seldom that duty
and sentiment work together." The occasions are rare, almost
isolated, in public life where partisanship can be laid aside
and recognition given to eminent merit, accompanied by recog
nition of the broadmindedness and impartiality when he had
the opportunity, of the citizen to be honored. Taft as Presi
dent, following the habit of a lifetime, was always judicial.
The ambition of his life had been to be upon the Supreme
Court of the United States, and he had for it the reverence
of a distinguished judge and a trained lawyer. The ambition
of every member of the bar is to reach that court and be one
of the nine who constitute this wonderful tribunal. Three
vacancies occurred during Taft's presidency, one of Chief Jus
tice and two of Associate Justices. He filled them all with
Democrats, and the highest place he gave to a Democrat who
had also been a Confederate soldier, but whose eminent fitness
was recognized by everyone. Mr. Taft is now at the zenith
of his powers. To have an ex-President who had also demon
strated in a long career eminent judicial qualities in that court,
18

would be something so unique, so beyond all the possibilities
of ever happening again, that it would arouse among the
people a study of that tribunal and acquaintance with the
wonderful service it has done and is doing for the country
and would enormously strengthen it in the popular estimation.
"Do you think it possible," I said to the judge, "that under
these conditions, with the tremendous pressure there will be,
if a vacancy occurs, from party friends and party leaders,
would it be possible to find reciprocity for this broadminded
ness of President Taft?" There is no doubt that the disap
pointment to his party friends caused by his appointment of
these Democrats was one of the causes of his defeat. The
judge said, "If the opportunity occurs, I am going to do my
best to have the President place Mr. Taft upon the Supreme
Court." The vacancy occurred, the judge was eager, and
associated with him most of the executives of the bar asso
ciations of the United States, but their request was met with
the emphatic statement that no one but a Democrat would
be considered. We have now had for over a month the most
extraordinary and remarkable spectacle connected with the
confirmation of a candidate for one of the Justices of this august
tribunal, a trial by a committee of the Senate as to the fitness of
the appointee. Citizens of the highest character and most emi
nent repute in the country, both lawyers and laymen, have
given testimony against the confirmation. It is not an edify
ing spectacle, and it harms the Supreme Court. Beyond any
suggestion possible, it is necessary for continued confidence
in that tribunal, that both those who are named for it and
those who are there should meet every requirement in fact
and in sentiment which the immortal Csesar is said to have
exacted of his wife — that she must be not only pure but above
suspicion.
352ND ANNIVERSARY OF SHAKESPEARE.
Shakespeare, St. George and I were born on the 23d day
of April. I said to an eminent authoress, noted for her
seriousness and lack of humor, "Unfortunately St. George and
Shakespeare are both dead and cannot enjoy this anniversary
of theirs and mine." She answered, "But I know that." This
is Shakespeare's 3S2nd anniversary and my 82nd. No mere
mortal of any age, race or country ever contributed so much
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to the mentality of the world, to its culture and pleasure, to
the inspiration of millions of men and women, the indication
of their careers and eminence in their careers, as William
Shakespeare. It is singular that he is more appreciated and
better known in .Germany today than in Great Britain, and
as well known in France as in England. His works are in
the libraries of English-speaking peoples all around the globe,
and if there can be in that household only two books, one is
Shakespeare. We Americans can congratulate our country
that we have contributed to the stage the most eminent
dramatic critic of the action of Shakespeare's plays of our
generation, and probably of any generation, in the venerable
William Winter, and it was a distinguished contribution to
Shakesperean lore when the professor of a Nebraska collie
and his wife spent months rummaging among the musty rec
ords of the law courts in London and discovered these con
tracts and deeds reincarnating Shakespeare in the daily
activities of his time and presenting copies of his unique and
remarkable signature and his carelessness in spelling his name.
I was a student at Yale when Miss Bacon started the contro
versy to prove that Shakespeare's plays were written by Bacon.
Libraries have since been filled, cryptographs have been writ
ten and deciphered, cofferdams have been built on the Thames
to find on the bottom of that historic river where Bacon con
cealed his original manuscripts, and yet on his 3S2nd anniver
sary Shakespeare is better known than he was in life, his
reputation more secure, his authorship more completely de
cided, than ever before. The imagination which is Shake
speare is not Bacon; the philosophy which is Bacon is not
Shakespeare. If, as I believe, those who have crossed the
great divide take Cognizance in the other world of what is
happening here, surely on this 352nd anniversary of Shake
speare's birth, when it is being celebrated even amidst the
alarms and horrors of the greatest war of all time, Shake
speare and Bacon must be viewing the scene together, and we
can hear Bacon say, "William, my books have gone out of
fashion, yours are more alive than they were when you were
on earth. If some ardent controversialists and enthusiastic
namesakes of mine had not yoked me with you, I should be
today dead in name and fame. I trust, William, with that
amiability which was your characteristic in life, you will recog
nize that this service to me has done no harm to you."
20

WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
It has been the custom for many generations in the
United States Senate to have Washington's farewell address
read from the desk on the 22d of February. This is done by
some Senator selected by the Vice-President. It is always
a perfunctory performance. I was the chosen reader six
years ago; the Senate and galleries were crowded, but it was
an audience paying respect to the memory of the Father of
his Country and little or no attention to the message which
he left his countrymen. When this year that message was
read, it was so apt and applicable to the times and conditions
that it seemed as if George Washington was reincarnated.
His advices as to foreign relations and preparedness at home,
not for war but for safety, were as timely in 1916 as they
were in 1796, when he gave this address to his countrymen
and their descendants.

THE WAR AND PREPAREDNESS.
Fifteen nations, eight-tenths of the professing Christians
and all of the great powers and militant sovereignties outside
of the United States and the South American republics are
slaughtering each other, destroying property and ruining
civilian populations. When the war is over and peace reigns
there will be millions upon millions of soldiers retuming to
bankrupt nations and shattered industries to earn their living.
Peace will be declared, but the militant spirit will be still mad.
There will be no regard for treaties and none for nations not
able to protect themselves. This country is the great prize.
Its accumulated wealth, its hoarded treasures, its thriving
industries will be very tempting. Its navy is unequal to the
defence of the coast, its harbor defences inadequate, its army
insignificant in numbers and munitions of war practically non
existent. The big guns invented during this conflict destroy
cities twenty miles distant. Armies carry as part of their
equipment guns which can shoot shells filled with shrapnel
or poisonous gases five miles distant with an accuracy that
will hit the mark intended within a radius of one foot, while
the machine guns sweep every living thing in front of the
attacking forces. I cannot understand the pacificist. I read
my friend Mr. Bryan, who is always attractive and persuasive.
21

He says if this invading force should land, a million farmers
in their Fords would meet them and drive them into the sea.
I am afraid then would be a practical answer of the suggestion
why a Ford machine is like a bathtub, because everybody
wants one and nobody wants to be seen in it. Our friend
Mr. Ford, with the best intentions in the world, would take
a committee of automobile manufacturers from Detroit, a few
clergymen and suffragettes and stand in front of the onrush-
ing hosts of the enemy and say, "Boys, stop, this is not fair,"
and of course the enemy would disperse and take to their
ships and go back to their homes.
Preparedness means simply a navy sufficient and not too
great to meet the enemy in the open ocean, beyond the coast
lines, and an army which would be equal to any possible imme
diate attack and the nucleus around which could be gathered a
force so great that successful invasion would be in the minds
of any general staff of any military country absolutely futile.
Such preparedness is not aggression, nor is there the slightest
evidence of an aggressive spirit among the American people.
Behind this preparedness, recent occurrences and experiences
have demonstrated that one of the greatest duties of our press
and our schools, of our congresses and of our legislatures, of
our patriotic men and women, is to cultivate Americanism.

THE REVIVAL OF THE NATIONAL SPIRIT BY
THE WAR.
The most remarkable development of this war has been
the revival of national spirit and devotion to national ideals
among the belligerents. In Great Britain all parties are
welded into one. In Germany the socialists stand side by
side with the junkers for Kaiser and Fatherland. In Austria
there is a fierce nationalism among its many races for the
first time in generations. In Italy the people forced the Gov
ernment into a life-and-death struggle for territorial unity.
The French have risen to heights of patriotism and universal
sacrifices of life and property for France unequalled since
the Spartan mother sent her son to battle with the injunction
to return with his shield or borne upon it by his comrades.
With us unprecedented prosperity, unequalled distribution of
wealth to capital and labor, and general self-satisfaction and
22

content have paralyzed for the time the traditional American
ism which counted the honor of the Republic and the safety of
its citizens beyond all other considerations. I have met with
men of large affairs from all parts of the United States who
said we better suffer any indignity or outrage rather than stop
this business boom by war, and others who echoed this surren
der of honor and right rather than have their sons drawn for
battle. If the farmers who fought at Concord and Lexington
had felt this way, "the shot which echoed round the world"
would never have been fired and there would have been no Re
public of the United States. If the generation which brought to
a successful conclusion the Civil War, had so valued their
citizenship, a divided and hostile country would have taken
the place of a government now more than ever the ark of
liberty and the hope of the world. A nation prepared to
defend or enforce its rights need never have war. Granted
an adequate army and navy for immediate use, and a nucleus
for rallying our exhaustless resources and the potential power
of the United States will never be challenged. That has been
our experience in the past, with Austria in the Koszta case,
vnth Louis Napoleon when our threat drove his army out
of Mexico, with Great Britain when Cleveland's message
forced arbitration.

THE MEANING, SPIRIT, PAST AND FUTURE OF
OUR FLAG.
Patrick Henry's speech with its peroration "give me
liberty or give me death," Daniel Webster's oration with its
soul-stirring climax, "Liberty and Union, now and forever,
one and inseparable," were for generations past part of our
schoolbooks, known by heart by the schoolboys and spoken
in roadside schoolhouses and at every high-school and academy
commencement. Education is the foundation of citizenship,
but its overelaboration has relegated essentials to the rear and
"ies" and "ologies" to the front. Let us return to that part of
the old system which would make eugenics, biologies, social
service, economic theories and efficiency programmes based
upon thorough grounding in patriotism, country and the mean
ing and spirit, the past and the future of our flag.

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