Yale University Library

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Presented by the Author

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES

THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN ON
MR.DEPEW'S EIGHTY-FOURTH BIRTHDAY.

Speeches and
Literary Contributions
AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR

BY
CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW

NEW YORK: 1918

d, IS.. 110

CONTENTS FAOE
My Views of Live  9
Speech at the Twenty-fifth Annual Dinner of the Mon-
tauk. Club of Brooklyn, in Celebration of Mr. Depew's
Eighty-second Birthday, April 29, 1916  11
Speech at the Twenty-sixth Annual Dinner of the Mon-
tauk Club of Brooklyn, in Celebration of Mr. Depew's
Eighty-third Birthday, April 28, 1917  45
Speech at the Twenty-seventh Annual Celebration of the
Montauk Club of Brooklyn, in Honor of Mr. Depew's
Eighty-fourth Birthday, April 27, 1918  74
Speech telephoned from New York City to Seattle,
Wash., May 31, 1916. Distance 3,184 MUes . . . . 98
Speech at the Yale Alumni Luncheon, Yale University
Cormnencement, June, 1916  100
Address during the Centennial Celebration of the Grant
ing of the first Charter to the Village of Peekskill, N.
Y., July 2, 3 and 4, 1916  105
Speech at the National Fertilizer Banquet, Hot Springs,
Va., July 12, 1916  137
Speech at the Dinner given by the Twilight Club to Mr.
Otis Skinner, Hotel Biltmore, New York, October
29,1916 .. ..  147
Speech at the Luncheon given by the Pilgrims Society to
the Right Reverend Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs,
Bishop of Worcester, England, November 6, 1916 . . 158
Address before the New York Academy of Medicine on
the Art of Growing Older and the Value of Interest in
Pubhc Life, November 16, 1916  164
Speech at the Dinner given by the Lotos Club of New
York to Mr. Booth Tarkington, November 25, 1916 . . 187
Speech at the Dinner given by Mr. Frank Munsey to
Ambassador James W. Gerard, Ritz-Carlton Hotel,
New York, December 1916  195
[5]

Contents — Continued PAGE
Speech at the Dinner given by the "New York World" to
President Wilson and Others, in Celebration of Securing
Permanent Light for the Statue of Liberty, Waldorf-
Astoria, New York, December 2, 1916  202
Address at the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Philhar
monic Society of New York, Waldorf-Astoria, January
21, 1917  211
Speech at the Dinner given by the Pilgrims Society to
Hon. Joseph H. Choate on his Eighty-fifth Birthday,
the Union League Club, New York, January 27, 1917 221
Speech at the Luncheon given by the Executive Com
mittee of the Pilgrims Society to Sir Herbert Beerbohm
Tree, Bankers Club, New York, May 7, 1917 . . . . 231
Speech at a Special Meeting of the Union League Club of
New York, May 24, 1917, in Memory of Hon. Joseph
H. Choate  239
An Appreciation of General James W. Husted at the
Unveiling of the Husted Memorial in Depew Park,
PeekskiU, N. Y., July 4, 1917  256
Speech to the Drafted Men of Tarrytown, N. Y., Who
were leaving for Camp, September 10, 1917 . . . . 262
Address before the Young Men's Christian Association,
First Presbyterian Church, PeekskiU, N. Y., October
22, 1917  271
Speech at the Rooms of the Geographical and Bio
graphical Society of New York, on the Occasion of the
Hanging of Mr. Depew's Portrait on their Walls, Dec
ember 13,1917  298
Speech at the Luncheon of the Pilgrims Society, in
Honor of Brig. General William A. White, R. M. O.,
Bankers Club, New York, December 18, 1917 . . . . 307
Speech at the Inauguration of Mr. Depew as President of
the Pilgrims Society, Bankers Club, New York, Janu
ary 23, 1918  315
Speech at the Dinner given by Mr. Juhen Stevens Ulman
to Dr. Milenko Vesnitch, Representative of Serbia,
January 31, 1918  324
[6]

Contents — Continued PAGE
Speech at a Mass Meeting of the Citizens of Bates
County, Va., at Hot Springs, July 4, 1918 . . . ; 332
Address at the Unveiling of Mr. Depew's Statue in Depew
Park, PeekskiU. N. Y., September 28, 1918  351
Speech at the Luncheon of the Merhants' Association of
New York, Hotel Astor, October 10, 1918 . . . . 366
Extract from Speech as Presiding Officer introducing
the Guest, dehvered at the Dinner given by the
PUgrims Society of New York to Sir Eric Geddes,
First Lord of the British Admiralty, Ritz-Carlton Hotel,
October 14, 1918 .. ..  376
LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
A Vision of Higher Life. Written for "LesUe's Weekly" 383
Changes within the next Seventy-five Years. Written
for the "Brooklyn Eagle" on Its Seventy-fifth Anni
versary, October 26,1916  385
Little Talks with Big Men. Interview in the "Brooklyn
Eagle," December 17, 1916  392
Letter of Congratulation to Walter W. Griffith, Esq., on
his Masonic Jubilee, Jime 26, 1917  396
Letter from the ChUdren of PeekskUl, N. Y., July 7, 1917 398
Answer to the ChUdren of PeekskUl, N. Y., July 13, 1917 401
Tribute to the Memory of Dr. Charles E. Fitch, January
15, 1918   403
Letters from President Woodrow Wilson, in Appreciation
of Speech deUvered before the Pilgrims Society, Jan
uary 23, 1918  404
Letter read at the Dinner given to Mr. Edward G. Riggs,
April 6, 1918  405
Letter to the Rippey Bible Class, First Presbyterian
Church, Geneva, N. Y., April 19, 1918  406

7]

MY VIEWS OF LIFE
We pass this way but once. We cannot re
trace our steps to any preceding milestone.
Every time the clock strikes it is both the an
nouncement of the hour upon which we are
entering and the knell of the one which is gone.
Each night memory balances the books and we
know before we sleep whether the result is on
the right or on the wrong side of our account.
The older we grow the more we reaUze that
life is worth the living. We think too httle of
the fun there is in it. We are too parsimonious
of laughter. We do not appreciate as we ought
the man or the woman who can make us forget
while we are amused. We love the past and its
priceless heritage, but unwise is the man who
lives in it.
The secrets of happiness and longevity, in
my judgment, are to cherish and cultivate
cheerful, hopeful and buoyant spirits. If you
haven't them, create them. Enjoy things as
they are. The raggedest person I ever saw was
a Turkish peasant standing in the field, clothed
in bits of old carpet. He was laughing hilari-
[9]

MY VIEWS OF LIFE
ously at our well-clothed party. The combina
tion of color and humor made him a thing of
beauty, if not a joy for ever.
Let us never lose our faith in human nature,
no matter how often we are deceived. Do not
let deceptions destroy confidence in the real,
honest goodness, generosity, humanity and
friendship that exist in the world. They are
overwhelmingly in the majority.

[10]

Speech at the Twenty-fifth Annual Dinner
of the Montauk Club of Brooklyn, in
Celebration of Mr. Depew's Eighty-second
Birthday, April 29, 1916.
(Mr. Depew's birthday is the 23rd of April, but club
conditions made change of date necessary.)
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 pa
triotic celebrations, of centennials and semi
centennials of great importance, we have had
an unusual number in the last quarter of a cen
tury. With one after another came recurrences
of the birthdays of the Republic and of the or
ganization of the different departments of our
government. In the life of the individual the
twenty-fifth anniversary is the most interesting.
We, here tonight engaging in the twenty-fifth an
nual recurrence of this most gratifying compli
ment which you have paid me for a quarter of
a century, have feelings both pathetic and joy
ful. We cannot forget and we contribute the
wreath of affection and memory to those who
have joined the majority during this period.
[11]

AT FOURSCORE AND POUR
But we extend our congratulations and felici
tations to those who are still with us in full
vigor, health and happiness; we welcome the
younger men who have come into this associa
tion and join in this celebration.
Twenty-five is the most important age in
the life of a young man. At twenty-one he be
comes 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 esti
mating 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 ex
ample of extraordinary geniuses for judging
our own average selves. William Pitt at twen
ty-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 con
structive 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 re
markable 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 Eu-
[12]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
rope. He foresaw events, he recognized bud
ding statesmen, his vision encompassed all Eu
ropean and Asiatic activities. With genuine
foresight, with the ability to select incompar
able aids for the different departments of the
work, a courage which knew neither fear nor
apprehension and honor of the purest and high
est type, he made the Times a leader of public
opinion, a maker of measures and a tremen
dous 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. Every
body 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 propor
tion of our divorces, which are the disgrace of
our modern social life, come from early indis
cretions. The happiest of matrimonial celebrations is
the silver wedding. The golden one is reminis
cent; it is for grown up children and grandchil
dren; they look upon the old couple with affec
tion, are glad that they are still upon the stage,
feel a guardianship of their health, and yet
[13]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
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 phys
ical powers, they have overcome most of the
difficulties of life, they are established in the
security of the present and the future and they
still have a guiding hand and a lifegiving inter
est in shaping the careers and helping the prog
ress 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 manager 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 underbrush 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. In 1893, I delivered the oration at the open
ing 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 cov
ered many acres, was about a half mile long
and a quarter mile wide. It had 90,000 chairs
[14]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
and standing room for 50,000 more. In that
vast auditorium the unconscious movement of
such a mass of people made a roar like Niag
ara. Mr. Blaine, who was a great and success
ful 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
opening 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 Agri
culture 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 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 show." So we took
seats in the empty auditorium. His verdict
[15]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
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 shoul
ders. 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 gentlemen, to see the great
orator of the day."
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 for-
got." One of the most brilliant and forceful of my
colleagues during my time in the Senate was
Foraker of Ohio. He commanded the atten
tion of his colleagues and largely of the coun
try. Within the last few days, there has come
from the publisher two volumes of his reminis
cences. They are written with his accustomed
vigor, incisiveness and positiveness. 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 ques
tions were uppermost in the public mind dur
ing the whole of that period. Some of the
[16]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
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 interest
ing 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 history of the coun
try, began eighteen years ago and ended eight
years ago. "How soon we are forgot."
I had the good fortune to become well ac
quainted about thirty years ago with Mr.
Gladstone. He is one of the very few states
men or men of note whom one meets in a life
time 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 inquiry. He had to an extraor
dinary degree the faculty of acquisition, ab
sorption 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
[17]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
short time the results of the study and work of
a lifetime. I came to know him better be
cause, like most Americans, I was deeply inter
ested 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 amaze
ment that there should be such intense hostil
ity in the United States against England. The
Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII,
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 Amer
icans had in federated government, our union
of sovereign states with certain powers in the
general government 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 ex
periment in government.
Mr. Gladstone, while probably not the great
est orator who had ever appeared in the House
of Commons, was the greatest orator of his
time. He certainly was one of the greatest
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
[18]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
world tragedy of today, the Parliament of
which he was master for so many years, is
meeting questions which involve the very ex
istence 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. Gladstone, 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
eighty-three years of age, he had one of the great
est triumphs of his life. He had overthrown his
enemies, he had become supreme by a great
majority 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 some
thing about Gladstone and his oratory and
what you thought of it." She said, "Oh, Glad
stone. He pounded the table." "How soon
we are forgot!"
When we met here first, the Harrison admin
istration was closing and Cleveland's was im-
[19]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
minent. Both of these statesmen 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 Cleveland one
of the most courageous of our chief magis
trates. Harrison's unpopularity was due to a
singularly cold and repellent manner. He was
a great lawyer, had been an admirable volun
teer soldier and possessed executive qualities of
rare distinction, but he repelled all who came
in contact with him. The favorite designation
of him among Senators and Congressmen was
"The Iceberg." I happened to hold the posi
tion 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 se
lection of the Convention when I retired, and
I selected Harrison. The support of New York
made his nomination good and his election fol
lowed. 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 inaugu
ration every place in his Cabinet except Secre
tary 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 pubhc
[20]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
life and I declined. I never shall forget the in
terview after his renomination in 1892. He
said to me, "My life has been one of intense
struggle, a continuous and bitter fight, every
thing I have got I have won by hard knocks,
most strenuous work and fierce contests. You
are the only man who has spontaneously sup
ported me, and effectively so. I want to show
my gratitude. I can offer you at present noth
ing but broken bread, the Secretaryship of
State for the balance of my term, but its con
tinuance 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 experience
with hostile elements, that a show of feeling
would be taken as an evidence of weakness.
Two questions whose wise solution is essen
tial 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 Con
gress and the courts to give us a currency in
harmony with that which has been demon
strated to be right by the experience of the
highly organized financial and industrial na
tions of the world, and a regulation of railroads
[21]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
and a solving of the railway problem which
will be in accordance with the proper develop
ment, progress and defense of the United
States. We had, early in our history, reached a
sound basis for banking when it became a foot
ball in poUtics. In all countries, a central bank
is the regulator and the United States National
Bank was increasing in efficiency in serving
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 po
tent in another way. He peremptorily ordered
the withdrawal of the United States deposits.
His first Secretary of the Treasury, a financier,
absolutely refused and was dismissed. His
successor, also a financier, absolutely refused
and was dismissed. 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 re
fused 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 an
usurpation of arbitrary powers. The politics
of the country were largely dependent for four
years upon that resolution remaining on the
[22 ]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
records of the Senate, and in 1837 it was ex
punged 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 uncer
tainties, 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 flxed standard of gold.
As we look back over the period covered by
the recollection of comparatively young men
here, we are amazed to find how the silver mi
crobe entered the mental machinery and con-
troUed 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 rea
son of this silver heresy, we are indebted to the
ability and stubborn courage of President Gro
ver Cleveland. With the enormous power,
greater then than now, of a President, with
vast patronage to hand out and favors to be
stow, Cleveland forced the repeal of the silver
act, which was reducing our currency to a
Mexican or Chinese standard, through a Con
gress of whose members scarcely any of his
own party voted as they believed, and not
[23]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
many of the opposition. More than anything
else, this farsighted and patriotic action of the
President lost him popular support and he re
tired from the Presidency practically by unani
mous consent. I saw much of him when he re
turned to private life. He had no regrets and
no misgivings, was absolutely certain he was
right and that time would vindicate him, and
so was one of the most happy and contented of
ex-Presidents. The vindication has come more
rapidly than he thought, and to-day 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. 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 applause.
I mean Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island.
He was thirty years in the Senate. He had
that incalculable element of independence
which came from the certainty of continued
backing in his own State. He was a close stu
dent and finance was his hobby. The ambi
tion of his fife was to place the currency sys
tem of the United States upon a wise and per
manent basis which would prevent panics and
furnish an elastic currency whose expansion
and contraction automatically would be equal
[24]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
to every demand and every crisis. As the re
sult of his great experience, his profound study,
his analytical mind evolved the reserve sys
tem. 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 govern
ment at the beginning the settlement of the
currency question. He had a power over Con
gress equal to that of Gen. Jackson. In this
case, it was a useful autocracy and it forced
through a reluctant Congress the Federal
Reserve Act. It practically settles for the
future our financial system upon a proper
basis. The work of Senator Aldrich contrib
uted much to this Act. There is no more re
markable illustration of the power and con
tinuing 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 the effects of the
arbitrary acts and imperial whims of Andrew
Jackson. Important as was the currency question and
[25]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
our financial conditions, the railroad question,
still unsettled, is of greater moment to the
country. In all ages of the world, transporta
tion routes have built up empires, great cities
and prosperous 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 invest
ment in round numbers of twenty billion dol
lars, gross revenue of three billion dollars, two
millions of employees directly on the payroll
and two millions more indirectly but neverthe
less equally dependent upon railway prosper
ity. In other words, about twenty millions of
men, women and children of our one hundred
millions are dependent directly upon the rail
way treasury for a living. They carry yearly
one thousand millions of passengers, with a
safety that is a marvel. While they have
crossed the Continent and reached and devel
oped vast interior territories, yet their work is
still incomplete. As irrigation and water power
are understood and permitted, more railroads
are absolutely requii'ed if any benefit is to
come from these improvements. At least ten
thousand millions of dollars more must be in
vested in construction and extension if the re-
[26]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
sources of our country are to provide for com
ing and increasing generations of inhabitants.
From 1870 to 1880 the construction of rail
roads was encouraged by land grants and local
bounties. When the products of the farm on
the market fell below the cost of production, a
granger movement led to drastic legislation.
When New York State presented me as its can
didate for the Presidency in the National Con
vention of 1888, I was then president of the
New York Central Railroad. Granger legisla
tion 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 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 rail
road 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 difference between prosperity and
bankruptcy. We Republican lawyers and poli
ticians have outpaced our Democratic oppo
nents and captured the grange vote." "Well,"
I said, "who are your clients?" His answer
[27]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
was, "I am the county attorney of the Rock
Island raihoad, 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 re
quired, came happily the commission system.
I think I was the first American railroad man
to advocate commissions. They were first ad
visory, afterwards mandatory. Then came, in
1887, the Interstate Commerce Commission.
It was constructed on a wrong principle of en
couraging, promoting and forcing competition
among railroads, 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 commis
sion and including in its authority sleeping
cars, the express companies, private cars and
pipe lines, and further by the amendments of
1910, enlarging still more its powers and gath
ering in telegraphs, telephones and cables.
The powers of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission have also been greatly enlarged by the
construction of these laws by the courts. Now
the railroad in almost everything essential to
its welfare is under the control not only of the
government of the United States, but of forty-
eight State governments. That situation is in
tolerable, because no enterprise, great or small,
[28]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
can perform proper service or properly develop
under forty-eight masters with conflicting in
terests. 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 hun
dred per cent should be whoUy 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 stockholders and the other half goes for
supplies, coal, rails, cars, ties, locomotives, re
pairs, maintenance, interest and taxes.
Our country and conditions are so different
because of the powers of the States, sovereign
in many ways, that it is difficult to find prece
dents to guide us in the experiences of other
countries. The German government has taken
over all the railroads and they are government
owned and controlled; they are part of the mili
tary system and its needs, 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
mihtarism of the German Empire. They are
virtually enlisted soldiers and subject to martial
law; their pay is one quarter that of the em
ployees of the railways of the United States.
The French government has taken over one
[29]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
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 ineffi
ciency has resulted and deficiencies in net reve
nue cause an annual loss to the government
treasury. Great Britain has the better system,
somewhat like ours, with a Board of Trade pos
sessing power over the management, conduct,
rates and conditions of the railroads. The re
sults of the foreign systems and our own so far
as the public is concerned, of which rates is the
most important, are these: In 1867, the freight
rates on American raihoads were 1.92 cents, or
practically 2 cents, per ton per mile. They
have declined until in 1915 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 enor
mous is the difference between these foreign
rates and our own to the benefit of the ship
pers of the United States.
I pause here to pay tribute to a locomotive
engineer whom I have long known, Dennis J.
Cassin. The Empire State Express, one of the
famous trains in the world, has been running
[30]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
for twenty-four years. It has carried eight mil
lions of passengers and never lost one. During
sixteen years of that period Dennis J. Cassin
was its engineer, and except by sHght 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 distin
guished record in handling his locomotive.
I want also to pay tribute to the executive
officers of the railways of the country. All of
them, with scarcely an exception, have come
up from the ranks. They have been advanced
from humble positions not by influence, but by
merit. They have little or no financial interest
in the companies of which they are the execu
tive heads, but they have a keen and conscien
tious sense of duty to the public, to the em
ployees of the railways, to the stockholders
and bondholders. They believe that true popu
larity in the administration of their most exact
ing duties comes from the efficiency of the ma
chine which they manage, the service which it
renders, the perfection in which it is main
tained and the reasonable returns which it
gives. Acting as they do in semi-public capac
ities, their ability, their integrity, their honor
and their efficiency are deserving of public con
fidence. Now, what is the matter with the railways?
The problem is so nearly solved that it is most
[31]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
unfortunate it should be halted by demagogism
or half-informed or misinformed clamor. The
railway lives, pays its employees, buys its ma
terial, keeps its road in order, adds to its effi
ciency, extends its line only by the monies
which come into the treasury from the rates
which it is permitted to charge. This the gov
ernment regulates absolutely. Just now a cri
sis is impending which illustrates the situation
and its conditions. Four hundred 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, one hun
dred mfllions 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 disloca
tion of our whole system of credit and income.
It also means the end of extensions and con
struction, because capital under such circum
stances could not be procured at any price.
Another is to cut down the train service, the
shop work for repairs and replacements, the
maintenance of the track and other economies,
which would lay off one-third of the force and
cripple beyond calculation the farming, com-
[32]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
mercial and manufacturing interests desiring
rapid and regular transportation to market.
The third remedy is an advance of rates suffi
cient to meet the expenditure. This should be
in the hands of the government; it should be in
the control of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission. 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.
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 rail
way organizations would go to that extreme,
but if it did happen, and it might, has anyone
contemplated 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 congestion of their ware
houses of accumulated products, factories
would shut down. With the necessaries of life
[33]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
not procurable at any price, the well-to-do
would be no better off than those who were de
pendent upon their daily wage, except for a
while, while food lasted, but for those who were
dependent upon 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.
But let us dismiss our fears and be in har
mony 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. To
day there are in the United States 2,159, and
the savings deposited with them, in round num
bers, amount to five thousand millions of
dollars, five times the vast sum which Ger
many 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 thou
sand 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 un
employment, for better citizenship, better man-

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
hood, better womanhood, hopefulness for child
hood 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 can
dle 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 occasion to take
issue with a citizen who a few months ago re
tired from business and gave up a large salary
at sixty. He claimed that a man's powers be
gin to diminish at fifty, and before he became
inefficient 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 con
vinced me that the mental, physical and moral
powers of men and women either grow or de
teriorate; nothing stands still. One occupation
can be substituted for another, but so long as
one lives, he must have something to do which
will occupy his mind and his muscles. He can
not 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
[35]

AT FOURSCORE AND "FOUR
ago in the paper that a Mr. Britton of Plain-
field, New Jersey, has been an active citizen
not only in his business but in every depart
ment 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, how
ever, 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 in
terest he took in the welfare work which was
the object of the meeting, were inspirations for
hope and effort to the whole audience.
I had an interesting talk some months since
with one of the ablest jurists and most distin
guished Democratic statesmen in the country.
I said to him, "It is seldom that duty and sen
timent work together." The occasions are rare,
almost isolated, in public life where partisan
ship can be laid aside and recognition given to
eminent merit, accompanied by recognition of
the broadmindedness and impartiality when he
had the opportunity, of the citizen to be hon
ored. Taft as President, 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 mem
ber of the bar is to reach that court and be one
[36]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
of the nine who constitute this wonderful tri
bunal. Three vacancies occurred during Taft's
presidency, one of Chief Justice and two of As
sociate Justices. He filled them all with Demo
crats, and the highest place he gave to a Demo
crat 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
demonstrated in a long career eminent judicial
qualities in that court, 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 ac
quaintance with the wonderful service it has
done and is doing for the country and would
enormously strengthen it in the popular esti
mation. "Do you think it possible," I said to
the judge, "that under these conditions, with
the tremendous pressure there will be, if a va
cancy occurs, from party friends and party
leaders, would it be possible to find reciprocity
for this broadmindedness of President Taft?"
There is no doubt that the disappointment 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 ex-
[37]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
ecutives of the bar associations of the United
States, but their request was met with the em
phatic statement that no one but a Democrat
would be considered.
Shakespeare, St. George and I were born on
the twenty-third day of April. I said to an em
inent authoress, noted for her seriousness and lack
of humor, "Unfortunately St. George and Shake
speare are both dead and cannot enjoy this an
niversary of theirs and mine." She answered,
"But I know that." This is Shakespeare's
352nd anniversary and my eighty-second. No
mere mortal of any age, race or country ever con
tributed so much 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 theh careers,
as William Shakespeare. It is singular that he
is more appreciated and better known in Ger
many to-day 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 Shake
speare's plays of our generation, and probably
of any generation, in the venerable Wilham
Winter, and it was a distinguished contribution
to Shakesperean lore when the professor of a
[38]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
Nebraska college and his wife spent months
rummaging among the musty records 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
controversy to prove that Shakespeare's plays
were written by Bacon. Libraries have since
been filled, cryptographs have been written and
deciphered, cofferdams have been built on the
Thames to find on the bottom of that historic
river where Bacon concealed his original manu
scripts, and yet on his 352nd anniversary
Shakespeare is better known than he was in
life, his reputation more secure, his authorship
more completely decided, than ever before.
The imagination which is Shakespeare 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 Shakespeare's
birth, when it is being celebrated even amidst
the alarms and horrors of the greatest war of
all time, Shakespeare and Bacon must be view
ing 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 con-
[39]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
troversialists and enthusiastic namesakes of
mine had not yoked me with you, I should be
to-day dead in name and fame. I trust, Wil
liam, with that amiability which was your
characteristic in life, you will recognize that
this service to me has done no harm to j'^ou."
It has been the custom for many generations
in the United States Senate to have Washing
ton's farewell address read from the desk on
the twenty-second 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 apphcable to the times and conditions that
it seemed as if George Washington was rein
carnated. 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 country
men and their descendants.
Fifteen nations, eight-tenths of the professing
Christians and all of the great powers and
mihtant sovereignties outside of the United
States and the South American repubhcs are
slaughtering each other, destroying property and
ruining civilian populations. When the war
[40]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
is over and peace reigns there will be millions
upon milUons of soldiers returning to bankrupt .
nations and shattered industries to earn their
living. Peace will be declared, but the militant
spirit wUl 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 then* 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 pacifist. I read my
friend Mr. Bryan, who is always attractive and
persuasive. 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
[41]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
the world, would take a committee of auto
mobile manufacturers from Detroit, a few
clergymen and suffragettes and stand in front
of the onrushing 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
immediate attack and the nucleus around which
could be gathered a force so great that success
ful invasion would be in the minds of any
general staff of any miUtary country absolutely
futile. Such preparedness is not aggression,
nor is there the slightest evidence of an aggres
sive spirit among the American people. Behind
this preparedness, recent occurrences and ex
periences 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 most remarkable development of this
war has been the revival of national spirit
and devotion to national ideals among the
belhgerents. In Great Britain all parties are
welded into one. In Germany the sociaUsts
stand side by side with the junkers for Kaiser
and Fatherland. In Austria there is a fierce
[42]

TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
nationalism among its many races for the
first time in generations. In Italy the people
forced the Government into a life-and-death
struggle for territorial unity. The French have
risen to heights of patriotism and universal
sacrffices of life and property for France un
equalled 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 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 surrender of honor
and right rather than have their sons drawn
for battle. If the farmers who fought at Con
cord and Lexington had felt this way, "the
shot which echoed round the world" would
never have been fired and there would have
been no Republic of the United States. If the
generation which brought to a successful con
clusion 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
[43]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
hope of the world. A nation prepared to
defend or enforce its rights need never have war.
Granted an adequate army and navy for im
mediate 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, with Louis
Napoleon when our threat drove his army out
of Mexico, with Great Britain when Cleve
land's message forced arbitration.
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 school
boys and spoken in roadside schoofliouses and
at every high-school and academy commence
ment. Education is the foundation of citizen
ship, but its overelaboration has relegated
essentials to the rear and "ics" 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.

1-4]

Speech at the Twenty-sixth Annual Dinner
of the Montauk Club of Brooklyn, in
Celebration of Mr. Depew's Eighty-third
Birthday April 28, 1917.
Mr. President and Friends:
In our lives, our domestic affairs and history,
we divide time into quarter-century cycles,
twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five and one hun
dred. Last year we closed the twenty-fifth
of these celebrations which you have given
in honor of my birthday. That quarter of
a century is packed away. When opened by
the historian, it will prove to him a mine
of incalculable value in development on the
material and spiritual side. For us it has
imperishable memories of good fellowship and
good fellows. We eriter now upon the sec
ond cycle toward the half century. Its first
year threatens with destruction or changes
difi&cult to imagine the wonderful advances,
reformations and developments in civilization
during the period of its predecessors.
There is no study so fascinating as history,
and none so unreliable. A distinguished econo
mist has said that figures will not he unless a
har makes the figures. History depends upon
the historian, not only on the facts as he narrates
them, but upon the grouping which he gives to
[45]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
them and the lessons which he draws. Ma
caulay said substantially that all historians are
liars; he cited especially the ancients through
Thucydides, Livy, Tacitus, Xenophon, Strabo
and Sallust. They illustrate their stories by
speeches which they manufacture and put in
the mouths of their statesmen and heroes.
The only one to whom Macaulay gives absolute
credence is Herodotus, the father of history.
Of course, we know nothing of the period
except what Herodotus tells us, but this great
critic discovers internal eAddence in the story
so garrulously told by the old Greek of the
truth of what he says and finds confirmation of
it in the poems of Homer.
"What is history," said Napoleon, "but a
fiction agreed upon?" Certainly he made an
extraordinary amount of it in his brief career.
While the difficulties of confirmation surround
and throw doubt about ancient and mediaeval
and in a measure modern times, our American
history can be subject to the tests of memory
so recent and actors so well known that each
case can be tried in court. It is only one
hundred and forty years since we began as a
nation. I know of a man whose father saw
Washington inaugurated and was f amihar with
the events connected with the making of our
Government. His son was born when the
father was past seventy, so you can easily see
that the seventy years of the father and the
[46]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
same period of the son covered the whole range
from 1776 to the present.
It is a trite maxim that the great state archi
tects of the past builded better than they
knew. This may be true of many of them,
but certainly Washington is an exception. His
writings demonstrate that he had an almost
prophetic view of the future of his country.
James Anthony Froude, the historian, wrote
an appreciation of Washington during the
Civil War, in which he emphasized that Wash
ington was no exception to the rule, as the
State which he created was crumbling in the
fires of the Civil War. But events demon
strated that Washington's foresight was not
misplaced. It showed that the institutions
which he did so much to found and whose
consolidation depended so greatly upon his
initial administration of the Government for
eight years, could withstand any shock, in
ternal or external. The constitution which
Washington as the President of the Consti
tutional Convention sent to Congress, with a
memorable message, alone of all the constitu
tions of the century stands practically
unchanged to-day. It is as adaptable as a
working scheme of government to the one
hundred miUions of people covering a continent
as it was to the three millions who at that time
lived along the fringe of the Atlantic. It has
proved capable and beneficent for all the vast
[47]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
changes, evolutions ahd revolutions which have
come from discovery, invention and education
during the period of its existence.
We have made a mistake in idealizing Wash
ington. The further we get from him, the more
biographers and historians increase his stature,
exaggerate his virtues and minimize his faults.
We are aheady approaching Macaulay's state
ment that all historians are liars. No such
man ever lived as the traditional Washington.
It is not wise for the purposes of instruction
and to present examples for youth to foUow,
to make the hero impossible. Years ago I
used to read with wild delight the fascinating
stories which came from time to time before
the public of the principal characters of history,
including our own. The trouble with the
author was that with all their adventures his
heroes bore charmed lives, and with all their
temptations they committed no sins. There
is a lesson in resisting sin, as well as in repenting
of it. Now and then the average man and
woman trembles for fear the perfect statue
of Washington may be mutilated when the
delver and explorer discovers that he had some
human weaknesses.
As another proof that witnesses are not all
dead, I heard from General John Cochrane a
story of Washington. General Cochrane's
father was at the head of the Medical Service
and on the staff of General Washington. He
[48]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
told his son that the staff discussed whether
Washington would submit to the stories of the
camp. Gouverneur Morris, who was the most
audacious, volunteered to try. At the con
clusion of his effort, which was very broad, he
emphasized it by slapping the General on the
back, saying, "Old gentleman, what do you
think of that?" Washington, made no answer,
but arose and left the room. The story proves
that Washington's idea of the dignity which
belonged to his position was very high, and
that he understood that familiarities of this
kind would destroy his influence and prestige.
On the other hand, we know that at the battle
of Monmouth, when General Lee was traitor
ously suffering defeat, Washington rode upon
the field and in a towering rage caUed him a
"damned poltroon," put him under arrest,
changed the tide of battle and won the victory.
I knew an old gentleman many years ago who
said that when Washington, as President, made
his tour of New England, he stopped at his
father's house, and that after dinner he took
him, then a httle boy, upon his knee and sang
to hun a well-known ballad of that time called
"The Derby Ram." The adventures of the
ram and the greatness of the singer left an
indelible impression of a real man on the
memory of this boy.
Washington grows in stature with the years,
because he was the most all-round great man of
[49]

AT FOURSCORE AND POUR
whom history speaks. Von Moltke gave credit
to his New Jersey campaign as showing evi
dences of genius as a soldier. The testimony of
all his contemporaries and of the historical
facts as we know them, demonstrate that he
was the foremost statesman of his period. In
private life he was the best farmer, far and
away ahead of all his contemporaries, and also
the ablest economist. The even superiority of
all his gifts prevented a spectacular display of
some quality which often places a man in the
first rank of history. But the mental philos
ophers have now decided that one-sided genius
is a species of insanity. As President of the
Constitutional Convention, he brought its
deliberations to a successful close. By his
appeal through the officers of his army to the
different States, he secured the adoption of the
Constitution. By his administration of eight
years, he guided the tottering footsteps of the
infant Republic until it could stand and go
alone. His farewell address is still quoted as
the supreme advice for all critical occasions.
It was quoted in the Civil War to sustain the
Union; it has been quoted for stability in
finance and credit; it is universally quoted
to-day in justification of preparedness.
It is difficult to understand the pacifists.
One-half the losses of the Civil War were due
to the Government being unprepared to sustain
its hfe. If Great Britain had been at all
[50]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
prepared, this war would not have happened.
There have recently been published startling
figures of the losses in this great conffict.
They are put in round numbers at ten millions
of men, but the losses of the Entente Allies
have been much greater than those of the
Central Powers, that is, Germany, Austria,
Turkey and Bulgaria. Experts are united in
the statement that this discrepancy is due to
the enormous slaughter which came to England
France and Russia because of their unprepared-
ness as against the perfection of the German
organization. Democracy means equal privileges and equal
obUgations. If we had a system of military
training hke Switzerland, we never would have
a war. The training itself would be of in
calculable value to our young men. It would
teach them the lessons of discipline and
obedience, and, above all things, it would
impress upon them the supremacy of the law.
It would promote democratic equaUty and
remove class prejudices. In the same tent
would be the son of the millionaire and the
poor man, the son of the lawyer and the
mechanic, the son of the college professor
and the farmer. "Comrade," with all that
means of mutual understanding, mutual help,
mutual regard and mutual devotion to each
other and the common welfare, would insure
the safety, peace and progress of the Repubhc.
[51]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Twenty-three years ago, in the second year
of our anniversaries, there was held at Chicago
the great exposition to celebrate the four
hundredth year of the discovery of America by
Columbus. In delivering the oration, I had
before me 125,000 auditors. The imperceptible
movements of such a .vast crowd makes hearing
difficult. I found, however, that it is possible
to reach thirty thousand. One can without
egotism speak of how kindly age has treated
him. The speakers whom I have heard who
were eighty or over have found a weakness in
their vocal chords, both as to the distance at
which they could be heard and the time they
could talk. I was called upon suddenly and
without notice to speak at the Repubhcan
National Convention in Chicago last June.
The great hall seated fourteen thousand, and
several thousand more stood in the aisles and
upon the platform. It was one of the sur
prises as well as one of the pleasures of a life
time to find that, past eighty-two, the carrjdng
power and the resonance of my voice were so
absolutely unimpaired that I was one of the
very few who easily ffiled the vast auditorium.
Next to Washington, Lincoln is more quoted
in this great crisis than any statesman iu any
country. His name is frequently heard in the
House of Commons and in the French Chamber
of Deputies. Asquith and Lloyd George have
both fortified their position by Lincoln, and so
[52]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
has Briand in France. The most influential
of the serious publications of Great Britain has
condensed its views and its advice to Lloyd
George on becoming practical dictator by
republishing the letter so wonderful in its
frankness and human nature of President
Lincoln to General Hooker, when he placed
Hooker in supreme command. There is no
human document like it.
We are dangerously idealizing Lincoln. His
last birthday a few months ago was fruitful in
aUeged and impossible utterances and actions.
These utterances and actions, if Lincoln were
alive, would make him fearful of his fame and
wonder who the authors and speakers had in
mind. I knew Mr. Lincoln and with consider
able intimacy his surroundings. I was Secre
tary of State of New York during part of his
administration and much in Washington. I
was a devoted adherent and admirer of Lin
coln's Secretary of State, WiUiam H. Seward.
It was also my privilege to know well his
Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase.
Mr. Lincoln's first evidence of greatness was
in placing in his Cabinet the most prominent
candidates against him for nomination for the
Presidency and also adding to their number a
distinguished and uncompromising Democrat.
Mr. Lincoln was little known in the country,
while Seward and Chase were household words.
Mr. Lincoln knew perfectly well that several
[53]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
members of his Cabinet were constantly plotting
to prevent his renomination and secure it for
themselves, and yet he ignored their treachery
and strove to get from their great abilities the
best administration of the departments of
which they were the heads. When the dis
loyalty of Mr. Chase became so prominent and
pronounced that it could no longer be ignored,
instead of dismissing him, he made him Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
We can account as a rule easily for self-
made men, but Lincoln was a miracle. No
man ever rose to such great heights from such
unpromising beginnings and surroundings. He
had aU the strength of character, the ability
to resist temptation, the discrimination between
right and wrong and the inflexible loyalty to the
right which characterized the pilgrim Puritans
of Plymouth Rock. On the other hand, he
never rose above or got away from, or tried to,
contact with the plain people among whom he
was born and with whom he passed his early
hfe. This discipline and experience were of
incalculable value when he became President of
the United States, because he knew how the
average man and woman would think and act
in any conditions. The result was that he
could always appeal to the common sense of
the crowd and overthrow all his adversaries
by putting his thoughts into words and illus
trations familiar to the ordinary mind.
[54]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
There were two Lincolns, but wholly unlike
Stephenson's creation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde. The chai;acters in this fiction are the
extremes of bad and good. The two Lincolns
were equally extreme and distant from each
other, but both were good. One was the all-
round hale fellow weU met, full of cordial sym
pathy, possessing a limitless wealth of stories,
a faculty of fitting his story to the argument
so that it destroyed his adversary, and
sympathy with others characteristic of a big
and generous heart. He was neither par
ticular nor delicate about the story if it fitted
the case, as it always did. One of the amusing
things of that time when I was in Washington
was the frequent revelations from the Cabinet
of horror, dismay and indignation of the always
dignified and decorous Chase when the Presi
dent would convulse the Cabinet and end a
discussion by one of these stories. He said
to me, and it cannot be too often repeated:
"They say I tell a good many stories. They
say it lowers the dignity of my office, but I have
found in the course of a large experience that
plain people (and repeating with deep emphasis
— plain people), take them as you find them,
are more easily influenced through the medium
of a broad and humorous illustration than in
any other way, and what the hypercritical
few may think I don't care. "
The other Lincoln was a statesman and a
[55]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
poet, dominated by spiritual influences, who
made the most beautiful tribute to peace
and the necessity of successful war to main
tain it in his second inaugural address, and
that wonderful prayer poem and oration com
bined which linked the living with the dead
in their hopes and aspirations in his Gettys
burg address. Let us hope that the historians
of the future will not so dehumanize the most
human of our Presidents as to present to pos
terity an impossible Lincoln.
It would be an interesting inquiry what
books, or book, have influenced the lives of
the readers. It is well known that Mr. Lincoln
was a careful student of the Bible. His style
was formed upon the wonderful Enghsh of the
Westminster translation. The great Duke of
Marlborough gained all he knew of history
from Shakespeare. He never read anything
else. The Shakespeare history, changed, modi
fied and adapted for dramatic purposes, was
probably quite as accurate as most of the
histories of Marlborough's period, and for a
man of action, as this great general was, full
of inspiration.
I had an interesting conversation with one
of the most eminent British authors. He told
me that of all historical characters, ancient or
modern, Mr. Lincoln was to him the most
interesting. He said that he had read every
thing he could find in regard to hun, but
[56]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
expressed the greatest regret that Lincoln's
partner, Herndon, had ever put in print his
reminiscences. It was an ordinary, common
and rather sordid view of his hero that he did
not want to know. When I read the English
author's books, and he wrote several biographies
as well as histories, I found that he had ideahzed
aU his characters. He had taken out of them
the human element; they were not people with
whom one would care to take a journey or
spend an evening, and especially, live with.
When a boy I read Parson Weems' "Life of
Washington." It is the only biography that
has the cherry-tree story. Modern criticism
and investigation have discredited the facts
narrated by Parson Weems. They have been
particularly vigorous in overthrowing the story
of General Washington cutting down the
cherry tree when a boy, acknowledging to his
father the act and saying, "I cannot tell a lie."
That httle narrative has quickened the wits of
all the humorists in the world. It has been the
inspiration of more sermons, Sunday School
addresses and preachments to the young than
any other anecdote. Countless mothers have
repeated it to their children or used it as a
corrective to that testimony to moral depravity,
the tendency of children to lie. Parson Weems
did a great service to humanity when he
either heard that story first hand or dreamed
it as one of the possibihties of his hero.
[57]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
One of the most entertaining and interesting
men I ever met was Labouchere, for many
years a distinguished member of Parliament,
English politician and editor and proprietor
of Truth. He was an attache of the British
Embassy at Washington during Lincoln's ad
ministration. The British Ambassador was
Lord Lyons, one of the most courteous, dig
nified and formal of men. The Ambassador
frequently dined alone, but had all the courses,
ceremonies and dress of a formal dinner.
Labouch&re said that one evening, while dining,
Lord Lyons was astonished by the butler
announcing the President of the United States.
Mr. Lincoln followed the announcement into
the dining room and took a seat. Lord Lyons
was, of course, astonished and delighted. To
the request of the host that the dinnesr be
served in its entirety, the President said,
"No, Lord Lyons, I came in for an informal
talk. You go ahead with your dinner and I
will brouse around." That visit did not get in
the newspapers, nor is it to be found in the
archives of the State Department, but it gave
the British Government, at that time critically
near intervention, a better understanding of
the purposes of this wonderful President, and
Mr. Lincoln a clearer view of the mind of the
British representative.
It has been our habit to review the events of
the year. This year, however, has been so
[58]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
full of history, and the seeds of history, that
we have not the time. But there are a few
things- that cannot be omitted. One of them
is the threatened railroad strike and its pos
sibihties which was a crisis in our industrial
hfe. It produced a panic and buUdozed Con
gress into hasty legislation affecting the in
terests of every man, woman and child in
the United States. Like all hurried legisla
tion, it was faulty, inaccurate and unequal
to the purposes intended. We must say for
the President, that if Congress at the same
time had enacted the whole of his program,
the result of the agitation would have been
permanently beneficial to the country. Any
solution of this great question is difficult, but
the President's enthe program took our most
dangerous and critical industrial element out
of politics into the calmer region, and juster
one of arbitration, judicial review and decision.
The Government has wisely undertaken to
regulate this great transportation system. The
evolution and devolution of this problem is
most interesting to me. At first as attorney
of the raihoads I presented their case. In
arguing it, I became convinced that not only
for the public, but for the raihoads themselves,
governmental regulation was a necessity. Mr.
William H. Vanderbilt, at that time at the
head of the New York Central System, was a
very wise and open minded man. He has
[59]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
been abused and misrepresented to a degree,
but his early life as a farmer had brought him
in contact with his fellowmen in an intimate
way, and he thoroughly appreciated and under
stood them. He first said when I presented
my view to hun that if the commission system
became perfected, either the commission would
own the railroads or the raihoads would own
the commission. But on more careful study
he cordiaUy assented to the commission system,
and assisted in its passage. The Government
has now, through the commission, taken over
most of the great functions of the railway,
espeeiaUy its rates on which it hves, and the
service which it must render. It must go one
step farther, and have power to arbitrate all
labor disputes and to decide as to their justice.
If the advance is granted there must be by the
same authority an adjustment of rates so that
the railways can meet the demand without
crippling their services to the public. It may
take the shock of a universal railway strike to
teach our people the necessity of placing a firm
grip upon this question. Cities and towns,
villages and hamlets, farmers, merchants,
women, children, every home, factory, industry
and mine depend upon absolute freedom in
the exchanges of the country. The only
medium of this exchange, with the exception
of a very limited relief by water, is the rail
roads. Stop them, and it is hke paralyzing
[60]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
the nerves or cutting the arteries of an in
dividual. Within a week after the beginning of a
general strike every manufactory and mine
would be stopped, every man, woman and
child would be out of employment, every city
and village would be without food, and the
horrors of the European war would be less
than the suffering from this paralysis. I believe
in organized labor. It is as essential as
organized capital. But we must draw the
hne between industrial disputes ending in
strikes, and railway wage disputes ending in
strikes. The employees of a factory quit, and
the factory closes. Its products can be had
elsewhere, the effects are purely local, but if
the railways are paralyzed, then a small band
can clutch by the throat a hundred milhons,
and tighten the grip to suffocation, and death,
if they choose. This differentiation creates the
necessity of the hundred miUions, through their
proper representatives, controlling the situation,
and all who are connected with its operations.
The young man who enters the railway
service enlists in a semi-public army. His
position is more permanent, and for equivalent
work, better paid than any other. He should,
on assuming the responsibihties, remember that
he has a duty to the whole people as well as to
the company. Unless he fully understands and
accepts these obligations he should not go with
[61]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
the raihoad, but make his life work in some
other line.
Among the most difficult problems which the
Congress had to solve during the past year
was how to impose an equitable tax to raise
money enough for the enormous and unprec
edented requhements of the public expendi
tures. Some of these were necessary, and
some of them extravagant. However, aU,
including the pork barrel, were demanded.
It is an axiom of pohtical economy that
the burdens of government should be so
equally distributed that each, according to his
means, must contribute. The true way to curb
extravagance and eliminate the pork barrel is to
have every voter feel that he is supporting the
Government. If the contribution of the indi
vidual citizen is only one doUar a year, he will
hold his representatives in Congress to a rigid
account as to the expenditure of that dollar.
We are the only great financial and industrial
nation which does not possess a budget system.
Other governments submit to the legislative
body, with great care and intelhgently tabu
lated, the requhements of the Government for
the ensuing year. We leave many depart
ments to present their claims, and then by a
system of log rolling individual members or
senators combine to put in what will add to
their popularity and political strength in their
districts. These combines have superb con-
[62 1

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
tempt for public necessities. It was necessary
under these conditions to raise the enormous
sum of two billion dollars for the year. The
way in which a scheme was adopted is best
developed by a report of the discussions of the
statesmen in conference. It was suggested
that the easiest tax to collect, and the least
burdensome was a stamp tax upon checks,
bills of exchange, receipts, and other objects of
commerce. A senator said, "Never, because
every voter who licks a stamp will say, 'damn
the party,' and we will lose him." It was
then said these world war conditions have given
phenomenal profits to copper mines. Those
which paid before are now paying double and
quadruple, and mines which were worthless
before have become exceedingly profitable,
but the representatives of the copper States
said, "If you touch copper you lose our States,
which are now safe in the next election." So
copper was crossed out. Every proposition
was met and defeated by local seffish interests.
Finally, one bright genius said, "Let us sock
it to New York," and the suggestion was
hilariously adopted. One-half the income tax
was placed upon New York, and the rest upon
four or five other industrial States. Pros
perity was penalized, and out of one hundred
milhons of people, three hundred and fifty
thousand were made to pay the tax. One-
hah of these are women and estates, so only
[63]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
one hundred and fifty thousand voters out of
seventeen millions sustain the Government,
but they have no appreciable voice in the admin
istration. The dozen or more commonwealths
represented in the conference pay practically
nothing. It was then suggested that they
impose an inheritance tax. The statesmen who
wished theh States to receive all the benefits
they could derive from being a member of our
glorious Union, but at the same time to con
tribute nothing toward the maintenance of the
Union, said, "Let us begin an inheritance tax
at fifty thousand dollars because there are not
enough people in our States who die leaving
fifty thousand doUars to affect our party or our
re-election." Edmund Burke was one of the
supreme intelligences of the past. He was a
great statesman, he was one of the few coura
geous men in public life, who, knowing that he
was right, refused to obey the instructions of
his constituents, but he went home after his
vote, and succeeded by his broader view and
larger understanding of the case in converting
them. Edmund Burke uttered this great truism,
"It is as impossible to tax and be popular as
it is to love and be wise," but there were no
Edmund Burkes in the sixty-fourth Congress.
Happily, in the new revenue bill of the sixty-
fifth Congress there is more of economic
wisdom than provinciahsm, and more of pa
triotism than sectionahsm. [64]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
No nation can hve without ideals. These
ideals come from folklore, the stories children
learn about the hearthstone or education
conducted by the State. The most extraor
dinary and wonderful effect of education in
aU history is the perfection of the German
organization. One of the few great construc
tive geniuses of all times was Bismarck. His
ideal of the state was divine right in the throne,
and supreme power in the state over hfe,
hberty and education. The individual must
be trained so that he can be the best soldier
primarily, the best artisan, the best writer,
and the keenest philosopher, but all these for
the development, the expansion, and the
power of the government. When the few who
govern decide that world power for them
selves is necessary for the state, and the best
thing for the rest of the world, this educa
tion, commencing with the kindergarten, and
never stopping, produces as we see to-day a
sohd and determined population prepared to
sacrifice everything, to approve ruthlessness
and frightfulness, and breaking of treaties and
invasion and devastation of peaceful countries,
and aU other things necessary for success be
cause their Kaiser and mihtary staff want the
largest place in the sun.
Nineteen hundred and seventeen will hve
through the ages as the most tragical and
productive of years. It includes the reahzation
[65].

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
of nineteen centuries of hope and asphations.
Ideals have become reahties. The impossible
of the past is the automatic function of5;^the
present. The Easter of the Cross was a
failure with the world in the thraldom of
autocracy, tyranny and despah, but its dynamic
truth working through war, revolutions and
sacrifices have made the Easter of to-day the
millennium of liberty.
It is a glorious privilege to live now. Prussian
militarism last year imprisoned Liebknecht,
but listens now to speeches in the Reichstag
far more revolutionary than the utterances
for which the Sociahst leader hes in jail. The
Chancellor promises reforms, and the Kaiser
says that for kingship by divine right to share
power with vox populi, vox Dei, is near his
heart, and intimates that it may be a new
revelation of the will of God. But it may be
the handwriting on the walls of the palace.
Christianity has been challenged by the world
tragedy, but through it the people have found
their souls.
Great Britain has awakened to effort and
sacrifice for the fundamental rights of humanity
beyond the dreams of her most advanced
thinkers. The thought and action of an emphe
in arms was expressed by the dying soldier.
Torn by shrapnel and mutilated beyond hope,
the Red Cross nurse bent her ear to receive
his last message for the loved ones at home.
[66]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
He was far above that. This humble Tommy,
one of the millions fighting on many fronts,
a pebble among the sands on the shore of
human effort, concentrated the common ideal
of his countrymen around the world, at home
and in the colonies when he whispered, "I
have done my bit. "
Evolution which developed by painful
processes through the ages now materializes
over night. Things neither imagined nor
dreamed of yesterday are the commonplaces
of to-day. If the period of miracles has passed,
events which are on the borderland of the
miraculous are of frequent occurrence.
Since the formation of our government the
representatives of the United States have gone
to European capitals when the subject was of
world interest. To-day is a new epoch in
our history. We have entered as an ally into
this supreme contest, and in recognition of our
power and place the special ambassadors of
the great nations meet in Washington.
Two weeks ago Great Britain welcomed the
entrance of the United States into this war for
hberty, humanity and civilization by en
twining her flag with the Stars and Stripes
over her Houses of Parliament, and in ancient
St. Paul's Cathedral the King and Queen,
the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and
Lords and Commons, the Navy and the Army,
the Church by its head, the Archbishop of
[67]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Canterbury, the Courts by the Lord Chief
Justice, and the earth-enchcling empire of
self-governing colonies by theh representatives,
rose and sang the "Star Spangled Banner."
In the other world, where scales have fallen
from eyes and clear vision prevails, the two
Georges, George Washington and George III,
must have clasped hands and made the heavenly
ether wave with spiritual cheers.
I have seen historic pageants and processions.
The most wonderful and significant of them all
was at the close of the Civil War when the
Union Army marched past the President and
Grant and Sherman and Sheridan at Washing
ton, the Union saved, to be mustered out and
return to their homes and peaceful pursuits
as citizens.
The celebration of the fiftieth year, and the
diamond jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria
were tributes by land and sea to her as a
sovereign and woman, and the wonderful
progress in popular government, in the arts
and sciences, and in the expansion and develop
ment of the Emphe during her reign.
But more remarkable, and equally significant
is this wonderful Russian procession from
savage settlements beyond the Arctic Chcle,
from prisons and convict camps, from mines
and sohtary huts, of men and women, of boys
and ghls, on sledges, and on foot, hurrying
through the snows and biting cold of Siberia
[68]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
to home and freedom. The martjrrs of liberty
suddenly released from bondage and torture
by the people's government as suddenly organ
ized and victorious. The pomp and splendor,
the brilliant uniforms, the insphing music of
other pageants are not here. They are clothed
in rags, they are partly naked, they are un
washed and unkempt. Many have been con
demned by court martial, more by police
edict without trial, all by ruthless tyranny for
daring to speak of liberty or suspected of
thinking of liberty. A free people over night
without passion or bloodshed plant theh own
government upon the crumbling ruins of a
thousand years of oppression and suppression.
Old autocratic Russia has found her soul.
We reverently raise our hats to Cardinal
Mercier, and greet with cheers the King and
Queen of the Belgians, an immortal triumvhate
worthily representing the indomitable sphit
and courage of an enslaved and stricken people.
History has frequent records of peoples
struggling for freedom. The instances are rare
of nations fighting for theh lives. The con
spicuous example of heroic death in resisting
the invader is the three hundred who feU at
Thermopylae. Theh courage and fate have
insphed all succeeding generations, and theh
story is ever fresh and absorbing, as is that of
Jeanne d'Arc, the maid of Orleans. Future
historians will in theh equal valor and eager-
[69]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
ness to do and die for their country couple
France with the Spartan heroes.
After forty years of republican hberty, the
French people, men and women, with un-
equaUed and unexampled unanimity are giving
theh all to save France. The story of the
defence of Verdun for three years against the
best organized and best led army of modern
times is one of the most brilliant and insphing
chapters in the history of heroic patriotism.
In the devastation, ruthless ruin and tortured
population of the villages and fields from
which the enemy has been expelled, the
victorious soldiers see the fate from which they
saved the rest of the country. France, thhty
years ago, presented to us the Statue of Liberty
Enlightening the World. The light of the
statue illumines only our harbor of New York.
The soul of France shining through her faith
and her work enlightens the whole world.
It is always a privilege to be an American
citizen; now it is a distinction. The Autocrat
and the War Lord declare war on short notice,
and then call on theh sub j ects to fight . Democ
racies go into war on the deliberate judgment
of the people after every effort for peace has
failed. The Emperor of Austria gave Serbia
twelve hours, and then began hostilities. The
Emperor of Germany limited Russia, France
and Belgium to a few days. The United
States waited and endured, suffered and pro-
[70]

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
tested for two years and a half, until Christian
patience could no longer be justified and
righteous wrath no longer restrained. We
enter the war to protect our fundamental
rights and liberties, and to win peace upon a
basis so sure and permanent that people can
live their lives and enjoy theh hberties un
molested in this world. It is a war for free
dom and humanity. When peace comes with
victory, if there are questions of territories,
we want none; if indemnities are demanded,
we will not share. It is a glorious result
that the Enghsh-speaking peoples of the world
are of one faith and fighting for common ideals.
Americans, Enghsh, Irish, Scotch, Welsh,
Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and
South Africans are united to end forever the
doctrine that might makes right. All English-
speaking people have a common heritage in
Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights, and the
results of the revolutions which have democ
ratized the institutions of Great Britain. But
we Americans have contributed immortal prin
ciples of hberty in which they all equally share.
In the cabin of the Mayflower a little band
adopted, and now most of the world acclaims,
"a government of just and equal laws." One
hundred and fifty-six years of the development
and practice of this idea produced the im
mortal Declaration of Independence, "that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed,
[71]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
by their Creator, with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness." After seven years
of war had gained us our independence, the
Repubhc was built on this foundation: "We,
the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect Union, estabhsh justice,
insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the
common defence, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America. "
What of the future? We wiU improve the
education and training of the rising generation.
The schools will be more practical in fitting the
boys and ghls for their vocations in life. God
and country will be so instilled in their minds
and hearts that theh visions and ideals will be
to protect and improve the Government which
is wholly thehs. Our Government has not
kept step with the necessities of our growth and
expansion. While our foreign trade and the
markets requhed by our increasing production
have been created or enlarged by adventurous
Americans, they have been denied protection,
and informed by the authorities that they ought
to have stayed at home. The shackles of
provincialism are broken, and the American
who is in foreign lands the agent of our pros
perity will have behind him in his rights the
power and prestige of his country and his flag.
[72 1

TWENTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
The dominant sentiment of the world will be
for peace, peace maintained by democratic
nations working together to keep and enforce
it. President Wilson has stated the position
and purpose of the United States in an address
to Congress and the country worthy of the best
traditions of American statesmanship. In the
inspiration of the hour all differences, racial,
national or political, have disappeared, and our
whole people are one for justice, liberty and
humanity. The tragedies of this war are fright
ful, but as the Divine purpose is revealed we
reverently see how great and yet how light the
cost for a redeemed world.
"For Freedom's battle, once begun,
Bequeath'd by bleeding sire to son
Though baffled oft, is ever won."

[73]

Speech at the Twenty-seventh Annual Cele
bration of the Montauk Club of Brooklyn,
in Honor of Mr. Depew's Eighty-fourth
Birthday, April 27, 1918.
My Friends:
This is the twenty-seventh year in succession
that you have honored my bhthday. These
celebrations are unique among club entertain
ments and I know of no other case anywhere
like this. Club memberships are variable and
changing from year to year, but no matter
what the changes, there has never been any
diminution of the sentiment which led this
organization twenty-seven years ago to give
me this most gratifying of compliments — a
commendation of the past, a cordial recognition
of the present and a hopeful Godspeed for the
future. There is nothing that prolongs life more than
having an object to live for. This affects the
will, and it is the common experience of doctors
that the will is the greatest enemy of death.
The mother is pronounced hopeless, but she
says, "I wUl live until my son returns."
Against all the predictions of her medical
advisers, that son chcles the globe and arrives
in time to receive the blessing. The proof
that it was the will power that sustained his
[74]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
mother is that she rarely lives an hour after
the purpose for which she has made this
tremendous exertion has been accomphshed.
Many a man of an intense partisanship has
made a vow that he would not shave or cut
his hah untU his favorite was elected President.
With that sacrifice of his personal appearance,
is a determination to see the inauguration of
his political idol. The more repulsive he grows
and the more annoying the curiosity of all
whom he meets, the more bitter is his determina
tion to live until he can celebrate the event
by appearing in a normal way among his
neighbors and friends.
A period like this, covering nearly a third of
a century, is fuU of reminiscence. All who have
passed the middle period live largely in mem
ory. We do not appreciate how much of the
conversation of the world is made up of reminis
cences. With most people who have achieved
any distinction or won any honors, theh lives
and theh talk begin at the point of the first
decoration. You never meet a successful Tam
many man who does not in a few minutes say,
"WeU, that reminds me of when I was first
elected to the Board of Aldermen." A rural
magnate tells you, "That recaUs the year I
was a member of the legislature. " And so in a
larger way from Congressman to Senator, from
Senator to Cabinet, Cabinet to the Presidency.
The authors of these reminiscences are not
[75]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
consciously bragging that they have held these
positions. At the same time, they want you to
know that they have and not to forget it. This
sentiment invades the social sphere. I remem
ber visiting a family very well placed socially,
but not high enough to receive the recognition
of the social leader, which they greatly craved.
One day the social leader called and stayed
to luncheon. Ever afterwards, when I would
make any remark of the view from theh house
or of the beauty of their grounds, both husband
and wife, almost simultaneously, would say,
"Well, now when Mr. A. was here, standing
where you do, he made a similar remark, but
he pointed out that particular bush or tree or
vista. " When I called the next year, I received
the same statement of what had happened on
that memorable occasion in theh lives when
Mr. A. stayed to luncheon and praised what
nature had done for theh country seat and
what they had accomplished themselves. In
fact, theh life began with that visit and there
was nothing which interested them in the years
preceding or in those which followed.
I was traveling through a western state, on a
railway inspection tour, when at one of our
stopping places the leading citizens came
around. What I wanted to know, of course,
were the things relating to the neighborhood
which were of interest or of promise in our
railway traffic, and how the railway could
[76 1

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
stimulate the activities of the neighborhood and
its tributary territory. But the leading citizen
would keep constantly sidetracking my efforts,
while he recalled what occurred when he was
a United States Senator, many years before, a
fact which very few remembered but himself.
This tendency to reminiscence has given to
the world much entertaining and valuable
history. It is a sort of literature in which the
English excel, the French following close after.
No English diplomat or statesman would think
of dying until he had published his volume of
recollections. The same way in France with
theh men of letters. It has been essayed several
times in the United States, not always success
fully. The first attempt, and the best, was
the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. This
is one of the most fascinating of books, and
the most informing. But Franklin's life was a
marvelous one and he was one of the most
striking characters of his generation, or of any
period. A distinguished English author has
stated, I think Matthew Arnold, that he regards
him as the greatest intellect of the English-
speaking race. No praise was ever so high,
when we think of Milton, Shakespeare, Bacon
and other great lights of our language.
General Grant's autobiography was a success,
in fact the greatest financial success of any
book ever pubhshed in America, but it is
intrinsically of the highest value both as a
[77 1

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
revelation of the man and of a story of the most
critical period in our history. It was written
under the most dramatic and tragic chcum-
stances. He had been stricken with a fatal
disease, and knew it, but the will power which I
have mentioned carried him through until he
had completed the book. I heard that he
contemplated going to Mt. McGregor, near
Saratoga, and called at his house to arrange
for a special train to take him up there with
all possible comfort. He expressed a deshe
to see me, and as I was ushered into his study
he was busily engaged upon his book. His
voice was then almost gone because of the cancer
in his throat, but he immediately began to
ask me questions, and especially expressed a
deshe for stories or reminiscences which would
relieve the strain of his work. In a httle whUe
he said, "That reminds me," and I knew then
I was to be the fortunate possessor of a story
from the most reticent of men. This story is
pertinent to the prohibition sentiment which is
now sweeping over the country. The General
said, "One of the most interesting men I
ever knew was U. S. Senator James W. Nye
of Nevada. He had the largest fund of
anecdotes and told them better and he was one
of the best of political speakers. I persuaded
hhn to stump the country for me. In teUing
me of his adventures, he said that he stopped
at a large manufacturing town in New England
[78]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
and was entertained by the leading citizen and
manufacturer. The man lived very handsomely,
his dinner and also the supper afterwards were
aU that could be desired as to food, but water
was the only drink. Nye was a bonvivant and
thought httle of any entertainment that did
not have wine. The Senator said, 'After a
long speech and then talking to all the magnates
of the neighborhood, I went to bed dry as a
powderhorn. I could not sleep, and as soon
as it was dayhght, I went down into the dining
room. As I sat there the mistress of the house
came in and said, "Senator, you are up
early." I said, "Yes, living in the West so
long, I am afflicted with malaria and I could
not sleep." She went over to a tea-caddy,
took out a bottle and said, "Senator, this is
a prohibition town, you know, but we have
malaria and I find this a good antidote. I
know it will do you good.'" The Senator
seized the bottle with avidity and thankful
ness. He settled again in his seat by the
window, more in harmony with the world.
Then the head of the house came in and said,
'Senator, you are up early.' He said, 'Yes,
malaria, you know.' 'Well,' said the old
gentleman, 'we have a cure for that. This
is a prohibition town; it is a good thing for our
work people; but I have a little safety in my
locker,' and he produced a bottle. After the
old gentleman left, the two sons came in and
[79]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
said, 'Senator, are you fond of hve stock?'
The Senator by that time was fond of every
thing and everybody. He said, 'Yes, I love
hve stock. I have plenty of it on my ranch.'
They said, ' Come out to the barn and we will
show you some.' They took him out to the
barn, closed the doors, and said, 'Senator,
we know you must have had a hard time last
night. We have no live stock, but we have a
bottle in the haymow.'" Senator Nye then
said to the General, "The trouble with a
prohibition town is that when you most need
it you can't get it, and when it does come it is
hke a western flood, too much of it. "
I find in reading reminiscences that the best
are by men who have kept close diaries. I have
just been reading two most interesting volumes
of John Morley. The greater part is made up
of extracts from a diary, apparently not cor
rected, and from letters of which he had kept
copies. The diary and the letters tell in an
interesting way the whole story of the trials,
struggles and successes of one of the most
influential men of his time, of great questions
whose decisions rested always largely with
him, and of interesting people whom he met.
It is the regret of my life that I neglected to
make these daily memoranda. There is hardly a
month, commencing with my entrance into the
legislature as a member fifty-six years ago,
which has not been crowded with conversations
[80 1

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
and incidents all of moment at the time and
many of them anecdotes and adventures which
would have made, at least for my children,
most interesting and entertaining volumes.
It has been my good fortune to know many
royalties, statesmen and men and women
worth while during the last sixty years. The
overlapping and overcrowding of the events
of a busy life make it impossible to recall.
As an instance, I made it a rule many years
ago that dinner was to be free from anxiety
and if possible full of pleasure; it was to be
the one period when the wrinkles of the day
were ironed out, when its troubles were for
gotten and the largest measure of happiness
and content carried one through the evening
and to bed. My two rules were that if there
was anything sad which had happened, a mis
fortune, an illness, a death, it must be post
poned until morning. The other was that,
out of the happenings of the day, I should
take home a story which would carry off the
evening. When you are looking for such
instances and have cultivated theh humor or
theh value, it is astonishing how many occur,
and equally astonishing how rapidly they are
forgotten. When I was a boy, I knew several soldiers,
veterans of the Revolutionary War. One of
them was my grandfather. Theh talk was
enthely of theh adventures in that great
[81]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
struggle, and theh life began and ended with
the Revolution. If you have ever met a group
of Grand Army men, you find the same thing
is true with them. Our American history can
easily be divided into a few great periods. It
is marvelous how little we remember and how
little we know about them. The first period
was from the election of George Washington
to the War of 1812. That gave us freedom of
the seas, and then came the wonderful mari
time development up to the close of the
Mexican War, in fact until the Civil War.
From the Civil War down to the second election
of Wilson was the era of industrial development
and financial experiments and triumphs.
These anniversaries have passed through the
administrations of Cleveland, McKinley, Roose
velt, Taft and WUson. The repeal of the Silver
Purchase bUl, which was the great event of
Cleveland's administration, which ruined him
with his party and led to his rethement per
manently from public life, but which is a monu
ment to his fame, seems now as distant almost
as Columbus' discovery of America. Nobody
now recalls or cares about the gold standard
which won the election of McKinley. When
it was found that the silver craze had died out
and the people had been educated to a currency
based upon gold, in harmony with the great
financial countries of the world, there was a
mighty controversy as to who was the author
[82]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
of that plank in the platform enunciated at the
convention which nominated McKinley. The
claimants were many and the evidence which
they produced was in every case convhicing.
Senator Foraker, who was chahman of the
Committee on Resolutions, has devoted half
of one of his volumes of reminiscences to proving
that all these claimants are liars and frauds.
Like most such planks which are with difficulty
adjusted into a party platform, there is no doubt
that this particular and much controverted one
was placed there after much discussion and
many fears and doubts. It was really an evolu
tion, slowly crystallizing, without any appre
hension at the time that it was to be almost
the sole and successful issue of the canvass.
For half a century we have been wrestling
with what seemed to us vital problems of
trade, transportation, finance and government
control of them; we have given our time and
money, we have marched in processions, made
speeches, written articles, carried torches with
the leaking oil from the lamps running down our
backs, and aU because we beheved the success
of certain measures was necessary for the safety
of the Repubhc. We did not fight, bleed and
die in vain. Undoubtedly there was some
progress, but how httle it aU seems to-day.
The hbraries are fiUed with the hterature of
the current political questions of the last
half century, the Congressional Record fiUs
[83]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
innumerable shelves and in its pages are the
speeches of the Senators and Congressmen.
The whole of that literature will rest for the
future upon shelves from which it is rarely
taken except by the curiosity seeker and the
antiquarian. No one will be interested in the
result of his researches.
Has it ever occurred to you that this over
whelming tragedy through which we are passing
will obliterate all past history? We feel it
aheady. History will date from June, 1914.
The literature which the world tragedy wiU
insphe will be our reading matter for the
future. During these three years and a half
there is no part of the sixteen hundred millions
of people who inhabit this earth who have not
felt its effects. More than a thousand milhons
of them have been dhectly concerned. Accord
ing to the latest estimates, fifty millions of
people have died not alone in battle, but mainly
by starvation and hardships in the devastated
countries. Fifty millions! Equal to one-half
the population of the United States have been
blotted out by this war.- The debts of the
various countries in 1913 were about twenty
biUions of dollars. They were a staggering
load to aU the countries but the United States.
A financial expert has estimated that by the
end of the year 1918, these debts wiU amount
to one hundred and sixty biUions. Germany's
appropriations for all purposes, civil and mili-
[84]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
tary, the army and the navy, were in 1913
between eight and nine hundred miUions. The
interest charge alone upon her present debt at
five per cent, is sixteen hundred miUions.
If we add to that one thousand miUions for her
civil and military necessities her taxation will
rise from eight hundred miUions to two
thousand six hundred millions if the war should
close now. The increase is quite as large
for all the other countries. The entire wealth
of Belgium, Northern France, Serbia, Armenia
and Poland has been practically wiped out.
There must be in the financial settlement a
realignment, restoration and reparation that
staggers the imagination. We thought at the
close of the Civil War that a debt of four bil
lions would be a burden so great as to keep
us under the harrow for generations. The
thrift, energy, enterprise and genius of our
people and our vast resources, rapidly devel
oped, negatived all these prophecies.
We have been more than a year in this war,
but we have already spent and loaned over
twenty bUlions of dollars. When the re
organization and reconstruction are completed,
there will be a new era in this world, with new
problems. The vital things of the past wUl
have no relation to the present, and in the
evolution of industry the undreamed of former
times wiU be the realities of the hour. Every
nation will be too absorbed in its sorrows, its
[85 1

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
losses, its burdens, the problems of its recon
struction and of its relations to the rest of the
world and its future safety to care for the
past which preceded this war.
Homer pictured the heroes and the con
ditions of his period so graphically and with
so much of our common human nature that his
epic has survived the centuries. Dante did
the same for his time, and Shakespeare
visualized his period. In Rousseau, Mill,
Spencer and Emerson we can find the creation
and crystaUization of ideals for whose preser
vation most of the civilized world is fighting.
There are thhty-seven millions of men on the
battle fronts in all the continents and seven
seas of the world. The problem of theh ab
sorption, after the discipline and experience
of the camp, in the economic life of nations, is
to be one of the most serious which ever engaged
the attention of statesmen. Therefore I believe
this new world will be wholly absorbed in its
statesmanship and its literature, with a world
which has been devastated and is to be
recreated. The dream of the socialists, a government
controlled by the principles of Karl Marx,
was realized. They had theh opportunity.
They had Russia with her gl-eat armies, un
limited resources and absolute power. They
kiUed or imprisoned those who disagreed with
them, they arbitrarily suppressed the press,
[86]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
they confiscated property. They tried to destroy
the Church and its influence and ruled more
arbitrarily, autocratically and tyrannically than
the Czar and the bureaucracy which were over
thrown by the revolution. On the theory that
internationalism is to succeed nationalism,
they disbanded the Russian armies and navy
and signed a treaty of peace with Germany
without reading its terms, under which the
ports of Russia, her mines and wheat fields
and vital resources and territories, which made
her a great power in the world, were surrendered
to the enemy. Anarchy and chaos instead of
law and justice rule a helpless people. Truly,
in the great settlement which makes the world
safe for Democracy, Democracy must be made
safe for the world.
The German socialists, upon whom Lenine
and Trotzky relied, were as eager as the Junkers
and military aristocracy for the spoU and loot
of Russia. The experiment has demonstrated
that the safety, liberty and prosperity of any
nation is in the patriotism of its people, even
if need be to the limit of old Commodore
Decatur's toast, "Our Country! In her inter
course with foreign nations may she always
be in the right; but our country, right or
wrong. "
It was the proud boast of Hindenburg that
he would be in Paris on the first of April.
His entrance into the fallen city was to impose
[87]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
upon it crushing taxes, to carry off its priceless
art treasures, to overawe France and seize its
accumulations of centuries for the pride and
enrichment of the Kaiser and his favorites.
Autocracy triumphant was to reduce the
French people to industrial slavery and per
petuate military and autocratic control of the
German people. The last glimmering ray of
hberty in Europe was to be extinguished and
aU nations feel the force of German power.
If the American army enters Berhn its
historic monuments and art treasures wUl be
safeguarded, its houses and shops protected
and its women treated with respect and
courtesy. The German people will be sum
moned to form a government by the popular
wUl in any form they wish, but upon lines
which will for the present and future remove
the threat of a militarism that imperils the
peace of the world.
One of the most curious and interesting of
the efforts of the last forty years has been the
movement for peace. I found traveling on
the same ship when I went to Europe over
thhty years ago a peace delegation from the
United States to a congress which was to meet
in London. I told Mr. Gladstone about it
and he said the whole idea was absurd, with
over seven miUion men hi arms in Europe
alone. The convention met, but the London
papers did not regard it of sufficient importance
[88]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
to note its presence. All efforts for peace
during the last quarter of a century, and now,
emanate from Germany. With the rest of the
world they have been and are genuine and
humane. With the Prussian General Staff there
have been and are shrewd attempts with a
vast propaganda to luU the world to sleep
whUe German autocracy and militarism were
preparing for its conquest. The Hague Tribunal
originated with the Czar. The nations entered
it honestly and with hope, except Prussia, who
carefuUy and very ably avoided committing
herself to anything. The result of this propa
ganda was general unpreparedness. England
at the commencement of the war could send
to the continent only one hundred and fifty
thousand men. Our own situation was utter
unpreparedness in trained men or munitions
or any of the elements necessary for the prose
cution of war. The safety of the world depended
upon France. The Kaiser compelled her to
dismiss Delcass^, her Foreign Minister, whom
he discovered alone among statesmen of Europe
saw and was trying to meet Germany's am
bitions. He appealed to Queen Victoria to
eliminate France as a danger to the British
Emphe, but met with a flat refusal. He
started to take away from France Morocco,
and did succeed in alienating a large part of
her African colonies. This constant threat of
the German army always close to the border,
[89]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
and often over the line, aroused the fears of
the French Republic, so that alone of European
nations outside of Germany she had for her
defense an army of nearly a million of men.
It was this army as a nucleus and the prepara
tions by which it could be recruited and
supplied with war material which said to the
German invasion at Verdun, "You shall not
pass," and at the Marne saved for the world
liberty and Christianity.
In the meantime, while all nations were
seeking peace and every organ of public opinion
preaching peace, the German Military Staff
used it as a camouflage for conquest and
behind it organized the largest, the most com
plete and the best disciplined army in the world,
with the largest accumulation of war material
for the subjugation of the world.
Day by day, as investigation probes proposals
for peace, we find that they aU either emanate
from the German General Staff or from those
in every country who secretly sympathize with
German aims and deshe to secure German
triumphs. There can be no peace with safety
which does not create a league of nations,
pledged to use theh power and resources for
its preservation and permanence. They must
also be strong enough and united enough to
punish any power which attempts to break that
peace and to enforce the decisions of an inter
national tribunal before which all must come
[90]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
with their demands, their complaints and theh
grievances. All successful revolutions for human rights
have been made at great sacrifices of life and
treasure, but they have infinitely repaid theh
cost. Certainly there never has been such a
return as that which has come not only to the
United States but the whole world from the
sacrifices and sufferings of the seven years'
war of the American Revolution. The Civil
War was more an upheaval than a revolution,
but it eliminated slavery, it removed the
stigma upon our Declaration of Independence
and united our people for their progressive
development under free institutions. The
tragedy of the French Revolution was succeeded
by the glories of liberty and life and liberalism.
The accumulated tragedies of this great battle
between democracy and autocracy, between
militarism and an ordered peace, are greater
than all revolutions put together, and yet the
results are to far outweigh the costs. The
world will no longer be an armed camp; no
longer will one method after another for peace
be tried and fail.
International commerce was hailed as the
solvent of international difficulties and rivalries,
but its competitions increased enmities; science
made its appeal, and the men of achievement
and discovery of every nation met in con
ventions and exchanged ideas, but they did not
[91]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
reach the ambitions of militarism; it was hoped
that literature would bring about, if not
brotherly love, at least friendship and good
will; the universities of different nations
exchanged professors and eminent men of
letters appeared before academic audiences and
upon popular platforms of different nationalties,
but they made little impression; the members
of the different religious bodies of the world
convened at several capitals, that thus Chris
tianity instead of being localized might be
internationalized to promote the principles of
its Founder. But we have now, after all these
experiments, awakened to the truth that the
liberty-loving peoples of the world, who are
also its peace-loving peoples, must be strong
enough and united enough to keep the mad
lust for conquest and power within safe limits.
Each nation, great and small, can develop
under this league according to its racial,
territorial and ancestral conditions, but all
together can bring about on earth the brother
hood of man.
Our own country will feel the effects in
practical legislation of the unity of our people,
fighting, laboring and sacrificing for one common
great end.
Senator Chamberlain of Oregon, a very able
and patriotic statesman and Chahman of the
great Committee on Military Affairs, made
statements which shocked the country and
[92]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
angered the President. Both the Executive
and the Senator were right, because they spoke
from the sources of theh own information,
which should have been common to both. If
we had in our system the compulsory attendance
of members of the Cabinet upon the sessions of
Congress this controversy would never have
occurred. There would have been such a
union between the Executive and Legislative
branches of the government in the mere process
of question and answer that there could be no
concealment or disagreement as to the facts
which should be equaUy open to both.
Our shipbuilding is the salvation of our armies
abroad and of our duty to our allies. The
ruthless submarine warfare has mercilessly sunk
one-thhd of the shipping of the world. Our
government is making heroic and intelligent
efforts to repair that loss and to meet the
needs of our boys and theh comrades of other
countries. Suddenly the whole scheme is held
up because the carpenters and their leaders
demand that the President and the Congress
and the army and the navy and men and women
of all other trades shall remain idle and suffer
until theh demands, whether right or wrong,
are acceded to. We will have growing out of
the closer relations of this war a larger, a more
liberal, a more humane understanding between
capital and labor, from which each will derive
theh just share, and the workman, instead
[93]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
of hating his job, will have pride in his achieve
ments. Sixty years ago the United States had sixty
per cent of the carrying power upon the ocean.
At the commencement of this war it had eight.
The shipbuilding necessities of the times,
liberally responded to by appropriations and
with the best expert talent of the country
devoted to the task, will place us once more
upon the seas and our flag once more in every
port, and the industrial development of the
country will find its outlet in its own ships and
under its own flag to all the markets of the
world. There are no more intelligent, highly trained
and, in their work, patriotic men than the
railway managers of the country. They have
little financial interest in the raihoads, but
enormous pride in theh administration and
usefulness. A singular partly ignorant and
partly demagogical opposition to the roads
has been retarding theh development, cripphng
theh resources and starving them, so that,
when unusual and most necessary demands
were made, they were found unequal to the
emergency. Happily, in the selection of a
chief director, a man of wide experience and
liberal views was chosen. Under the necessities
of the occasion, all restrictive laws have been
disregarded, the raihoads are acting together
instead of being compelled to compete, and all
[94]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
theh resources are made available for the
public good. We will never go back to obsolete
and barbarous regulation.
It is wonderful how great has been the
influence of single utterances of great leaders.
In the mass of accumulated wisdom in the
writings and speeches of men of genius, it is
only a phrase here and there which will survive.
Garfield was an eloquent speaker and his
addresses filled many volumes. I remember the
day Lincoln was assassinated. There was first
a paralysis of horror and then a cry for ven
geance. A mad crowd in New York was
rushing down Wall Street to wreck the houses
of supposed Rebel sympathizers. Suddenly
there appeared on a balcony of the Custom
House a splendid looking man. It was Gar
field, one of the finest figures of his time.
The crowd hushed and his voice ringing over
that immense multitude called for calmness
and sanity. Its one phrase sunk into every
heart and rnind — -"God reigns and the Republic
still lives. " This will be Garfield's monument.
President Cleveland gave to us "innocuous
desuetude." It became of universal use and,
with his other saying, "Public office is a pubhc
trust," will survive his messages to Congress
and his state papers. McKinley, under an
unusual and unprecedented pressure of office
seekers, was the happy inventor of an inclined
plane from the executive office to the White
[95]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
House grounds. He insphed hope and loyalty
by saying to the anxious applicant, "I cannot
give you what you deshe, but I hope to find
something equally as good." From Roosevelt
we have the "big stick" and its manifold uses in
the hands of a strong executive. President
WUson gave to us "psychology." It was the
psychology of peoples in theh grasp of critical
questions and the psychology of time for the
launching of presidential views. I disagreed
with the President, thinking he ought to have
declared war when the Lusitania was sunk,
that he ought to have responded by action to
the outrages on Belgium, that he ought to
have met more promptly the murder of our
citizens and the attacks on our rights, but I
recognize now that our people were not pre
pared, that to wake us up requhed two years
of repeated murders of our citizens and in
vasions of our just rights. When, after two
years and a half, the President finally declared
war, on April 6, 1917, the country was not yet
enthely with him; but when this declaration
had been discussed in every home, and six
months afterwards, in one of the ablest of
state papers, the President appeared before
Congress and asked for a declaration of war
against Austria, the whole country, with extraor
dinary unanimity, applauded his action. He
was master of the psychological moment.
Abraham Lincoln, in his second inaugural,
[96]

TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY SPEECH
made his mighty declaration, after explaining
his settled purpose to pursue the war relent
lessly untU the Union was preserved, that
it was to be, said the great President, "with
malice toward none and charity for all."
That sentiment carried the war to a success
ful conclusion. That sentiment reunited the
hostile states and made us as we are to-day,
one people, without sectional lines or differences.
That sentiment is the basic principle of the
entrance of the United States alongside the
other free governments in this war. We want
no territory, no indemnities, no rewards. We
will fight to our utmost, "with malice toward
none, with charity for aU." This sentiment
will penetrate the opposing hues; it. will be
more powerful than armies in disintegrating
the hosts of autocracy and militarism. Those
suffering and dying millions will cry as their
minds open, "What are we fighting for, what
gain comes to us and our children, while opposite
us the Americans are fighting for liberty,
humanity and Christianity, with 'malice toward
none and charity for all'?" As this belief
penetrates and is absorbed it will do more
than guns to destroy the morale of the enemy,
and bring with victory a peace of liberty and
humanity.

[97]

Speech telephoned from New York City to
Seattle, Wash., May 31, 1916. Distance
3,184 miles.
At the request of the Chamber of Commerce of
Seattle, Mr. Depew delivered the following speech
per telephone, and the service was so perfect that
he could easily hear the introduction made by the
Toastmaster and also the applause with which his
speech was received.
Gentlemen: The Metropolis of the Western Hemisphere
sends greeting to the Metropolis of the Pacific
Coast. In a space of four miles before Verdun
is being fought the bloodiest battle of aU
time. Over three hundred thousand have
fallen. They have died killing each other
for their ideals. We to-night by this marvelous
invention for peace are brothers in mingled
voices across three thousand miles of country,
inhabited by a people with one mind, one love,
one asphation and that is for the United States.
You are of yesterday and we are of three cen
turies past, but our traditions, our inheritance
and patriotism are the same.
Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, the emi
nent French statesman, said to me in Paris
that he had visited every great city in the
world, but from what its citizens told him,
[98]

TELEPHONE SPEECH
Seattle was far the largest — its boundaries
ran to the Rockies. Now by telephone it
makes New York a suburb.
It is said of the Ford machine that it is
like a bath-tub because everybody wants one
but nobody wants to be seen in it. A few
days ago Mr. Ford said through the press,
"History is more or less bunk. It's tradition.
We don't want tradition. We want to live in
the present, and the only history that is worth
a tinker's damn is the history we make to-day."
We differ with Mr. Ford, our traditions are of a
successful Revolution for independence and
liberty. Our marvelous progress and develop
ment are the results of the wisdom of the past,
teaching and inspiring succeeding generations.
We glory and rejoice in Concord, Lexington,
Bunker Hill, Saratoga and Yorktown. We rev
erence the men who signed the Declaration of
Independence and who framed the Constitution
of the United States.
Washington said in his first annual message:
"Among the many interesting objects which
will engage your attention that of providing
for the common defense will merit particular
regard. To be prepared for war is one of the
most effectual means of preserving peace. A
free people ought not only to be armed but
disciplined. "
That is a platform for all of us to-day. In
this world crisis let us all be Americans.
[99]

Speech at the Alumni Luncheon, Yale Uni
versity Commencement, June, 1916.
Mr. President and Fellow Alumni:
I am not on the list of speakers to-day and
the call is unexpected, but I respond because
of a habit formed many years ago, and which is
as strong to-day as it was from 1852 to 1856,
to obey without question any order of the
President of the University.
I am glad to participate with such distin
guished associates. I was especially interested
in the admirable addresses we have just listened
to from the Chinese Ambassador and the dis
tinguished Statesman and Jurist from our
neighbor Canada. I am particularly impressed
with the excellent English which these two
foreigners speak. We, of the class of 1856,
are here to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary
of our graduation. To use the well-worn
phrase of the college orator, we have been en
gaged during that long period in battle with
the world. Fifteen of us survive. In looking
over the records of the class I am sure if the
life insurance agent had been as active then
as he is now, and could have foreseen our
future, he would have jumped at a life insurance
proposition of unusual promise. It is a favorite
study with sociologists what professions or
[100]

YALE ALUMNI SPEECH
occupations tend most to prolong life. We
had distinguished lawyers, two of whom at
tained the highest honors possible to the
American Bar, by becoming Justices of the
Supreme Court of the United States. We had
eminent educators and doctors of medicine
and those who, entering into business, shared
in the phenomenal prosperity of this wonderful
period. But of the survivors, all but four are
ministers of the gospel. Their lives have been
spent in active and continuous work mainly in
country parishes. They have witnessed the
marvelous industrial development of the coun
try, its accumulation of wealth and its fabulous
fortunes, but have remained, like faithful
soldiers of the Cross, at theh post of chosen
duty. They are heroes who have never sur
rendered to the wiles of fortune, but have
steadily labored to keep theh flocks from
yielding to the unusual temptations of this
luxurious age. They have been the leaders
in theh several communities of every move
ment for the improvement of the schools, for
social betterment, for purer hving and for
higher ideals. Theh average earnings have
been less than those of the locomotive engineer
on the raihoad, or of the skilled mechanic, and
yet they have retained theh self-respect and
the unbounded estimation of theh fellow
citizens; they have sent theh sons to coUege
and theh daughters to institutions for higher
[101]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
education; they are wonderful exemplars of
what can be accomphshed in this world and
for the world by clear conscience in noble and
pubhc-sphited pursuit, happiness in one's calling
and efficiency.
One of them writes regretting his inabihty
to be here because he says that he has passed
eighty-four and, while he believes he is in good
condition, mentally and physically, as ever,
his congregation disagrees with him and has
rethed him on a pension. But happily he is
getting on very well. He cannot leave in June,
however, even to attend the sixtieth anniversary
of his class, because on account of his venerable
appearance and impressive manner he has be
come a great favorite at weddings and funerals
and for these functions June is the open season.
The distinguished orator from Canada has
thrilled us with his description of the patriotism,
the sacrifices and the sphit of this seh-governing
colony in this great war. Our admhation is
unbounded for what our neighbor has done.
In proportion to its population and resources no
people have ever made greater contributions
and sacrifices for a great cause. Our admha
tion is intensified when we consider that they
are far from the scene of conflict, that they are
the sole judges of what they shaU do, that
they probably would be free from the horrors of
war upon theh own soil, but they respond to
the danger of the great Empire of which they
[ 102]

YALE ALUMNI SPEECH
are a part, and to this peril to humanity and
civihzation which would reach them, as it will
us, if the Allied armies and fleets should lose the
battle. The great duty in this hour for us is
to prepare. A nation may have unlimited
resources in men and money, but in this age of
organization, where all the resources of science,
invention and discovery are co-ordinated into
a perfect machine for invasion and conquest,
these vast unprepared resources are the tempta
tions and opportunities not for defense but
for loot. I believe that we cannot keep out
of this war. The growing contempt of the
German military autocracy for us will lead to
repeated aggressions, flouting of our sovereignty
and atrocities on our citizens; to resent these,
to assert ourselves, to maintain our position in
the world, to do our part for future peace
upon a basis of safety and self-respect we must
be prepared. I went through the Civil War
and the lessons given by those who participated
can never be forgotten. Two years of that
struggle, and one-half our losses in men and
money are attributable solely to the fact that the
government was unprepared. Happily our old
University is as ever foreseeing this danger and
the necessity of meeting it, the old graduates
returninghave seen these young soldiers and pros
pective heroes who are forming their miUtary
organizations and drilling to be ready for the
service of theh country. [103]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
You younger men will inquhe whether we,
who have been sixty years out of college,
and all of whom have passed our four-score, I
having passed four-score and three, have any
future ambitions. We are no more ready to
lay down than we were when we left Yale.
We are no longer seeking public office, or com
peting for the prizes of the professions or
industries. My admhation has always been
in increasing the years for the elevated and
serene position of the oldest graduate. He
receives a reverence and devotion accorded to
none others. Occasionally his memory may
fail him a bit. I remember a reception given
in New York to the then holder of that title,
old Wickham. He was ninety-six past. A
distinguished Statesman who was present said
to him, "Mr. Wickham, my mother was a
bridesmaid when you were married." "What
was her name?" asked the old gentleman.
The Statesman gave it. "Oh, yes," said
Wickham, "I remember her very well, that was
when I married my second wife. I don't
recall her name but she was a very fine woman. "
If it shall be my lot to reach this enviable place,
I trust it will be with perfect memory, sound
body and a clear head, to be an example for
you all of what Yale training and the Yale
spirit will do for a man.

[ 104]

Address during the Centennial Celebration of
the Granting of the first Charter to the Vil
lage of Peekskill, N. Y., July 2, 3 and 4,
1916.
Ladies and Gentlemen, and I think I may add,
My Fellow Townsmen:
To be in Peekskill has been a pleasure for
me all my hfe. It is a great pleasure to par
ticipate in the ceremony which celebrates the
hundredth anniversary of the formation of our
village government. For eighty-two years of
that hundred I have been either a resident or
a frequent visitor, and always deeply interested
in the affahs, the welfare and the prosperity of
the town. History moves in cycles, each cen
tury has its characteristic and its contribution
to the advancement of the world. We have
had many of them within the last thhty years.
I had the honor to be the orator at the four
hundredth celebration of the discovery of
America by Columbus, and shared it with that
distinguished citizen, veteran journalist and
original thinker, Colonel Watterson, of Ken
tucky. I was also the orator on the occasion of
the centenary of the inauguration of our first
President, and the centenary of the formation
of the Legislature in our State.
There is no period in recorded times during
which so much was accomplished for liberty
[105]

AT FOURSCORE AND POUR
and enfranchisement, humanity, invention, dis
covery and the progress and development of the
world. This century, which covers the life of
our vUlage, began with the close of the War of
1812, and ends when civilization and Chris
tianity, and all the precious victories of peace
of this century are at stake upon the bloodiest
battlefields, and in the most frightful and
destructive war of all time.
1916 marked a cleavage in the industrial
policy of our country between the past and the
future. Up to the beginning of the War of 1812
we had been almost purely an agricultural
people. Our manufactures were few and very
weak. The one industry in which we excelled
was the carrjdng trade upon the ocean. Our
ships were the best in the merchant marines of
the world, and our sailors the most skillful and
enterprising. The War of 1812 was entered
upon with hilarity and hailed with the wildest
enthusiasm. Peace, three years afterwards,
was hailed with equal hilarity and enthusiasm.
Blockade and embargo, during that period,
•closed our ports. There was the greatest dis
tress in our seaport cities and along our coast;
our ships lay idle at the wharfs, and the large
number of men engaged in this industry were
out of employment, as were the merchants and
those who were dependent upon them and theh
enterprises. But a condition was produced,
which is nearly duplicated at the present time.
[ 106 ]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
We were dependent upon Europe for our cotton,
woolen and silk goods, and for nearly aU the
manufactures in hon. Necessity led to the
utihzation of the water power and the buUding
of numerous factories for the manufacture of
cotton and woolen goods and some iron. When
the war closed, what happened may occur
again after a hundred years. Napoleon had
been defeated at Waterloo and was a prisoner
at St. Helena. The vast armies which had
crushed him were disbanded and the troops
left to shift for themselves and earn theh
own living. They rushed to the factories for
employment. The surplus of labor led to
lower wages and cheaper cost of production.
To help their own industries, the Continental
Nations raised barriers against English impor
tations. The result was that this vast and
constantly increasing product of the English
factories was dumped into our ports. The
ordinary agencies of purchase and distribution
were unequal to the task of marketing, so
auctions were held in every port with the result
of flooding the country and closing American
mills. Among the articles of which vast
quantities were sold and distributed were
Yorkshhe cloth, Scotch muslins, blankets,
flushings, plushes, taffetas, silks, jackette mus
lins, bombasettes, kerseys, soap, naUs, salt,
bed covers, tacks, pencU cases, matches, tooth
brushes, pins, grind stones, cast hon pots, tea
[107]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
kettles, hon bolts, axes, hose, spades, plough
shafts, lightning rods, zinc, stoves, wool and
hon and pipes. As most of these things were
not produced here the country had been with
out them during the war. Our dependence
upon Europe for most of the necessities of
Ihe made an impression upon the people which
they never had before. An agitation was
started without regard to party, at first, to
protect the cotton and wool manufacture, and
next to relieve us by home production of this
dependence upon Europe, which might at any
time be shut off by war. It may be safely
asserted that the policies, which led in time
to our manufacturing at home every necessity,
and to our independence of the rest of the world,
was due to this rude awakening of three years
of increasing privation and the grasp of the
necessities of the situation which became so
universal in 1816.
Another great era opened in our national
development because of the experiences of the
war. While agriculture was fahly prosperous,
the distress, unemployment and difficulties of
earning a living was very great in other depart
ments. Soup houses first appeared during this
period. The more energetic, both men and
women, among the people who could find no
employment moved West, where lands were
free. This emigration assumed such a large
proportion as to frighten the old States. In
[108]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
seeking methods to protect themselves there
arose a wonderful and widespread movement
for internal improvements. Canals were pro
jected and highways and public roads laid out
and opened. The effort of the States was to
settle these flying people, who were among the
best of their citizens, within theh own borders
where there was plenty of land but inaccessible,
instead of having them go along the Great
Lakes and to the West and Northwest. In
our own State, that far-sighted Statesman
DeWitt Clinton conceived the idea of the
Erie and Champlain Canals and uniting the
Great Lakes with the Hudson. In 1816, he
had overcome all political opposition and the
great work was fahly inaugurated. We must
remember that water was the only means of
transportation for considerable distances a
hundred years ago. The Erie Canal gave to
New York its cities of Utica, Syracuse, Roches
ter and Buffalo; it settled the Valleys of the
Mohawk and the Genesee; it was largely con
tributory to the building of all the States
bordering upon the Great Lakes; it made New
York the Empire State and its city the me
tropolis of the Western World.
In 1816 the seas were free as a result of the
war. Our shipping in the ports, for the
preservation of the mast and rigging during
the war had tar barrels on top of the spars
which were called after President Madison,
[109]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
and in derision of his war, "Madison's Night
caps. " With wild jubUation "Madison's Night
caps" were universally removed, the ships
refitted and the movement became so great
that our exports rose in a short time from five
millions to forty-five millions a year. The
impetus thus given to American shipping gave
us in time eighty per cent, of the carrying trade
of the ocean. Our clipper ships outdistanced
all others in speed and the American flag was
on every ocean and in the majority in all the
ports of the world. It is our misfortune and
our disgrace that the American merchant
marine has fallen to eight per cent.; that the
American flag is unknown in foreign ports
practically, and the continuing and very recent
legislation, hostile to American shipping, has
handed the Pacific Ocean over to the Japanese
and Chinese, and when normal conditions are
restored and the world is at peace wiU prevent
any resurrection of the American merchant
marine. It was while these startling changes and
revolutions, along the seacoast and in the
interior, were making such brave beginnings
that the citizens of Peekskill had the instinct
and ambition for organization. About 1683 a
masterful man, a merchant of the City of New
York, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, bought from
different Indian chiefs and tribes all the
land between Croton River and Garrison, and
[110]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
eastward to the Connecticut line, with the
exception of 1,800 acres in what is now Peeks
kiU and vicinity, and 300 acres where the State
camp is located. Van Cortlandt's grant
amounted to 86,203 acres. The other land
was bought by a combination, Richard Abram-
sen, Jacob Abramsen, Tennis De Kay, Seba
Jacob and John Harxse. It was customary
among the early Dutch settlers to change theh
names by taking the names of the places in
Holland with which theh families were con
nected. So the Abramsens became Lents and
John Harxse became Kronkhyte. The major
part of this became the property of Hercules
Lent, who was the son of Richard Abramsen,
Abramsen having changed his name to Lent
from the town in Holland from which he came.
Kronkhyte married Lent's daughter and one
of his hehs. In the division of the Ryck
Patent, the Kronkhyte property extended from
the McGregory's brook which runs down
Center street and ran southward beyond the
present limits of the village and included what
is now known as Depew Park. Kronkhyte
was my ancestor and through him I am very
proud of being among the first settlers of
PeekskUl. The Indians of this neighborhood
were of the Mohegan Tribe; they were divided
into smaller tribes but confederated together
with a federal relationship with the six nations
on the Mohawk. Chief Sachus was the Chief
[111]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
governing all the land from Verplanck's Point
to Anthony's Nose. His chief viUage and
residence were here and named Sachus. His
neighbor and relative to the south was Chief
Knoton who governed the territory covering
the mouth of the Croton and joining Chief
Sachus' territory at Verplanck's Point. The
corruption of Knoton into Croton by the
English gives us the present name of the water
supply of New York. The 1,800 acres of land
purchased by these men, whom I have mentioned,
was known as Ryck's Patent, and the title was
confirmed subsequently after the English con
quered New York by Governor Dongan.
There wa^ not much progress made in the
development of our village prior to 1816. The
people were farmers with some home indus
tries carried on in theh own houses for the
convenience of the neighborhood. They early,
however, appreciated the value of being the
center of the transportation of the country
round about. They extended what is now the
Crompond Road to the Connecticut line and
up to Danbury; they ran what afterwards
became known on the north as Peekskill Turn
pike far out into the country, the Albany
postroad, which was the main highway and
had been before the Revolution between New
York and Albany, ran through the center of
the village and so on through the Highlands.
Our enterprising ancestors put sloops upon the
[ 112 ]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
river untU at one time there was a fleet of
about a dozen. This made PeekskiU the market
town of a territory which included all the settle
ments far into Connecticut. I can remember
as a boy when these great arks, sometimes
with two horses and sometimes with four
attached, would gather up the produce of the
farmers along the highways; bring it down to
the sloops; purchase and carry back either
purchases from New York, or from the vUlage
stores, the groceries, cloths and farm imple
ments needed by the farmers. The early
captains, who ran these sloops, were important
personages in the village. They brought back
from theh trips to New York all the news of
the day. They were the most prosperous of
the people. The farmers nearer by sent theh
own produce to New York by these sloops;
the sloop captains not only carried the produce
and cattle, but marketed them in New York, so
that they were both navigators and commis
sion merchants. One of the captains, my
father told me, said that a young farmer
came to his sloop with one calf and also
insisted upon being a passenger to sell that
calf himself in New York. The one calf grew
to droves of cattle and then to larger herds,
too numerous for the sloops, which were
driven to Bull's Head in New York and
there sold. This young man became the
Cattle King and then he became the largest
[113]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
speculator in Wall Street; at one thne he
practically owned and dominated the Erie
Raihoad; his accumulations at the height of
his fortune amounted to twenty miUions of
doUars; he died poor; he was Daniel Drew.
He founded academies and seminaries, but
instead of endowing them with the money
which he could well have done, he gave his
notes and credit for theh maintenance. I
knew him very well and was told by one of
his intimates that the reason for his building
these educational and theological institutions
and then leaving them in this peril was an idea
that if their existence depended upon his
solvency and wealth God would protect both.
The result showed that the Lord disapproved
of the transaction.
In 1816 navigation of the river by steam had
become a success, and newer and larger boats
were being put on. The first boat, the Clermont,
made four miles an hour; the speed was in
creased with the years until the Mary Powell
made twenty miles an hour. Robert Fulton,
the inventor of steam as applied to naviga
tion, had, with the financial assistance of
Robert R. Livingston, built the first steam
boat. He named her the Clermont after Mr.
Livingston's home on the Hudson. When she
started from New York for Albany in 1808 an
immense crowd gathered on the wharf. They
were all sceptics. Fulton and Livingston had
[114]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
with them on the boat about twenty friends.
At first the engines did not work well, and
then the boat hesitated, whereupon the crowd
began to shout, "A fool and his money is soon
parted, Bobby try something else, — look out
you'll blow up." Suddenly, with an immense
volume of smoke from the wood fires bursting
out of the smokestack, the paddles began to
turn and the boat shot out into the river with
Robert Fulton at the helm and started on her
trial trip for Albany. Those on the boat threw
their hats in the ah and cheered until they were
hoarse. The thousand sceptics on the shore
were instantly converted — the day of pentecost
had come for navigation by steam. In time
the steamboat competed with, and then
destroyed, the sloops. It was another in
stance of which the world is full where an
invention wipes out existing capital and
investment, and with it the emplojnaaent of
thousands. That remarkable genius. Commodore Vander
bilt, soon demonstrated that no individual, firm
or corporation could successfuUy compete with
him. He put a boat on to PeekskUl and com
pelled the existing line to surrender. He was
rapidly monopolizing the traffic of the Hudson
when the discovery of California drew his
attention to the enormous profits in the steam
ship business between New York and California.
In a short time he had compeUed all the old
[115]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
lines to surrender and was sole master of the
traffic situation.
jjfjWhen the larger and faster steamboats had
been completed, and were racing with each
other, theh performances were the romances
of the river. Theh names were household
words. The Armenia, The Alida, The Francis
Sciddy, The Hendrick Hudson, and The
Chauncey Vibbard, all had theh enthusiastic
partisans. When I was a boy the enthe
population would gather on the river bank to
see the boats enter Peekskill bay and disappear
through the Highlands. It was usually late
in the afternoon. They ran on an accurate
schedule. They were so near alike in speed
that in 1849 the Hendrick Hudson and The
Alida raced from New York to Albany, one
hundred and forty miles, there was only fifteen
minutes difference in theh arrival The
excitement and the wagering on theh favorite
boat became so great among our people that,
if the Legislature had not passed an act pro
hibiting racing on the river, our people might
have become a population of gamblers.
The steamboat never took the place of the
sloops in drawing traffic to the vUlage, but a
worse blow to that traffic than the steamboat
was the completion of the Harlem Raihoad.
It cut off enthely the Connecticut contribu
tion and also took to itself a large section on the
Westchester and Putnam side. It ran on an
[116]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
average within fifteen mUes of the viUage and
furnished facilities for reaching New York,
with which the river could not compete.
That remarkable automobile manufacturer
and pacifist, Mr. Ford, was quoted in an
interview the other day as saying "History is
more or less bunk, it is tradition. We don't
want tradition — ^we want to live in the present,
and the only history that is worth a tinker's
damn is the history we live to-day." I differ
entirely from Mr. Ford. It is the history of
the past which makes possible the history
we make to-day. The American Revolution
made us a free people, and created our Republic.
The Civil War cemented the union of the
States and made the Declaration of Indepen
dence true in sphit as well as letter by en
franchising the slave. We here to-day can
rejoice in traditions as glorious and insphing
as belong to any other part of our country.
This was the key to the Highlands, and a recent
writer has said that PeekskUl was the heart
of the Revolution. The plan of campaign
agreed upon by the British Military Staff was
to divide the country by the Hudson River.
It was to seize and fortify the passes of the
Highlands and prevent communication between
New England, New York and the South. It
was to accomplish this purpose that when Sh
Henry Clinton had faUed to break through and
pass West Point on the south that Burgoyne
[117]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
came down with his army from the north
and met his fate at Saratoga in one of the few
decisive battles of the world. The Americans
on theh side built forts Clinton and Mont
gomery opposite Anthony's Nose, ran an iron
chain across the river from Anthony's Nose
to Fort Montgomery and made West Point
the strongest of their fortifications with always
the strongest resident garrison commanded by
one of the ablest and most reliable of the
Revolutionary generals. After the battle of
Long Island and the retreat of the American
army to White Plains, and after the battle of
White Plains, and the retreat of the American
army further north to the hiUs near the village,
Westchester County, as far north as Dobbs
Ferry, was in possession of the British and this
included New York and Long Island until the
close of the war. While from Dobbs Ferry
north to the town of Cortlandt line was the
neutral ground raided by both parties, and
only temporarily held by either. Peekskill,
with its impregnable passes north to West
Point, became and continued until the end of
the war the camping ground of large sections
of the American army, and the headquarters of
Washington, Putnam, McDougal, Lafayette
and others. Through our streets passed
Rochambeau and the French army on theh
way south to the final battle which closed the
war at Yorktown, and again on theh way
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PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
north for Newport, and re-embarkation for
home. On the way home the French army
encamped for a whUe on the Crompont Road
just above the village. As Rochambeau, sur
rounded by his brilliant staff, was about to
start, he was interrupted by a PeekskUl con
stable informing him, while waving a writ of
attachment, that he could not leave without
paying $3,000 in gold to a neighboring farmer
because the farmer's orchard had been cut
down for firewood. With Continental cur
rency, the only currency we had, at a discount
where $10 in gold would buy $100 in Con
tinental money, this made the farmer's orchard
worth $30,000. Probably for cash the whole
township might have been bought for that
amount. Rochambeau paid that deference
of the military to the civil authority which
lies at the foundation of our American institu
tion, by leaving $1,000 in gold and the case to
be settled by arbitration among the farmer's
neighbors. The neighbors awarded him $400.
King's Ferry of row boats and batteaus ran
from Verplanck's Point to Stony Point and was
the only communication across the river for
the Americans, so there was always a fort and
garrison at Verplanck's Point. The Marquis
de Castellaux, who was in Rochambeau's army,
and wrote a gossipy account of his American
experiences, says that coming from the south
he crossed over to Verplanck's Point and was at
[119]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
once entertained by General Washington. He
says that the tents of the American army, for
shade purposes, were artistically festooned with
branches of trees making it the most picturesque
encampment he had ever seen. When he in
formed General Washington of his sufferings
from fever and ague the General advised him
to take two glasses of madeira before dinner
and a glass of claret after dinner, and then a
long ride on horse-back. The General furnished
him with a horse and all the General's horses
had been broken by himself. The Marquis
says it was the finest horse, the best fitted and
the surest-footed he ever rode. With the
General they took ditches and fences as if
sailing over the prairies and the next morning
his fever and ague were gone. According to
our modern standards and behefs what cured
him was the horse.
Benedict Arnold was always a favorite
officer with General Washington. On account
of being invalided because wounded in his leg at
Saratoga, Washington gave him command at
PhUadelphia. Arnold hved there a hfe of
wild extravagance and brilliant entertainment.
Peggy Shippen was the beUe of the city. Like
most of the aristocracy she and her family
were Tory sympathizers. She captured Major
Andr6 when he was the master of aU social
gaieties and festivities while the British held
the city. Arnold, about forty years old, and a
[ 120]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
widower, fell madly in love with Peggy Shippen.
His letter, making to her the proposal of
marriage, proves him to have been a man of
culture and refinement, and to have possessed
many literary graces. It is one of the most
fervid, beautifully phrased and ardent appeals
to the heart of a maiden in the literature of
love. Peggy surrendered. In celebrating the
event the married couple in town house and
country place lived far beyond the General's
means — they fell deeply in debt and were ever
surrounded by the flattery of his fashionable
guests and theh suggestions of the hopeless
ness of the cause, and the brilliant future that
so fine a soldier would have if he deserted the
Americans and joined the British army. Arnold
met General Washington at Verplanck's Point,
when Washington was on his way to meet the
French. Washington received him with great
cordiality and offered him the command of the
left wing of his army, a post of honor. Arnold
said that on account of his leg not yet healed,
he could not take the field and asked for the
command of West Point. Arnold was smart
ing under a decision of a court-martial before
which he had recently been tried on account
of his indiscretions and extravagances in PhUa
delphia. Arnold expected an acquittal but the
court decided upon a reprimand, though old Gen
eral Van Cortlandt, who presided, and who
said afterwards, "If the other members of the
[121]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
court had known Arnold as well as I, they would
have voted for his dismissal from the army."
Washington, on account of his confidence in
Arnold and his admhation for him, administered
the reprimand in such a way that a generous
nature would have been eternally grateful.
When Washington returned from meeting with
the French Generals he stopped at the Birdsall
House in Peekskill, and here one word for the
present generation. In Revolutionary times
hotels were called inns. They were the stopping
places, and in a way the residences for the time
being, of statesmen, soldiers, diplomats and
merchants. The hotel-keeper was an important
personage and a leader in every community.
All political caucuses, all conferences among
statesmen and politicians were held at these
inns. Immediately opposite the Eagle on
Main Street was the Mandeville House. Down
Main Street, about a quarter of a mile and
jutting half way across the highway was the
Birdsall House. Mandeville and BhdsaU were
brothers-in-law. The BhdsaU House had the
greatest social reputation. Washington and
his officers always stopped there. In fact, I
think that Washington passed more time at the
Birdsall House than at any other of the many
inns where he wa,s entertained. At the BhdsaU
House were held Councils of War, at which
plans were perfected affecting not only the
defences of the Highlands and West Point,
[ 122]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
but campaigns against New York and in the
South. Arnold met Washington at the Bhd
saU House, renewed his request for West Point
and received the commission, departing the
next day to his command.
I will not recite the whole story of the
treason. It was a Peekskill boy, John Pauld
ing, who had just escaped from the military
prison in New York, who with two other
Westchester men, Williams and Van Wart,
effected the capture of Andre near Dobbs
Ferry. There are few incidents connected
with Arnold's treason and its failure which
seem to indicate a special Providence watching
over the liberties of America and frustrating
the ingenuity, skUl and machinations of its
enemies. Fhst had Major Andr6 obeyed the instruc
tions of Sh Henry Clinton, he would not have
come within the American lines. Two farmers
hid in the bushes and fhed at a boat from the
Vulture, which was coming toward shore, and
killed one of the sailors, compelling the boat to
row back to the sloop of war Vulture, which
had brought Andre up to the meeting with
Arnold, and was to take him back. These shots
called the attention of Colonel Livingston, who
commanded at Verplanck's Point, to the pos-
sibihty of driving the Vulture down stream or
cripphng her, by placing a gun on Teller's
Point. The gun was so skiUfuUy placed and
[ 123]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
handled by the guimers that the Vulture was
compelled to raise anchor and drop so far
down the river that it was impossible for Andr^,
who was conferring with Arnold, and com
pleting the bargain for the betrayal of West
Point at Smith's House, near Haverstraw, to
regain the warship. He had to make his way
to New York through the American lines with
the plans and papers hidden in his boots. Had
Smith accompanied him, with Arnold's pass,
until within the British fines Andre would
have undoubtedly escaped. Paulding had suc
ceeded in escaping as a prisoner from New
York in a British uniform loaned him by a
friend. It was this uniform which deceived
Andr6 in revealing himself to what he supposed
was a friendly patrol. Had the blundering
Major Jameson, who sent the note to Arnold,
which Arnold received while at breakfast,
announcing the capture of Andr6, included the
papers, description of West Point, disposition
to be made by Arnold of the troops and all
things necessary for its easy capture, Arnold
could have destroyed this incriminating evi
dence, but happily Major Jameson sent the
papers by a subsequent messenger and, after
Arnold had fled, they fell into the hands of
Washington's Aide, Alexander Hamilton. But,
says the critic, if these were special Providences to
save the American cause from this betrayal why
was Arnold permitted to escape? It is not for me
[124 ]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
to interpret the ways of Providence, but it is a
solution both plausible and probable that
Arnold's punishment was to be worse than
death. He lived for twenty-one years after
his treason execrated by his countrymen and
treated with irritating and ill-concealed con
tempt by the British. He lost the $30,000,
which were given him as the price of his treach
ery, and suffered not only social ostracism but
bankruptcy and want. He appears last in the
dl-amatic interview with Talleyrand. Talley
rand, about to take the ship for New York,
was told that an American was a guest in the
hotel. Talleyrand sent his card and called.
He of course knew that TaUeyrand, then a
refugee, was one of the most famous states
men in Europe. Arnold said, "Sh, I am the
only American who cannot give you a letter of
introduction to a friend in America. I am
Benedict Arnold." Benedict Arnold was a
genius as a soldier, a man of extraordinary
abUity. Exaggerated vanity easily offended and
the fearful temptations of debt and bank
ruptcy to a man who had acquhed incurable
habits of extravagance and luxury, who wished
to surround a wife, whom he adored, with the
things which only wealth can procure, and who
had a morality so low that it sapped the founda
tions of patriotism, made Benedict Arnold the
only traitor in American history.
At the BhdsaU House Washington commis-
[125]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
sioned as members of his staff two of the most
remarkable young men of that period, Alexander
Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr pre
sents a study in heredity. His father was the
most noted preacher and educator in the coun
try and though the second president, the real
founder of Princeton University. His mother
was the daughter of the Reverend Jonathan
Edwards, the most eminent divine preacher and
theologian of his century. She possessed the
intellectual force and vigor of her distinguished
father. His father and mother dying, Aaron
Burr was brought up in the family of his uncle,
also a distinguished divine. Early in life he
repudiated all his early teachings and became
an atheist. He became a great lawyer and
Vice-President of the United States, but his
moral character was bad, he formed a con
spiracy to create an emphe of the Western
States and of Mexico, was tried for treason and
narrowly escaped conviction. He killed Hamil
ton in a duel which he had forced and was
execrated and shunned the rest of his life.
Alexander Hamilton was an original con
structive genius. Talleyrand declared him to
have the greatest mind he had ever met. Before
he was twenty, he wrote pamphlets in favor
of the Revolution and stating the reason why
the Americans should rebel, which were ascribed
to the ablest men in the colony. He was the
confidential adviser of Washington until the
[ 126]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
close of the war and afterwards, as a member
of his Cabinet, untU Washington retired from the
Presidency. He was largely the author of the
Constitution of the United States and he
created our revenue system so wisely that it
has been little changed as it came from his
creative mind. After a few months Wash
ington, seeing the character of Burr, dis
continued him from his staff.
One of the most famous sayings of the
French poet B^ranger is, "As long as I write
the songs of the people, I do not care who makes
their laws. " New England has been fortunate in
men of genius, who, in prose and poetry, in
oratory and narrative, have proclaimed every
incident of theh history and made famous every
field and hill and rock from Plymouth Rock to
Bunker Hill. The Dutch, and those who
settled with them in New York, did not have
these chroniclers. Happily, however, for West
chester, Washington Irving and James Feni-
more Cooper lived for many years within our
borders. We are indebted to Cooper for the
story of "The Spy," the best of his many novels.
The spy was Harvey Bhch in the book and
Enoch Crosby in hfe. To understand Enoch
Crosby one must know the conditions in our
country during the war. There was always at
PeekskiU a large body of American troops,
sometimes including the main body of the
American Army, while thhty miles below
[ 127 1

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
were the British outposts and forty miles below
in New York were the headquarters of the
British army. The inhabitants of West
chester were about equally divided between
those whose sympathy was with the patriot
cause, and those whose sympathy was with a
continuance of relations with the mother
country. Two regiments for the Continental
and three of loyalists for the British army
were raised in the county. In addition to that
nearly every male was an hregular belonging to
one side or the other. Under such conditions
spies were invaluable and received no mercy on
either side. All the accomplishments, the
wonderful charm, the high position and bril-
hant future of Major Andr6 could not save
him, nor, on the other hand, could the same
considerations save Nathan Hale.
In 1777 that sthring patriot and stern old
fighter. General Israel Putnam, commanded at
Peekskill. He had arrested a spy named
Edmund Palmer. He was of such considera
tion that Sh Henry Clinton sent a letter, with
a flag of truce, insisting on his release. In
reply was sent this famous answer: "Head
quarters, seventh August, 1777, Sh: Edmund
Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was
taken as a spy, lurking within the American
hues. He has been tried as a spy, condemned
as a spy and shall be executed as a spy, and
the flag is ordered to depart immediately.
[128]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
Israel Putnam." "P. S.— He has accordingly
been executed."
Gallows Hill, just north of where we are,
has remained ever since a memorial of this
event. A spy named Strang was also hanged
on the old oak on Academy HiU. To em
phasize the execution and terrorize the spies,
General McDougal paraded the whole army
around the tree. Enoch Crosby was an
apprentice to a shoemaker in Peekskill until
he was twenty-one. He had fought as a
boy in the French and Indian War. He
returned to Connecticut and was working at
his trade when he thought it his duty to
join the American army. He started to walk
to Peekskill and, stopping at farmers' houses on
the way, learned from his hosts that there were
secret meetings of the Tories and recruiting
stations for the enemy. He decided that he
could perform better service to his country
by taking the risks of the spy, and exposing
these secret enemies. He unfolded his plan to
the Committee of Safety, of whom the leading
members were Col. Van Cortlandt and John
Jay, afterwards Chief Justice. He made but
one request which was, that if taken and
executed justice should be done to his memory.
He was in more danger from his own side than
the other, because, in order to have the con
fidence of the Tories, learn theh plans, disclose
theh places of meeting, and sometimes be
[ 129]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
captured with them, he had to appear to his
own people as the enemy's spy. He was
rescued from death after condemnation several
times by the Committee of Safety, or by General
Washington. Of course, this had to be done
secretly and dramatically by providing means
of escape always attended with great peril.
His services were of incalculable value. After
the war, he purchased a farm of 230 acres in
the western part of the county, became a
supervisor and a justice of the peace and lived
until past eighty-five years of age. His story
was told to Fenimore Cooper by Chief Justice
Jay, who, as a member of the Committee of
Safety, knew every detail. When I was a boy
the place where Harvey Bhch hid, in the hill
overlooking the village on the north, was a
place of great interest and frequent visitation,
and insphation in the study of American
history. We are here to-night under the auspices of
Abraham Vosburgh Post of the Grand Army
of the Republic, and this brings us to the
service rendered by our town in the Civil
War. When I was a boy there were still
surviving in the village a number of veterans
of the Revolutionary War. They were always
in evidence on the Fourth of July and other
patriotic occasions. So, we have with us
to-day many survivors of the war for the
preservation of the Union. We furnished two
[130]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
remarkable soldiers, Col. Garrett Dyckman and
Gen. J. Howard Kitching. Colonel Dyckman
received repeated commendations for gallantry
in the field. I secured the appointment of
Colonel Kitching as Lieutenant Colonel of the
Westchester regiment, commanded by Colonel
Morris. When Morris was made a Brigadier
General, Colonel Kitching became commander
of the regiment. After winning honors and
distinction in many battles he was mortally
wounded at Cedar Creek. Another officer of
that regiment was Major Edmund B. Travis.
I have three recollections as vivid to-day as
in the past. It was a beautiful Sunday morn
ing when the churches closed their morning
services, and all the people were on theh way
home. They were met by boys shouting the
New York papers which had just arrived, and
which contained an account of the firing on
Sumter. Every one grasped the terrible mean
ing and the frightful consequences of this
bombardment. In answer to the fhst call of
the President, a company was raised in the
village and, attended by the whole population
to the depot, started for the war. It is sin
gular how soon we become dulled and indifferent
to tragedies. We feel it now in this world
war, when horrors of battle and of starving
people, of unequaled magnitude in the past, are
occurring every day and scarce receive any
attention or consideration. So frequent had
[131]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
been the enlistments and departures for the
front that when Major Travis, who had en
rolled a company from our village boys,
marched through the streets on Saturday, our
market day, to the depot, the crowds engaged
in marketing and buying and selling neither
stopped theh merchandising, nor turned to
gaze at the departing soldiers, nor raised a
cheer. It was an ordinary event of the times.
I was adjutant of the 18th Regiment of the
National Guard and received an order one
evening from the Adjutant General of the
State to have the regiment mustered in at
Yonkers to proceed to the front in three days
to assist in repelling the invasion which was
stopped at Gettysburg. That regiment was
composed almost enthely of business men and
farmers approaching middle hfe and having
famihes. In that way, it excited far more
local interest than did the heroic departure of
young volunteers. General Sherman, one of
the most gallant of soldiers, fascinating com
panions, and brilhant of men, said to me
banteringly at a banquet years afterward, "Tell
us what the 18th Regiment of the National
Guard did." "Well," I said, "General Lee
and his officers were graduates of West Point.
They knew from that association the history
of the Highlands, and the quality of the men
who lived there. It has never been ascer
tained why Lee so suddenly decided to cross
[ 132]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
Harper's Ferry and return into Vhginia with
his army, but it is a historical fact that this
event, which ended the northern campaign
of the Confederates, was coincident Avith the
arrival of the 18th Regiment at Baltimore."
This town contributed to the Union Army,
during the CivU War 1,180 men out of a popula
tion of 11,074. The same percentage applied
to the population of the United States to-day
would put into the field an American army of
over ten millions of men.
We turn from the sthring scenes of war
to a brief reference to our town in peace. The
ruin which would have come from the diversion
of our trade was more than made up by our
enterprising citizens entering the field of manu
factures. While our population was long ago
sufficient under the law for us to incorporate
as a city, we are proud to remain as the largest.
vUlage in the United States. Co-incident with
material progress our people early turned theh
attention to education. The Academy, built
eighty years ago, without foreign assistance,
has for fourscore years prepared boys for
college and usefulness in every department of
active life. There has also come within our
limits successful institutions for learning, both
for young men and young women, which are
known all over the country. Churches of all
denominations were buUt and successfuUy con
tinued. I recall the first minister I remember,
[133]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
the Rev. William MarshaU of the First Presby
terian Church. He was born in Scotland and
his accent was so broad that it was a liberal
education to understand him, but he was a
very learned man and a wonderful doctrinal
theologian. When my mother, who was a
devoted member of his church, as was her
mother, told him of her approaching mar
riage and asked him to perform the ceremony
he said, "Martha, marriage is a rabble and a
rout, those who are out wish they were in,
and those who are in wish they were out."
That this warning of the venerable pastor
made no impression upon my mother, I am a
living and happy witness.
We glory in the Hudson. I have celebrated
it, and incidentally Peekskill, all over the
world. In order to give local color, I used to
locate all my stories used to iUustrate points
in speeches in our village. In London the
newspapers have booths in the streets and in char
coal on white paper give headlines of the contents
of each. Walking one day down Piccadilly my
eye caught the sign on one of these adver
tisements, "What happens up in Peekskill."
I bought the paper and found several columns
with this heading: "Chauncey Depew, a well-
known visitor among us, was born at Peeks-
kill-on-the-Hudson, forty miles from New York.
Peekskill is inhabited by a singular and original
people of whom Mr. Depew is fond of telling.
[134]

PEEKSKILL CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
The foUowing are some of the things which he
says happened up in PeekskiU."
When I fhst sailed down the Rhine, I heard
so much and read so much about it that I ex
pected to discover the most wonderful of rivers.
I do not think it was local pride or partisanship
which led me to conclude that in beauty,
picturesqueness and grandeur it did not equal
our Hudson. Its great charms were in the
legends which invested with a story generally
tragic every turn, crag and castle. Happily
the genius of Washington Irving has done
much to make classic our own Hudson. "The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow" endures and will
endure (though the old bridge has disappeared)
as long as literature lives. "The Phantom
Ship" will forever fly in wild storms up and
down the river. "The Little Bulbous Bottomed
Dutch Goblin" in trunk hose and sugar-loaf
hat with speaking trumpet in his hand, who
keeps the Dunderberg opposite us, still reigns
there supreme. In stormy weather he increases
the ratthng of the thunder and the fierceness
of the gale. Anthony's Nose rises to the north
of us, and, as we pass through it on the raUroad,
or around it on the steamboat, there is recalled
to us Irving's graphic description of how
Anthony Van Corlear, the trumpeter of the
New Netherlands, whose nose was the largest
and most highly colored in the Province, looked
over the side of the boat and the rays of the
[135]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
rising sun striking his nose glanced off into the
water and killed a mighty sturgeon. When
Governor Stuyvesant, who was on board,
heard the story and enjoyed the sturgeon, he
said, hereafter this promontory shall be known
as "Anthony's Nose." So the tale of Rip
Van Winkle has made the Catskills classic
ground. My friends, we stand on holy ground, it
has been made sacred by the presence of
Washington and Lafayette, of Rochambeau,
Greene and Putnam. Within our borders were
matured the plans which made possible the
victorious issue of the Revolution and the
founding of the American Repubhc. Our soil
has been hallowed by the blood of patriots
who gave theh lives for theh country. The
student of the early struggles for liberty and
independence must come constantly back to
the pages which recount what was done here,
and who were the actors here in the great
drama of the creation of a free nation. It is a
rare privilege for us and a grand lesson for
every one, in all succeeding generations, that
we can here receive and our posterity always
be blessed by new baptisms of liberty.

[136]

Speech at the National Fertilizer Banquet,
Hot Springs, Va., July 12, 1916.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am very much gratified to be present here
with you to-night. Your invitation was an
agreeable change from the daily routine of a
summer health resort, but I am at a loss what
to say to you. What I do not know about
fertilizer, and what you do put together would
fill a library. I attended your business meeting
this morning in search of points. From the
addresses, I gathered two ideas given in the
way of advice. One was in labelling and
describing your products as to their merits
and what they would accomplish, not to use
patent medicine methods. The second was not
to lie to your banker. As I am neither an
expert nor a banker I cannot pursue those lines.
When I was the Chief Executive, as Presi
dent, of the New York Central Railroad and
competition was fierce, fiercer than ever between
rival lines, I was accustomed to attend the
banquets of the commercial, industrial and
manufacturing organizations of the country,
which were held in New York annually. At
fhst there were not many because each in
cluded all subordinate lines. The best evidence
of the growth of industry was that in the
[ 137]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
course of years each subordinate line became
important enough to have an organization of
its own. Among carriage makers for instance
came the division of body makers, truck makers,
wheel makers, etc. So in the jewelery and silver
ware came theh special divisions, but this is
the first time I have ever had the pleasure of
meeting a Fertilizer Convention. From my
observation of you in your hours of relaxation
here for the past few days I have come to the
conclusion that every one of you can be truth
fully hailed with the sentiment "he is a joUy
good fellow." Certainly you have iningled
business and fun in a way most instructive to
thed workers in any line of life.
Fifty-eight years ago I was admitted to the
Bar, opened my office and nailed my shingle
to the door in Peekskill, then as now one of
the centers of American culture and influence.
To secure clients and become known I addressed
Sunday school picnics, county Bible societies,
church anniversaries, town meetings, political
gatherings, and firemen's competitions of the
organization at different places along the Hud
son for the improving purpose among the hand
machines of those days, to see which could
win the prize by squhting the highest. Among
other of these activities I delivered the annual
address to an agricultural society. They were
primitive affahs nearly sixty years ago. When
I mounted the box wagon to address the crowd
[138]

THE NATIONAL FERTILIZER BANQUET
over the tail board an aged farmer, who had
been a soldier in the Revolutionary War, said,
introducing me, "Now, my friends, we will
find out what a lawyer knows about dirt and
potatoes, and what he can teach us." They
did not want to be taught, because they
beheved they knew it all. Fertihzers, except
what nature furnished from the farm, were
wholly unknown, and would have been de
spised if mentioned. They farmed as theh
fathers had done since the first settlement of
the country. They had taken out of the soil
and sent to New York in theh crops, most
of its virtue, with the result that none of theh
sons remained on the farms. Farming at that
early period had not progressed any from the
time when Pocahontas saved the life of Capt.
John Smith. As an Indian princess she demon
strated the vigor of her blood by creating the
best families in Vhginia. It is a happy and
poetic sentiment in the cycles of time and its
rewards that this merciful, lovely and savage
princess should have one of her descendents
to-day beautiful, gracious and cultured in the
White House, the first lady of the land. When
that Revolutionary soldier spoke those rather
contemptuous words of the potato he little
realized its future.
Vice-President Morton in an address at the
time of the World's Fah celebrating the four
hundredth anniversary of the discovery of
[139]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
America by Columbus brought out the fact
which few, if any knew, that the potato was
one of the contributions of the New World to
the Old. I think most of his auditors thought
that the potato had originated in Ireland.
We have in this country one hundred mil
lion people. The babies do not eat potatoes,
nor the sick nor many chronic invalids, and
yet the remainder, according to the State
Statistician, who always scares me, devour
enough potatoes to make an eight ounce
tuber for every man, woman and child in the
United States. Here is a sure crop, a certain
market, a living and a profit if the farmer under
stands his business, and yet on what we would
regard as the old worn out soil of Germany they
raise three times the bushels of potatoes per
acre that we do in the United States.
There was a meeting within the last few days
at Cornell University of experts in American
agriculture. They made the starthng asser
tion that one-third of the farmers of the United
States are losing money, and would be better
off if they abandoned theh lands and became
farm laborers. One-thhd, in the language of
the report, break even, which means they had
no money over the school biUs of the boys and
ghls, for the new gown for the wife, nor the
new hat for Easter Sunday for mother. The
other third make money, they are your cus
tomers. [ 140]

THE NATIONAL FERTILIZER BANQUET
The Penal Code has a long and lamentable
description of crimes and punishments which
fit, but it is a well-known maxim of the law, that
you cannot indict a whole people, and yet the
American people in the treatment of this most
magnificent gift of God to the world, the North
American Continent, have been guilty of crime
to posterity in the way they have used this
glorious heritage. Mother Earth is the most
generous parent. She gives all that she has
and only asks of her children the food that would
keep up her strength. We sap her vitality in
the crops which we send to the markets at
home and abroad, and then we deny her the
food which she requires. The result is that
like the starved horse or man she staggers on,
but is of little service.
I know of no sight more insphing than to
ride through the fields of France, Germany,
Belgium and Holland during the harvest season.
These lands have been producing their annual
crops for three thousand years. With their
abundance they fed the legions of Caesar, as
they are now feeding the legions of Germany.
Take the leading crops for the support of man
kind, wheat, corn, rye, oats and potatoes, and
the average yield per acre in Germany to-day
is from twice to three times the average yield
per acre in the United States. It was not
always so, for the vhgin soil of our country
before it was exhausted did quite as well. If
[141]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
you look for the reason statistics tell the story.
Germany, I think, but I have not the figures,
has a tillable acreage about as large as the
State of New York, and yet she used in 1912
more fertilizers, more plant food and more of the
things that restore land and keep it healthy
than all of the United States put together. In
other words, about two per cent, beat ninety-
eight per cent. All of this has been accom
plished by organization.
There have been two marvelous organizers
in modern history, one was Washington who
organized and placed upon a fhm basis the
United States of America. The other was
Bismarck. Bismarck set out to make Prussia
the strongest of the German States, to con
solidate the German people into an emphe, by
putting all the German States into a federa
tion under Prussia, and to make the Prussian
king the emperor, and consolidate his throne
beyond peril. Then he organized Germany
industrially, agriculturally, financially and in a
mihtary and naval way, so as to be superior
to the world. The basis of his whole scheme
was education. He took the boy and carried
him under the dhection of the government
from the kindergarten through the higher
schools and built him for the service of the
government, making him a most efficient agent
for the power of the government, and at the
same time for his own welfare. We see the
[ 142]

THE NATIONAL FERTILIZER BANQUET
result to-day; before the war the production
of the German schools trained for foreign
commerce were successfully invading British
possessions and taking their trade from the
mother country in the sale of German prod
ucts, and also with equal success capturing
the markets of Asia, Africa, and South
America. In this terrific contest this perfect organiza
tion has accomplished miracles. It has enabled
Germany, cut off from the rest of the world
as to food supplies, tb feed her armies and her
people. Napoleon said that an army marched
and fought upon its beUy. We have with us
many good citizens who are opposed to
organization of any kind, they say it leads to
war. I have spent every summer for many
years in Switzerland and certainly that is not a
mihtaty country, and yet from the kinder
garten to the university every Swiss boy is
trained to serve his country in some capacity.
There is Switzerland in the midst of the surging
flames about her, and yet with four hundred
and fifty thousand of these admhably trained
sons of hers her borders are safe, and her
people secure.
It is not all of life to make and sell auto
mobiles or to make in a half dozen years one
hundred millions of dollars, but it adds enor
mously to the value of citizenship and the worth
of a country to have its people prepared and
[143]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
willing with self-sacrificing patriotism to meet
and defend its institutions and liberties. A
country like ours so prepared would never be
attacked and it would pursue the destiny
which the Lord has placed upon it of liberty
and humanity until these vhtues impressed
all the world.
Well, gentlemen, I congratulate you upon
your organization. I remember once when
President Arthur, who was a joker, intro
duced some eminent lawyers in New York who
were with him to one of the famous states
men of his time, saying to the statesman: "I
am happy to present to you the leading officers
of the Society of Ananias and Sapphha. "
The statesman was long and strong on how to
keep a constituency elective after election and
mighty short on the Scriptures. He said:
"Mr. President, I am. delighted to meet these
gentlemen; I do not share in the prejudices
now so common against organizations, I think
they are useful. If I remember rightly I at
one time received a certificate informing me
that I had been elected an honorary member
of a society bearing the name of Ananias and
Sapphira, and I was proud of it."
Now your organization has such an abun
dance of truth that you never could qualify
for the Ananias Club. You fulfill a high measure
of business virtue of helping others by helping
yourselves. When you have educated by your
[ 144]

THE NATIONAL FERTILIZER BANQUET
chculars and letters a community that will
grow three crops where one grew before, you
have performed a patriotic service for the
country and made a handsome profit for
yourselves, as this can only be done by use of
what you produce.
You are doing great things. Every once in a
while, I read in the paper where one of your
agents or missionaries has gone to the bright
boy of a farm and shown him the methods of
intensive cultivation and better farming, so
that boy is raising five times as much corn or
wheat on his little five acres as his father did.
Now, does that teach his father any of those
scientific methods? Not a bit of it. He
keeps on farming the way his great-grand
fathers farmed before him, and he thinks that
boy of his is a freak, and instead of raising him
to be a farmer, he educates him to be a com
mercial traveler for a fertilizer company. But
after a while dad surrenders, and the whole
neighborhood with him becomes prosperous.
I noticed in to-day's paper, and taking them
all I can only read the headlines, that the
U-boat, that marvel of marine success which
landed in Baltimore, was getting in fighting
trim for its return, and then another headhne
said: "Organizing to fight the Hessians."
My mind went back instantly to the earlier
period of my boyhood when memory was very
fresh of the Hessians who were with Burgoyne
[ 145 .]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
at Saratoga, with Chnton in New York, and
with Cornwalhs at Yorktown. Then I saw in
the same paper the headhne of President
Wilson's speech (it takes time, but I read all
the President's speeches, especially his last),
"Don't butt in, " and wondered if he was again
warlike. In reading the text I found, however,
that the organization to fight the Hessian was
in a despatch from Hot Springs stating that
you had organized to fight the Hessian fly.
Even Henry Ford and the weakest might
approve your warfare on the Hessian fly.
Coming out of a movie show, after a sensa
tional play here the other evening, as we passed
a table a young lady was pressing upon her
escort a highball. "No, my dear, " he answered,
"I am so full of emotion I have no place for a
drink." Afterwards he took it, that was not
temperance. The prohibitionist has no hope
for him, but you gentlemen mingling with
your sympathy for the farmer a determination
that he shall know what is good for him, requhe
only enthusiasm in your business to serve your
country and enrich yourselves.
It is for you to remove the reproach upon
American agriculture. It is for you to restore
the days when the finest rhetoric in American
eloquence flowered in praise and in glorying
that the United States was to be self-sustaining,
independent of all the earth, and the granary
of the world. [146]

Speech at the Dinner given by the Twilight
Club to Mr. Otis Skinner, Hotel Biltmore,
New York, October 29, 1916.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a worthy tribute which you are paying
to our friend, Mr. Otis Skinner. I am very
glad to join you in this deserved compliment.
Mr. Skinner represents conspicuously many
years which cover the best traditions of the
American stage. I have been an active theatre
goer for over hah a century. I beheve in the
educational value of worthy plays and the
insphation in the interpretation of character
by great actors. We hear much of the degra
dation of the stage and the deplorable results
of its decadence. I have been on the platform,
as a public speaker, for over sixty years. It is
my experience and observation that, in every
field of intellectual endeavor, there are periods
of exaltation and depression. In literature we
will have an age of wonderful genius to be
followed by many years of duU mediocrity.
The same is true of the pulpit and of the bar.
It is especially marked in the haUs of Congress
and in the Parhaments of Nations. The
people want the best but they must take what
the harvest gives. Every year is not a vintage
one. For the stage, the trouble may be with
[147]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
managers or with actors, but not with the
public. We hear often that Shakespeare is
played out and that the classic drama no
longer attracts, but if there suddenly appears
a Charles Kean or a Charlotte Cushman, a
Macready, an Edwin Booth, or an Adelaide
Neilson, the town goes Avild and Shakespeare
comes again into his own.
The presence of Mr. Skinner stirs the memory
and arouses reminiscences. I knew slightly
Mr. Wallack, and intimately Augustin Daly
and A. M. Pahner. They were all great
managers. My earliest sensations, ending at
that time unhappily, were when I was a country
boy. There had been a fearful massacre by
the Indians. The United States, with all its
resources, was unable to capture these savage
chiefs but Barnum secured them for his museum
theatre then at the corner of Broadway and
Ann Street. Like all boys I had been anxious
to go out on the Plains and fight the Indians,
but got no nearer to them than seeing the
warriors at Barnum's. In feathers and paint,
with tomahawk and scalping knife, they were a
fearsome lot. Theh yeUs and war whoops were
blood-curdUng. My visit was on the hottest
day in August. The Indian Chiefs were
wrapped in Buffalo robes, highly ornamented
and with heavily laden war caps upon theh
heads. After the crowd had disappeared at
the conclusion of the performance, I stUl
[148]

TRIBUTE TO MR. OTIS SKINNER
lingered awestruck and fascinated. Then the
allusion was dissipated by the Pawnee Chief
saying to his Sioux Ally, "Moike, if we have
to stand here mouch longer, I'll be nothing but
a grease-spot." My delight later, and it was a genuine one,
was in the theatre of Burton on Broadway,
near Bond Street. It then approached the city
limits. John Broughan was a perennial de
light. His perfect elocution and rich brogue,
his keen apprehension of characters and situa
tions and his wonderful portrayal of humor and
human nature, with its weaknesses and follies,
can never be forgotten. Although it is over
forty years ago, I remember a burlesque on
"The Merchant of Venice" in which Broughan
appeared as Shylock. Nothing has ever
equalled the rage and scorn with which he
assailed the claims of Christian superiority.
I recall him now and the way in which he roared
the hues, "This Christian dog, has he any
more fingers, or any more toes, or any more
eyes, or any more nose, than the Jew?" Edwin
Forrest did not attract me, with his huge bulk;
he had tremendous fhe and vigor, but he failed
to catch the inteUectual significance of his
characters, although as a savage he was superb.
I never have been impressed, although I have
seen most of them, with any actor like Edwin
Booth. It was a triumph of mind over matter,
although small of stature he rose to great
[ 149]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
heights by sheer intellectuality. You felt the
force and fineness, the vigor and refinement,
the absorbing grasp of his representation.
It is a tribute to his greatness that among his
admhers, some thought hhn best as "Hamlet,"
some as "OtheUo" some as "lago," some as
"Macbeth," but I never could see him often
enough as "Richeheu." When facing the cour
tiers, who were encompassing his ruin, and had
nearly destroyed him, he drew around himself
an imaginary circle, and calling upon any
assassin to dare cross it at the curse of Rome,
he rose to heights never before attained and
in the thrill of the moment it was easy to
see the reefing state once more safe in the hands
of its master. Booth was driven from the
stage for several years because of the indigna
tion aroused by the assassination by his brother,
J. Wilkes Booth, of President Lincoln. A
large Committee thought it was a pubhc mis
fortune that this genius should be lost because
of a crime which was in no sense his and so
they invited him to give a presentation of
"Hamlet" at a theatre which they secured,
and before an audience selected, ticketed, and
comprising the best in every department of the
activities of the metropolis. The performance
was a success, the press helped, and Booth
came instantly back into popularity and public
esteem. A dinner was given to celebrate and
emphasize Booth's return by a distinguished
[150]

TRIBUTE TO MR. OTIS SKINNER
lady, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, who was then
the leader of New York Society. She gath
ered a wonderful assemblage of literature,
journahsm, art, and the professions. Of
course Booth was on her right; near him
was a very distinguished man, nationally and
internationally. Singularly the conversation
ran upon the topic, "How many distin
guished men had ruined theh reputations by
out-living them, and how many had been for
tunate in dying at the height of theh fame."
"Yes," said this distinguished citizen, "and
the most extraordinary instance that I can
recall is the death of Abraham Lincoln. He
died just at the right time for his fame."
I never have seen such an anti-climax. Booth
turned deadly pale; in the hush one could
have heard a pin drop. The assassination and
Wilkes Booth, the assassin, and the scene in
Ford's Theatre where it occurred, appeared with
all its horrors before every guest. The only
one equal to the occasion was the hostess;
with infinite tact and grace she changed the
subject, dispeUed the gloom, restored cheer
fulness to her guest of honor, and comfort and
happiness to all the rest.
Of the Wallack Company, I recall most
vividly John Gilbert, the finest comedian I
have ever seen. Lester Wallack incomparable
with his physical beauty as a soldier, a man
of fashion and a gallant, and Mrs. Hoey, who
[151]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
enacted on the stage the Society Lady with
the same grace she did in real life, as a leading
hostess of the city. I could recall many of the
Daly Company but time compels me to be
brief. I knew Ada Rehan when she was a
member of the stock company at Albany while
I was Secretary of State, fifty-three years ago.
She did not then give promise of her future but
Daly, with rare instinct, saw it, and what
training could do. He picked in the same
way other members of his marvelous company
among graduates delivering commencement
addresses in the schools. I said to Miss
Rehan, "In your present play you have
long conversations with your lover, while
the stage is occupied by other actors. Is
that conversation simulated or real ? " " Well, ' '
she said, "night before last, I said to my
lover, for we had to seem to be talking,
'In the seat on the center aisle, sixth row from
the front, sits Chauncey Depew. This is the
thhd time he has been here. Do you think it
is the play, or that it is me?' " Now that was
a touch of genius. Mr. Daly would never permit
his company, or any member of it, to act in the
usual concert on the ship crossing the ocean.
There was one notable exception. It was the
Fourth of July, the Captain wanted to make the
affah notable. Daly said "No." I have
always found that the ganglionic nerve exists
in everyone, and if you can only find it,
[152]

TRIBUTE TO MR. OTIS SKINNER
results follow. I thought I knew where it was in
Augustin Daly, so I said, "Mr. Daly, it is a
rare opportunity to properly celebrate the
Fourth of July, the bhth of American indepen
dence, and the old flag on an English ship on
the Atlantic Ocean. It requhes a stage manager
of rare genius to so arrange as to get all the
glory possible out of the occasion, and not
offend the other nationalities who have equal
rights on the ship. There is no man living but
you who could perform this difficult task. It
is an opportunity for you to be the manager
of the occasion. Give everybody their proper
place and assign me where you like." Daly
became instantly master of the occasion and its
autocratic manager. Leading members of his
company took part. I delivered the oration.
The affair was such a success that Mr. Daly
repeated it in the second cabin, and then in
the steerage. It was the voyage from New
York and the people in the steerage were mainly
those who had made some success in America
and were going over to visit the old folks at
home and show off theh new clothes and
prosperity. The result was they decorated the
steerage and emptied theh trunks and appeared
in theh best. I turned to Miss Rehan, and
she was weeping, the tears rolling down her
cheeks. She had just acted her part and
been wildly cheered. I said, "Why cry?"
"Oh," she said, "it is so affecting, and fuU of
[153]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
pathos. These poor people, here in the steer
age, never saw real art before. " Daly's theatre
suppers were wonderful. No one enjoyed them
so much, or was so welcome a guest as General
Sherman. General Sherman was a genius,
not only in war, but as a speaker. He was a
marvelously simple and natural man. On
going out to the supper, the finest piece of
acting I ever saw, was Miss Rehan pretending
to be in doubt whether she would take his arm
or mine, and finally, when an explosion from
the indignant old hero seemed near, with in
finite grace and the full charm of her velvet
voice, she chose the General and allowed him
to escort her in triumph.
The best after-dinner speech I ever heard
was from Fanny Davenport at one of these
suppers. The play had been so late that the
actors and actresses could not get home, dress
and return, before two o'clock, or later. There
were many speeches, but as the first rays of
dawn came through the window and the party
was about to break up, Fanny Davenport arose.
She was a vision of loveliness and glorious
beauty. In a few minutes her enthraUed
auditors hstened to a gem of oratory heightened
by the voice and manner, the animation and
grace, of one of the most beautiful young
women of her time. The effect was so great
that one of the most eminent journalists and
literary men of that period walked ten blocks
[154]

TRIBUTE TO MR. OTIS SKINNER
out of his way to discuss with me its rarity,
charm and beauty. No one can ever forget
dear old Mrs. Gilbert, or the amazingly
humorous James Lewis, of the Daly Company.
It was always a wonder to me how A. M.
Palmer became such a successful manager.
When I first knew him he was an officer in the
Custom House, and devoted to politics. Then
he became associated with Sheridan Shook, who
was also devoted to pohtics but a fine business
man, and a district leader. With rare instinct
and appreciation, Palmer made his theatre the
home of melodrama.
Clara Morris and others gave to his stage
national distinction. A friend of mine, a man
of rare gifts as a musician and an artist, never
went to see a play unless it would yield to hhn
the luxury of tears. He declared to me,
coming out of the Union Square one night
with his red eyes, and his handkerchief saturated
with brine, that there never was such a theatre,
never such a company, never such plays and
he never had had such a perfectly satisfactory
and enjoyable winter.
Far be it from me to claim any talent as a
critic. I can only tell what impresses me.
Demosthenes when asked what was the secret
of oratory answered, "Action, action, action."
The first necessity of a good actor is clear
enunciation, clear enunciation, clear enuncia
tion. Adelaide Neilson, in every scene of
[155]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Juliette, so pronounced the words that they
were Uquid music to the ear. Henry Irving, in
his earlier days and in his prime, was an in
sphation. I went repeatedly to see him during
his last visit, and could scarcely understand a
word he uttered. Syllables, words, and sen
tences ran into a confused jumble of sound.
Except for his fame, he would have played
to empty houses. I heard a boy shouting
"extra" and telling what it was about, when a
larger boy said to him, "That will never do,
shout 'extra,' yell 'extra,' and then bawl
'boo-boo-boo, '" but an actor is not selling
newspapers. I have known speakers of great
talent and fine delivery who wearied and
perplexed theh audiences by dropping the key
words of their sentences. It was the strength
of Daly that he enforced among his players
clarity of utterance. An actor has no right
to outrage an auditor by mouthing a beautiful
passage with which the auditor is famihar, or
by making the auditor guess what he said in a
passage with which the auditor is not familiar.
I had the pleasure of seeing Otis Skinner in
Booth Tarkington's play "Antonio" this week.
It was vhile, natural and admhable, his enun
ciation fine. The speech of some actors and
public speakers is a cryptogram or cipher. No
one has the key. Ignatius Donnelly in many
volumes traced a cryptogram which he claimed
was Lord Bacon's secret confession of his
[156]

TRIBUTE TO MR. OTIS SKINNER
authorship of Shakespeare's works. But a
more perfect cryptogram than Bacon's is found
in the Forty-sixth Psalm. The forty-sixth
word from the top is the word "shake." The
forty-sixth word from the bottom is the word
"speare. " Here on the Bacon-Shakespeare
theory is absolute proof that the author of the
Psalms was not King David, but William
Shakespeare. Our friend and guest to-night is with John
Drew, I believe, the only survivor of that most
attractive company which was gathered about
Augustin Daly. That brings to us the culture
and the art of a thne when no labor and no
effort were too great to achieve success, and it is
a source not only of gratification to us aU who
are veterans, but of guidance and instruction
to the ambitious youngsters who are seeking
fame and fortune in the drama.

157]

Speech at the Luncheon given by the Pilgrims
Society to the Right Reverend Huyshe
Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs, Bishop of Wor
cester, England, November 6, 1916.
Gentlemen: We have had the honor to entertain dis
tinguished representatives of every depart
ment in the hfe of our kin across the sea. We
have welcomed diplomats and soldiers, admhals
and members of Parliament, men of letters and
educators. This is the first time, however, we
have had the pleasure and privUege of receiving
the Church.
There is a most interesting historical relation
ship between the Church of England and the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United
States. The Colonies had the Church of
England as the estabUshed one in most of
theh charters, but they were all attached to
various dioceses in England. The two most
interesting representatives of the English
Church, who came to America, were the Rev.
James Blah, who was sent over by the Bishop
of London, and who founded William and
Mary College, and the famous Bishop Berkeley
of Cloyne, who was so impressed while at
Newport with the future of the then infant
[158]

TRIBUTE TO THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER
colonies, for it was in the year 1729, that he
wrote this immortal and prophetic stanza:
"West-ward the course of empire takes its way,
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama -with the day.
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
When this poem is recited, as is often the case
in our schools, the student always believes
that the good Bishop saw in vision the republic
of the United States as it is and will be, when
in his last line he wrote: "Time's noblest off
spring is the last. "
After the independence of the colonies, and
the formation of the republic, our people
determined upon having an American Church.
They elected two Bishops, the Rev. Samuel
Seabury and Dr. Wilham Smith. The Arch
bishop of Canterbury, conservative then as
always, refused to raise them to the rank of
Bishop, but at all times there can be found
in the British Emphe a protester and a kicker
among the Scotch, and so the Scotch non-
juring Bishops performed the ceremony and
consecrated our first Bishops, WUliam Smith
and Samuel Seabury.
At every gathering, whether of the Pilgrims
of the United States or of the Pilgrims of Great
Britain, or on any international occasion, the
sentiment expressing the feeling of the hour is
always the union of English speaking peoples
[159]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
because of theh common hterature, common
law and common language, and because they
are the equal inheritors of great names who
have adorned the literature of the world.
But there is a nearer and closer tie in the English
Bible and the book of Common Prayer. It is
the universal and unquestioned testimony that
the English Bible, that insphed translation by
the convocation at Westminster, has done
inore to preserve in its purity, elegance and
power our common English tongue, than all
other literature combined. The noble hturgy
of the book of Common Prayer is now in use, in
whole or in part, in nearly all our religious
communities. We are receiving the Bishop on the day
before one of the most interesting, exciting and
critical elections in the history of the United
States. He will witness the wonderful spectacle
of sixteen millions of men and women of differ
ent ideals, politics and beliefs, going to the polls
to-morrow, after a most exciting and somewhat
embittered contest to vote for theh favorites,
but he will also witness, on the day after elec
tion, that whoever wins the verdict will be
accepted loyally by aU. He wUl witness this
finest triumph of the democratic sphit, after
a hundred and twenty odd years of self-govern
ment and submission to the wUl of majorities.
Because of his visit here being at this critical
period every agency known to the press has
[160]

TRIBUTE TO THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER
been used to extort from the Bishop an opinion
upon the election. A distinguished diplomat
once fell to these insidious wUes and ended his
career, but our guest has the art of the diplomat
and the wisdom of the Bishop. His position
has been the perfection of tact and wisdom. He
could not help saying a word on the international
situation, but while speaking, both as an
Englishman and a patriot, upon the righteous
ness of his own cause, he has applauded the
position of the United States because of what
he calls "Our Benevolent Neutrality." It is
benevolent, for our markets are open to all
the world for what they may need and which
we can produce.
The President of the United States very
properly issued his proclamation that both as
a nation and as individuals we should be
neutral. Official neutrality, however, cannot
reach the heart nor control the mind. The
moral force of the heart and mind of the vast
majority of our people has been and is with
the cause of the Allies. We have a cosmo
politan population. On its proper day every
year the English and those of Enghsh descent
gather under the banner of St. George, the Irish
under the banner of St. Patrick, the Scotch under
the banner of St. Andrew, the Welsh under the
banner of St. David, the French on the bhth
day of Lafayette and the Germans in their
national societies, the Scandinavians and Ital-
[161]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
ians in theirs. On that day the toast, the
eloquence, the story and song is for the glory
and achievement of their ancestors, and that
is as it should be for there is insphation in the
best there is of the old home. But whenever,
and wherever, the flag waves, or the interests
of the United States are involved, we are all
Americans. I remember being in London, many years
ago, when the American Church had sent as
delegates to a great Church convention there,
Bishop Potter of New York, the Bishop of
Albany and the Bishop of Michigan. I was told
that it was the custom of the Bishops as they
met each morning to greet each other only by
titles, as "Good-morning, London," "Good-
morning, New York," "Good-morning, Wor
cester. " The Bishop of Michigan was a great
favorite but it was difficult for his brother
churchmen to grasp and pronounce this strange
Indian name, so he was loudly and enthu
siastically greeted one day by an admhing
prelate as "How are you, my chicken?" I met
Mr. Gladstone many times but in the first
opportunity I was worsted by one of our
Bishops visiting London. It was a dinner
arranged for me to meet Mr. Gladstone and,
when the lady next hhn rethed with the others,
I was to take that seat. This American Bishop
had been a famous athlete in his college
days and the moment the ladies left he made a
[162]

TRIBUTE TO THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER
flying leap over the chahs and landed in the
seat alongside of Mr. Gladstone which had
been reserved for me. He engaged the great
Statesman in one of his favorite controversies
which lasted aU the eveniug. When I was asked
again to meet Mr. Gladstone, I said, "With
pleasure, if there are no American Bishops
there." Our guest, the Bishop of Worcester was, in
his university days at Oxford, the champion
athlete of his college. His training has done
him good service in the work of the Church
Militant. He was welcomed with enthusiasm
and bid good-bye with regret by the members of
that great historical convocation which met
in St. Louis. We laymen and PUgrims extend
to him our most cordial greetings. Gentlemen,
I present to you, the Bishop of Worcester.

[ 163]

Address before the New York Academy of
Medicine on the Art of Growing Older
and the Value of Interest in Public Life,
November 16, 1916.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Academy:
When Doctor James extended to me your
invitation, I felt both complimented and
alarmed. It is always a pleasure to address a
body of scientists, but if one is not himself
a scientist, he approaches his audience with
much trepidation.
I have one privilege, however, and that is
age. Presumption is never excused in youth
or middle life, but after fourscore years there
is much conceded because of experience. This
experience cannot be questioned except by some
older than the speaker.
Every profession is, and always will be, in the
experimental stage. As fast as one difficulty is
removed, or the cause or a cure of one dis
ease is discovered, new complications arise,
so that we are, and probably will always
continue to be, in medicine and in the other
professions largely experimenters. The ad
vances which have been made in medicine and
surgery in the last decade are marvelous and
almost mhaculous. They seem to prove that
it is possible to discover how to live forever,
[ 164]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
in physical and mental health. In two years
of the most frightful and bloody cataclysm of
all the centuries, surgery at the period of its
highest and best equipment has had to deal
with five millions of cases. There have been
destructions of bone, tissue, nerves, limbs and
dismemberment inflicted by weapons hitherto
unknown in power and efficiency and of a
character never dreamed of. Surgery has
wonderfully met these emergencies and has
demonstrated that repair and substitution for
injured and destroyed parts of the human
anatomy have practically no limits. In the
ordinary course of relations between the doctor
and his patients, he is occupied up to the
patient's meridian of life in preventing vitality
leading to excesses, which are destructive of
health and longevity, but in later years the
doctor struggles to prolong hfe by discouraging
efforts which weaken vitality. It is well known
that whUe recovery is easy and often auto
matic in earlier years, in later ones recuperation
is slow and difficult.
Happily for the problem of growing old,
progress, invention and discovery have done
quite as much for humanity as for the arts
and industries. My memory goes back very
clearly to over seventy years ago. The old
men and the old women who were in evidence
everywhere no longer exist. There are older
men and women than were then in age, but
[165]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
they are not as old. Then, and for the im
memorial time preceding, with approaching old
age women wore caps, which emphasized theh
antiquity, and worsted shawls, which adver
tised theh poverty of blood, while men rethed
from theh life work and sat around the fire at
home or gossiped in groups of elder brethren on
the counter and nail kegs of the country store.
We have no such old women or old men now.
They dress so much alike that it is impossible
to tell mothers from daughters.
Shakespeare's ',' Seven Ages of Men," which
were accepted in his thne, and for many centu
ries after, no longer exist. The second age, " the
whining schoolboy, with his satchel and shining
face creeping hke a snail unwillingly to school"
is now on the baU field an active player or a
fan and a rooter on the benches. Shakespeare
says the Sixth Age shifts into "the lean and
slippered pantaloons." There are no such
people, and "with his big manly voice turning
again to chUdish treble, pipes and whistles."
We now often meet in the pulpit or at the bar
old men with a control of vocal chords and
resonance of voice which gives emphasis to the
utterance of theh matured wisdom. Then
Shakespeare says, "Last of aU, that ends this
eventful history, is second chUdishness and mere
obhvion, sans eyes, sans taste, sans teeth, sans
everything," Science has overcome aU that.
The dentist has supplied teeth which answer
[166]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
every purpose of the originals; the ocuhst and
the optician has provided eyeglasses which,
both for long distance and reading, are often
better than the ones which nature gives, while,
as for taste, the caterer knows, and so does
the cook and espeeiaUy the good wife, that it
becomes keener and more exacting with the
years. The telephone has minimized disabilities or
weaknesses in getting around; travel, which in
the early days was nerve-racking and fatiguing
to the last degree, now transports the invalid
or the aged from the comforts of home in
luxurious annihilation of distance and easy
transmission from one climate to another, or
from the fireside to the cure. Formerly, on
account of the difficulties of communication, a
man's interests were confined within a narrow
area, and almost purely local. Now, with the
cable and wireless, and without any exertion
on his part, the news of the world and what
happened everywhere the day before, in every
department of human activity and interest,
are upon his breakfast table in his morning
newspaper. The influence of this one con
tribution to mental activity and brain food, the
two things which help for longevity, can hardly
be estimated.
The ancients apologized for old age. Cicero
wrote a volume, "De Senectute," which is an
apology for old age. One of the most famous of
[167]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
the Roman writers said, "When you are at
eighty, pack your trunk, the end has come."
No one now apologizes for old age, elderly
people are proud of it, and the older they are,
if they have mental and physical vigor, the
more they assert theh superiority and it is
generally recognized.
Nothing has impressed me so much in life
as the influence of one man, or one utterance
upon the thought and life of succeeding genera
tions. There are many examples in pohtics
and government. You gentlemen of the medi
cal profession still take the oath of Hippocrates,
and succeeding ages have been able to add
nothing to its force. Probably there is no
hterature in the world which has so influenced
literature and pulpit eloquence and teaching,
as "The Psahns, " so when Moses or David said,
— the world believing it to be David — ' ' The days
of our years are threescore and ten, and if by rea
son of strength they are fourscore years, yetis their
strength labor and sorrow. " There is no sentence
in sacred writ which has been quoted so often, or
upon which so much emphasis has been laid, and
from which so many lessons have been taught. It
has been accepted wherever the Bible is known as
a semi-divine declaration of the limit of life and
the utter valuelessness of an extension beyond
threescore and ten. It has been accepted that
such an extension is rather a punishment than a
favor. I beheve that mUlions have died
[168]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
because of absorbing interest in this expression
of King David. You gentlemen of the pro
fession know well how many people die because
of being obsessed in theh own minds that
event will occur at a specific time. When I
was a senior at Yale, we had a course of medical
lectures from one of the well-known doctors of
that time. Doctor Knight. I remember of
those lectures but one thing the doctor said,
"You can bring on yourself any disease, if
you will think about it hard enough, and believe
absolutely enough that you have it, and you
can die at any time almost if you make up
your mind that you cannot live beyond that
day." In my own experience I have met
with many such cases, especially as to dying
within a certain limit, believed in by patients.
No writer that I know of, no preacher that I
have heard, and no scientist with whom I have
conversed has ever subjected this dictum in
the ninetieth Psalm to an investigation of
King David's life, and of how far his poetry was
governed by his own experience. King David
died in his early seventies. From any stand
point of modern hygiene and pathology, it is a
marvel that he lived so long. He was a great
warrior; he conquered all the surrounding
nations up to the border of Egypt, he was a
great poet, but, having come to the throne
from the position of a shepherd boy and the
hardships of exUe and privation, he denied
[ 169]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
himself nothing which unlimited power and
wealth could give. His principal weakness was
the fah sex, and undeshable husbands with
deshable wives were placed in the forefront
of the fiercest battle, and widowhood and her
capture soon followed. When he was old the
doctors found him with weakened mind and
anaemic body. He suffered from perpetual
chills with poverty of blood. Royal doctors
could think of only one remedy, and that was
suggested by the King's hfe, physical contact
with a young, healthy and attractive girl,
but it is evident from the story as told in the
book of "Kings" that the remedy was a
faUure, and history and the records of the pro
fession do not mention that it has ever been
repeated. My grandfather died at seventy-six, but
between that age and seventy rarely left his
farm. One of my great-grandfathers, whose
environment had been extended by his having
been a Senator and Judge, spent between
seventy-five and eighty in his library crippled
with gout, and writing letters to one of his
sons-in-law, a distinguished lawyer, upon the
ruin of his country, which he could not, happUy,
hve to see. To his mind that ruin was to come
about because Thomas Jefferson had been
elected President of the United States. The old
gentleman believed, as did those who opposed
Jefferson at that time, that this eminent
[170]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
Vhginian Statesman, through the influence of
his contact with the French Revolution, was
an atheist in religion and an anarchist in
pohtics. It would not be possible now to make
the most hidebound partisan, who had passed
the threescore and ten limit, believe such things
of any man who had reached the Presidency.
There were three very remarkable men in the
Senate while I was a member. Senator Hoar
of Massachusetts, Morgan of Alabama and
Pettus of Alabama. They were all approaching
or had passed eighty. Theh intellectual vigor,
theh grasp of the questions of the hour, theh
vigor and alertness in debate made them easily
the leaders of the Senate. I knew them in
timately and studied them with the greatest
interest. I came to the conclusion that theh
healthful longevity was due enthely to an un
flagging zeal in theh work. The high respon-
sibUity of the government of a great country,
which was in part theirs, was fuUy realized and
lived up to.
I never met but one centenarian. I happened
to be in Paris when France and the City of
Paris were both celebrating the hundredth
anniversary of a great chemist, Chevreul.
Chevreul had entered the service of the Gobelin
tapestry as a chemist at eighteen. His father
was an officer of the state industry. He became
famous as a chemist and was elected one of the
forty inunortals of the Academy. He invented
[171]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
a dye for silk which gave France, for a long
period, the monopoly of its manufacture and
sale. He also discovered margarine and stear-
ine, which resulted in vast industries. On the
night preceding his centenary he was given a
gala performance at the Grand Opera. All
the great artists of Paris, both of the lyric
and dramatic stage, played some part during
the evening. At the last the curtain rose
upon a statue of heroic size of the guest, and
angels descended from the wings and placed
crowns upon his head, with the orchestra
and military bands playing the national anthem,
and the crowd went wild with cheering. Then
the most famous actor pronounced an oration,
Chevreul standing in his box. When I left my
seat it was two o'clock in the morning. The
next day he reviewed the garrison of Paris,
some thhty thousand men, which paraded in
his honor, and he read a paper upon the
progress of chemistry during his career before
the Academy. That evening he was given one
of the largest and most magnificent banquets
ever had in Paris, and he made a speech. I sat
opposite him at the table and so had an
opportunity to ask him to what he ascribed
his great age with unimpahed mental and
physical vigor. He said, "To the fact that I
secured a life position with the government
when I was eighteen, that, with promotions
and increases in salary, I have been entirely
[ 172]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
satisfied with my lot. I delight in my pro
fession, its opportunities and discoveries as
a chemist. I have never indulged, or been
tempted to indulge in any excesses of any kind.
I have never used tobacco or alcohol. "
"WeU," I said, "what have you drunk,"
and he answered, "the waters of the Seine."
One incident of the dinner was interesting and
amusing. There was an old gentleman, who
sat beside him, who was constantly rising with
a full glass of wine and pledging friends and
notables right and left. The glass was empty
when he sat down. Chevreul frequently
repressed him, trying to prevent his rising and
to curb his hilarity. I said to the official who
accompanied me, "Who is this man in whom
the old gentleman seems to take such a deep
interest?" The official answered, "It is his
son. He has been anxious about him all his
life, espeeiaUy on occasions like this." I said,
"How old is the boy?" The answer was,
"Seventy-six." Now the waters of the Seine,
which Chevreul said had been his only beverage,
are anything but pure. Chevreul nearly died
because, at his advanced age, his vitality could
not recuperate from the strain to which he
was subjected by the extraordinary efforts to
do him prolonged and continued honors.
There was in Paris at the same thne a soldier
of Napoleon's old guard, who had been through
all the great Conqueror's campaigns. He was
[ 173]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
three years older than Chevreul and earning a
precarious living as messenger. He fell down
stahs a short time afterwards and broke his
neck. Inquhy developed that he had gone to
bed drunk every night for sixty years and on
this evening had overindulged. My pro
hibitionist friends say, "This proves nothing,
because if Chevreul had led that sort of life,
he would have died at fifty, and if the old
soldier had lived the hfe of Chevreul, he would
have passed one hundred and fifty. "
My experience and observations teach me
that the condition of the mind is the con-
trolUng factor in the health of the body. The
person who is anxious and absorbed at his
meals does not get proper nourishment, the
food fails to assimilate, the digestive apparatus
is always out of working order. The man who
carries his business and cares to church, the
opera or the theatre and keeps working at his
problems, had better stay at home. He simply
adds to his fatigue. Enforced sport or exercise
of any kind, with the idea that it is recreation,
thes both body and mind without any recupera
tive value to either.
The greatest possible mistake a man can make
is to rethe from business to enjoy life. I
have known great numbers of such men, they
generally beheve that the country, especially
the old farm, or the vUlage where they were
born and passed theh boyhood days, will
[174]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
give them health and lohgevity. The first
year, whUe building, planning and repahing,
goes off very well; the second year they miss
theh former busy days and become hri table;
the thhd year they begin to study aches and
pains andimaginethem, becomehypochondriacal
and take to patent medicines, and soon after
theh names appear at the head of a longer or
shorter obituary in the daily papers, and theh
hehs enjoy theh estates. Now the trouble with
those men is, either that they did not continue
in theh business and vocation and find relief
in recreation, or rather in some congenial side
pursuit, and this brings me to a recoUection of
the old men whom I have known who have
done just this.
Sixty years ago the recreation and rehef of
the thed man was after business hours to drive
fast trotting horses. This continued almost
until the automobile appeared. Near every
city was a track, and on all the highways were
roadhouses for the special accommodation of
these sports. This sport admhably accom
phshed the purpose, because the driving of a
thoroughbred is an absorbing occupation. I
have known men who were eminently success
ful in theh profession, or who had accumulated
large fortunes in theh business or enterprises,
who cared more for the applause of tbeh
fellow horsemen, sitting on the piazza of the
roadhouse and seeing them driving by, and then
[175]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
praising their driving and theh trotter, than
they did for any successes which they had in
theh vocations. I have never known anything
equal to the exquisite enjoyment of one of these
elderly horsemen, as I have sat beside him,
behind his pacers, while he with great skill got
out of them all the speed there was, and at the
same time, like an artist viewing his master
piece, revelled in the superb display of muscle
and sphit of his favorites. The automobUe
abolished the trotting track, and the roadhouse
became a ruin. Then followed golf, which is
still a national fad. Twenty years ago there
was scarcely a golf course or a golfer in the
country. To-day the course and the clubhouses
are everywhere in evidence. I do not think
everybody is fitted for golf any more than in
the old days everybody had horse-sense. Bil
liards have had their attraction and have still,
but they are largely enjoyed at the club with
too much of cigars and too many cocktails.
Martin Luther, who talked well about many
things besides theology, gave to the world
two wise sayings in regard to health and
longevity. One was, "When I rest I rust,"
and the other was:
"Who drinks -without thirst, and eats -without hunger,
Dies so much the younger."
The difficulty with these methods of changing
the switch, as it were, or in other words,
[176]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
relieving the mind by some other occupation is
that, with increasing age they cannot be
followed. When the horseman could no longer
drive himself, but must have some one drive
for him, his doctor and his family bothknewthat
death was not very far distant. The same
way, there is a period where the golfer can no
longer swing his club or survive the inclemency
of all weathers, so it becomes necessary to
discover some other method, and this is not
difficult. I think it can be found in service;
service to your country, your state, your
community, your church, your neighbors. This
does not mean becoming a noisy reformer or
hunting headlines in the newspapers. Church
settlement and philanthropic work of all kind
have theh attractions, but they do not appeal
to everybody. There is only one service which
does and that is private interest in public life.
Nearly seventeen millions of citizens cast theh
votes in the recent election. There were
seventeen millions of women just as much
interested, and all youth also from very early
years up to the eve of maturity. This interest
was intense whUe it lasted. It began with the
nominations by the National Conventions,
was apathetic during the summer and fall
until about four weeks before election, then
everybody was willing and anxious to advocate
his belief, to praise his candidate, to attend
political meetings, to march and to shout,
[177]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
"Save the country!" The salvation of the
country under our form of government is
absolutely in the hands of its citizens. If it
is corrupt or extravagant they are to blame;
if it is inefficient to meet what is required or
expected by the most enhghtened sentiment
and by the opinion of the world, the fault
lies not with the law makers but the elec
torate. A great city will be notoriously, badly
and corruptly governed with everybody com
plaining and few doing anything. Then wUl
come, under some energetic leadership, a
concentration of public opinion which drives
out the rascals and puts in honest men, but
before the reform administration has been long
enough in power to correct the evils of the past
and mature a program for the future, interest
dies out and the old order returns. It is the
eternal lesson of preparedness. One veteran
is worth a company of recruits. Eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty. Few people
appreciate the fascination of politics in the
best sense. Lawyers do largely, because they
see rewards for theh profession. Judicial offices
are great prizes, and activity in public life
enlarges acquaintance and brings clients. There
is general abuse of party organization and
party leaders or bosses, but the prizes are so
great in government, national, state, municipal
and town, that there wUl be a section of the
public that they will always attract. This
[178]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
section of the public become experts and
professionals. They may occasionally drop into
obscurity, but never into obhvion. Their
emergency is as certain and as hresistible as
the locust. We rarely consider that prac
tically all we care for, and all our oppor
tunities for enjoyment or for success in life,
are dependent upon the government whic
we make and can control.
The doctor is peculiarly fitted for this
public service. He also needs it as a relief
from the absorption of his profession. His
training and practice educate him in induc
tive reasoning, in estimating values, in knowl
edge of mankind and for service in the large
amount of charitable work which he does.
The one member of his constituency which the
legislator fears is the country doctor. The
physician is much more than a medical adviser,
he is the confidant of the family. His opinion
of men and measures is the more powerful
from the absence of personal motive. The
doctor can, himself, and he can insphe others
to take an interest in the character of the
candidates and in the operations of municipal
bodies and state and national officers. He can
easily learn the sources of pohtical power.
They begin in the caucus, they continue in the
convention and are decided at the poles. The
primary, instead of diminishing the power of
the boss and the politician has enormously
[179]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
increased it. In nearly every state, after the
novelty of the primary has passed away, the
indifference of the pubhc and the keen trained
abUity of the politician enable him to control
the machinery of the primary and decide its
action. So long as life lasts, and no matter
how great the age or impairment of physical
activity, public life for a private citizen can
stiU have absorbing attraction.
In free governments there must be parties.
The nearer they are in numbers the better the
government. "The membership of a party is
partly temperamental and partly psychological.
There will always be, what President Wilson
calls, "forward men." They accomplish much
that is needed but are not always safe. Theh
propositions are radical, espeeiaUy in econom
ical, industrial and social legislation. There
are other men who are satisfied with the
existing order. They are comfortable under
it and do not want it disturbed, and especially
do not want themselves disturbed. They are
the brakes on the motor. When the radicals
have gone too far, there are enough of con
servatives among them to use more caution,
and put the opposition in power. Thus the
country never goes headlong over the precipice
or dies of dry rot.
The study of the origin of parties in our own
country, and the fines upon which they have
generaUy divided is most fascinating. It goes
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THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
down to the very roots of our existence and the
very foundation, if I may change the simile.
It illustrates again the cohtinuing power of
masterful creative genius and the grip of a
dead hand that cannot be loosened.
Alexander Hamilton was one of those original
geniuses who defy analysis. As a boy he
mastered the principles of government and
elucidated them with such clarity as to capture
the minds and imagination of the statesmen
of the Revolution. Thomas Jefferson had
rare gifts and acquhements, and a wonderful
and intuitive understanding of popular im
pulses. Hamilton believed in a strong central
government and checks upon hasty popular
action. Jefferson had been in close contact
with the French Revolution and wanted power
and authority in the states rather than in the
general government and the fewest possible
restrictions on the immediate action of the
popular wiU. In the framing of our Constitu
tion is seen the results of the influence and
teaching of these two antagonists harmonized
into general principles by the overwhelming
power of George Washington. Washington was
not a genius, unless common sense belongs to
that category, and he had more common sense
than any man of his period in this or any other
country. Soon after our government was
started under this Constitution, John MarshaU
was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme
[181]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Court. He remahied such until his death,
thhty-four years afterwards. There came
before the court almost every possible question
of interpretation as to the power of the general
government and that reserved to the states.
Chief Justice Marshall in deciding these ques
tions established upon impregnable foundations
the power of the general government to enforce
its authority and perpetuate its existence.
His decisions were on the lines of Hamilton's
ideas. This so enraged Mr. Jefferson that in a
letter to President Madison he said:
"The rancorous hatred which Marshall bears
to the Government of his country, and the
cunning sophistry within which he is able to
enshroud himself. "
Nothing can be more entrancing than the
study through various administrations, many
crises and vital measures, the changes of pubhc
opinion, and pohtical action upon these various
questions and the attitude of parties upon
them to-day. It is this exhaustless field
which I commend, not only to you but to
aU others, as to activities outside of one's
vocation which are necessary for health and
longevity. Many of you have said to me, "Tell us some
thing about yourself. " So far as I can judge,
I am in as good condition on the eve of eighty-
three as I was at fifty. On this very question
of another work rather than play for recrea-
[182]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
tion I have had this experience. There could
be no more exacting position than President of
a great raihoad company. Between the pubhc,
the patrons of the railroad and its employees,
he has his hands full. The exactions and
demands of conflicting municipal, state and
governmental authorities are no small part
of his troubles. Most executives rethe early
or die before theh time. They give theh whole
thought and mind without relief to theh duties
and the strain becomes too great. I early
came to the conclusion that insomnia and
nerve-racking were relieved rather by change
of occupation than by sport. I had a faculty
for easy preparation in public speaking and
received innumerable requests, and the plat
form became my change of work. I found
that in speaking at the dinners of the Trades
Associations who had theh annual banquets
in New York several times a week, the year
round, I won theh favor and added to the
traffic of our lines. One day we had a con
ference of rival interests and many executives
were there in the effort to secure an adjustment
without a raihoad war. For the purpose we
had an arbitrator. After a most exhausting
day in the battle of will and experience for
advantage, I arrived home "used-up," but
after a half hour's sleep I awoke refreshed and
consulting my diary found I was down for a
speech at a banquet at Delmonico's that night.
[183]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
I arrived late, the intervening time having
been devoted to preparation. I was called
early, the speech attracted attention and
occupied a column in the morning's papers. I
was in bed at eleven o'clock and had between
seven and eight hours of refreshing slumber.
On arriving at our meeting place, one of the
ablest of railway presidents, at that time,
took me one side. He said, "Chauncey, by
making speeches such as you did last night,
you are losing the confidence of the people in
your attention to your business." "Well," I
said, "my dear friend, did I lose anything be
fore the arbitrator yesterday?" He said very
angrily, "No, you gained enthely too much."
"Well, I said, I am very fresh this morning.
What did you do?" He said he was so ex
hausted that he went to Delmonico's and
ordered the best dinner he could. He went on
to say, "A friend told me that a little game
was on upstahs, and in a close room filled with
tobacco smoke I played poker until two
o'clock and drank several highballs. The
result is, I think we had better postpone this
meeting for I do not feel like doing anything
to-day." I said, "My dear friend, you will
get credit of giving your whole time to business,
whUe I am discredited simply because I am in
the papers. I shall keep my method regardless
of consequences." Although younger than
myself he died years ago.
[184]

THE ART OF GROWING OLDER
Collective investigation in England showed
that a large proportion of very old people had
always been early risers. The greatest mistake
such a one can make is to yield to the usual
deshe to turn over and remain in bed longer
when his hour for rising in the morning has
come. No matter what keeps one up the
night before, arise at the usual hour. Take
a nap during the day, its recuperative power
and efficiency in the enjoyment of the evening
is wonderful. Above all, keep your mind
serene. You never saw an old person who
had been choleric all his life. Regularity in
habits is the key note of healthy living and
thinking in old age.
I gave up tobacco twenty-five years ago
because I had become absolutely dependent
upon it and after nearly a year of agony got
over insomnia and indigestion. When any
appetite becomes injurious, whether alcohol,
tobacco or drugs, it can be cured by will power.
The joy of such a victory compensates for every
suffering. Stable health and the consciousness
of added years of vigor make each year one of
thanksgiving. With an inherited tendency for worry, and
the exaggeration of hard luck or disappoint
ments, I have discovered that it is possible
to cultivate optimism and hopefulness. With
out practicing the insipidity of "Polly anna"
any man or any woman can dispel care, escape
[185]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
morbidness, have faith in humanity, love
crowds, do little kindnesses as a habit, have an
eye for a pretty ghl, but tell your wife, and long
for the prolongation of a life so fuU of daily
content and happiness.

186]

Speech at the Dinner given by the Lotos Club
of New York to Mr. Booth Tarkington,
November 25, 1916.
Gentlemen: This welcome to-night, for one of the most
eminent of the younger generation of our men
of letters, is full of reminiscence of the authors
who have honored us in years past. I recall
two occasions of marked interest. The guest
of honor was Lord Houghton, known before he
was elevated to the peerage as the poet Mock-
ton Milnes. Lord Houghton had the habit,
then common in the English Parliament, of
interlarding every speech with quotations from
the Latin classics, especially from Horace.
He had an idea that our membership was made
up of men who possessed the American equiva
lent of the training of Oxford, or Cambridge
University. The result was that Latin sentences
illuminated his address. We rose to the occa
sion by vigorously applauding and showing
more vociferous appreciation of his Latin
than of his English. Anyhow, we knew what
he ought to have said. The next occasion,
which was one of the most brilliant in our
history, had a rather tragical conclusion. It
was in honor of Canon Kingsley. His novels
were household words and espeeiaUy his
[187]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
"Hypatia" and his "Westward Ho." To
show a special appreciation of his clerical
position, the late Bishop Potter made the
principal address. The Bishop was noted,
during his whole career, not only as a fine
preacher and a man of letters, but one of the
most courtly and tactful of gentlemen. On
this occasion he made the only break in his
life. It came in an address which was most
comphmentary and dispersed with delightful
humor. The Canon was of rubicund counte
nance and the reddest and largest nose I ever
saw. The Bishop's allusion to this feature as
a headhght which had illumined literature and
led it to the most brilliant heights of this, or
any age, was deeply resented by the Canon
and forgiveness denied.
Such an evening as this recalls to mind in
rapid succession the brief story of American
literature. There is httle in the Colonial
period; in the next era, the intellectual world
was dominated by the Clergy. They were
great theologians, and Dr. Jonathan Edwards's
lurid descriptions, and powerful presentation of
the fate of the wicked, frightened the whole
nation. We must remember that one of the
reasons for the monopoly during that time of
this strictly doctrinal and gloomy literature,
is the fact that, for the first hundred years,
there were no lawyers in New England. Our
next era was literature in oratory. People
[188]

TRIBUTE TO MR. BOOTH TARKINGTON
cared little for books, but went wild over the
orations of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John
C. Calhoun, and Edward Everett. WeJaster's
orations, in theh literary finish and perfection,
were hterature and survive. The others do not
hve because with the exception of Everett,
they exhausted themselves upon transient politi
cal issues. Then came a brilliant age; it was
composed mainly of the men of genius who
lunched once a week at the Parker House in
Boston. Among them were Longfellow, Emer
son, Hawthorne, Theodore Parker, Dr.
Channing and others. They placed American
literature upon the map of the world. In a
volume of old letters recently published is one
from Sh Walter Scott to a New York friend.
Sir Walter says that he has just read a book by
one Washington Irving, which has the grace
and manner of Addison and Sterne, and predicts
a future for the author. Thus, for the first time,
was answered the well-known question of that
period, "Who reads an American book?" Irving
became, and still holds the position of
Father of American literature. There is a
letter also of Washington Irving's, which is the
first indication on our side of the ocean of a
hfe devoted to letters. He says, "I'd rather be a
successful author and starve in a garret, than
have aU the money of John Jacob Astor."
He referred to the original Astor, who was then
the richest man in the United States.
[189]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
We live in a revolutionary period, it is one of
startling changes and wonderful contrasts. We
have just gone through a general election.
New York has always been a pivotal State,
it became a maxim that as goes New York, so
goes the Union. But this election has broken
the tradition, the flag of victory goes to Cali
fornia. So in hterature the center of original
thought and ideas is transferred from Boston
to Indianapolis. By the way, we are all
philosophers now and have no politics, so what
did this election decide? I think practically
nothing. The reason is deep in the undeveloped
results of this world tragedy. We are not in it,
but we are of it. As a people we are groping
to find our place, or what place will be forced
upon us. The Atlantic States, like New York,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Maine, fear
ing future possibilities, want army and navy
preparedness to meet them; the Middle West,
composed of a people just as brave, but having
no fear of invasion, have a greater fear of the
possibilities of war. They are not at all sure
but what if New York as they conceive it to
be was wiped off the map, even by a hostile
fleet, it would be a blessing to the country.
Hence you see rock-ribbed Republican Kansas
going Democratic, Republican Minnesota saved
by only a few votes, and California giving
twelve thousand majority for Wilson and
three hundred thousand majority to Governor
[190]

TRIBUTE TO MR. BOOTH TARKINGTON
Johnson, the Republican candidate for United
States Senator. This thought lands us square
into the Middle West, whose brilliant repre
sentative is our guest to-night. Indiana was
discovered by La SaUe, the famous Jesuit
explorer. It was for a hundred years part of
France. Under the Mendel theory, the strong
est element in an ancestor may skip several
generations and then break out, so now we
have the vivacity, variety, and interpretation,
which is French genius, appearing in Booth
Tarkington, Whitcomb Riley and George Ade
of Indianapolis. Irving said, in one of his
works, that the Middle West would in the
future form a lawless interval between the abodes
of civihzed man like the waters of the ocean,
or the deserts of Arabia. He was familiar
with the civihzation and culture of the Atlantic
East, and of the possibilities of the Pacific,
but he did not grasp that a race, strong, vigor
ous, independent and ruthless of traditions
would make the boundless prahies of the
Middle West the dominant factor in the
politics and literature of the United States.
Like the Bowery, in the topical song, "They
say such things and they do such things,"
and are original. When Whitcomb Riley's bhth
day arrived, the whole State turned out. The
Governor came with his staff to Riley's home,
the courts adjourned, the factories closed, the
children flocked, Vice-President Fahbanks Ulu-
[191]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
mined the occasion with his most genial smile,
Vice-President Marshall wore a dress suit and
Senator Beveridge made a speech. No other
state ever so expressed its love and admhation
for its poet; no such demonstration ever came
to Lowell or Holmes or Longfellow. Such
appreciation is bound to produce more poets,
and insphe incipient genius to wonderful
achievements. While I was in the Senate an appeal was
made to me to assist in securing charter for an
American Institute of Arts and Letters whose
membership should rival the immortals of the
famous French Academy. The Middle West
ridiculed and opposed it. They said it created
a chartered aristocracy. They had no preju
dices against cowboys becoming multi-milhon-
ahes or telegraph operators, raihoad presidents
or porters in the stores, merchant princes, for
those opportunities were open to all men.
But they would not stand for the United States
putting its great seal of recognition upon certain
citizens as superior beings and give them a
power to say who for all time should be theh
associates. The biU became a law, and the
Academy has had its first meeting. It finds
that we have no standards, our poetry is not
insphed by the Muses, and our novels lack
chculation of the blood and a nervous system
to sustain theh muscular vigor. But the
Middle West will go right on with new standards
[ 192]

TRIBUTE TO MR. BOOTH TARKINGTON
and fresher ones like James Abbott McNeUl
Whistler and Walt Whitman who were more
of the unbridled West than the corraled East.
At this time, when there are no great issues
to divide parties or arouse antagonistic opin
ions, I discover by accident that the public
must always have an issue of some kind. We
once had a bloody riot here in New York to
determine whether Forrest or Macready was the
greatest tragedian. I recently had occasion in
an address to the Academy of Medicine on
longevity to allude to the discrepancy between
King David's advice and his life. King David
hved twenty-five hundred years ago, but his
remark, made before a body of scientists,
brought him out into the lime-light and demon
strated that he had a multitude of militant
defenders. The next thne I have to illustrate
a point or emphasize a thought, I shall try
Rameses or Nebuchadnezzar. I know Nebu
chadnezzar is safe because during the reception
a young author said to me, "What will you talk
about?" I answered, "Nebuchadnezzar." He
said, "What is that?"
And now, my friends, let us rejoice that we
have men of letters, who in books, in plays and
in journalism, can give us the characteristics,
the idylls and the asphations of American life.
Let us unite with Indiana in honoring the author
of so many admhable novels and excellent
plays. I went the other night to witness
[193]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR

II

Mr. Antonio," written by Booth Tarking
ton. In the mass of foUy, useful only for a
laugh, of which we have so much, it was a
delight to sit under the charm of a portrayal of
character and of life, which carried one back to
the comedies of classic English. Our friend
and guest has not yet reached his prime, he is
still under fifty, may he hve to delight his
countrjrmen by his contributions to the stage,
and to general literature for generations to
come.

[ 194

Speech at the Dinner given by Mr. Frank
Munsey to Ambassador James W. Gerard,
Ritz-Carlton, New York, December, 1916.
Mr. Munsey, Mr. Ambassador and Friends:
We are all grateful to Mr. Munsey for so
graciously and hospitably giving us the oppor
tunity to meet and greet our old friend,
Ambassador Gerard, on his brief vacation from
Germany. For many years the American people have
thought httle of the diplomatic service; one
President of the United States told me very
emphatically that its usefulness had ceased,
because the business between the United
States and foreign governments could be as
well transacted by cable between our State
Department and theh ChanceUeries, but he
said, "I think it wise to continue the practice
for this reason, every other nation can decorate
deserving citizens, in monarchial countries they
have titles, in France they have the legion of
honor. We have nothing, but these diplomatic
appointments take theh places. The reason
why I am changing our diplomatic service,
almost enthely, is to fill the vacancies in order
to decorate distinguished and deserving citi
zens. "
The present world war has demonstrated
[195]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
that he was wrong. Our neutrality is largely
dependent upon daily communication of our
Ambassador or Minister with the foreign
ministers. Sovereigns or Presidents, of the
countries to which he is accredited and the tact,
skiU and wisdom with which he performs his
duty. The services of our Ambassadors, espe
cially at London, Paris and Berlin, have been of
incalculable value to our people abroad, to our
commercial relations and to our friendly inter
course ever since the beginning of the war.
Certainly the position of the Ambassador to
Germany has been very difficult. He has had
upon him, not only the eyes of his government
and our people generally, but special scrutiny
from the large number of very intelligent,
prosperous and clear-sighted American citizens
of German bhth or ancestry. He hag had also
the very delicate task of looking after the
interests of Great Britain, which, according to
the custom in war times, the belligerent nation
always requests the representative of a friendly
power to attend to. It is enough to say that it
is a high and deserved tribute that, during these
critical two and a half years, he has retained the
confidence of his own government, maintained
personal and cordial relations with the Kaiser
and his Cabinet, and vindicated the rights and
interests of our people.
We have all listened with pleasure to the
iUuminating speech which he has just delivered.
[196]

TRIBUTE TO AMBASSADOR GERARD
A diplomat speaks under difficulties. For his
audience, he must say much; on account of
his position, he can say nothing. I remember
when a boy in the country one of the pleasures
of life, because of its thrills and dangers, was
to skate on thin ice. This elastic covering of
the water would rise in a wave before the
skater, and the sensation was exhilarating
unless the crest of the wave broke and then the
skater went under the ice and generally con
tinued his journey to some destination in
another world. Our friend this evening has not
broken the ice. At the same time he has given
us much valuable information in regard to
conditions abroad. There was one part of his
speech which especially appealed to me as a
veteran protectionist. He is a life-long Demo
crat and free-trader. I have heard him often,
with great skill and eloquence, denounce pro
tection as the sum of all robberies. But then
his father and grandfather, whom I had the
privilege of knowing very well, were also free-
trade Democrats. It is difficult to escape from
the clutch of heredity. His picture to-night was
a vivid one of the danger of our markets being
flooded when the war is over, by the products of
German industries equal to our own, but
made at much lower wages. Of course the
only way to protect ourselves from being sub
merged, our factories closed and our working
men thrown out of employment, is by raising
[197]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
a barrier in the shape of an old-fashioned
protective tariff against the dumping process.
I am sure, his excellency, the Ambassador, will
forgive me for expressing my gratification for
this high official testimony to the soundness of
my opinions on this economic question.
Ever since President McKinley' s days I have
taken a deep interest in the diplomatic relations
between Germany and the United States, for
he very kindly tendered me the Ambassador
ship which I had to decline, but I have another
very charming recollection of a brief interview
with the old Emperor. I was at Salzburg
in Austria. It is principaUy noted as the
place where a citizen got rid of seven wives by
tying them to a bed post and then tickhng
their feet until they died of suffocation from
hysterical laughter. His eighth wife broke the
cord and exposed him. He was hung and in the
churchyard he lies beside his seven victims.
The Emperor arrived one evening, accompanied
by his grandson, the present Emperor, and a
large staff. He was past ninety and assisted
into the hotel, but when he saw the crowd he
straightened up, threw off his attendants and
marched up the stahs behind his hon camp
bedstead, like a grenadier. He was Ul for
several days. There were three of us Americans
in the hotel, we sent him a basket of flowers
with an address which I wrote. When he was
to leave, an officer said to me, "The Emperor is
[198]

TRIBUTE TO AMBASSADOR GERARD
very much pleased with your address and the
flowers. There is a large crowd of Enghsh
standing near the stairs to present him with an
address and bouquets. He does not want
either, but wishes to show his appreciation of
you Americans, so if you will be at the foot of
the elevator, he will see you there." He was
very gracious and so was his grandson. He
had left the hotel and been gone for some
time before the hundred or more English,
with theh bouquets, discovered how sadly they
had been left. I was very much impressed
with the grandson, even in that brief inter
view, but thought it would be a long time before
he would come to the throne, but within a year
his grandfather died, his father succeeded,
lived but a few months and died, and he
became Emperor. I am glad here to pay him
this tribute which he eminently deserves, and
that is that no German sovereign has done so
much to expand the commerce, to develop the
industries and to enlarge the mercantile marine
of his country, and to increase its prestige and
power. I feel a sort of fatherly interest in our dis
tinguished guest. I think I am the dean of the
American diplomatic corps. Just fifty years
ago I was appointed and confirmed as United
States Minister to Japan. There is no one
living who was in the diplomatic service as a
minister a half century ago. I know of nothing,
[199]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
in the way of historical contrast and national
development, equal to the progress of Japan,
since my appointment. Then it requhed six
months to make the passage and an equal
thne for the mails. Not long ago Mr. Edison
sat at one desk and I at another and he sent
a message which went around the world and
through Japan and reached me at my desk
in twenty-six minutes. Japan, at that time,
had a feudal monarchy and to-day it has a
constitution with representative government,
universal suffrage and a cabinet of responsible
ministers. Its navy was then the antiquated
junks and now it has one of the most modern,
efficient and powerful of any nation. Its
army stiU used spears, bows and arrows
and were protected by armor, while its most
efficient modern army has successfully and
victoriously fought one of the most powerful
of military nations. It has a school system
for universal education and universities for
higher education. It has the telegraph, the
telephone and every appliance of science and
invention which is possessed by the most
advanced nations. The marvel of this is that
Japan has accomplished these miracles in fifty
years and caught up with the Western nations
who have been developing for twenty centuries.
The greater marvel is that, while Japan had an
Eastern civilization which antedated the Chris
tian era, and had a literature which was classic,
[200]

TRIBUTE TO AMBASSADOR GERARD
whUe Europe was in the Dark Ages, yet within
this brief period of a half a century she threw
off the prejudices, the teachings and the heredity
of the East and, to take her place as a world
power, adopted the civilization and progressive
results, ideas, and policies of the West.
I was only a few months in the diplomatic
service when I resigned, because I was unable
to leave the United States and go to my post.
Nevertheless, once a Minister — always a Min
ister. I hail and greet Mr. Gerard as having
kept up and worthily sustained the best tradi
tions of American diplomatic service.

[201 ]

Speech at the Dinner given by the "New York
World" to President Wilson and Others, in
Commemoration of Securing Permanent
Light for the Statue of Liberty, December
2, 1916.
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
The power of the press is a weU worn theme,
but it successfully performs other functions
than moulding or leading pubhc opinion. It
originates and leads in contributions for philan
thropic purposes and to relieve from great calam
ities, for scientific research, for exploration and
discovery. The New York World has to its
credit, among other things, two successful
efforts, the second of which we celebrate to-day.
When France offered to the United States the
noble Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,
a pedestal had to be provided. There were no
national or state appropriations, public con
tributions were inadequate when the World
appealed to the people, and in a few days the
requhed amount of over one hundred thousand
dollars was secured. Liberty Enhghtening the
World had ceased with the years almost
enthely to illuminate the pathway to this port
of hope for those seeking the refuge and protec
tion of American hberty. Again this great
[202]

STATUE OF LIBERTY SPEECH
newspaper made its effort and appeal and now
for all time the statue will flash its beneficent
message to the sky, the waters and the earth.
It may be well to recall briefly the origin of
this ght from France to the United States.
The idea originated among patriotic French
men who wished to create an enduring monu
ment to the intimate ties and century old
friendship of these two greatest Republics of
the world. Two hundred and seventy thousand
of the men, women and children of France
contributed to the fund. The French govern
ment gave to the enterprise its cordial support
and sent a notable delegation of its eminent
citizens to the unveUing. This occasion to
night is for me one both of memorable and
sorrowful recollection. Of all the famous com
pany who participated in the ceremonies thhty
years ago, I am the only survivor. Among the
French were Count de Lesseps, then at the
zenith of his fame as the builder of the Suez
Canal and projector of what seemed another
triumph at Panama, and the sculptor Bartholdi.
They have joined the majority and so have
most of the statesmen, generals, admhals and
men of letters who accompanied them. Presi
dent Cleveland received the statue and was
surrounded by Bayard, Secretary of State,
Whitney, Secretary of the Navy, Lament,
Secretary of War, Vilas, Postmaster General
all are gone. The chairman of the committee
[203]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
was WUliam M. Evarts. The opening prayer
was made by the Rev. Richard M. Storrs, and
the benediction pronounced by Bishop Potter.
They too have left blessed memories. I de
livered the oration.
There was no appropriation for the entertain
ment of these distinguished visitors, so, at the
request of the Secretary of Navy, I took them
to Chicago, and Frank Thompson of the
Pennsylvania raihoad carried them to other
places of interest, to Washington and back to
New York. Niagara Falls received amid the
acclaim of all present its finest tribute from
Admhal Jaures. Said the Admhal, "I have
saUed around the globe and seen all its wonders.
This is the finest. When there shall be held an
exhibition to which all the stars and planets of
the universe contribute theh best, the earth
will display Niagara Falls. "
M. LeFaivre, the representative of France,
in presenting the statue said, "To us American
and Frenchmen liberty is not only a common
doctrine, it is also a famUy tie. This statue,
pledge of a fraternal union between the greatest
Republics of the world, is greeted simul
taneously by more than a hundred millions of
free men who tender friendly hands to each
other across the ocean." To this President
Cleveland responding said, "The people of the
United States accept with gratitude from theh
brethren of the French Republic the great and
[204]

STATUE OF LIBERTY SPEECH
complete work of art we here inaugurate.
This token of affection and consideration of the
people of France demonstrates a kinship of
Republics and conveys to us the assurance
that, in our efforts to commend to mankind the
excellence of a government resting upon the
popular will, we still have beyond the American
continent a steadfast ally. "
Thus, before this statue and its significant
message, thus, in the presence in spirit and
through theh representatives of all the people of
France and of the United States, was reaffhmed
our gratitude for the unselfish sacrifices and
devotion of France in our hour of need and the
joint obligations of both peoples to liberty.
The story of how France came to our
rescue in the most critical period of our Revo
lution is the most romantic in history. It
surpasses in its realism all efforts of the imagina
tion. The way had been prepared by the essays
on hberty of Rousseau, Voltahe and other
Frenchmen of genius. A nation ground down
by tyranny and taxes saw in these theories a
ray of hope, and a frivolous court wearied of
pleasure an interesting plaything. The imagi
nation of a young French noble of the greatest
position, largest fortune and prospects in his
own country of the most brilliant future was
captured by theh writings. The Marquis de
Lafayette was a guest at a dinner given by his
general to a Royal Duke, brother of the King
[205 ]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
of England. The Duke said, "The most
amazing madness of this mad age is the
Declaration of Independence made by our
American Colonies," and then he read it.
Lafayette at once wrote his wife, "Dear Heart,
when I heard the American Declaration of
Independence my heart enlisted. " . It reduced
to practice the theories in which he believed.
In spite of the opposition of the King and
his ministers, Lafayette purchased a ship,
saUed to our shores and placed his life and
fortune at the service of American indepen
dence. To our Congress, hesitating to receive
one so young (Lafayette was twenty) Lafayette
wrote, "After the sacrifices I have made, I
have the right to exact two favors, one to
serve at my own expense and the other to
serve as a volunteer." Washington, with his
rare insight into the worth of men, was captured,
when, after showing the French officer accus
tomed to the pomp of the most brilliant army
in the world, his ragged continentals with an
apology for theh difference in equipment from
the French, Lafayette answered, "Sh, it is to
learn, not to teach that I am here. " Then was
formed one of the closest of friendships between
Washington and Lafayette. Adoration with
love from Lafayette, gratitude and esteem from
Washington. The year passed during which Lafayette rose
steadUy in the esteem of his Commander as a
[206]

STATUE OF LIBERTY SPEECH
soldier and a citizen. With our credit exhausted
and our resources almost gone, Washington
wrote to Lafayette, "We are nearly at the end
of our tether. " Lafayette returned to France.
Nothing could resist him. Against the advice
of statesmen and financiers he carried France
into an alhance with the United States. France
had all to lose and nothing to gain, while
to the United States the armies, the fleets and
the gold from France were vital to its inde
pendence. The adventure cost France about
four hundred milhons, or in values of to-day
two thousand milhons of dollars. Aheady in
serious financial dhficulties this additional ex
pense bankrupted her treasury, raised her taxes
to an insupportable burden and brought on the
French Revolution. Marie Antoinette's en
thusiasm for our cause gained over the King
and Court for the alliance, and in the aftermath
both feU victims to the Terror. Then came
Napoleon, who organized into resistless armies
the democratic sphit of the revolution, tumbled
kings from their thrones and destroyed forever
the doctrine of the ruling by divine right.
Then, in the fuUness of time and largely because
of the success of the American experiment came
the French Republic.
Liberty is won by sacrifices and maintained
by vigilance. History is fuU of dramatic con
trasts. None are greater than the horrors to
civilians in the war now raging in Europe, and
[207]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
the march of the French army from Newport,
Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia, and
return. They were accustomed to the license
of the soldiers of all nations at that period, but
aristocratic officers and peasant soldiers came
here in a condition of chivahic exaltation. In
theh long marches, and with many privations,
not an apple was taken or a fence rail burned
without the consent of the owner and full com
pensation. In wars of that time women were
the sport and spoil of armies, but every home
in our land rang with praises of the gallantry
and courtesy of the French army.
Thhty years ago, when the Statue of Liberty
was inaugurated, was a time of intellectual and
patriotic exaltation in France. Ten years had
passed since the surrender at Sedan and the
subsequent occupancy of the country by the
enemy. Moltke said, "To reduce France to
impotence for the future we must take more
territory," but Bismarck answered, " With wrest
ing from her Alsace and Lorraine and imposing
an indemnity of five thousand millions of francs
in gold we have bled France white." The
days of miracles may have passed, but there
are no limits to the mhacles of patriotism.
Thiers appealed to the people and in a few
months from them came all theh savings. The
indemnity was paid and France was free, but
with theh dearly bought liberty came an
energizing of sphit and strength which in
[208 1

STATUE OF LIBERTY SPEECH
a decade had worked another mhacle in the
regeneration of France. There is sentiment
as weU as savagery in war. For two years and
until the indemnity was paid in 1872 the enemies'
army of occupation held Verdun. When this
war began the idea of the enemy was to capture
Verdun with its vast fortresses, and the mem
ory of 1870 and its defeats would paralyze
France. There was a new France at Verdun in
1914. They were not the disheartened soldiers of
the corrupt Thhd Emphe, but the children of a
thhd of a century of Republican government.
They have refuted the age-long belief that
democracies cannot organize and patiently
sacrffice and endure for war. The strongest,
ablest, and one of the most courageous armies
the world has known has for two-thhds of a
year, in ceaseless and bloody battles by day
and night, been hurled against Verdun. Though
more than a half milhon have died to take
Verdun, it is still French. Thermopylae and
Marathon after three thousand years stiU fire
the blood. There is day after day hi our sister
Repubhc a drama of hberty enacted in the
same sphit but infinitely greater, than Mara
thon or Thermopylae.
Gay, pleasure loving, intellectual France,
with a ring of steel and bursting shells aU
along her borders, and her enemy in possession
of part of her territory, is giving her whole
population for the preservation of her hfe and
[209]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
hberty. Greater than any nation of ancient
and modern times, she has found her soul.
Mothers who have lost theh sons, grieve that
they have not others to give. Wives, whose
husbands have faUen, rush to enhst in any
service which wiU fill theh places. France,
our friend in our time of trial, the French
Repubhc, the chUd of our Revolution, is a
hving embodiment of Liberty Enhghtening the
World.

210

Speech at the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the
Philharmonic Society of New York, Wal
dorf-Astoria, January 21, 1907.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
A famous politician in his frequent appeals
for popular support was accustomed to say in
his speeches, "The greatest danger to the people
is the possession of a milhon dollars." When
he died, and his estate was appraised, it was
discovered that he had only seven hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. A hundred years is the
popular climax of life and history, but three
quarters of a century, in its story and interests,
is often quite as interesting and important.
In fact, there is no century of the past which
equals in its contributions to art, science and
invention, to liberty, humanity and social
justice, these seventy-five years of the life of
the PhUharmonic Society.
And while aU of the achievements of this
marvelous three quarters of a century in the
uphft, liberalization and expansion of civUiza-
tion are now drenched in blood, we can here
to-night haU the peaceful beginning, the upward
course and the triumphant and beneficent
closing of its seventy-fifth anniversary of the
Philharmonic Society.
The older I grow and the more I study and
[211]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
observe, the more I am impressed with the power
of heredity. Great as we are, and in many
ways we have marched ahead of older nations,
we lag far behind in the higher arts and in
music. The highly civilized peoples of older
countries, from the folk lore and folk songs of
thousands of years, have developed in a wonder
ful way both music, its composers and inter
preters. But we, for nearly a hundred years,
were dominated by the Puritan sphit. The
Pilgrims of Plyrnouth before they came to Eng
land lived many years in HoUand. They enjoyed
its hospitality, the opportunities of its universi
ties, and a knowledge and practice of civU and
religious liberty in the only country in the world,
at that thne when they existed. They sang
hymns when they embarked from Delfshaven
and brought some litepature and practice hym-
nology with them to Massachusetts, but the
heavy Puritan emigration which came a few
years afterwards to Massachusetts Bay be
longed to that army of iconoclasts who smashed
organs, drove out choirs and suppressed church
music. For nearly a century the Puritan min
isters governed the New England Colonies.
Music is hrepressible, song is in human nature
to express its joy or its sorrow, and cannot be
wholly eliminated. The Puritan ministers dis
covered this and in their slow evolution met
many difficulties. The first was should those
who were not members of the church be per-
[212]

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY SPEECH
mitted to join in the singing. The next and
most difficult was, should women be permitted
to sing. At this point they ran against St.
Paul's injunction that women should keep silent
in the churches. The present excitement over
Woman Suffrage is nothing compared with the
agitation with which the women endeavored
to enforce theh claims. They even attacked
the divinity of St. Paul and claimed that some
of his utterances were those of a man who was
a bachelor and not insphed by the spirit. Finally
the ministers announced that it was not the
harmony but the heart which was acceptable.
They quoted St. Jerome who wrote :
"They are not artfully to supple their
jaws and throats, for if a man has an
unpleasant voice, if he has good -works,
he is a s^weet singer in God's ear."
Some even went so far as to insist that every
member of the congregation, whether they knew
anything of music or not, and without regard
to time or harmony, should give full-throated
expression to their feelings, but even in such
unpromising surroundings there grew up a
resistless body of music lovers and music
teachers. Dr. Lowell Mason was the father of American
church music. But the prejudices against its
improvements and expansion received theh
hardest blow when Henry Ward Beecher, then
[213]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
at the height of his reputation and influence,
brought out a hymnal in which he had incor
porated many of the weU-known and popular
tunes. He annihilated his critics by declaring
that the "Devil is not entitled to all the best
music." But it was one hundred and seventy years
after the landing of the Pilgrims before they had
the fhst oratorio in Boston. That was given in
honor of the visit of President Washington.
When he first arrived in Philadelphia, two or
three years before, to preside at the Constitu
tional Convention, from which came our
Government, the Philadelphians greeted him
with an opera. Washington was the most
complete all around man of common sense and
poise that ever lived. It is singular that Phil
adelphia and Boston, and subsequently New
York, should have greeted him with classic
music. Great as he was, he was ignorant of
music, for he lacked heredity and opportunity.
I believe Jefferson played the violin, but other
wise none of our presidents or great statesmen
were musicians, though in Europe music has for
centuries owed its existence and promotion to
the support of the government. General Grant,
our most famous soldier, told me that he only
understood two tunes, one was "Old Hundred"
and the other was "Yankee Doodle," but that
he could not teU one from the other. It was my
privilege, many times, to meet with one of the
[214]

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY SPEECH
most remarkable men of his period, Mr. Glad
stone. His encyclopaedic knowledge was un
equalled. When he was Prime Minister, and
there was an acute crisis in the House of Com
mons, I was in the same box with him at the
Opera at Covent Garden. The Whips of his
party were arriving, receiving instructions and
returning to Parhament. Mr. Gladstone, in
the intervals, gave a history of Opera in London
so complete and exhaustive that it might have
come from the pen of the most competent
musical critics. He said he had been a close
attendent upon opera for sixty years. He then
picturesquely painted word pictures of the dif
ferent singers during that period and also of
the operas presented and a discriminating com
ment upon theh merits. He said that so many
years ago, naming them, the conductor of
Covent Garden raised the pitch. This com
pelled most singers to use the tremulo. Since
then I have never enjoyed the opera.
I remember when singing societies sprang
up all over the country. The suppressed musi
cal sphit had burst its bonds. They were crude
affahs but educational. The singing master
in our viUage was a stern elder, who knew only
psalms and hymns. He believed in the tuning
fork but was suspicious of instrumental accom
paniments. It was a mighty struggle which
brought into the churches the organ. I also
with keen enjoyment recall the travehng singing
[215]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
societies which began to give concerts. It is
over seventy years ago when the fhst of these
came to our village of Peekskill, and two of their
songs left an indehble impression upon my
memory. I can to this day repeat a few lines
and the way the words were pronounced. The
first was :
"Roll on, silver mooen.
Guide the traveller in his way,
While the nightingale's song
Is in tuueen."
As a boy I never heard a nightingale, or of one,
and doubted the efficacy of the moon as a
lantern. From the next song I recall:
"We -will chase the antelope over the plain,
And bring the tiger home -with a chain."
Again I was at a loss how this elderly family
were to chase the antelope and lead the tiger.
I remember as if it were yesterday the arrival
of Jenny Lind. She came under the auspices
of Barnum. I was then about sixteen. That
matchless showman heralded her in such a way
that the harbor was full of boats to meet her
ship. The steamboat whistles blew and she
rolled up Broadway in her carriage under
triumphal arches to be greeted by the Mayor
and Municipal authorities. The papers were
full of the wonders of her voice. She had
cured the sick, she had brought the dying back
to life, she had given a realization of the
[216]

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY SPEECH
heavenly choh, and the song birds of the ah
were her pupils. None of our great men,
generals, or statesmen ever had such a triumphal
march through the country.
"The Beggars' Opera" was presented in
New York at Society Hall in 1759, but the
effort was not sufficiently successful to encourage
its continuance. In 1825 New York had a
season of Grand Opera. The artists were the
Garcia family. Their triumph was in present
ing the "Barber of SeviUe" by Rossini. Father,
mother, daughter and son took the leading
characters. The father, Almirina, his daughter
Rosina, his son Figaro, and his wife Bertha.
With Colonel Watterson delivering one, I
delivered the other oration at the opening of the
Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.
The music of that great celebration of the dis
covery of America was under the management
of your one time great leader, Theodore Thomas.
To him, as much as any, is our country indebted
for education in the taste, extension and en
couragement for higher music. It is most
interesting to study the beginnings of great
men or successful enterprises, or the origin of
revolutions. Throwing tea into Boston harbor
started the revolt which ended in the Republic of
the United States. Hurling a town counselor out
of the -window at Prague in Bohemia began the
Thhty Years' War which devastated Europe.
The Philharmonic Society grew out of a
[217]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
funeral. A remarkable genius, Mr. U. C. Hill,
gathered the musicians of the city to give what
he called a mournful concert in memory of one
of theh fellows, Daniel Schlesinger. The suc
cess was so great that the performers adjourned
to the Shakespeare tavern to talk it over.
In those days, as in the times of Shakespeare
and Sam Johnson, everything of moment was
discussed and decided in the tavern. Hill's
energy and enthusiasm overcame aU opposition,
and seventy-five years ago he organized the
PhUharmonic Society. The Society has been
fortunate in its secretaries. These gentlemen
have recorded, with great picturesqueness and
spirit, the story of each year. The Secretary
says in the earlier meetings of the Society,
"The conductor said let the oboe sound A,"
and then they marched in solemn procession
to the platform, the effect of which was to pro
duce in the audience respect, awe and antic
ipation. The Secretary of fifty years ago records that
the concerts of the Society were so constantly
disturbed by the talking and laughing of
frivolous auditors that after an hour's lecture on
proper manners and decorum by Mr. Wilhs,
the music lovers were formed in groups about
these disturbers and awed them into silence.
Opera goers who are not interested in the opera
still exist. I heard one night in a nearby box
at the Metropolitan a wife say to her husband,
[218]

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY SPEECH
a weU-known financier, "My dear, don't you
think the performance fine and Caruso great?"
"Oh," he answered wearily, "Caruso, Amato,
Scotti, all sound the same to me, I can't teU them
apart." Another Secretary reports, in the early
struggles of the Society, that they were facing
a deficit and possible bankruptcy, when the
conductor decided to omit gloves. This led
to a saving of $4.75, which rescued the Society
from impending peril and placed it upon a sol
vent basis. Another Secretary reports that
on the death of President Lincoln, for the fhst
time in its history, the Society postponed its
regular concert. A month afterwards they had
one in commemoration of Mr. Lincoln and
played Beethoven's Thhd Symphony. The
Secretary remarks that Beethoven composed
this Symphony to portray the workings of
Napoleon's mind, which the composer conceived
to be most chaotic until the great master, like
the universe out from original chaos, evolved
harmony. And the Secretary says the playing
was so wonderful in the funeral march that the
audience could hear the tears dropping on the
Ud of the coffin.
At certain periods are developed great gen
iuses in different departments of human ac
tivities. They seldom come alone, but in
numbers, and leave a marked impression upon
their own and succeeding generations. This is
true in art, in letters and in arms. The Phil-
]219]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
harmonic Society was fortunate in being born
in one of these periods of sphitual elevation.
The great masters of music in many countries
were giving to the world their wonderful crea
tions. They appeared in Italy, Germany,
France and England. Though feebly pre
sented, at that time here by strolling artists,
yet the United States was feehng the effect of
the works of these marvelous masters. Among
them were Purcell, Handel, Hayden, Bach,
Mozart and Beethoven. HappUy your Society
was sufficiently organized, educated and har
moniously led to grasp, present and preserve
these wonderful opportunities. While in the
cataclysmic changes of this three-quarters of a
century thrones have been overthrown, dy
nasties have disappeared, great nations have
been organized, great battles fought and ad
vances and reforms brought about by bloody
wars and infinite sufferings, the Philharmonic
Society has pursued its way peacefully and har
moniously. It has given great pleasure to three
generations, but it has been a powerful institu
tion for instruction and education in the higher
walks of music. It is one of the few societies
which has survived the inevitable difficulties of
a voluntary organization. It celebrates its
seventy-fifth anniversary more perfect in its
arts, more powerful in its presentation, more
prosperous in its career and with better promise
for the future than ever before.
[ 220 ]

Speech at the Dinner given by the Pilgrims So
ciety to Hon. Joseph H. Choate on his
Eighty-fifth Birthday, the Union League
Club, New York, January 27, 1917.
Mr. Chairman and Friends:
In my sixty years on the platform, I have
been introduced by all sorts and kinds and con
ditions of men and women, but never in my
life have I been frescoed and rubbed up and
down and painted so luridly and multifariously
as I have been by the chahman to-night.
(Laughter.) There are sceptics who will throw doubts
upon vigorous age. I recently dehvered an
address before the Academy of Medicine upon
the art of living long and growing old gracefully.
In the accidents of newspaper selection, as to
what the pubhc wishes, the speech found a
place on the front page of papers all over the
country. Among many letters which I have
received was one from Los Angeles, California,
in which the writer says, "I have read in our
local newspaper what you have to say about
growing old. It is in the main aU right. I am
eighty years of age myself, but when you
remark that you are as well in every respect at
eighty-three as you were at fifty, it shows that
your mind is impahed." (Laughter.) To live
[221]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
to be eighty-five or a hundred and five is not in
itself a distinction or cause for congratulation.
The elephant and the turtle can do better.
Old Thomas Parr is reputed to have lived to
the age of one hundred and fifty-three. George
III, deshing to see this wonder, invited Parr
to dinner. The unusual event and the royal
food was toomuch for him and he died that night.
The only thing known to either his contempora
ries about him is his great age. To have lived
is to have got out of life aU that our abUity
and opportunity has permitted.
We have had many lawyers in this country,
and our Bar has been remarkable for its famous
men. It is an unusual distinction to rise to
the leadership of the American Bar and to hold
it unquestioned for a long period. This our
friend did. He also took a leading part in
many cases of national interest in which were
settled principles of vast importance to the
commercial, financial and industrial activities
of our country. To have been associated
under such conditions for more than half a
century and have enjoyed the intimacy, ad
mhation and friendship of all the great lawyers
of our land, is in itself a rare and beautiful life.
To its pleasure and distinction is also added that
our highest courts, which have always been
distinguished, have been swayed by the learning
and eloquence of the advocate. But in the
progressive value of services so important in
[222]

CHOATE's EIGHTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY
settling principles of law may be added that in
the International Tribunal, which at The Hague
sought to establish and have adopted by all
nations a code for the righteous settlement of
international difficulties, the most powerful
contributor was our friend. (Applause.) Un
happily the most belligerent powers refused
to accept the decision of that great court,
unhappily the principles that were adopted have
been violated with the result that the most
disastrous, destructive, cruel and bloody war
of aU times is now upon us. But in the great
settlement, when the peace of the world must
be established upon a sure and permanent
foundation, the exhausted nations and peoples
will come to an agreement substantially on the
terms both adopted and rejected at The Hague
with a world court, and a world power to
enforce its decrees. (Applause.)
When I came to New York permanently,
over fifty years ago, there were nearly a score
of orators of national reputation, espeeiaUy as
"after-dinner" speakers. I mean the after-
dinner speech which, while promoting gaiety
and hilarity, also enforces a truth or leaves a
lesson. Taking the first twenty-five years of
this fifty, there are WUliam M. Evarts, for a long
time the leader of our national Bar and the
wittiest man in the country; Ogden Hoffman,
with rare gifts; the two Bradys, James T. and
Judge John R., both remarkable; Richard
[223]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
O'Gorman with scintUlating Irish humor and
eloquence; Henry Ward Beecher, who was
rarely equalled and never surpassed; Doctor
Storrs, Doctor Chapin and our always alto
gether witty and charming General Horace
Porter. But first of them all Mr. Choate.
Our city has increased several times in popula
tion, in pubhc meetings and demands for men
who can acceptably present the thought of the
hour. It is unaccountable that, with this great
ancestry of oratory, humor, wit and wisdom,
there are not to-day a half dozen or even any
where near that who enjoy the local or national
reputation of these wonderful ancestors in
eloquence. We read with pleasure of the tilts
in arms by the Knights of old, espeeiaUy as
described by Sir Walter Scott in "Ivanhoe."
But the tilts between the Knights who were
the speakers of the evening in those glorious
days, were quite as exciting though not so dan
gerous. For forty years very many times
during the winter I have broken a lance with
Mr. Choate. Unlike the ancient tournament,
it was the one who spoke last who had his
innings. I remember on one occasion he put
me enthely out of commission. In a town in
Western New York, which had been named after
me, the borers had struck natural gas and im
mediately after the American fashion formed
a company and proceeded to sell stock. Choate
got hold of theh prospectus which read, "The
[224]

CHOATE's EIGHTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY
Depew Natural Gas Company, Limited," and
then in his own inimitable way brought down
the house and overwhelmed me by asking,
"Why limited?"
I have been going to Europe annually for half
a century. During that thne I came to know
very well our Ministers and Ambassadors
abroad. Whatever may be said, and much of it
is true, against the fearful and wonderful way
in which we have been represented at the court
of foreign nations, our long list of Ministers and
Ambassadors to the Court of St. James is with
out an exception one of rare and eminent ability
and distinction. I remember when, during our
Civil War, some act was proposed by Great
Britain and the remark by our Minister, Charles
Francis Adams, to Lord John Russell, "My
Lord, this is war," prevented that action. Lord
John Russell knew that Mr. Adams spoke for
his country and meant what he said. James
Russell LoweU was a brilliant Minister, he
easUy was the foremost in reputation among
the diplomats in London of his period. When
he was appointed all England read his works.
One Duchess, who had been pleased with the
"Bigelow Papers," greeted him with great
cordiaUty and said, "Mr. Bigelow, I have read
your book with delight, I hope Mrs. Bigelow
is with you." Emory Storrs of Chicago was a
successful lawyer and an ambitious politician.
President Arthur refused to give him the
[225]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Attorney-Generalship which he had asked for
but soothed him and gratified his vanity by
making him a roving Ambassador without
power, his commission being on parchment,
signed by the President and Secretary of State
and with the great seal of the United States
attached. Storrs was on the same steamer
with me going over. I said, "What do you
expect to do?" His answer was, "I understand
that Lowell, our Minister to England, hardly
ever entertained Americans. I am going to
make him give me a dinner." We were again
on the same steamer returning home. I said,
"Well, Storrs, tell me of your diplomatic ad
ventures." He said, "I was in the Dresden
Gallery, in the room where they keep that
marvelous picture by Raphael, the Madonna
and Child. It seems to have been the result of
a divine insphation. It has no equal in the
world. While I was gazing on it enrapt
in admiration and awe, I felt that the large
crowd, all Americans, were looking at me,
and not at the famous painting. I said,
' Ladies and gentlemen, I am only an American
lawyer and my clothes were made in Chicago;
what is there in my appearance which is so
singular that it draws you away from your
pilgrimage to see this marvelous work of art,
and to gaze at me?' One gentleman stepped
forward and said, "Excuse us, Mr. Storrs,
you are more to us Americans than all the
[226]

CHOATE's EIGHTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY
pictures in this gallery, because Mr. Lowell gave
you a dinner." (Laughter.)
Robert Lincoln was a most popular Minister ;
he has rare social gifts and is a charming con
versationalist. Labouchdre told me that when
Mr. Lincoln arrived in England, Mr. Gladstone,
then Prime Minister, said to Labouchere,
"I am exceedingly anxious to meet the new
American Minister, Mr. Lincoln. I have the
greatest admhation for his father." Labouchere
arranged a dinner at his house, an hour out of
London. He called for Mr. Gladstone, and
Mrs. Gladstone exacted a promise that her
husband should be returned and inside his
house at eleven o'clock. At the dinner some
thing started Mr. Gladstone's intellectual.
He launched into a resistless flow of oratorical
monologue. Mr. Lincoln's efforts, even to ask
a question, were drowned in the flood. At
eleven o'clock Mr. Labouchere interrupted
saying, "Mr. Gladstone, it is now eleven
o'clock, and I promised Mrs. Gladstone to have
you back home at this hour, and it will take an
hour to return." Mr. Gladstone said, "Yes,
yes," and hastUy bid everybody good-night.
While riding down to London Mr. Labouchere
said, "Well, Mr. Gladstone, you have had an
evening with Mr. Lincoln, what do you think
of him?" He answered, "A very charming
gentleman, but does not seem to have much
conversation." (Laughter.) [227]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Mr. Phelps was a great lawyer and an able
Minister; he also won distinction both as a
speaker on general occasions and especially with
the Bar. Dining with Enghsh judges one night,
the discussion ran upon a decision they had ar
rived at upon a novel point of law. They invited
Mr. Phelps to participate in the discussion and
the result was that they took theh decision off
the file and changed it. It was in competition
with the great ancestry of American diplomats
that Mr. Choate entered the service as Ambas
sador to Great Britain. He was there for six
years. As a diplomat, he took an active and
influential part in the settlement of acute
questions of difference between the two coun
tries. He soon became the most popular
speaker for general occasions and especially
for after-dinner speeches. His wit, genial
humor and charming personality won social
England as it seldom has been won by any
foreigner. At country houses all over the land,
the week-end parties were repeating the last
mot or epigram of the American Ambassador.
(Applause.) He did much to put life into the
fruitless efforts to provide adequate homes for
our representatives abroad. It was when Con
gress was thrilled by the story which came over
the cable that Mr. Choate, standing in the rain
on the corner of his street one night, was
accosted by a pohceman who said, "Move on,
old gentleman, it is time you were at home."
[228]

CHOATE's EIGHTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY
And Mr. Choate answered, "I have no home,
I am the American Ambassador." (Laughter.)
The venerable Law Society of the Benchers
of the Inner Temple have entertained for cen
turies in theh ancient Hall sovereigns and
judges, among them Queen Ehzabeth. Though
we are so closely allied in the common law and
its traditions, yet for the first time in the history
of our American Bar the doors of the Inner
Temple were opened to an American lawyer,
and Mr. Choate was elected a Bencher.
(Applause.) We pilgrims are not only proud of our Presi
dent but grateful, espeeiaUy for the services
which he has rendered during this great war.
The purpose of the PUgrims Societies, one in
New York and the other in London, is to pro
mote friendly relations between the two coun
tries. The position of the United States has
been difficult since the beginning of the war.
WhUe a vast majority of the American people
sympathize with the Alhes, nevertheless, there
is such a strong body in our electorate who are
blood and kin with the Central Powers, that
our politicians have been afraid, and many of
our newspapers uncertain. But Mr. Choate,
speaking both officially as President of the
Pilgrims and personally from his own great
position as foremost American citizen, has not
hesitated to speak with vigor, incisiveness and
eloquence in sympathy with the Allies, and that
[229]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
they were fighting for the right of liberty and
civilization in the world. (Loud applause and
cries of good, good!) His utterances have done
much to voice American public opinion and give
comfort and gratification to our friends abroad,
in Great Britain and France.
We pay many tributes in our lives to dis
tinguished men because of theh intellectual
achievements. Many tributes to dear friends
because of their characters and personal quali
ties, but to-night our heads and hearts are in
unison in greeting, in hailing and in extending
most cordial good wishes to Mr. Choate, that
he may pass his century and reach the goal of
his ambition to be the oldest living graduate
of Harvard University. (Loud applause.)

[230]

Speech at the Luncheon given by the Execu
tive Committee of the Pilgrims Society to
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Bankers Club,
New York, May 7, 1917.
Mr. Chairman, Sir Herbert and Friends:
It has been my privUege many times in the
past to bid hail and farewell to eminent English,
Irish and Scotch men of letters and actors who
have honored us by their visits. We have
been glad to see them, and after their triumphs
in our country to couple our farewell and bon
voyage with an earnest invitation to come again.
We are happy to include in this distinguished
list our guest of to-day. He has peculiar claims
upon our admiration and affection. He has
always been most hospitable to Americans
visiting the Mother Country, and on all occa
sions given cordial service for friendly relations
between our two nations.
We are all fond of Shakespeare and there is
no author so universally read and no dramatist
whose productions and reproductions we love
so well. I recall in my undergraduate days at
Yale University that the student mind and imag
ination were captured by a wonderful preacher
of that day in New Haven, the Rev. Doctor
Bacon. It was his daughter who had inherited
the creative and audacious mentality of her
[231 ]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
father, who beheved and tried to prove that the
author of Shakespeare's plays was Lord Bacon.
It is singular how that Bacon cult grew
and expanded and how much ingenuity was
exhausted in endeavoring to enlarge the fame
of the great phUosopher and jurist into the all
embracing accomphshments of the myriad
minded Shakespeare. We who love Shake
speare owe a debt of gratitude to Professor
Wallace of Nebraska and his wife, whose un
selfish and laborious researches among the
musty records and ancient documents of
various repositories in London have restored
to us from the dim and clouded past the daily
life of Shakespeare, and enabled us to see him
as he was in his own time as an ordinary man
among his fellows and the incomparable genius
among his fellow-workers in letters.
In every generation some actor of genius
restores to us our idols. We are indebted to
Sh Herbert Tree for his high appreciation and
splendid reproductions of these masterpieces.
Our friend leaves us to encounter in order to
reach his home perils of the sea unknown
before, perils occasioned by savagery, a vio
lation of all law, international, human and
divine, a lust for the lives of innocent travelers
never known in the history of the world.
It is a curious phUosophy which believes
that the killing of the weak will terrify the
strong. It is a reversal of the experience
[232]

TRIBUTE TO SIR H. BEERBOHM TREE
of the ages, which is that the dullest natures
are aroused to heroic deeds in protecting
or avenging theh defenceless kindred. "All
the world is a stage," says Shakespeare, but
there is now being acted, day by day, the
tragedy of the centuries. The dynamic truth
of the equality of all men before the law, and
at the Judgment Seat of God has been working
its way from Calvary to the battle of the Marne.
Defeated in one country, it has been successful
in another. It has overturned dynasties, it
has changed the boundaries of kingdoms, it has
peopled wildernesses with settlers seeking civil
and reUgious hberty and successful in theh
search. Now for the first time in history the whole
world is in arms with autocracy, absolutism,
feudahsm, militarism on the one side and free
dom and civihzation on the other. The thought
occurs in this presence that if Shakespeare could
have created his masterpieces out of the limited
material at his disposal what wonders would
have emanated from his fertile brain in pictur
ing the actors and the acts, the motives and the
aims, the ambitions and the sacrifices of this
mighty struggle. Shakespeare had for the
basis of his historical plays the Chronicle of
Holinshed, probably the poorest history ever
written. A genius who puts the divine spark
into the mummy is not a plagiarist. By
Shakespeare the dry dust of HoUnshed's nar-
[233]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
rative became such immortal and living presen
tations of English history that the great Duke
of Marlborough never read any other history
than Shakespeare's plays and said they were
the inspiration of his victories and his policies.
So in his romantic plays a forgotten and worth
less story was transformed into such a realiza
tion of the loves, the hates, the passions, deshes
and ambitions of human nature that they ap
peal with equal force to every generation.
An American friend told me that some
years ago he met the Crown Prince of Germany
several times. His Royal Highness was very
frank in statements of what he expected to do
when he came to the throne. Apparently his
most absorbing thought was that, with Ger
many's unquestioned superiority in her army,
her navy could also be brought to a perfection
where she could smash England and so remove
the only great obstacle to her universal expan
sion and power. The tragedy of such a con
ception is that the day was not distant when
this young man would have the power as the
successor of his father to attempt this appalling
task. An Austrian Archduke was killed by a
student and the aged Emperor sent a note to
Serbia, because this student was a Serbian,
giving that little kingdom twelve hours in which
to surrender her sovereignty or be destroyed.
We have now been three years in war because
of that note and because it was followed by the
[234]

TRIBUTE TO SIR H. BEERBOHM TREE
German Emperor's declaration of war against
Russia and the German army's invasion and
desolation of Belgium and part of France.
The other day the German Emperor presented to
the HohenzoUern Museum at Berlin the pen
with which he signed the papers that brought
on the war. The pen -with which the aged
Emperor of Austria signed the manifesto to
Serbia, and this pen of the Kaiser dripped not
with ink but with blood. According to a recent
statement there have already died in this war,
killed in battle, by wounds and starvation and
privations,' as many people as constitute the
population of Great Britain. To bring that
statement home, every man, woman and child
in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Mass
achusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois
and Indiana, would have to be swept off the
face of the earth to equal this holocaust.
This war must end only when no man can
ever again have the power to plunge his country
and the world into war. It must be so ended
that no class can ever be so entrenched in au
thority that they have the same power. This
world must be made a place where men and
women can lawfully live and breathe and move
and have their being in peace. When that
time comes, if Providence shall give us another
Shakespeare, the finest literature of the world
will be commonplace compared to the creations
[235]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
of his genius. The stage then and forever after
will become a great university teaching the
triumph of liberty through the most ennobling
sacrifices and heroic deeds and thoughts. We
wish that peace and its interpreter may come
soon enough for our friend to lead in the pres
entation of these plays.
As I look back over sixty years of intense
activities and more than seventy-five years of
easy recoUections, it is difficult for me to grasp
the changes and revolutions of the period. I
was born and lived in the village of Peekskill-
on-the-Hudson, forty miles from New York.
It was during the Revolutionary War on the
borders of that neutral ground where the
partisans of both sides mercilessly raided each
other's farms and were in perpetual battle.
Peekskill was far enough from New York in
my boyhood to have a population composed
almost exclusively of Revolutionary families.
There had been little immigration from the
outside. The passions of that war were stiU
intense. There were enough Revolutionary
soldiers to fill the platform on the Fourth of
July. On that day the war was fought over
by the orator, the reader of the Declaration
of Independence and the veterans of the Con
tinental Army, and we boys danced around
the bonfhes singing, "Fi-fo-fum, I smell the
blood of an Englishman, dead or alive I will
have some." [236]

TRIBUTE TO SIR H. BEERBOHM TREE
For more than a generation, the politician
found twisting the tail of the British Lion and
fighting over the battles of the Revolution was
both popular and patriotic. It is within quite
recent memory when a man was elected a
Congressman and reached the Vice-Presidency
of the United States, whose enthe oratorical
stock in trade was the war of the revolution
as yet unsettled. The age of mhacles has
returned. President WUson's speech before
Congress, one of the noblest utterances of our
statesmen, has placed the United States in the
family of nations upon the eternal basis of
humanity and liberty. The question, what this
dreadful war has accomplished or wiU accom
plish, is partly answered. The English speak
ing peoples of the world, of the United States,
Great Britain and the self-governing Colonies
of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South
Africa, are one in an alliance for the same ideals.
Representatives of them all joined in singing
"The Star Spangled Banner" in the old Cathe
dral of St. Paul in London. The Union Jack
and the Stars and Stripes were entwined above
the House of Parliament when the United
States entered the war. In our own country
the Allied flags float from the Capitol and
White House at Washington and aU over the
land. Old PeekskiU in our new bhth of free
dom has forgotten its inherited animosities,
and from the ancient oak on Academy HiU,
[237]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
from which swung a British spy a hundred and
thhty-seven years ago, to the Hudson River
are intermingled the Stars and Stripes, the
Union Jack and the Tricolor of France.
We all believe that those who have gone
before are deeply interested in the people and
the things they loved on earth. It is a wonder
ful Parliament which is watching this titanic
battle. There are George Washington and
George III, and Chatham and Burke, who
were our friends, and Napoleon and Bis
marck. Napoleon is saying to the German
statesman, "When I predicted that Europe
would be either Republican or Cossack, I
should have said, it will be either Prussian or
Republican. You are unchanged but the Cos
sack has become a Democrat." Washington,
Chatham and Burke are rejoicing that the
union which they desired, and which was im
possible a century ago, by the success of liberal
institutions in the United States reacting upon
the Mother Country and its colonies extending
around the earth, has belted the globe with
English speaking nations each working out its
own destiny and all united in promoting that
higher civUization in which there is free growth
of humanity and liberty.

[238]

Speech at a Special Meeting of the Union
League Club of New York, May 24, 1917,
in Memory of Hon. Joseph H. Choate.
Hon. Charles E. Hughes, President of the
Club, in introducing Mr. Depew said, "It is
now my great pri-vdlege to present to the Club-
not that he needs introduction — one whom we
always delight to hear, in whose cpntinued
vigorous youth we take the greatest satisfac
tion — always optimistic, always eloquent — our
friend, Chauncey M. Depew!" (Applause.)
Mr. President and Fellow Members:
Language is inadequate to measure or de
scribe the time in which we live. Events of
incalculable importance to humanity and to
government happen over night. The record
of a month surpasses in its consequences the
orderly processes of centuries.
I have just returned from Washington where
Congress is dealing with appropriations which
stagger the imagination and concentration of
power in the hands of the few for efficiency in
war never before contemplated. The extraor
dinary has become the usual in our thoughts
and experiences.
It is only a subject of importance which
justifies a meeting under these conditions. We
[239]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
have had many memorable celebrations in this
historic house. They have been in honor
of Presidents of the United States, of Generals
immortalized by great victories, and Governors
of States and diplomats of international renown.
But we are met here to-night to pay our tribute,
not only of respect and admhation, but
also of affection for a feUow member and a
former President of our Club, Joseph H.
Choate, who in his long and distinguished career
held but one great office, and that late in life,
but who when he died had a position which in a
great and enhghtened democracy is superior
to any office — ^he was our first and foremost
citizen. At a dinner given him last January in this
Club, on the occasion of his eighty-fifth bhth
day, it was interesting to note in his speech
what recollections were for him the most inter
esting. They were, his first speech in a presi
dential canvass, and his first fee as a young
lawyer. Those who were privileged to hear
him will recall with what charming pictur
esqueness he told of that first case, of his fee of
two one dollar gold pieces, and of the recovery
of one of them over fifty years afterwards
from the descendants of a young friend with
whom he had divided his two doUars. The
other reminiscence which he dwelt upon with
equal picturesqueness was his speech made
in 1856 for Fremont for President. He had
[240]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
preserved the poster and pointed with pride
to the announcement that addresses should
be given by Joseph H Choate and James C.
Carter. Both of them were young lawyers,
recently arrived in New York to make their
careers and theh fortunes. What wonderful
careers have been won in that sixty yearSi
Choate easily had become the head of the Bar
and of international fame, while his tribute
to Carter, who died a few years ago, condensed
in one sentence a wonderful eulogy, when he
said: "The death of James C. Carter made
room for a thousand lawyers."
That he spoke in 1856 for Fremont was
specially interesting to me, because I, too,
just out of coUege, canvassed the country in
the same cause. Both Choate and I spoke
also for Hughes in the recent campaign. It is
the only record I think of ardent orators of
1856 after sixty years still as ardent and quite
as vigorous upon the platform for theh party
and its candidate.
As President of the New York State Consti
tutional Convention, Mr. Choate revealed
a capacity for managing a Legislative body
and a constructive statesmanship in preparing
the fundamentals of government in a written
constitution which demonstrated the highest
statesmanship. If he had spent most of his
life in Congress, he would have ranked among
the fhst statesmen to whom we owe the devel-
[241]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
opment of our institution. But Mr. Choate
was of too independent a mind, and too re
bellious a sphit, to succeed to office in strict
party government. He was a party man, but
never a partizan. The organization always
feared him, and organization leaders knew they
could not control him, but his marvelous
faculty in presenting the principles and policies
in which he believed brought the leaders in
stantly to him to make the keynote speech
after they had buUt theh platform and nom
inated theh candidates. But if theh platform
and candidates did not meet his approval he
would have none of either. He was not a re
forming crank nor a cranky reformer, far
from either. He recognized that there must
be a larger surrender of individual opinions to
make an organization, but when he distrusted
the leaders or the candidates, or the purposes
of the organization, he was instantly in revolt.
Those who were closely associated with him
at the Bar can speak more intimately of his
career as a lawyer, and yet I had an opportunity
of knowing his supreme ability in another way.
I was General Counsel of a great corporation
for many years. The General Counsel as a
rule is always near or within caU of the
Executive. If the Executive amounts to
much, he must be one of those masterful
men who, in accompUshing his will and
what he believes necessary for the corpo-
[242]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
ration of which he is chief, is rebeUious and
defiant of restraint. It is the General Counsel's
business to keep the Executive from violating
the law. So the General Counsel in administer
ing legal matters retains members of the Bar
in different parts of the country. He thus has
unusual opportunities to become familiar with
their abilities and equipment. The two great
est lawyers I ever met under these conditions
were WUliam M. Evarts and Joseph H. Choate.
They were partners, but both extraordinary
in their knowledge of the law, in their singular
power of discernment and discrimination and
in theh wonderful faculty of so clarifying their
case that it commanded the assent of the court
and the conviction of the jury. In one of the
most famous of will cases, after it had dragged
its weary length along for over two years, Mr.
Choate was invited to take charge and in twenty
days had broken down and destroyed the whole
fabric so long elaborately and skillfuUy built
by the contestants.
In another case, certain transactions were
continued for a number of years with a large
fhm, the members of which rethed and passed
the business over to their managers, with whom
the same transactions and customers continued.
The bankruptcy of a principal led the receiver
to bring an action against the members of the
old firm on account of what occurred during
their period, and another action against the
[243]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
new firm for the transactions which continued
with them. The facts were precisely the same
and the principles governing them the same
and the amount involved was very large. Mr.
Choate represented part of the divided firm and
some very excellent lawyers the other part.
Mr. Choate won his case, the other part lost.
Then when both came to the Supreme Court
of the United States, Mr. Choate won for both.
There never was a more remarkable partner
ship than William M. Evarts and Joseph H.
Choate. Evarts was long the leader of the
American Bar, and Mr. Choate by general con
sent succeeded him. Mr. Evarts was not only
our greatest lawyer, but he was also our keenest
wit. Mr. Choate, in addition to his wonderful
legal ability, was also a wit and a humorist of the
first order. He gave me a dehghtful account
of his fareweU to Mr. Evarts when he went to
Great Britain as Ambassador. Mr. Evarts
had been ill and confined to his bed for a long
time and was gradually fading away. Evarts
said to Choate, "I am delighted at your ap
pointment. You have gained all the distinc
tion possible in our profession. You are
eminently fitted for this great place." Choate
answered, "My only regret is leaving you after
more than forty years of close association,
without any differences or frictions, but when
I come back I hope you will be restored to health
and we shall resume together our old activities."
[244]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
"No, Choate," said Evarts, "I can never leave
this room. I know I am a burden because of
my helpless and hopeless condition. I feel
hke the schoolboy who wrote home to his
mother a letter of twenty pages, and then added
at the end, 'P. S. — Dear Mother, please excuse
my longevity.' "
The Benchers of the Inner Temple are the
most venerable and the most authoritative
body in Great Britain. One or two of the
lawyers of the Colonial period, who emigrated
to America, were Benchers, but since the
formation of the Republic, no American lawyer
had been admitted to this distinction. But
after Mr. Choate had been Ambassador for
several years, there was a new tie and a most
unusual one created between the old country
and the new. Mr. Choate had so impressed
the judges and the lawyers of England that he
was unanimously elected a Bencher of the Inner
Temple. Coincident with the tributes to his
memory, which are paid by his countrymen, are
other tributes equally sincere, eloquent and
convincing, from his brethren in this great and
powerful company of the law, on the other side
of the Atlantic.
Many years ago Mr. Choate was elected
President of the New England Society in New
York, and continuously re-elected. After a
httle, his annual address became an event
for its wit, humor and audacity. Its free hand-
[245]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
ling of important personages and current
questions made an opportunity to attend the
New England dinner the most sought for priv
ilege of the year. The occasion grew into
national importance; men of the highest dis
tinction and position gladly accepted invita
tions; it was a free platform, and the broadest
discussion was invited, providing it was not too
long. Sumner came there with his ponderous
periods and stately eloquence, and Roscoe
Conkhng was there at his best. So were
Presidents and ex-Presidents of the United
States, and with them great journalists and
educators, but on these occasions, some of
which were historic, the master mind was easily
Joseph H. Choate.
Mr. Choate believed with me that the mind
is fresher and more capable of grasping the
questions arising in one's vocation or profession,
h there is rehef in some other dhection. We
both found that in after-dinner speaking.
For over forty years, many times during the
season, we were on the same platform. I was
a speaker with him at both the Irish and Scotch
annual dinners, where his wit and audacity
so amused and offended. When he suggested
at the St. Patrick's Society, at a time when
Home Rule had faUed in Parliament and every
office in New York was held by an Irishman,
that the absence of governing talent from the
other side had probably led to the faUure of
[246]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
Home Rule while that same talent transferred
over here governed us absolutely, and that if
they would go back home theh abilities would
undoubtedly secure the independence of Ireland
and give the native Americans an opportunity
to govern themselves, he did not mean to offend,
but the whimsical and mischievous audacity
of his humor was so strong, and his enjojrment
of it so great, that he did not care if objectors
became angry.
So at a Scotch banquet, I sat next to the
Scotch Chieftain, the Marquis of Aberdeen,
then Governor General of Canada, a man of
the highest distinction in pubhc hfe and of
family, who was the guest of honor. He was
in the full regaha of his Highland Clan. Choate
asked me if his legs were bare. After investi
gation, I said, "Yes." When it became Mr.
Choate' s turn to speak, he could not resist this
same whimsical, mischievous and audacious
humor. He said, "If I had known that our
distinguished friend was coming here to-night
in the costume of his Clan, I woiUd have left
my trousers at home."
This mischievous humor made him the most
dehghtful of companions at any function. I
have been a member with him for more than a
quarter of a century of a private dinner club.
Its confidences were those of a family and there
was no pubhcity whatever. The members were
free to give theh views frankly on all subjects
[247]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
and in the exchange of opinions and expe
riences Choate's contributions, if permitted
to be pubhshed, would be an inexhaustible
fund of wit and wisdom. At the dinners given
me, purely private ones, by my whe on my
bhthday, Mr. Choate's toast and speech in
that admhable combination of praise and mis
chief of which he was master was always the
feature of the evening. On one occasion it
had been suggested by the hostess to the archi
tect of the table that it would be a delicate
compliment if he would present the guest, that
is myseh, as Cicero in a miniature statuette de-
hvering an oration. The architect from a photo
graph and personal acquaintance made an excel
lent likeness, but as his famUiarity with Cicero
was not with history, but with Romans on the
stage the figure did not have the toga of a
Senator, but the belt and sword of a gladiator
of exaggerated muscular development. Charles
Lamb never did anything more delicious in its
humor, more audacious or mischievous than
Mr. Choate's picture of what would happen
to the octogenarian orator as a gladiator.
I have been going to Europe for half a century
and thrown in intimate contact with our
representatives abroad. We have been pecu-
harly happy in our ministers and Ambassadors
to Great Britain. I saw much of Mr. Choate
while he was in London and his popularity with
both government and society was beyond that
[248]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
of the representative of any other country.
Choate was the finest flower of democracy. He
had no comprehension or respect for distinc
tions founded only upon family or pedigree.
His easy familiarity with great personages
never offended. He was accepted from the
King to the commoner as an equal. King
Edward, who was one of the most appreciative
and capable of sovereigns, delighted in Mr.
Choate. In England political and social life
are closely intermingled. Politics and govern
ment are largely run at the week-end parties
in the country, and also those parties are the
best part of the social hfe of Great Britain. The
epigrams and stories from Parliament are large
contributors to conversation at these gather
ings. He had not been long there before he was
more quoted than anybody, and his wit and
wisdom repeated all over the land. His speeches
at universities, on the platform, and especially
at great dinners presented the rare combination
seldom found in a speaker, of profound thought,
picturesquely expressed and illuminated by that
light touch of the perfect artist which makes
a disagreeable truth palatable.
Mr. Choate was always natural. In court,
addressing the jury or arguing before the judges
in theh robes, he was the same masterful,
genial, humorous and irresistible Choate. This
characteristic differentiated him from his col
leagues as an ambassador. They assumed
[249]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
court manners with their elaborate court uni
forms, while he was the cultured, dignified but
easy going citizen.
Centuries pass with their revolutions in
government and exchange of power from the
throne to the people. Great Britain has
become one of the most democratic govern
ments in the world, but the ceremonials of the
Georges and Queen Victoria are in full force.
At a court function after the present King suc
ceeded his father, Edward VII, I was a guest at
Buckingham Palace. As usual the ambassadors
in theh uniforms covered with gold, and the
American ambassador in a plain black dress suit
stood in a semi-chcle about the royal famUy.
Outside this circle were the invited guests. The
King and the Queen would walk around the am
bassadorial circle and greet and talk with each.
In the interval before this royal march began to^
the banquet, Choate stepped out of the ambassa
dorial semi-circle and went over, as he would
have done at home, to talk with the host and
hostess, and soon both the King and the queen
and others of the royal family were gayly enjoy
ing Choate's wit. The other ambassadors stand
ing stiffly in theh places looked horrified. But
theh horror was increased when Choate singled
me out of the crowd and saying, "Chauncey,
come over and be introduced to the Queen,"
led me into the royal chcle where the charming
and gracious Queen ignored the break of
[250]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
traditional usage and made both the American
ambassador and his friend feel "just as if we
were at home."
The world knew little of the valuable work
done by our friend through his membership
of public institutions. He did much for both
our great museums of Art and of Natural
History, and the Society for the Blind owes its
light-house to his efforts as its President. He
took a deep interest in the American Indians,
and the exploiters and rascals who are always
seeking to prey upon them by Congressional
Legislation found in him an alert, resourceful
and successful enemy.
When we, who knew him so well, have passed
away, posterity will inquhe, "What was the
secret of his great power?" I have heard most
of the orators of my time of this and other
countries. With the exception of Mr. Glad
stone, WendeU Philhps and Mr. Choate, I
cannot recall any who had that elusive and
indefinable quality which, beyond the argument
or its setting, beyond the logic or its force,
captured audiences and juries, which even pen
etrated and swayed the calmer judgment of the
court. James M. Barrie in one of his plays presents
a masterful woman of wonderful abUity and
genius, who makes out of a dull husband a
success in politics and a leader in Parliament.
He is carried away by the flattery which comes
[251]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
to a position gained by his eloquence and leaves
his wife to follow a society belle. His success
is due to his speeches, all of which are written
by his wife. The hard-headed Scotch brothers
of the wife discussed how it was possible that
the other lady so volatile could have led him
away from so superior a woman as theh sister.
One of them solved the problem by saying,
"It is her damn charm." When to that charm
is added genius, the combination is hresistible.
I have been present when Wendell PhUhps
swayed hostUe audiences which had driven
other orators of superior logic from the platform
because they fell under the sway of the mag
netism of his voice and manner. So Mr.
Choate won victories in the courts where other
great lawyers failed and captured audiences
bored by other speakers.
Our friend two years ago entered upon a new
career. He was a man of peace and had devoted
time and effort for the peace of the world. He
left everything to go as Ambassador to The
Hague for that purpose, and was amazed,
although he did not comprehend it then, at
the studied opposition of the German represen
tatives. As an international lawyer of great
erudition he was shocked by the German
ChanceUor's views that treaties are scraps of
paper and at the atrocities in Belgium and
France. But after the war had been in progress
for less than a year he became convinced that
[252]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
it was a battle between autocracy and democ
racy in which the United States was vitally
interested. He believed that if the Alhes were
defeated, Germany would then possess the
resources of France, Great Britain would be
helpless and the United States the next victim
of ruthlessness and spohation. He was the
first of our public men to preach preparedness
and to insist upon our entrance into the war.
Each new outrage upon our citizens drew from
him a sterner and more emphatic declaration
of our duty to freedom, humanity and the pres
ervation of our own liberty. He hailed with
approval and unstinted praise President Wil
son's address to Congress for an immediate
declaration of war agahist Germany, and with
that magnanimity, which was his characteris
tic, he withdrew the criticisms he had made
against the President, saying, "He is right
now. I can quite believe he was right all the
time and only waiting for the opportune hour."
At eighty-five years of age he was anxiously
seeking where and how he might serve his
country. When the Commissioners were sent
from France and Great Britain he saw his
opportunity and grasped and fulfflled its duties,
though they were far beyond his strength. The
last five days of his hfe wiU form an insphing
chapter in American history. This venerable
American citizen, known and loved on both
sides of the ocean, saw the great ser-vdce he
[253]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
could perform in cementing the ties between
the United States, France and Great Britain,
so recently formed. He was Chairman of the
Committee in the ceremonies on which rested
the eyes of the whole world, for those ceremonies
were to test the sincerity of the alliance. Thurs
day he met the French, Joffre, the great soldier,
and Viviani, statesman and orator; rode with
them through the crowded streets and avenues
and assisted in their entertainment in the eve
ning. Friday he accompanied them to the meet
ing with the merchants of New York, where his
speech compared favorably with the impas
sioned eloquence of the French orator. Friday
he also met and received England's veteran
and most accomplished statesman, Mr. Balfour,
spoke to him on behalf of the American people
at the City Hall and accompanied him through
the crowded streets. Again in the evening
at a memorable banquet given by the Mayor
of New York, where were gathered representa
tive men from all parts of the country, in
pathetic and stirring eloquence he expressed
his delight at this union of English speaking
peoples and this renewal of our old alliance
with France for liberty and humanity, and then
with that practical touch which always charac
terized his efforts, he put his fatherly hand on
Colonel Roosevelt and said, "If our most
distinguished and best known citizen is willing
to give the inspiration of his presence in Europe,
[254]

IN MEMORY OF HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE
and the possible sacrifice of his life to the cause,
let him go." In advocating our government
sending troops to France, he condensed the
sentiment in a shout, "Hurry up!"
Saturday he escorted these great Commis
sions to the Chamber of Commerce where he
again assured them that the enterprises, com
merce and trade, represented in that venerable
body were all pledged to victory.
On Sunday he went with the representatives
of Great Britain to the cathedral of St. John the
Divine. He regarded that solemn service as
a consecration of the alliance as the National
Anthems were followed by the prayer and praise
and hope of the Christian Doxology. There
were angel voices mingled with those of the
cathedral choh, the great soul of Mr. Choate
had been summoned and the gates of Heaven
were ajar. Dying afew hours afterwards he said,
"This is the end." The end, yes, of his earthly
life only. His country and his countrymen will
always cherish as an insphation for succeeding
generations a life so useful, so full and so com
plete and a death preeminently in the service
of his country, for democracy and for liberty.
(Prolonged applause.)

255

An Appreciation of General James W. Husted
at the Unveiling of the Husted Memorial
in Depew Park, Peekskill, N. Y., July 4,
1917.
The tribute we are paying our old friend.
General Husted, is eminently deserved. He did
great service during his life for our viUage and
county and our State. My own relations with
him were close and intimate for forty years.
I was prepared for college at the Peekskill
Academy and entered Yale as a freshman in
1852, sixty-five years ago.
Peekskill, at that time, was a small village
and my knowledge of the world was confined
to what happened within its boundaries. No
greener or fresher young man ever appeared on
the college campus. My origin was as evident
as is the countryman who appears in the majket
place with hay seeds on his back and a clover
blossom in his buttonhole. While I was
selecting, as was the custom, furniture for my
rooms from the left-off results of senior use,
I was cheered and relieved by a cordial greeting
from Husted. He was then a junior, and thor
oughly up-to-date in appearance and manner.
He said, "Hello, Depew, I'm from Bedford,
Westchester County. You're from Peekskill.
Let me help you." That expression was char
acteristic of General Husted's whole career.
[256]

THE HUSTED MEMORIAL
His life and activities were largely made of
helping others. During the remainder of his
two years, our friendship grew and we were as
near as it was possible to be, with the wide
gulf that separates the lower from the upper
classes. After I graduated and returned to Peekskill,
I persuaded Husted, who was then teaching,
to accept a tutorship in the Peekskill Academy
and study law with me in the office of Edward
Wells. Mr. Wells was more than a lawyer and had
a sort of law school in his office. Husted's
interests and ambitions were more political
than legal. He soon became the ablest and
most trusted lieutenant of Judge William H.
Robertson, our County Leader. Immediately
after admission to the bar, he was elected School
Commissioner for the Thhd Assembly District
of Westchester and remained in office almost
continuously, local or state, from that time until
his death.
He was, for more than a quarter of a century,
often a member and always a trusted adviser
of the State Committee. His distinction was in
a deliberative body; whether it was a political
convention or the State Legislature, in them he
was a dominant figure. He knew instinctively
the temper of a legislative body. If it is true,
that women are "uncertain, coy and hard to
please," the Legislature is always feminine.
[257]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
There are times when it will turn down any
measure, no matter how greatly needed, and at
other times, when it will pass almost anything,
good or bad. In his twenty-three years in our
State Assembly, Husted came to have charge
of public bills coming from the Governor or the
State Departments; while others failed in these
measures or had them amended out of recog
nition, the General invariably succeeded. He
had a faculty without oratory or rhetoric of so
condensing and clearly stating the object of
the measure that it carried conviction. He was
the most complete master of parhamentary law
and its subtle distinctions and exceptions that
I have ever known. As a presiding officer,
he had a rare faculty of instantaneously deciding
a point of order, and appeals from his decisions
always failed. He was one of the very few
speakers, either of Congress or of our State
Legislature, who could make the gavel talk.
Most presiding officers are perpetuaUy banging
the desk with very httle results; while the first
rap of Husted's gavel brought the house to
attention and order. In most of his many cam
paigns I was present when he gave enthusiasm
and inspiration to his heutenants from every
part of his district. His address always closed
with General Grant's famous remark, "Let
no guUty man escape."
During his long service in our Legislature,
he was always the confidant of the Governor,
[258]

THE HUSTED MEMORIAL
whether the Executive was of his own party or
not. He was very broad-minded and would
never join in any scheme to cripple the efficiency
of an opposition state administration in order
to put the Governor in a hole. He was specially
trusted by Governor Tilden, and was his great
aid in carrying his reform measures through the
Legislature. The General was an enthusiastic sportsman.
He loved the woods and the streams. The
Adhondacks were rapidly disappearing into
private ownership and the forests being de
stroyed in the most wasteful manner by con
tractors and timber thieves. The Adiron-
dacks were the General's favorite recreation
grounds. He was intimate with all the guides
and knew every stream in the wilderness. The
State is largely indebted to him for the meas
ures which have gone so far in protecting this
natural park and health resort, and putting it
into the hands of the State for the recreation
and health of our people.
It was an early romance which decided
the permanent residence of General Husted
in PeekskiU. My mother was fond of giving
young people parties, which at that time
were called sondes. At one of the soirees
Husted met a young lady just out in her
first season and one of the prettiest and most
charming girls of our community, Miss Helen
Southard. He instantly fell madly in love with
[259]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
her and the courtship ended in a happy marriage
and the settlement of the young people here.
The next week after the soh6e, the Highland
Democrat had an unsigned poem addressed
to "The Ghl I Met at the Soh6e." The poem
was widely read and commented upon in our
viUage. It undoubtedly had its effect in help
ing the General to success in his courtship.
Thhty years afterwards, when we were
reminiscing at a National Convention, I said:
"By the way, do you remember the poem you
printed in the Highland Democrat long ago,
called 'The Giri I Met at the Soh6e?' " As an
illustration, both of his memory and of the
value he attached to his early and successful
message of love, he at once recited it without
omitting a word.
Peekskill honors itself in erecting this monu
ment to General Husted. The interests of our
town and county were always foremost in his
thought and activity. His name is indissolubly
connected with the progress and development of
our State. The list is very long of the young
men whom he placed in positions and gave a
start in life in governmental and state service
and private employment.
His death came dramatically while a delegate
to a National Convention; or rather shortly
after because of his exertions there. He was a
politician of wonderful skill and knowledge of
popular currents and shifting opinions. He was
[260]

THE HUSTED MEMORIAL
a statesman who with rare opportunities and
long service did much for our State and country.
He was the most genial, companionable and
lovable of men. Few men in public life ever
had so many and devoted personal friends.

[261]

Speech to the Drafted Men of Tarrytown, N.
Y., Who were leaving for Camp, September
10, 1917.
My Friends:
I am here on behalf of your neighbors and
friends to bid you farewell and Godspeed upon
the glorious and patriotic mission upon which
you have entered. I am reminded of a similar
scene in the northern part of this old county,
fifty-five years ago. A company of young men
had enlisted in the army of the Union. They
were all in the early twenties and full of pluck
and determination. They knew perfectly well
what they were fighting for.. It was to preserve
the Union of the States which make up
the American republic. They knew that in
the preservation of that republic was the hope
and the future for the liberties of their country.
They felt that no sacrifice was too great for
this result. They were part of the volunteer
force which had been called by President
Lincoln, and they sang a favorite song of the
volunteers, "We are coming, father Abraham,
three hundred thousand more." An army
which knows what it is fighting for, and is
fighting for the right, is invincible. The
battles may be long and there may be many
hardships, but in the end victory is certain.
[262]

SPEECH TO DRAFTED MEN
Our allies who are battling in Europe know
what they are fighting for. The Belgians are
struggling to regain theh country which has
been devastated and plundered as no land ever
was in civilized times. They are fighting to
get back their homes and their liberty. France
is struggling to maintain the government
which in many forms, but always growing more
democratic and always French, has existed
for centuries. They, too, wish to regain theh
lands which have been ravaged by the enemy
and to make them again prosperous and happy.
They are also fighting for a victory which will
make their frontiers safe from the perpetual
threat of war, invasion and destruction, which
they have endured for more than forty years.
One hundred and forty years ago a French
army at the request of Lafayette, and com
manded by Rochambeau, marched past this
spot over yonder Broadway, then as now the
highway between New York and Albany.
Without the assistance given us by France in
our Revolution, it is doubtful if we could have
won our independence. France has never
asked any return. But now the American
army in France and American soldiers join
ing their comrades there are joyfully giving
to the French people a recognition of theh
aid to us in our hour of trial.
The British know what they are fighting
for. It is to preserve that democracy which
[:

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
has been growing steadily and progressively
in their world-wide emphe. It is that Eng
land, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the
great self-governing colonies of Canada, Aus
tralia, New Zealand and South Africa may
work out theh destiny, which is a democratic
destiny, in peace and safety. So the Italians
are fighting to regain lost territory with its
kindred race. Russia is struggling desperately
to save the soul and salvation it has so wonder
fully found. All are fighting for a peace which
no autocrat and no privileged class can ever
break and plunge the people of the world into
the horrors of war.
It is marvelous that in this twentieth century
of the Christian era, the essential and funda
mental rights of nations and individuals should
be in peril because of the ambition of a ruthless
autocracy to dominate, control or conquer the
whole world. I cannot but believe that if the
German people knew what they are being forced
to fight for they would cease to make such
frightful sacrifices to gratify the ambition of
Kaiser, king or aristocracy.
It is the privilege of age to have witnessed
and participated in great epochs and historical
events. When I was a boy in Peekskill, just
north of you, there were still surviving a few
veterans of Washington's Army of the Rev
olution. They were our venerated and most
honored citizens. In those days we were still
[264]

SPEECH TO DRAFTED MEN
near enough to the Revolution and keen enough
in the enjoyment of its benefits to celebrate
the Fourth of July. The day was ushered in
with the firing of cannon and the ringing of
church bells. There were processions and mass
meetings, illumination and fheworks. The
place of honor at the head of the parade and
upon the platform on which was read the Decla
ration of Independence, and from which the
orator delivered the oration, was occupied by
these heroes of the War of Independence.
They took precedence of public officials, of
the men of the professions and of business,
because aU felt that the opportunity of American
life for themselves and theh children had been
won by the valor of these soldiers. So now,
upon every public occasion, the right of the
line and the first place in the meeting, the posi
tion of honor and distinction is given to the
veterans of the Civil War. Ranged beside you
here is li-ving testimony in these vigorous old
soldiers who, representing the Grand Army of
the Repubhc, are at once for you both inspira
tion and hope. As one of them, I join in bidding
you Godspeed and good luck. We all feel
and know that that faded old uniform repre
sents the preservation of a Union in which the
descendants of those who fought to preserve,
and the descendants of those who fought to
destroy equaUy rejoice. In this great fratricidal
strife each side, brethren as they were, believed
[265]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
they were right. But now, with slavery
destroyed, with the Declaration of Independence
meaning what it said, and with the wonderful
result of a country reunited and enjoying all
the blessings of the law, order and hberty, the
South and the North, the men who fought
under the Union banner and those under the
Confederate, are all happily and joyfully
Americans. Our great contests have been for
hberty. In the Revolutionary War it was to
win our independence and become a Republic.
In our Civil War it was for equality of all men
before the law, to make safe and perpetuate
the principles of the Declaration of Indepen
dence, among which are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, and to keep the Republic
of the United States united and sovereign as
the ark of Democracy.
We are in this war for no selfish purpose but
to preserve what was won by the army of
Washington and established upon fhmer foun
dations by the armies of Lincoln and Grant.
Modern inventions have annihilated distance
and time. If the Allies are defeated and Great
Britain, France, Italy and Russia are powerless,
nothing could stop or prevent the invasion of
the United States and with all its horrors.
Anything can be done against an unprepared
people. In a country where there are good
roads and railway communications, and the
ah, of course, always free to a thoroughly
[266]

SPEECH TO DRAFTED MEN
equipped and discipUned enemy, it is your
mission to keep that enemy away from our
shores, and co-operating with our Allies to
make not only our own country, but, as Pres
ident Wilson says, "The world safe for De
mocracy." I beheve in the value of heredity; heredity
of great deeds and patriotic associations. It is
a privilege and a rare one to be a citizen of
this old County of Westchester. Every foot
of it is hallowed ground. Where we stand was
the neutral land over which, one hundred and
forty years ago, marched and remarched the
patriot army and the enemy. The site of this
beautiful village and these prosperous hUl-
sides were frequently raided and ravaged.
But with all the savagery of that war as of all
wars, history records none of the outrages on
land or sea which in this contest make us blush
for humanity. Women were always safe. With
in a stone's throw from where we stand, Major
Andr6 was captured by three Westchester
farmer boys who were enlisted in the service
of Washington. They were poor but patriotic.
They knew what they were fighting for. Major
Andr^ offered them money which would have
made them rich and independent, if they would
let him go on with his papers. If they had
yielded the treachery of Arnold would have
been successful and the success of our fore
fathers most seriously endangered. But they
[267]

AT FOURSCORE AND POUR
resisted the bribe, and to-day among the im
mortals, not only of Westchester but of our
country, are those three farmer lads, Paulding,
WiUiams and Van Wart. It was one of the
proudest days of my life, when in 1880 the
whole county assembled here at the unveiling
of the statue to their memory, and I was the
orator. Across the river is Stony Point,
famous for the great victory of Anthony
Wayne. Within your viUage lived the
father of American literature whose pen
made the Hudson almost as romantic as the
Rhine. I may recall a little incident of the Civil War.
The 18th regiment of the National Guard of
the State of New York was a Westchester
regiment. I was its adjutant. We received
orders to rendezvous and move at once to the
front. General Lee had invaded Pennsylvania
and was threatening Philadelphia and Wash
ington. History makes much of coincidences.
They are the favorite opportunity of the imag
inative historian to paint striking word-pic
tures of the causes of great events and victories.
The day the 18th regiment arrived at Balti
more, General Lee and his army had left Penn
sylvania and retreated into Vhginia. If I was
an imaginative historian I might paint in vivid
colors how the story of Westchester in the
Revolution accompanying this regiment had
convinced the great commander of the Con-
[268]

SPEECH TO DRAFTED MEN
federate forces that it was better not to further
tempt his fortune by arousing and intensifying
the sphit of the Revolution.
When I was recently in the Berkshhe hills
of Massachusetts, I found that in every locality
there was a considerable percentage of those
who had been drawn, who claimed exemption
and release. But there was one little town up
in the hills whose quota was only three,
those three claimed no exemption, passed suc
cessfully the examination and went gladly into
camp to join theh comrades. The name of
that little town was Peru. Its leading citizen
said to the organizer of the meeting, which I
addressed in the city of Pittsfield, in which I
narrated this incident, "Chauncey Depew has
put Peru on the map." Boys, it is for you
not to put old Westchester on the map, but to
keep it there. Your ancestors, one hundred
and forty years ago, put Westchester on the
map; your fathers, forty odd years ago, kept
Westchester on the map, and the old blood
which fought successfully for liberty and in
dependence and again successfully for liberty
and union, will fight again through you suc
cessfuUy that the hberty they won shaU not
perish from earth, and that the fruits of that
liberty shall be enjoyed by all the world.
Remember, boys, that a grateful country -will
keep and hold you in its fatherly and brotherly
care while you are abroad, and will welcome
[269]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
you back and place you among those like the
veterans of the two wars of our history, whose
services for theh country will always be grate
fully remembered.

[270]

Address before the Young Men's Christian
Association, First Presbyterian Church,
Peekskill, N. Y., October 22, 1917.
(StenographicaUy reported)
My Friends:
It is a very great pleasure for me to be here
to-day. It is a great pleasure to me that this
meeting is held in this old church. When one
gets along in life he goes back more and more
to the beginnings, and more and more cher
ishes the early days and theh associations. My
mother's mother was in this church a hundred
years ago. My mother was a member of this
church during the whole of her life, and I was
baptized here.
It is impossible to describe the emotions one
feels when brought face to face and in intimate
association with the best recollections of a life
time. As I stand here I can point out pews
where the elders and deacons and leading peo
ple in the church of that day used to sit. The
pew right down here was where I came as a
little boy with my mother, and right behind it
sat a stern disciplinarian and deacon of the
church, who made one of my ears longer than
the other by pulling it because of my inatten
tion to the sermon. (Laughter.) [271 ]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
I remember my mother used to take me
from a very early period to the prayer meet
ings in the room in the rear, and the peculiar
ity about some of the elderly men who attend
ed those prayer meetings was that they always
made the same prayer. I got so I could repeat
the prayer of every one of them, and once,
with the audacity of youth and with that sense
of humor which has been my salvation all my
life, and has brought me into no end of trouble,
I made a suggestion to one of those deacons.
He was one of the most solemn of the deacons
and he always began his prayer like this:
"Oh, Lord, thou knowest that I am full of
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores." Af
ter hearing that for nearly a year, one night as
we were coming out of the chapel I said to
him, much to the horror of my mother, "Dea
con, why don't you take something? " (Laugh
ter.) Of course, the good deacon meant it sph-
itually, yet he was such a good man that I
think he overstated his own case.
But we are here to-day for the annual meet
ing of the Y. M. C. A. I have been associated
in one way and another with the Y. M. C- A.
organization since its foundation. If I remem
ber rightly it was organized in Boston in 1852.
That was the year I graduated from the Peek-
skill Military Academy. (Applause.) It does
not seem to be 65 years since then. It seems
as if it were yesterday, when I stood up there
[272]

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
with those boys delivering what I thought was
an oration that Demosthenes would have en
vied, to my mother, my father, and my broth
ers and sisters, but most of all to the girls on
one side. (Laughter.)
The Y. M. C. A. was on too narrow a foun
dation in those early days, and it did not get
on very well. When I came home from Yale,
having graduated in June, 1856, I became
a law student in the office of Edward Wells,
one of the most public-sphited and best citi
zens of the town. And we young men headed
by Mr. Edward Wells formed a Young Men's
Christian Association in the summer of 1856 in
the lecture room in the rear of this church.
There were gathered probably thirty young
men in that room, and I remember that the
fhst paper was read by myself, and the subject
was "Paul on Mars HiU." When I visited
Athens many years afterwr-rds I could not help
recalling that my first Soddress before a Y. M.
C. A. had been on "Paul on Mars HiU," and
when I stood on the spot which the guide told
me was the very spot upon which Paul stood I
thought I would test with my tenor voice what
sort of a voice Paul had when he shouted, "Ye
men of Athens." It was a very clear and beau
tiful day, as it usually is in those classic climes,
and about half or three-quarters of a mile off
were some Greek workmen repahing a road.
Standing in Paul's place and raising my voice
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AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
to its highest pitch I shouted, "Ye men of
Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious." They picked up their spades
and started for me and I left in a hurry, and I
wondered whether Paul's reception was some
thing of the same kind, though I believe he
spoke in Greek, but my gift of Greek, modern
Greek especially, was not strong at that
period. So I have been in the habit ever since I went
on the platform sixty-one years ago on leaving
Yale, of celebrating Peekskill as the center and
source and beginning of all good things all over
this world. (Applause.) I had in mind, in
doing that, that the best thing I ever met in
my life was my mother, but I had in mind,
also, the fact that the Hudson River has no
equal; that this bay has nothing like it; that
these associations of Revolutionary period make
it holy ground all around here, and so now,
whenever I have anything to say to the Y. M.
C. A. anywhere in the country, and it happens
I quite often do, I say that it was founded in
Peekskill. Well, my friends, it is, wonderful what will
grow from small beginnings. The Y. M. C. A.
amounted to little during the first ten or fif
teen or twenty years of its life for the reason
that it was built on too narrow a basis, for the
reason that it was thought at the time that
only church members would be admitted, for
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ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
the reason that it was thought that only in a
religious view could it be conducted. The res
cue work, which is the real virtue of the Y. M.
C. A., that takes a young man and brings him
back to his home and brings him back to the
proper life, proper thoughts, proper associa
tions and makes a man of him and then makes
a Christian of him, so that the Y. M. C. A. has
become the recruiting ground of the church,
was of slow growth and did not come imme
diately. But now the Y. M. C. A. is perform
ing a work such as no other organization, not
even the Red Cross with all its wonderful ac
complishments, is doing. The Y. M. C. A. all
over the country is doing this for the young
men who are absent from the associations and
the protection of a home. It is furnishing them
with that sweetest word in the language and
with all that it means, a home. These camps
that are everywhere, where our boys are freed
from the associations that are right, from the
influence of home and neighborhood and
friends, and where they are subject to every
temptation, it is there that the salvation of the
camp is the tent erected by the Y. M. C. A.
Because around those camps gather the sharks
and the harpies and the preyers upon youth,
both women and men. These boys are receiv
ing a salary which they have no use for, except
to spend, and as soon as they gather in a camp
these harpies and thieves and demoralizers of
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AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
youth gather about the camp in order to col
lect that money.
And it is abroad that the Y. M. C. A. is per
forming its greatest, its most noble work just
now. I saw a letter the other day from a
young man who was in one of the fhst groups
of American soldiers that landed in England,
and he said, "Mother, the wonderful thing
about it was not the trip, nor the submarines,
nor the war, the wonderful thing was that the
Y. M. C. A. met us all as we landed, and they
took us where there were all the comforts and
surroundings of a home, .and they introduced
us to people who were most kind and who wel
comed us as sons and as brothers, and they
never left us one moment, but theh shadowing
influence was with us until we went to France."
I know much of France. France never took
much stock in the Y. M. C. A. It did not see
any particular beneflt that could come from
such an organization, but now the French
welcome the Y. M. C. A. above all other
things that are coming there from this won
derful country to help them in this war.
Because they have discovered what it is doing.
And it is the Y. M. C. A. unit near the soldiers
everywhere that is furnishing them with what
they can find only at home.
Last week there came to see me one of
the most promising ministers in the Presby
terian church, and he differs in no way from
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ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
the ministers of any other church; he is a
young man; he is a bachelor; he has made a
wonderful name for himself by his eloquence,
by his parish work, by his devotion; he had a
wonderful future before him; great churches in
the cities were clamoring for him. But he said,
"I feel it is my duty, and God is impelling me
to go over there with the Y. M. C. A. I see
these boys go, I see them go as men, I see
them go to become heroes, and I am afraid
they may come back rotten in sphit, in morals,
in flesh, and I want to go there that they shall
come back not only heroes, but Christian men,
and I can not stay, I am going." (Applause.)
And I bade him good-by.
Well, my friends, this war is upon us. No
matter what you talk about you can not help
talking about the war. I heard of a lady who
summoned all the women of her neighborhood
for an entertainment and she said: "We are
very weary talking about the war and sewing
for the war, knitting for the war and work
ing for the war, so I thought I would vary
the entertainment, my daughter will play on
the piano and recite or we can talk war." And
the women shouted unanimously, "Talk war."
(Laughter.) I think we do not appreciate, and I cer
tainly never have seen it properly presented,
how close to us as Christians, as church mem
bers, as Y. M. C. A. members this war is.
[277]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
And there is another point which I have never
seen stated, but which strikes me very forcibly,
and that is that we are responsible for this
war. And therefore it is our duty to fight it out
and fight it to a successful conclusion. Now you
inquhe : How are we responsible for this war?
This world until Christ came upon earth was
given over to tyranny and oppression, given
over to the few who ruled with an iron hand
and to the others who were slaves, giving theh
products and their sons as well to fight for a
government that robbed them. That was the
Roman empire. The Roman emphe, which is
the model and the guide of the German mili
tary class to-day, had the whole civilized world
under its feet. It governed all the provinces
and nations and states of the world by procon
suls with the Roman legions behind them. It
took from every nation and race the products
of its industry, its skill, its genius, and of its
art, and it took its children also, so far as it
needed them. And it gave nothing in return
except to preserve an iron order for the benefit
of the Roman people. And this tribute gath
ered from the whole world, from the farms,
from the merchants, from labor, was sent into
the central treasury and carried to the great
imperial city of Rome, that those people might
live in idleness and luxury and enjoy the
barbaric and frightful amusements of the glad
iatorial shows. [278]

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
Just then Christ came on earth. He came
alone. He came from the humblest of begin
nings. He preached a doctrine never heard of
before, the brotherhood of man. He preached
the equahty of all men before the law. He
said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind" and "Thou shalt love thy neigh
bor as thyself." That doctrine was destructive
of Rome. It was destructive of tyranny. It
was destructive of classes, where two-thhds
were slaves. It was destructive of the divine
right of kings, because then Caesar had pro
claimed that he was divine, and everywhere
was his statue or his bust which had to be wor
shipped. And here we have the origin of the
divinity of kings. After Augustus came Ti
berius, who was frightful, and then came the
worst creatures who have ever existed in hu
man form, Caligula and Nero, and every one of
them had to be worshipped as a god because he
was divine. The doctrine of Christ struck right
at this divinity of kings, and for that reason He
was crucified, for that reason His followers were
crucified and were given to the wild beasts and
to the gladiators in the shows, and Christ, when
He died upon the cross, had to admit that His
mission was a failure. It was a total failure.
There was the Roman emphe untouched, tjn:-
anny untouched, slavery untouched, autoc
racy untouched, militarism untouched and su-
[279]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
preme, and His doctrines were left to eleven
ignorant, uneducated fishermen. Was there
ever such an appalling beginning for any
system of theology or principle?
But a divine truth can not be stopped. A
truth had been enunciated, and for that reason
its originator had died on the cross and it was
going onward, and it went on until it overthrew
the Roman emphe, it broke up that mighty
organization, and then came the Middle Ages
of darkness, and the churches became the ref
uge of those who were persecuted. The church
preserved literature, and then came the Renais
sance when the academies sprang up, and with
the academies came education, and with edu
cation came a better and a larger knowledge of
what Christ had taught, and then came the ap
prehension of civil and religious liberty. That
apprehension of civil and religious liberty first
stirred Great Britain, and there it brought forth
the Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights, which
is the foundation of American liberty and the
foundation of English liberty; then it went over
to little Holland and there it made a sanctuary
of civil and religious liberty; then it insphed
the Pilgrim fathers to sail for the New World
where they could have liberty of conscience,
of thought, and of action; and in the cabin
of the Mayflower they framed this wonderful
charter, "We will form a government of just
and equal laws." No such thing had ever
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ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
been known or heard of in this world. A
government of just and equal laws! And then
from that a hundred odd years afterwards
came the Declaration of Independence.
Lafayette, a young man, was an officer
on the staff of the general commanding the
French army. The general gave a dinner to
the Duke of Gloucester, a brother of George
III., an autocrat and a tyrant, but with insti
tutions that enabled him to be one. And at
the dinner the Duke said: "Our colonists
across the Atlantic over there in America have
revolted, and they have put forth this reason
why they have revolted from our government
and our king," and then he read the Declara
tion of Independence, beginning, "All men are
created equal; they are endowed by their Crea
tor with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi
ness," and "All power is derived from the peo
ple." "Why," said his Royal Highness, the
Duke, "that doctrine would destroy aU gov
ernment, that doctrine would lead to a revolu
tion which would disrupt the civilized world."
Young Lafayette retired from that dinner and
wrote a letter to his wife in which he said:
"Dear Heart, I have heard to-night from the
lips of the Duke of Gloucester the story of
American independence. It touches my heart
and I am going to fight for it." In spite of the
efforts that were made to keep him, and they
[2811

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
were very great, he landed in America. The
Continental Congress was overwhelmed by for
eign adventurers seeking commissions and sal
aries, but this young man said: "I ask noth
ing but to fight for you at my own expense."
They put him on the staff of General Washing
ton. And as the intimacy grew, the friendship
grew, until the friendship between George
Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette be
came one of the historical friendships of all
time; on the one hand a reverence and a devo
tion for the greatest man who ever lived, and
on the other hand a fatherly affection which
nothing could surpass, for Washington was
childless. And then after two years came the
dreadful campaign of VaUey Forge, when our
soldiers had neither food, nor clothing, nor
anything sufficient, and no pay, and Washing
ton said to Lafayette, "We are nearly at the
end of our tether." Then Lafkyette took pass
age for France; his arrival at that gay and
brilliant court was an event; he captured in
stantly the imagination of Queen Marie Antoi
nette, and she brought over the King, and then,
in spite of the wise men and the financiers
who said, "We willberuhied," the King and the
Queen — for they were autocrats — said: "We
will give Lafayette an army and a navy." And
Lafayette returned with Rochambeau and a
large French army, and with a navy under De
Grasse and D'Estaing, and with that army and
[:

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
that navy and with the gold they brought Wash
ington was enabled to pay his debts, and equip
his army. They won for us American inde
pendence. (Applause.) They asked nothing
in return. It was a tragedy that they did for
themselves, because the expense of that war
and the other wars that it brought on, added
to the tremendous financial difficulties of
France, led to burdens so great that the people
revolted and Marie Antoinette and her hus
band both went to the scaffold. But the truth
lived, the same as the truth lived from Calvary.
You can not suppress the truth. Death does
not injure truth; death sanctifies truth. And
so the French government said: "We ask
nothing in return for this expenditure" — seven
hundred millions of dollars, a frightful sum at
that time — "if you capture Canada which be
longed to us you can keep it, we ask nothing."
One hundred and forty years have passed
and France has gone through many revolutions,
empires and kingdoms, and is finaUy a Repub
lic on the same basis and as free as we are,
founded on the same principles and with the
same ideals and ambitions. And France is in a
life and death struggle for her sovereignty,
her civihzation and her liberty. And now,
after a hundred and forty years, another army,
not led by Rochambeau, but led by Pershing,
and another navy, not led by De Grasse and
D'Estaing, but by Sims and Mayo, are on the
[283]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
French coast, and as the men from that army
and navy go ashore and come to the French
army, they say to the Frenchmen of to-day,
"We are Americans here after a hundred and
forty years, as you came to us, and we will
remain with you and fight for you until we do
for you what you did for us." (Applause.)
Now then, it is a very difficult situation
which faces us, yet it is one every boy and
every ghl ought to be able to understand. [,1
have tried to make clear that it is a Christian
war and that it is the result of principles that
began on Calvary.
Let us see the other side. Napoleon was de
feated at Waterloo. Napoleon was the driving
force of the French Revolution and of the prin
ciples of liberty, though he tried to overcome it
so far as he himself was concerned. What he did
was to overthrow thrones, what he did was to
knock out the divine right of kings and make
it absurd, what he did was to put puppets in
the royal chahs which he emptied. He was
crushed by the unity of autocratic power at
Waterloo. At the same time Bismarck was
born. Napoleon at that time made a very re
markable prophecy. He said, "The time will
come when Europe will be either Cossack or re
publican." He said Cossack because at that
time Russia was the only complete autocracy,
for Germany was divided into innumerable
principalities fighting one another. Now the
[284]

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
time has come when it is to be settled by arms
whether Europe and the world will be auto
cratic or republican.
At the same time that Napoleon died Bis
marck was born, one of those remarkable per
sonages that make history for the welfare or
destruction of the world. He was born at a
time when there was taught in all the schools
of Prussia autocracy and militarism. Frederick
the Great, the founder of the HohenzoUern
dynasty, had but one theory, which he had no
hesitation in expressing: "Every state, every
nation, every country that I can conquer be
longs to me by right and every people that
fight my right to take that position must be
crushed out and destroyed." That has been
the doctrine of the family ever since down to
to-day. And so they made Prussia alone of the
many states of the German emphe a purely
materialistic and militaristic organization, the
army being everything, the civilian authority
subordinate, and the civilian authority was told,
"We, the army, will keep you in your position
and keep enemies off, we will conquer other
countries to enrich you, but you must sustain
the army with your money and with your
men." So Bismarck perfected that Prussian militar
ism until he got it complete, but it was not
strong enough; he wanted then to be the mas
ter of the German people, a great people in
[285]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
themselves, and so he went to Denmark and
made war upon her without any excuse what
ever and took away two of her best provinces,
Schleswig and Holstein, and annexed them to
Prussia. That made possible the Kiel canal.
Then he found that Hanover, the adjoining
country, about as large and populous as Prus
sia, was not very strong, so he attacked Han
over without any reason, tumbled Khig George
off the throne, captured that and annexed it
to Prussia. Then without any reason he at
tacked Austria, and having a better army and
better militarism in six weeks he had conquered
Austria, and he compelled Austria to surrender
the leadership of the German people and the
titular title of the Holy Roman Emphe, which
is the whole thing. By the shrewdness of his
diplomacy and by just that very sort of cozen
ing which characterizes militaristic diplomacy,
he persuaded England that it would insure
eternal peace if Heligoland, which she owned
and without which the German navy could
never have existed, should be given up for
peace forever. And so Heligoland was given
up. Then he attacked France and conquered
it in sixty days. He took away two of her
best provinces; he imposed upon her a fine
which he thought would bleed her white. Then
he said, "Now we will form a German empire,"
which they did, with the Prussian king as Em
peror with autocratic power.
[286]

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
We do not appreciate what power the Ger
man Emperor has. You meet a German here
on the street who has not studied the question,
and he says, "We have the Reichstag elected
by universal suffrage." That is true. But you
have got a Bundesrath of 58 men, all of whom
are appointed by the princes and kings of the
different states of Germany, and a majority of
whom are appointed dhectly or indirectly by
the Kaiser himself. No bill can be passed, and
nothing can be done unless the Bundesrath
sanctions it. If the Bundesrath should happen
to sanction it, the Kaiser can veto the whole
thing and do as he has a mind to.
Now then, the Emperor, brought up in this
school, has gone on for twenty-six years, gone
on day by day and night by night making Ger
many the most extraordinary military power
that the world ever saw since ancient Rome.
And then comes something which is very near
to the Y. M. C. A., very near to the Peekskill
Military Academy, very near to this and all
churches. Bismarck's theory was that the Em
peror and his government must control the in-
telhgence and the conscience and opinions of
the people in order to have autocracy work its
way and have unlimited means and men to do
it. So every teacher from the kindergarten to
the university and the theological school and
the technical school gets his salary from the
state and is appointed and removed by the
[287]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
state. Every preacher gets his salary from the
state and is appointed and removed by the
state ; and there is a bureau of education which
sees to that, and a bureau of theology which
sees to that, and a bureau of the press, so
that inspired articles go out to the press, and
nothing can appear in the press that is not ap
proved by that bureau and that censorship.
Forty years of such instruction has educated
eighty millions of people until to-day every man,
woman and child believe that the world
belongs to Germany, and that Germany has
the right, as long as she has the power, to
capture other nations, their men, women and
wealth, for theh own benefit. When at the
beginning of this war the Kaiser and his
armies started out, the people danced with
joy all over Germany, jubUant because the
time had come, as it was in ancient Rome,
when the spoils of the world would be
brought into the Fatherland and they would
all enjoy the possession of it.
And then came also this belief, that those
who oppose this world wide conquest are fight
ing God as well as Germany, and therefore if
theh houses are destroyed, if their women are
violated, if their property is taken, if they are
shot, they are only getting their just
deserts. My friends, this wonderful scheme of univer
sal conquest would have succeeded except for
[

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
what? A miscalculation. In my long hfe I
have seen many a man busted from a miscal
culation. (Laughter.) And it is easy for a
country to be busted from a miscalculation.
They did not think that Belgium would resist,
but she did, and held them for three weeks. If
she had not, they would have got to Paris.
They did not think that the French army could
stand up, but it did, and besides 150,000 Eng
lishmen had gone over there. They did not
think that England would do anything, be
cause they thought she was in the throes of
civil war on account of the Irish question, and
beside that they always said nice things about
England. Was not Queen Victoria the grand
mother of the Kaiser? Great Britain would
not do anything. And the Kaiser was in such
a rage when Great Britain did come in, because
he knew her power and he knew what the race
will do, that he sent word to the British am
bassador: "I value more highly than any
thing else that I am a Major General in the
British army and can wear its uniform, and an
Admhal in the British navy and can wear its
uniform, but I have burned them both." And
then when the war went on they said, "Why,
America won't come in, and if she does, what
does she amount to? America is aU dollars.
You can buy America if you want to. If it be
comes necessary we wiU just buy her up. And
if she should lose her head and come in, she
[289]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
won't fight. They have been doing nothing but
making money there since the Civil War; the
stamina and the blood is all out of them; Amer
ica doesn't amount to anything." I have had
that told me. Our representatives and our con
sul generals said it was told them on the streets
and told them in private, "Why should we de
lay this U-boat destruction of neutral vessels
on your account? You don't amount to any
thing." My friends, we come to this point: The Ger
man autocracy, the Kaiser, the militarists, com
mence everything by saying, "God is on our
side." The Kaiser sends a message to the King
of Greece, "We will put you back on your
throne because God and the mailed fist will do
it." He compliments the Turk, who has assas
sinated and starved in cold blood a whole na
tion of Armenians, two millions of them, and
he says, "God and the mailed fist will help you
to maintain your sovereignty." He goes to
the army which has ravaged Belgium and
Northern France, which has sacked cities, killed
and murdered and ravaged and says: "Brave
men, Almighty God is with you." I think he
believes that, because, my friends, there are
battling on the battlefields of Europe to-day
two gods. Heinrich Heine, one of the great
poets of Germany, in 1834, wrote this proph
ecy, "The present generation of Germans are
degenerating, they are too weak, and Christian-
[290]

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
ity has made them so; but the old stone gods
will rise in time from their graves and then
Thor with his hammer will smash into splin
ters the Gothic cathedrals." And that god
whom they worshipped was the god of the Teu
tonic race of that period, the god who said,
"Might makes right and power must be yield
ed to and consult only itself. Might makes
right, and whatever might can win belongs to
might, and there is no other standard of justice
or of righteousness in the world." Against
that is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thy-
seh." Those are the two principles that are to-day
fighting on the battlefields of Europe. And
why are we there? Because we had no right to
stay away. We had no right to stay away.
We are fighting for what Christ stood for and
was sacrificed for. We are fighting for what
George Washington stood for. We are fighting
for what Abraham Lincoln stood for. We are
fighting for liberty as they understood it and
as they enjoyed it and gave it to us. And we are
fighting for the civilization which has come to
us under this glorious American flag and for
all that it means.
Two men, the Emperor of Germany and the
Czar of Russia, had the power, without con
sulting anybody, without asking their people,
[291]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
to plunge the world into the horrors of war, to
impose upon it autocracy, and to destroy gov
ernments of the people and by the people. The
lesson of this war for us is that it shall be fought
until no single man and no two men and no
class in any country shall be able to unite with
an exclusive class in another country to bring
on war. All the wars of the future must be only
by the full consent of the people themselves.
And there must also be safeguards by which all
peace loving and free governments can restrain
hostile action by any country, unless the judg
ment of all justifies it.
But I meet constantly men who say, "Why
don't you wait until they get here, wait until
they come?" I pity a man or a woman who
knows so little of modern warfare. When the
soldiers marched out to Lexington and Con
cord neither side had anything but an old
musket that would shoot about a hundred
yards, and so there was no such thing as put
ting down such people. And then there were
no roads. Now our railroads and good roads
are all our weakness. With the British army
and navy destroyed, with France destroyed,
with Russia impotent, it would be no difficulty
at aU for a million of men to land here. And
they could cut off New York and instantly im
pose, as they always do, an indemnity of many
times more than the whole cost of this war is
going to be to us. And then they would come
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ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
up Broadway with its splendid roadway and
they would reach Yonkers, and by way of
example, and frightfulness is one of their creeds,
they would burn Yonkers after looting it. And
then they would come up to Tarrytown and
would stick a musket into a Tarrytown house
and would say, "You are trying to shoot us,"
and then they would loot Tarrytown, and
would take fifty or a hundred of the leading
citizens and put them against a wall and shoot
them. And then they would take the young
men and the young women and put them in
the army. By that time they are on the way
to PeekskUl over the best road there is in the
world, and they have armed motor cars, and
they have guns that will carry explosives
weighing a ton, which wUl blow up a whole
village or a whole brigade at a time, that wUl
shoot twenty miles, they are carrying them
with them; and the chief of the pacifists has
said, "Suppose they did, wouldn't a mUlion
Americans with shotguns and Ford cars drive
them back into the ocean?" (Laughter.)
I had a letter from an American friend who
was one of the Relief Committee that followed
the French army going over the district in
France which the Germans have occupied for
the last two years and a half, and in his letter
he said: "The fhst town we came to was
Noyon, one of the most beautiful cities in
France, beautiful in its shaded streets, beauti-
[293]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
ful in its museum and its cathedral and its town
hall, a Gothic structure; beautiful in the splen
did orchards around, which were the delight of
the whole country; beautiful in the most fin
ished and artistic residences that there were
in France. When we arrived there the day
after the German army left there was not a
house standing; they had all been blown out
from the inside; there was not a church stand
ing; they had all been blown out from the
inside; the museum and the town hall were
down, they had been looted of all theh treas
ures. There was not a piece of furniture of
any kind in that whole city. All the beds and
bedding, all the parlor furniture, all the bed
room furniture, all the kitchen furniture had
been swept off and carried along with the army.
AU the clothes of all the inhabitants except
what they stood in had been swept off. Every
tree in all the orchards had been girdled and
killed. Even the graves in the old churchyards
had been dug up to see if there might not be
plates on the coffins or jewelry among the
dead." And then he said there was gathered in
the market place all the young men and all the
young women between 15 and 30 and every
one of them carried off.
Now, my friends, we are in this war why?
Because of that? Because of Belgium and
France? Yes, in part. We are in it because. of
ourselves. When the Lusitania went down one
[294]

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
hundred and twenty or more American men
and women and children were lost. And then
came a dozen more ships, until it ran up to a
thousand or more American men, women and
children murdered. And then Germany said,
"We wUl let you go on the ocean with one ship
a week, painted as we order, and going just the
lines that we say you may take, and with
things on it that we say you may carry."
Why did the old Constitution and the Guer-
riire fight in the war of 1812? Why did Far-
ragut lash himself to the mast in front of Mo
bile? Why did Dewey win his victory at Ma
nila? Why did Sampson and Schley win theh
victory at Santiago? It was in part that the
United States should have its place on the
ocean amongst the best and foremost people of
the world. We are developing an industry and
agriculture that would crush us by congestion
unless we had the markets of the world, and is
any nation strong enough, any people big
enough, to say, "Yankees can only go where we
permit them to go?" That old flag will go
wherever it wants. (Applause.) Any Ameri
can who travels under it, whether it be upon
the high seas or wherever he lawfully is under
international law, wiU have over him and
around him the power of a hundred million
Americans and all that that means. (Applause.)
Why, the Kaiser said to James W. Gerard,
our ambassador, "When this war is over I
[295]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
won't stand any nonsense from the United
States," which means, "Away goes your Mon
roe Doctrine." The General Staff in theh
calculations which have recently been pub
lished assessed the United States as indemnity
in this world tribute to Berlin eighty-seven bil
lions of dollars. That is our part, eighty-seven
billions. (Laughter.) We are trying now in
the Liberty Loan to raise three. Why, it is an
insurance policy to raise three against that
eighty-seven. Well, my friends, this subject is most en
trancing, most interesting. It is the privilege
of a man at my time of life to feel bitterly and
deeply all that it means and hopefully all that
it promises. To have gone through the Civil
War and see this country placed again upon
surer foundations and with the whole country
welcoming the reorganization; to have lived
long enough, as I did, to meet in my boyhood
the soldiers of the Revolution, for I knew my
grandfather very well, I was old enough for
that, and he had been a Corporal in a West
chester regiment in the Revolutionary War,
and there were twenty Revolutionary veterans
around Peekskill at that time; that is a hfe,
that is an education, that is an inspiration.
And to live now to see this country grown to
its present position of fhst and foremost in all
that makes in government life worth living,
and to see it once more in peril, is to wonder —
[296]

ADDRESS BEFORE PEEKSKILL Y. M. C. A.
though I do not wonder any more — why the
whole nation does not rise up for civilization,
for American liberty, and for a world in which
it is safe for liberty to be.
Oh, it is a glorious thing to be an American
to-day! It is a glorious thing to see these
young fellows in khaki going forward as I saw
them go forward in blue from this old village
fifty odd years ago. It is a glorious thing to
feel that in all the world we stand for nothing
but civilization, liberty and right. When the
French soldier sees, when the English soldier
sees our troops there, he knows that we ask
nothing in the way of territory, nothing in the
way of indemnity, but that we are fighting
with them that we may all be free. And I think
when the German soldier sees us, when we
finally get into the trenches, now I understand
he is denied the privilege of knowing we are
there, the question will be: "What are the
Yankees here for, what are the Americans here
for?" Finally it will get through the cordon
of steel and the iron band of autocracy that
the American soldiers are not there for German
territory, not there for German loot, not there
for German money, not there for German men,
not there for German women, but they are
there that all, all, all, may be free and enjoy
the blessings of American liberty and Christian
civilization. (Prolonged applause.)
[297]

Speech at the Rooms of the Geographical and
Biographical Society of New York on the
Occasion of the Hanging of Mr. Depew's
Portrait by the Society on their Walls,
December 13, 1917.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I have faced a greater variety of conditions
and met as many unique situations as almost
anyone in the country. The present occasion
is unique and original. This ancient and
honorable society has presented itself with my
portrait, and I am called upon to make the
address. I do not know whether I am to give
a biographical sketch of the subject on account
of my famUiarity with it, or am to criticise the
picture as a work of art. Mr. Quistgaard has
produced an exceUent likeness, a picture of
great merit. There is one thing, however, I
can do gratefully and that is to thank the
society for this distinction. I noticed that
Mrs. Depew, who had her fhst view of the
portrait when the artist drew the veU, vigor
ously applauded. This settles the opinion of
our famUy and its harmony.
The ancient Egyptians had theh own way of
preserving the likenesses of theh friends or of
theh rulers by embalming theh bodies. There
are limitjations to this method of expressing
[298]

THE UNVEILING OF A PORTRAIT
affection or admiration, and one of them is
that the work cannot be duplicated. The
mummy of Rameses in the museum at Cairo
presents that great monarch in as good condition
apparently as when, as Pharaoh, he ordered his
army to follow the Israelites into the Red Sea.
It is impossible to recall incidents of the past
which are not duplicated and re-duplicated in
succeeding generations. When Pharaoh pur
sued the Israelites, he let his armies rush
between the waUs of the lane in the Red Sea,
through which the Jews had passed dry shod,
and they were all drowned, but King Pharaoh
and his sons stayed on shore. (Laughter.) The
result was that he enjoyed the throne for many
years and his sons succeeding him. There were
not at that period any sociahsts or social
democrats or liberal-minded subjects or news
papers to question divine right and threaten
its continuance. This war with its awful
sacrifices is now entering upon its fourth year.
It is estimated that four mUlions of Germans
have been kiUed and wounded and every
famUy in Germany has lost one or more of its
members, but the Kaiser and his six sons have
stUl undisputed leadership and vigorous health.
They have stayed on shore. (Laughter.)
We have never appreciated fuUy how much
of history and the instructive teaching of it
there is iu portraiture. Important events foUow
each other so rapidly in the story of nations
[

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
and periods overlap which are so fuU of heroes
and men of genius in every walk of life, of
evolution and revolution, that it is impossible
with the enormous exactions of our busy times
to keep properly familiar with the past. We
are making history now every day and world
history of such importance that the whole
world is to be, as a result of this tragedy, so
reconstructed that future generations will make
a new start from this war and what has resulted,
and care httle what preceded it. The Civil
War led for a generation to an absolute forget-
fulness of the Revolution and what it stood for.
Very few of us have the leisure to explore
the library, but a portrait always interests
and arouses inquhy. Two conspicuous examples
are Washington and Lincoln. Stuart's portrait
of Washington and Carpenter's of Lincoln have
been accepted as the two best presentations
of those great men while in life. They are in
aU the school books, all the histories, every
library, museum and State Capitol, and on
frequent occasions Ulumine the pages of the
daUy and weekly newspapers and also the
magazines. There is no doubt that this con
stant reproduction to the eye of youth, middle
age and old age of Washington and Lincoln
keep before each generation the story of the
founding of our Republic, of the emancipation
of the slave and of the reconstruction of our
nation. Every child who has arrived at school
[300]

THE UNVEILING OF A PORTRAIT
age can point to a picture of Washington or of
Lincoln with full knowledge of theh lives and
deeds. This method of teaching is as old as the
human race. Sign language gives evidence of
this in the picture the cave man sketched or
carved upon the waUs of his primitive abode
which are Ulustrations of the educational
efforts of our ancestors millions of years ago.
The sculptor is far more hmited than the
portrait painter. We have a recent example
of a controversy which would never have
arisen in the case of a portrait, because the
sitting impresses the personality of the subject
upon the artist. In this recent statue of
Lincoln, the sculptor, of course, never saw him,
but has endeavored with great talent to present
hi one figure Lincoln's divergent characteristics.
I knew him very well and saw him in several
moods. He never got away from his early
trials, experiences and influences. He was
normally always the country lawyer, the
inimitable story teller, the keen politician and
shrewd man of affahs. On the other hand,
he was an ideahst of the loftiest sentiments
and the tenderest sympathies and emotions.
The artist has endeavored to convey in metal
these characteristics, but to grasp the idea one
must have imagination and see what the artist
unquestionably was impressed by in his study
of Lincoln's character. Such a statue cannot
be an accurate portrait. What we always
[301]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
want is the man as his family, his friends and
his neighbors knew him.
There was a famous inquhy which went,
years and years ago, through the country and
that was, "What becomes of all the pins?"
Quite as important a one is, "What becomes
of all the portraits?" There is nothing that
disappears so rapidly as a family portrait.
The chUdren look at it, they care for it, but the
grandchUdren — it is nothing to them; and the
great-grandchildren don't care anything about it
except they' have a genealogical craze and want
to accumulate a lot of those things on the
walls. ' But the family portrait, as a rule, is
sent to the garret, from there to the junk shop
and then into the dust bin. You can go into
junk and antiquarian shops all over New York
and find family portraits which they wiU sell
to you for the frame. But if the portrait
happens to find a place in some society which
has permanence, into some institution which
wUl live, then there is an opportunity for the
man or the woman who were painted to have
the iUustration of his or her life teach its lesson.
But there has become a new view and value
of the portrait. All the distinguished men
and women, and the men and women of no
distinction whatever, but who had the money,
who were painted in the period of Sh Joshua
Reynolds, Gainsborough, Raeburn, Romney
and Hopner, have portraits which are of incal-
[302 1

THE UNVEILING OF A PORTRAIT
culable value. A Sh Joshua brings one hundred
and twenty-five thousand dollars, a Gains
borough one hundred thousand, and so on down
to the lowest twenty-five thousand dollars. I
trust, Mr. Quistgaard, the day wiU come when
yours will be as valuable.
There are numerous famihes in the old
world, I know many of them, where the fortune
has been dissipated and the family saved by the
family portraits. The ancestor, either by
grants from the King or by his extraordinary
genius in some line, accumulates a vast fortune.
Then he buys his great estate with its forests,
hunting preserves, meadows and palace in
town. In natural course his son succeeds,
and is foUowed by the grandson and the great-
grandson. By that time the fortune has been
impahed and the estate mortgaged, but upon
the waUs are the Sh Joshua, the Gainsborough
and other masters, and that heh, facing bank
ruptcy, capitalizes his ancestors. It is one of
the wonders of modern finance.
I know an instance where, through no fault
of his own, a distinguished member of the
British House of Lords, in consequence of the
extravagance of his father, grandfather and
great-grandfather, found his estate so mort
gaged and encumbered that he could not meet
even the interest upon the debts. What to do
he did not know. He was in despah, when
one day a picture dealer called and said, "My
[303]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
lord, I understand you have a famous Sh
Joshua. May I look at it?" "AU right," he
said. So he went in and my lord coming
in a few minutes afterwards saw the picture
dealer taking this picture down. He said,
"What are you doing?" "Why," the dealer
answered, "an American chent of mine has
heard of that picture and is exceedingly anxious
to have it, and I am taking it to him." "Sh,
I don't sell my ancestors. " The picture dealer
laid on the piano twenty thousand pounds in
new crisp Bank of England notes and then took
the picture under his arm and started for the
door. My lord said afterwards to a friend, in
narrating the occurrence, "I wanted to stop
him, but I had to have the money. " (Laughter.)
I remember when a series of portraits were
used as a picturesque and effective argument.
President Harrison sent for me to come to
Washington. When I arrived, the Hon.
Stephen B. Elkins, who was Secretary of War,
called upon me with a message from the
President. "The President wants you," he
said, "to 'accept the position of Secretary of
State in his Cabinet, Mr. Blaine having
resigned. " When I explained to hhn that it was
impossible for me at that time to make such a
sudden change in my life, he said, "Let's take a
walk. " He conducted me over to the offices of
the Secretary of State and then pointed to the
portraits, beginning with Thomas Jefferson, of
[304]

THE UNVEILING OF A PORTRAIT
those who had held that position. He said,
"You will notice that in the hne of Secretaries
of State there is more distinction in statesman
ship and abUity than in the line of Presidents of
the United States. To be in that hne is fame. "
My friends, I want to congratulate my friend.
Dr. Dexter, upon his dehghtful address. I
have heard a great many talks at Yale com
mencements on Yale's past, but I never heard
anything so informing and so delicious as the
bits of student history which came up under
that picture which was drawn so deftly by my
distinguished friend. But I felt also about it a
bit of embarrassment because when your
President asked me to come here for the un-
veihng of this picture, he said, "I have selected
for the time when your picture wiU be unveiled
and when you wUl make some remarks in
regard to it the day when Dr. Dexter from
Yale is to speak to us about conditions in
coUege a hundred years ago." (Laughter.)
WeU, the Lord has treated me very well,
both in vigor and health, but I want to assure
you, ladies and gentlemen, I am not in that
class. (Laughter.) I hope to be and cer
tainly am using every effort in my power so
that when the next professor, or the Professor
himself, I trust, extends his remarks and his
stories of student life at Yale a hundred years
ago, I can sit on the platform and say, "Yes, I
know all about that, I was there. " (Laughter.)
[ 305]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Our meeting to-day is an illustration in a
minor way of our national situation and popular
characteristics. A militaristic and autocratic
government trains its people from the cradle
to the grave primarily for service to the State.
When war comes civU life practically ceases,
and the thought and power of the people is
concentrated on the contest. We, on the
contrary, have developed as individuals and
our thinking and our efforts are along peaceful
lines. We are in the greatest and most savage war
of all times, and our civihzation and institu
tions are at stake. In our first six months we
have recruited hah as many men and spent
four times as much money as Lincoln did
during the whole Civil War. Our hearts are
enhsted and our minds are intent upon victory.
Nevertheless, the ways of normal peaceful
hving are so deeply imbedded that we take
on war as a necessary burden. The flying
needles knitting comforts for soldiers and saUors
are present here and everywhere, but we enter
with keen enjoyment with Dr. Dexter into the
faculty and student Ihe at Yale during its first
century. Music lovers enjoy the opera and
concert, and the theatre and screen are of
absorbing interest, but we all support the
President in every effort and every call for any
sacrifice for success for right, justice, humanity
and liberty. (Applause.) [306]

Speech at the Luncheon of the Pilgrims Society,
in Honor of Brig. General William A.White,
R.M.O., Bankers Club, New York, Decem
ber 18, 1917.
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
In these war times greetings are frequent
by the PUgrims Society of New York to the
visiting delegations from Great Britain, and
by the Pilgrims Society of London to repre
sentative Americans. We have received here
every branch of the service diplomatic, mili
tary, naval, trade and recruiting, who have
come to us in this interchange of ideas and
experiences. The United States and Great
Britain have been at peace for a hundred and
two years, but during that period there have
been many occasions when friendly relations
were strained to a point where war was averted
with difficulty, and after diplomacy succeeded
there was left a residuum of hostile feelings.
Our differences arose mainly from the fact
of a general misunderstanding of each other's
ideals and aspirations and a misunderstanding
easily fostered by ignorance. Of our vast
population very few went abroad and we were
more familiar with the stage type of English
men represented by Lord Dundreary than by
[307]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Mr. Gladstone. At the same time the average
Englishman knew the stage Uncle Sam better
than he did Abraham Lincoln. Two years and
a half of war, and especially six months since
we entered it, have done more to make us
acquainted, to bring us together, than a century
of peace. There is no amalgam like the trenches
and no brotherhood so strong as fighting, liv
ing and "dying, and winning victories for the
same ends and ideals.
A hundred years ago autocracy ruled the old
world, and the United States was alone of
democratic governments, but to-day Great
Britain and her self-governing colonies of Can
ada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
have the rule of the people by representative
governments. France and Italy are highly
developed democracies, so are the Scandina
vian governments, and Russia, though groping
in the dark, will find its way to orderly liberty.
Germany, Austria and Turkey alone represent
the divinity of kings, the supremacy of mil
itarism and the lust of conquest.
Two incidents illustrate the perils of auto
cratic power. One is the correspondence be
tween the Kaiser and the Czar, in which Willie
and Nickie treated independent nations, peo
ples and governments as if the world was a
chess board and these two sovereign players
could move the pawns as they liked, regardless
of any rights or any law except theh own
[308]

TRIBUTE TO GENERAL WM. A. WHITE
ambitions. I do not give the exact language,
but the correspondence ran like this :
Dear Nickie:
The time has arrived when we better take
over Denmark. Love to Alice. WiUie.
Dear WiUie:
All right about Denmark. You arrange
details. Love to Victoria. Nickie.
Dear Nickie:
We had better include France.. Love to
Alice. WUUe.
Dear Wilhe:
I am rather bound up with France, but will
see you later. Love to Victoria. Nickie.
The second incident was the interview
granted by the Kaiser to Ambassador Gerard.
"The Kaiser shook his finger warningly in the
face of the American Ambassador and said
threatingly, "When this war is over, I -wiU
stand no more nonsense from the United States."
This translated means, "I have conquered Bel
gium, I am on my way to Paris, I wiU absorb
the wealth of France, I wUl dominate Great
Britain, I will conquer Russia, and as the spoils
of all the world found theh way to Rome, so
shall they traverse the seas and the highways
[309 [

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
to Germany. Your country is the richest and
from your accumulated wealth, exhaustless
resources and enterprising people, I shall col
lect the largest toll of tribute and indemnity."^
But France bared her breast to the onrushing
hosts of the Kaiser at Verdun and said, "You
shall not pass." The British, with their
small army, sacrificed most of it when the
French at the Marne, as their ancestors did
six centuries before, saved liberty, civilization
and Christianity.
The English language to-day is taught in the
schools of all nations, but is native to a people
which encircles the globe. It embraces in its
literature the best of human thought, achieve
ment and hope. It is an insphing fact that
now as the sun pursues its course around the
earth, its morning rays are greeted in every clime
by English speaking peoples, united as never
before in their efforts, in their battles and in
theh ideals.
The God of battles is appealed to daily by the
contending hosts, but there are two Gods.
The poet Heinrich Heine, in a famous prophecy
eighty years ago, said that the Germans would
resurrect from their graves the stone gods of
theh ancestors, and the hammer of Thor
would smash the weakness represented by
Christian cathedrals. When the commander
of the U-boat, which sunk the Lusitania and
drowned its passengers; when the commander
[310]

TRIBUTE TO GENERAL WM. A. WHITE
of the U-boat summoned to his deck the sur
vivors of the Belgian Prince, and then sub
merged hilariously leaving them in the ocean,
both were praised and decorated with the iron
cross, and their acts were proclaimed as proofs
of God's help. When Belgium was ravaged
with unspeakable horrors, when the viUages
of Northern France were destroyed, their or
chards cut down, theh men killed, their women
outraged and deported into slavery, and it was
claimed that all this was done by the help of
God and in partnership with him, that God
was again the stone god of the German forests.
When the other day the British army captured
Jerusalem, and after a lapse of six centuries
brought the sacred places under Christian rule;
when they sacrificed thousands of lives to win
by the bayonet rather than by shell which
would desecrate hallowed temples and tombs,
they restored to the world the spot where Christ
died for the brotherhood of man. The Christ
whose doctrines, uplifting the world for two
thousand years, have given to us all the bless
ings which we enjoy, it is that God under whose
banner of the cross we fight, under whom we
are united and with whose blessings we wUl win.
I am not discouraged by the troubles in
Russia and her present helplessness. The
French revolution broke the sheU of Divine
Right, but it took generations to establish
orderly liberty. Events move more rapidly
[311]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
with us in these heroic days. A people emerg
ing from autocracy to democracy are expe
riencing a change of hfe. They are hysterical,
see visions, dream dreams, but in the evolutions
of democracy, the people will escape from the
tyranny of the mob as they have from the
oppression of the Czars and justice, right and
Uberty will prevail.
It is easy for the dhectors of public opinion
in Germany to inspire the press to teach the
people that Great Britain is fighting to crush
German commerce and trade and industries,
that France is fighting for revenge and re-
conquest of her provinces, but the United
States is puzzling the editorial writer of the
Kaiser. He is worried by the war message of
President Wilson, especially when he finds that
it was so generally accepted by the American
people. He is still more worried when the
American people six months afterwards with
unanimity and enthusiasm hail the masterly
statement of President Wilson a few days since
in the war message against Austria. In looking
for a selfish purpose, he writes that the United
States desires to annex Switzerland. Happily
the United States, its government and its people
have been interpreted to the German people
for generations by the letters which millions
of emigrants have written home describing
the prosperity and the freedom which have
come to them in this blessed land.
[312]

TRIBUTE TO GENERAL WM. A. WHITE
Thirty years ago I was in Prague, the capital
of Bohemia, as a tourist. A committee called
upon me and asked me to go with them to a
large garden where were gathered thousands
of Bohemians. They said, "We had with us
recently some hundreds of our countrymen
from the United States who were visiting us.
They told us such wonderful stories of your
country that when we found you were here
we called to ask you to tell us more."
Their band played the "Star Spangled Banner"
and long before we were accustomed to so greet
our national anthem they arose and stood
uncovered. No barrier can stop the truth.
The American soldiers in the trenches will have
every appliance of modern warfare, but they
have more, they have the purpose, the unself
ish purpose, for which they are there. They
are not fighting for territory, or for loot or the
lust of victory, they are not fighting for glory
or fame, they are fighting that they may pre
serve for themselves and theh countrjTnen, and
that they may help aU the world, including
theh present enemies, to enjoy the blessings
of government "of the people, by the people
and for the people." The inamortal words of
the Declaration of Independence, "All men are
created equal, with unalienable rights among
which are hfe, liberty and the pursuit of hap
piness," are with them. They will go over the
top. They will penetrate barbed wire defences,
[313]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
trenches, dug-outs and pill boxes. They can
not be stopped by barrages, machine guns,
rifle fire or bayonets. They wUl penetrate
the triple armor forged about hearts and
brains. The ideas of liberty will demoralize
enemies and convert its foes.

[314]

Speech at the Inauguration of Mr. Depew as
President of the Pilgrims Society, Bankers
Club, New York, Wednesday, January
23, 1918.
Brother Pilgrims:
I have been in active life for sixty-two years.
During that period I have done my best to
meet the requhements of American citizenship
and to win such honors and rewards as I could.
Looking back on this long period and fully
appreciating what life has done for me in con
tinuing health and vigor, mental and physical,
on the eve of eighty-four, I am content and
happy. Of the many honors which have come
to me, pohtical, professional and social, none
has given me more pleasure and pride than this
selection by you at this crisis in the world affahs
as President of our Society.
The record of our year, since our last annual
meeting, maintains the high standard of the
past. We have, however, met with a great
and irreparable loss in the death of our late
President, Joseph H. Choate. No man was
more perfectly fitted for a position. He was
oitr foremost American citizen in private life
and had the affection and admhation of his
countrymen. During his six years as Ambas
sador to Great Britain, he not only met all the
requhements of his great office with remarkable
[315]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
abihty, but he impressed himself, as few
Americans have done, upon the people of
England. His personahty and his eloquence
were great factors in cementing the bonds of
unity between our two countries. Earher than
most Americans he grasped the significance of
this war and the part which our country should
take. He was an advocate of preparedness and
of the United States joining the Allies for com
mon purposes and common protection of our
most cherished principles and ideals. He died
in service, and his last days will be a memorable
part of the history of this struggle.
Our two societies, the one here and the other
in England, have been laboring successfuUy
for years to remove misunderstandings and
promote friendlier relations between these two
great English-speaking countries, and that
object has been accelerated by the war beyond
the fondest dreams of the Pilgrims. The rape
of Belgium and the sinking of the Lusitania,
with continued outrages and horrors, were
strengthening ties until the President brought
us all together by his declaration of war in
April last year. Lloyd George, the Premier of
Great Britain, formulated in a wonderful speech
the aims and purposes of all the Allies, but Pres
ident Wilson a few days later in an address to
Congress, which is one of the ablest and most
illuminating state papers in our history, made
so clear and emphatic what we are all fighting
[316]

INAUGURATION SPEECH
for, that his utterance has been accepted by the
world as the purpose and object of our alhance,
of our diplomacies, armies and navies. When
the victory comes, as it will, the greatest and
strongest power in men and resources will sit
at the table deshing neither territory nor
indemnity nor reward, but determined that
this world shall hereafter, so far as the unity of
civilized nations can make it, be a paradise of
peace, justice, humanity and right.
We, who have been laboring for many years
for unity among English-speaking peoples, can
rejoice in a triumph where Great Britain will
develop along her lines, and the self-governing
colonies of Canada, Aiistraha and South Africa
according to theh conditions, and the United
States in accordance with its genius and neces
sities, but together they will have common
ideals and asphations.
If our marvelous prosperity and the wonder
ful results on the material side which have come
to masterful men have tended to create classes
and class antagonism, it is one of the beneficent
results of this war that the equal draft of our
people and theh resources is producing national
unity. The camp is the great leveler. The
country and the city boys, the young men of
the East Side and of the Avenue, the product
of the clubs and of the gangs, are occupying the
same tents, having the same rations, wearing
the same uniforms, subject to the same discipline
[317]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
and performing the same duties. They are
discovering that the same manhood, patriotism
and Americanism are the -foundation of them
aU. The gangster is becoming a gentleman,
the gentleman a democrat, and both good
Americans. If we would preserve this healthy,
vigorous and insphing democratic sphit among
future generations and provide for the safety
of our country from internal disorders or foreign
foes, we must have as part of our permanent
policy universal military training. The un
expected and discouraging development in our
trial and distress of racial disloyalty has demon
strated that our much boasted "melting pot"
has proved a failure, but the amalgam of the
camp educates and trains the soldier and the
citizen to be at all times and under all ch-
cumstances American.
We had last week a singular spectacle. Men
who had come here and having no opportunities
for rising above theh station in theh own coun
tries, developed under the hospitality and equal
chances with our own native born into wonder
ful prosperity and wealth. They have suc
ceeded in business and in the professions. No
inducement under Heaven could make them
return to the countries from which they had
emigrated and subject theh children to the hon
rule of autocracy and mUitarism, and. because
they were using theh position and influence
to aid the enemy and defeat the United States,
[318]

INAUGURATION SPEECH
they were arrested and put upon a boat to be
sent to an internment camp in the South.
They were taken out of this most inclement
of aU seasons, out of the rigor and deprivations
of our insufficient coal supply, to be treated
with every comfort and every luxury under
the balmy skies of Georgia and Florida. Every
shivering citizen and citizeness who saw them
go envied them theh trip. What was theh
answer? As the boat passed the Statue of
Liberty, they gathered at the raU and sang
' ' Deutschland uber AUes. ' ' If Americans under
shnUar conditions, and for like offenses, had
done the same thing in Germany, they would
have been lined against a wall and theh
journey to another world would have been
hastened by rifle and machine gun.
We are to-day in a controversy at Washing
ton which is interesting deeply the whole
country. There is a feehng everywhere that
the success of this war depends upon the
absence of partisanship. It is the people's
war and all parties are anxious for victory.
We have the highest respect and the greatest
loyalty for our President, and we want to
strengthen his hands. We can learn lessons
from the experience of our Alhes. In the most
terrible of trials, they have been taught and
slowly acquhed theh present pohcies. I was
in England a month before the war when
partisan politics were never so fierce. They
[319]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
had reached a point where civil war seemed
imminent. I was in London again for several
months after the war was declared. The Prime
Minister of England, who has much of the
power of our President, was Mr. Asquith. He
is the ablest parliamentarian, one of the great
est debaters and one of the most accomphshed
statesmen of his time. He said, "I now see
that to conduct this war successfully I must
have as my coadjutors the leaders of all
parties." He was too conservative and was
succeeded by Lloyd George. Lloyd George for
twenty years had been the most uncom
promising of partisans. He had fought with
out mercy the aristocracy and the Unionist
party, but he formed a War Cabinet in which
he placed Bahour, the leader of the Unionists,
the strongest members of the aristocracy and
the ablest of the labor leaders. He tried to
put in both factions from Ireland.
I remember as if it was yesterday the
inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as one of the
dramatic episodes in our history. As he
faced that vast crowd in front of the Capi
tol, few had ever seen or knew much about
him. Surrounding him as his Cabinet were
the ablest leaders in American pubhc life,
nearly aU of them his opponents, some from
his own and some from the other party.
The assembled people knew them and aU
about them. [320]

INAUGURATION SPEECH
Mr. Lincoln made only one appointment on
account of friendship and that was his inthnate
friend, Caleb H. Smith, who had been a col
league in Congress. But Smith was not equal
to the demands of that strenuous period and
was replaced by a stronger man, John P.
Usher. Simon Cameron was appointed secre
tary of war. Cameron was able, had great
influence and power and had been a most
important factor in the success of Mr. Lincoln's
nomination. But when, after a year's trial,
Mr. Lincoln became convinced that for a more
vigorous prosecution of the war an exceptional
official was requhed, he asked for Mr. Cameron's
resignation. He then astonished the country
by not only going outside his party, but by
selecting an uncompromising Democrat, who
had been his most bitter and virulent critic
and had characterized hhn as a gorilla. So
Edwin M. Stanton, the most energetic, able
and brutal of war secretaries, had the oppor
tunity and won great fame. Mr. Lincoln with
rare tact maintained harmony among these
hostUe elements in his Cabinet. He so utUized
the superior abihty of each that the country
had the ser-vice of its ablest statesmen. But
the President was stronger because of their
strength. He became and remained supreme
master and stands alone in the people's
memory as the genius of the reconstruction
of our Union. [321]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
The four greatest constructive statesmen in
our history are Alexander HamUton, Thomas
Jefferson, Daniel Webster and Abraham Lin
coln. If either of them had the responsibilities
of this war, which are greater than all our
wars put together, he could not have survived
the task, but together theh united experience
and unequaUed intelhgence would have utilized
all our resources and consolidated the country
confidently behind them. We want President
Wilson to remain our President, we don't
want to overburden or kill him, we want him
to have at his service all the help there is in
the demonstrated brains of our countrymen.
There is a story of the Old Testament. The
chUdren of Israel were at the crisis of theh
long journey from Egypt. Amalek and his
hosts were arrayed against them. They rep
resented the ruthless aristocracy and militarism
of that period. Moses sent out Joshua with
the army of the Israehtes to fight. That he
might watch and dhect the battle, he sat on a
hill and had with him the leaders who had
differed with him but had the experience of
theh forty years of trial. When Moses held
up his hands, Joshua succeeded; but when
through fatigue his hands fell down, the tide
of battle was with the enemy. Then Moses,
the most seh-rehant character in sacred or
profane history, caUed for the help of Aaron
and Hur, who were with him, and said to them,
[322]

INAUGURATION SPEECH
"You stand on either side of me and hold
up my hands." The result was that behind
Joshua's army and in its ranks the whole power
of the Israelites was united, the victory won
and the Promised Land gained.

[ 323]

Speech at the Dinner given by Mr. Julien
Stevens Ulman to Dr. Milenko Vesnitch,
Representative of Serbia, January 31, 1918.
Your Excellency and Friends:
The characteristic of the United States has
been its hospitable reception of peoples of aU
nations since the formation of our Government.
We have furnished an asylum for the oppressed
and opportunities for the ambitious. We have
welcomed them all to the equal liberties, the
equal opportunities and the equal prospects
which we, ourselves, enjoy. We have thrown
open to them our citizenship and given them
the protection of our sovereignty and our
flag. They have all advanced in life and theh
chUdren with our common schools, high schools
and colleges, have reached the foremost posi
tion in every department of American hfe.
The acid test of theh gratitude, loyalty and
appreciation has been theh attitude and con
duct during this world war. The proof of
theh patriotism is that among so many milhons
so few have been actively or sympatheticaUy
traitors to theh adopted country. The great
mass have stood loyally by the United States
and the President in this crisis.
WhUe this war with the rigid military
[324]

TRIBUTE TO DR. MILENKO VESNITCH
demands of theh own countries has stopped
this tide of emigration, we have had a singular
and very dehghtful duty in welcoming the
representatives of our Alhes, with whom we are
fighting for all that makes life worth the living.
Fhst came the Enghsh Mission, headed by Mr.
Bahour. We owe a special debt to this dis
tinguished Statesman because as Prime Minister
of Great Britain at the time of the Spanish
War, he prevented a European coahtion
against us. The impressive idea in the recep
tion of that mission was that, after a hundred
years of peace, the Enghsh speaking peoples
of the world had become so one in theh ideals
that we were in a close alhance for the same
world purposes, liberties and rights. It was
an insphing thought that the example and
principles of the American Revolution had so
permeated the Mother Country that their insti
tutions and hberties differ from ours in form
but not in substance. There was tender
affection in the welcome of the French. We
rejoiced that after a hundred and forty years
in the crisis of the fate of France, when she
was giving all she possessed for her hberties,
we could reciprocate in kind for the help which
she gave us in our trial and without which
we could not have won our independence. We
had sympathy with the asphations of Italy,
and for outraged Belgium a grim determina
tion to act with the representatives of liberty
[325]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
and righteousness for Belgium's restoration
and reparation.
And now, we are glad to receive this delega
tion from httle Serbia. Hidden away in her
mountains and so distant, her trials, her suffer
ings, her sacrifices and her patriotism have
not been so well known nor come so near to
us as Belgium, and yet to save her sovereignty,
her honor and her soul one-half of her popula
tion have died upon the battlefield, or by out
rages upon the civil population, of burnings and
massacres and starvation. When the roll is
made up of those who have given most and
suffered most for theh country, a front rank
wiU be assigned to Serbia.
I sometimes think that the nations wiU care
httle for their history prior to this war. Its
magnitude and its tragedies are so vast and
universal that for present and future generations
history will be written as if the whole of it was
embraced within this war period. Macaulay
made the most fascinating of histories out of a
section of the Enghsh story and that not of the
greatest importance. Future Macaulays can
find events and the evolution of principles far
more fascinating and thriUing than any in the
world's history in every year of this conflict.
It will give to the world endless plots for novels
of entrancing and captivating charm and it has
the materials for epics far greater than came to
Homer or Vhgil or Dante, or of dramas beyond
[326]

TRIBUTE TO DR. MILENKO VESNITCH
anything of Shakespeare. Great lessons are
taught in pictures, a single canvass will embrace
more of history and suggestion than a hbrary.
When we look at a painting by DetaiUe of one
of the battles of the Franco-Prussian War of
1870, we read the whole tragedy of the betrayal
of France, of her superb struggle for her life
and of what she lost because of the overwhelming
power of her enemy.
After this war some great artist will execute a
masterpiece which will become the greatest of
historical canvases. It -will represent that
fateful meeting in the Imperial Palace at Pots-.
dam a few months preceding the declaration
of war. The Kaiser presided, the Crown Prince
and his brothers were there, the General Staff
was present and the Chancellor. The people
were not represented. They never are in a
mihtary autocracy. It is for them not to reason
why but to do and die. The General Staff said:
"After forty years of preparation Germany is
in a position now to conquer the world. We
have the largest and best disciplined army and
the second best navy. We have accumulated
mUitary stores and supplies for over two years.
Belgium will not and cannot resist our advance.
We can be in Paris in a few weeks and before
France can get ready. Our Emperor controls,
as he has demonstrated, the weak Czar Nicholas,
so we have nothing to fear in Russia. We wUl
this time make a clean job of France, her
[327]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
resources will be ample compensation for the
present and immense revenues for the future.
We need have no fear of the interference of
England because our Ambassador informs us
that she is on the eve of civil war on account
of the Irish question. After we have conquered
France and are in possession of the channel
ports of France and Belgium, Great Britain
will be glad to make any terms for peace. Our
plans in the East are so perfected that we will
easily dominate the Balkans, Persian Gulf,
Mesopotamia, Syria and Egjrpt on the one
hand and India on the other will be within our
grasp. Then Berhn will be like ancient Rome
and all Germany wUl share in the tribute
flowing in constantly increasing volumes over
every sea and from every continent for our
power and enrichment. As for the German
people we have through our schools, colleges and
universities, through the pulpit and the press,
all of which we inspire and control, infused them
with an ambition equal to our own and with a
belief that nothing can resist nor ought to be
permitted to stand in the way of our conquest
of the world. The only thing necessary is to
find a pretext and that the ChanceUor must do."
The meeting adjourned and the Crown Prince
wild with joy said, "Now we will have a jolly
good war." The pretext was found in the
murder of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife
by a Serbian student. Under the dictation of
328]

TRIBUTE TO DR. MILENKO VESNITCH
the German Government, Austria demanded
of Serbia submission within twelve hours to
twelve peremptory orders. Serbia, anxious for
peace and knowing that four millions could
not resist a hundred and twenty millions of
Germany and Austria, immediately assented to
eleven of these propositions and only asked that
the twelfth, which was her sovereignty as an
independent nation, might be submitted to the
Hague Tribunal. According to estimates made
by an Enghsh statesman, as the immediate
result of the conclusions of that little gathering
at the palace at Potsdam forty-seven miUions
of people, or almost one-half of the entire pop
ulation of the United States, have died in battle,
or of starvation or of deportations like the
Armenians, or of ruthless destruction of their
homes with themselves as in Belgium, Northern
France, Russia, Poland and Serbia.
Now that we are well along in the fourth
year of the war and that its tragedies are of daily
repetition, now that our President, representing
the largest potential power in the conflict, has
said the United States asks nothing for itself but
the peace, the safety, the rights and the liber
ties of the whole world, how do we account that
the military autocracy of Germany can still
have the loyal support of an obedient popula
tion. A population which is equally suffering
in the loss of its sons and in great privations,
but not equally suffering in the devastation of
[329]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
its cities, villages and homes. The answer is
that nations fight for either patriotism or plunder.
If it is for patriotism, they are always ready for
peace with justice and right and liberty. If it
is for plunder, then, as in all cases of brigandage
and phacy, the share of each is the continuing
stimulant. Patriotism can be merciful but phacy
never. It is always ruthless because it has to
make sacrifices for that which it comes to believe
is its own, and when that belief is coupled Avith
partnership with God conquest has the soothing
of conscience and the fanaticism of religion.
Of all countries Serbia has suffered most
cruelly because of this ruthless spirit. She is
so surrounded on all sides by enemies that the
Allies could give her little help. Austria and
Bulgaria were hungry for her land and resources.
Turkey on the other side wanted to again
extend over her population the oppression,
extractions and murders of her six hundred years
of rule, while Greece was unsjrmpathetic if not
actively hostile. The Russian revolution had
paralyzed the active aid of that great power.
The world has been interested for three thousand
years in the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks
under Xenophon, but that army was marching
through a hostile country which they had
invaded to reach the sea and theh homes.
Each succeeding generation finds thriUing in
terest in the retreat of Napoleon's grand army
from Russia, but in Serbia we have a retreat
[330]

TRIBUTE TO DR. MILENKO VESNITCH
which will become historic, a tragedy without a
parallel and a resource of most romantic interest.
It was the Serbian army driven through theh
own country across the border, and to the sea,
accompanied by old men, women and children,
theh fathers, theh mothers, theh brothers,
theh sisters, who preferred death itself to the
slavery with which they were threatened. The
Serbian army, refreshed and invigorated among
its friends, has returned to the front. It is daily
doing heroic service to regain its homes. As a
bit of land is recovered, the people come back
to restore theh devastated but loved homes.
Our friend here tonight, the cultured statesman,
the distinguished lawyer, the man of letters,
in the strength of his vigorous manhood,
represents superbly to us a people which can
neither be enslaved nor killed, but who in the
righteous adjustments of victory will come
again into the independence which they won
from Turkey and into the sovereignty and hber
ty of a progressive and unconquerable people

[331 ]

Speech at a Mass Meeting of the Citizens of
Bates County, Va., at Hot Springs, July
4, 1918.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
On the Fourth day of July, 1776, this day
was consecrated as a patriotic anniversary. It
was to be celebrated forever by the American
people in memory of their charter of liberties.
How it was to be celebrated was best indicated
by a speech attributed by Daniel Webster to
old John Adams in which he said : "I am apt to
beheve that it will be celebrated by succeeding
generations as the great anniversary festival.
It ought to be commemorated as the day of
deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God
Ahnighty. It ought to be solemnized with
pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports,
guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from
one end of this continent to the other, from
this time forward for evermore."
In its true spirit the day was observed all
over our country so long as the heroes and vet
erans of the Revolution remained alive. It
gradually became neglected or perverted for
many reasons, one, and the principal, that its
due observance and the lessons which it taught
were not properly a part of the curriculum
[332]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
of our schools. German unity in the worst of
causes, in the most aggressive, savage and in
excusable of wars, is a lesson which teaches
what can be done with a people if taken in
infancy and every means of instruction utilized
for a single purpose.
Then again, some twenty millions of immi
grants came to our land. They were of many
races and languages, and many traditions and
ideals. Most of them had only the vaguest ap
prehension of our Constitution, our institutions
and our laws. They should have learned our
national spirit and the meaning of the Dec
laration of Independence. Unfortunately we
neglected their education. We permitted them
to form separate communities where they
brought up theh children in their own lan
guages and traditions and with a divided loy
alty between the country from which they
came and the country in which they acquired
citizenship, independence and liberty. They
celebrated their own national holidays and kept
alive the ideals and traditions of the institu
tions from which they had fled rather than the
Fourth of July. So, after a time the Fourth
of July was observed as a holiday because
made so by law but instead of reviving and
reinforcing the great truths which it embodied
it became a day purely of pleasure, for excur
sions, picnics, and social entertainments, for
dinners and dances. [333]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
One of the beneficent results of our entrance
upon this war is that to-day we go back and
envision the Fourth of July, 1776. We sit with
those fathers of the Republic who, when they
signed theh names to the immortal Declaration
of Independence, pledged to it also their lives,
their property and theh honor. We feel what
they felt, we believe what they believed and we
enjoy the realization of what was to them only
an ardent and prayerful dream. Their hopes
have been reahzed, and all theh visions have
come true. From thirteen colonies scattered
along the Atlantic coast the principles which
they enunciated that day have enabled theh
descendants and those who came afterwards and
accepted the truths of theh declaration to peo
ple a continent and to build a Republic which
is the most powerful nation in the world, which
enjoys all the liberties which they promised; a
nation which has proved by its 142 years of ex
perience that the truths enunciated in 1776
were immortal. A hundred millions of people
are to-day, as never before, assembled to
gether, not only to rejoice in what has been
achieved, not only to glory in our liberties, the
equality of our laws, the unity of our people,
our wonderful progress in material prosperity,
the development of our resources and the uni
versality of a prosperity and industrial happi
ness never known before in any nation, but to
return thanks to God that he has so signally
[334]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
blessed the work which was begun by those in
sphed founders of our Republic.
To-day, messages from the President of the
United States, one of which has been read here,
are read also in 37,000 places in all parts of our
vast domain where the people are gathered as
we are to celebrate in spirit, faith and hope the
Fourth Day of July.
But this Fourth of July makes a record of
its own. It is not only celebrated in this un
precedented manner in the United States and
in all our outlying colonies and possessions, but
it is receiving respect, recognition and observ
ance wherever round this globe there is a
group, however small, of American citizens.
Its greatest significance, however, is that it
goes beyond our borders and penetrates the
territories, the people and the hearts of all the
twenty-one nationalities who are united under
one banner fighting for civilization and liberty.
France has made it a national holiday and it is
celebrated there with the same fervor with
which they celebrate the anniversary of theh
liberty from tyranny on the 14th of this month.
Our American army, occupying a front of forty
miles, within a few hundred yards of the Ger
man trenches, have on either side of them the
French army with its millions of patriots and
heroes. Along that whole line this is a sacred
holiday. The Stars and Stripes and the Tri
color of France will be entwined. "The Star
[335]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Spangled Banner" and the "Marseillaise" will
alternately fill the air with theh inspiring and
militant music. All over France these celebra
tions wiU take place. The President, Poincar^,
leading on the civU side, and Foch, Commander
in Chief of all the armies of the Allies, on the
military. Over a hundred years ago when Washington
died, Napoleon dhected that a memorial should
be celebrated by the armies of France. That
was out of respect and veneration for the great
est of men and the father of the American
Republic. To-day's celebration is not one of
veneration for a great patriot but of the brother
hood of men who are united for the greatest
purpose for which we can live or for which we
may die, and that is the preservation in our
institutions of all that makes life worth the
hving. The millions of Germans, Austrians, Hunga
rians and Bohemians in this country have been
writing for generations to theh friends at home
of the liberties which they enjoy but which
were denied to their brethren in the home
land, of the prosperity which had come to
them which was impossible in the Fatherland,
and of equality before the law and the ab
sence of classes, caste, pri-vilege and militarism,
which meant so much for the prosperity, the
independence, the character and the future of
theh children. These letters brought more im-
[336]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
migrants to swell the millions aheady here.
They also carried this information into most of
the homes of the enemy's country. I wonder
— and it is a pregnant thought — whether the
shouts and the cheers which are carried over
No Man's Land into the enemy trenches, on
this eventful Fourth of July may not start a
dangerous inquiry among those who are being
led to slaughter day by day under the flag of
autocracy and militarism. It seems to me it
must raise the question, what are these Ameri
cans rejoicing about? They have not been
here long enough to be engaged in the great
disastrous and bloody battles of the last three
years. They have won no victories, why should
they be shouting as if our lines had broken, we
were routed and they were on their way to the
Rhine? The General Staff can suppress infor
mation, the aristocratic officers can disseminate
misinformation and suppress the truth, but
after aU the stories and experiences which have
been coming to them from their relatives and
friends here for so many generations a ray
of the light of truth must have penetrated
the brains which have been triple-armored by
the teacher, the preacher, the journalist, the
school, the academy, the university and the all-
commanding and all-powerful throne and mili
tarism. That ray of light ought to admit into
the duUest brain this idea, "We have fought and
our brethren have died, we are fighting and we
[337]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
are about to die like the ancient gladiators in
the Roman arena for our Emperor, his divin
ity, the continuing of the autocracy, of his
royal house and of the aristocracy. No bene
fits are to come to us or our children while
those Americans over there on the holiday of
their country's bhth are shouting to-day and
fighting to-morrow that we may not destroy
the liberties which have made them great and
free and that if they win we may also, as they,
enter into the temple and receive its equal
blessings." To-day Great Britain celebrates the Fourth
of July. The King and Queen and Parliament
and the people join with our boys and our citi
zens in paying honor to the Fourth. The base
ball club of the American army in England is
to have a game with a similar club of the Cana
dians and the King will throw the ball. The
day will be celebrated in all the great self-gov
erning colonies of the British Empire, in Can
ada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Each of those colonies has a government
founded upon our example and with the excep
tion of a sentimental tie to the mother country
are as free in their own affahs as we are. These
amazing and mhaculous results, and this war
itself, came naturally in the due course of
evolution from the principles enunciated in the
Declaration of Independence on the Fourth
day of July, 1776. Listen to these immortal
[338]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
words which have become the charter of world
wide liberty:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that aU men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their creator with certain un
alienable rights, that among these are life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that to
secure these rights governments are insti
tuted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed, that when
ever any form of Government becomes de
structive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to insti
tute new government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its power
in such form as to them shall seem most like
ly to effect their safety and happiness."
It was that assertion of principles which
brought Lafayette and the French army and
navy to our country and without theh aid we
could not have won our independence. It was
the absorption of these principles carried by
the French army back to France which, after
many revolutions, finally resulted in the pres
ent Republic. It was these principles carried
back by the British army which have, in the
course of 142 years, changed the British Govern
ment from the autocracy of the reign of George
III. to a government under George V. as demo-
[339]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
cratic as ours and more easUy responsive to
public ophiion. It was these principles which
changed England's ideas of colonial govern
ment and enabled Canada and Australia to be
come independent commonwealths. It was
these ideas, when South Africa was conquered
which, instead of making it a dependency of
the crown, created it a seh-governing commu
nity and so won the affections of its people that
theh ablest leader, civil and mUitary, General
Smuts, is now a member of the War Cabinet of
the British Empire. It was these principles
which insphed Garibaldi and his associates to
unite modern Italy and give to it a limited
monarchy and representative government, to
make Portugal a Republic and Belgium free.
Theh influence is also felt in a commanding
way in the institutions of the Scandinavian
countries and Holland. They are the life of all
that stands for order and law and liberty in
South and Central America and Mexico. The
militarism of Frederick the Great and the
power of the Hapsburgs have prevented their
penetrating Germany and Austria. In 1848 an
effort was made by the best minds of Germany
to break the Prussian traditions but it was
ruthlessly suppressed and gave to us great
statesmen like Carl Schurz and splendid sol
diers like Sigel.
German sympathizers tell us that the Reichs
tag, the Lower House of the German Parlia-
[340]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
ment, is elected by universal suffrage and has
free debate. That is all the freedom it has.
For exercising that the ablest and most con
structive leader of the Social Democratic Party,
Liebknecht, is now serving a term in state
prison. No act passed by the Lower House can
become a law without the approval of the Up
per House. This is a body appointed by the
Emperor and the various kings and princes of
Germany. The majority of it is controlled by
the Emperor and his veto is final, if by some
mhacle anything which he did not like should
pass the Upper House. His autocratic au
thority is still more fhmly entrenched in Prus
sia where the popular body is elected under a
suffrage so limited as to give a class the con
trol. The genius of Bismarck created modern
Germany. He put into ruthless practice the
ideas of Frederick the Great and made them a
living force in German policy. Those ideas of
his great ancestor are the mainsprings of the
thought and action of the Kaiser; absolutism at
home, the control of every organ of education
and of intelligence; the strongest military es-
tabhshment in the world, and under a banner
that makes might right destroying the sover
eignty of weaker nationalities, annexing their
territory and enslaving their people.
This is a world war because it differs from all
others that have ever been fought. It is a war
of ideas. Ideas have no boundaries, no physi-
[341]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
cal hmits but express the soul of humanity. The
free nations of the world who are enjoying the
principles proclaimed in the Declaration of In
dependence were at peace with each other and
with all others. They were using every means
known to diplomacy to maintain peace but the
autocracy of Germany, after fifty years of prep
aration, began the war for world conquest and
the extermination of government by liberal
ideas and the consent of the governed. When
autocracy becomes too arrogant it grows isolated
and is unable to grasp the situation in liberal
countries and becomes drunk with power and
the allurements of conquest. When Bismarck
declared war upon France he had fhst carefully
detached from her Great Britain and Russia.
When the Kaiser told Austria to declare war
upon Serbia, he had made no such prepara
tions but took for granted these conditions. He
thought England, on account of the Home Rule
question in Ireland, was helpless and on the
eve of civil war. He thought Russia was ex
hausted and impotent because of her defeat by
the Japanese. He thought the United States
was of no account whatever. It had neither a
navy to be considered, its army was insignifi
cant, its people were untrained, it was unpre
pared in .every element of warfare and that
there were enough trained Germans in the
United States to control the situation. So the
Mihtary Staff said, "We can conquer France
[342]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
in six weeks, Belgium is no obstacle, and with
France a subject province and all her resources
ours Great Britain wiU be forced to do as we
wish. Russia -wUl come under our control auto
matically, we will enlarge the boundaries of
Turkey as a subject state, drive the English
out of India and annex Egypt." Turning to
the United States the Foreign Minister sent a
message, which was fortunately intercepted by
our State Department, to the Mexican presi
dent in which he said, "We want your friend
ship, we wUl give you all the aid you need and
we will transfer to you from the United States
Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Oklahoma."
The German Mihtary Staff and the Kaiser
were mistaken about Russia, they made a
frightful blunder about France, a tragical error
about Great Britain and a monumental miscal
culation about the United States.
For over a hundred years we followed the ad
monitions of Washington and kept rigidly with
in the political atmosphere of the Western
Hemisphere. But Washington and his com
patriots could not foresee how steam and elec
tricity would unite the world. Our isolation
has been broken because we have grown larger
and the earth has grown smaUer. When I was
appointed Minister to Japan fifty-two years
ago it took six months to get there and six
months to return. Every communication be
tween the two governments requhed a year.
[343]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Prince Arthur of Connaught left Washington the
other day for Japan and in two weeks was in
Tokio. The next morning he presented to the
Emperor of Japan a commission from the British
Government appointing the Emperor to a high
command in the British army. A full account
of the event and the ceremonies appeared in
our evening papers the same day. Arlington
talks by wheless with the Eiffel Tower in Paris
and the Secretary of the Navy speaks to the
American Admiral six thousand mUes away in
Honolulu over a wireless telephone. In spite
of ourselves and our traditions we are a part of
the family of nations. Through centuries of
struggle for some basis of justice upon which
the world could exist and commerce and com
munication be free there has been builded in
ternational law accepted by all civUized peo
ples. Treaties have been compacts as solemn
as the honor and faith of nations can make
them. When Germany declared through her
Chancellor that treaties were only scraps of
paper to be torn in pieces at the will of the
stronger party our sovereignty was attacked
and our future imperilled as well as that of lit
tle Belgium and Republican France. Interna
tional law provides clear rules for the protec
tion of non-combatants on the land and on the
sea. The desolation of cities and villages and
farms in Belgium and Northern France, the
ruthless deportation of young men and young
[

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
women into slavery from these countries into
Germany and the doctrine of frightfulness were
intended to scare the people of the United
States. When the LuMtania was sunk and its
women and children drowned it was an attack
upon international law and of the Hague Tri
bunal to which we were parties and every sub
sequent sinking by a submarine was an attack
upon us. Only night before last a Canadian
hospital ship carrying wounded and immune by
international law was within seventy miles of
the Irish coast, the Red Cross was blazing in
electric lights from her sides and from her mast
head, when she was torpedoed by a German
submarine and sunk in ten minutes. There was
no opportunity for the helpless wounded to be
carried to the boats and some of the boats were
shelled. There seems to have been a slight tre
mor of conscience in the German commander
for he said he sunk that hospital ship because
he thought there were some American aviators
on board. There were no American aviators on
board but there are American aviators sailing
over the front and over the German lines,
where a quarter million of American soldiers
are in the trenches to-day with another 'three-
quarters of a mUlion in reserve in their rear.
The German General Staff said the Ameri
cans are cowards to hearten theh people and
their army but their army has discovered in the
last few days at Chdteau-Thierry and the vil-
[345]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
lage of Cantigny and Belleau Woods that again
the German high command had made a tragi
cal mistake. When we entered the war it was
announced that the indemnity which would be
exacted from us by Germany would be eighty-
seven billions of dollars, nearly half the valua
tion of the property in the United States. Ac
cording to this morning's papers the German
government has reduced that demand to forty-
seven billions.
Sixty-two years ago I deliveredmy first Fourth
of July oration. I had just graduated from Yale
and returned to my native vUlage. We still lived
in the atmosphere of the Revolution and there
were many on the platform and in the audience
who were old enough to remember all its strug
gles, its passions and its sacrifices, but if, as I be
lieve, thosewho have gonetotheother world know
what is happening in this, George III. must be
subject to varying emotions. He was an almost
absolute monarch, but the power of the throne
has been transferred from time to time to the
Parliament to such an extent that now the
king can do nothing whatever without the con
sent of the people's representatives.
When we entered the war a year ago the
American flag flew from the House of Parha
ment in London, the King and the Queen, the
Common and Lords, with a vast assemblage,
met in St. Paul's Cathedral and stood rever
ently while through the aisles and in the air of
[346]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
that ancient temple floated the music of "The
Star Spangled Banner." In the GuUdhaU,
the home of the power of the great City of
London, there is a statue of George III. On
one side of it is the British flag and on the
other the American. Among that congregation
in the other world watching this great conffict
are. George III., George Washington, Napoleon
and Bismarck. I beheve that George III. and
Napoleon are rejoicing with Washington and
that Bismarck regrets his handiwork.
Four years ago the Fourth of July was cele
brated in Paris at the tomb of Lafayette and
at a banquet in the evening. The French Gov
ernment sent to the tomb a Cabinet Minister,
the Commander in Chief of theh Army, and
an Admiral of theh Navy. The United States
was represented by that most accomplished,
successful and efficient Ambassador Myron T.
Herrick. I delivered the address on behalf of
the folks at home. It was a peaceful as well as
an inspiring occasion. It was only four short
weeks from that date that Germany launched
the bolt which she thought was to subdue not
only France but the world.
I recall the dramatic and vital part which
Lafayette played in American Independence.
When our affairs were in theh most desperate
condition he went to France and appealed to
the King and Queen. The French Minister of
Finance said that he so captured the Court that
[347]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
if he had asked he not only would have taken
the French army and navy but also the Court
with him to America. The French army and
French fleet and many millions of gold came to
our aid at this critical juncture and enabled us
to end the Revolution and make a triumphant
peace. That debt has never been repaid. The
money given to us and expended in the expe
dition was so great that it bankrupted France,
but to-day there are a million of our soldiers in
France fighting for her as she fought for us.
To-day ninety ships wUl be launched from
American shipyards to carry more troops to
join theh brethren. One year ago Gen. Persh
ing and the fhst of our expeditionary forces
were in France. There was again the celebra
tion at the tomb of Lafayette. The President
and the Cabinet of France were represented.
Gen. Joffre lent his great presence and reputa
tion to the occasion. The speeches of the
French statesmen and soldiers were most elo
quent and appreciative but to the sphit of the
patriot and soldier who had done so much for
us and who was hovering over his last resting
place the most eloquent of aU the addresses
was that which condensed so much in a single
sentence. Gen. Pershing approached the tomb,
saluted and said, "Lafayette, we are here."
I hear frequently the question, "What are we
to gain by this war?" What does any people
gain when phacy is suppressed? What does a
[348]

FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH
community gain when a lunatic running amuck
with a knife or a pistol is either arrested or
killed? But it is not only our safety, comfort
and happiness against the ruthless savagery of a
merciless enemy that is to be won by this war.
When the Kaiser said to our Ambassador, Mr.
Gerard, with threatening finger, "After this war
I will not stand any nonsense from the United
States," it was more than a threat between
man and man because according to European
standards and especially the ideas of Germany,
the Kaiser's insult was the voice of Germany
and the ambassador, if he is from a monarchy,
is the king, if from a Republic he is the people.
At the council table where will be gathered
the representatives of all the nations the United
States will sit at the head. Already our leader
ship is recognized, aheady the principles and
terms of peace as laid down by President WU
son are accepted by aU the Allies and are being
fought for by the combined armies under the
command of Gen. Foch. We wUl have a unity
of English speaking peoples never known be
fore. It is a wonderful omen for the future
that Enghsh speaking peoples who now have
aU round the world, under whatever flag they
may be, the same ideas of liberty, justice and
humanity, shaU act together for civihzation
and freedom. We wUl have a unity and broth
erhood among ourselves which has never exist
ed before. I met several soldiers from Camp
[349]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Jackson in Florida and said where are you
from? They said we are aU chums. I am from
New York, I from Massachusetts, I from South
Carolina, I from Texas, I from Oklahoma. The
camaraderie of the tent, of common service,
common danger, common victories, is a tie
stronger than blood, but among these lads and
aU our lads it is also a tie of blood, and the
discovery which is the greatest for free people,
that under the flag there are no classes and
conditions, only American citizens.

[ 350]

Address at the Unveiling of Mr. Depew's
Statue in Depew Park, Peekskill, N. Y.,
September 24, 1918.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I wUl make a brief statement as to the origin
and evolution of the suggestion which has re
sulted in this occasion.
Mr. Franklin Couch is the highest authority
on the early history of this town, and has made
valuable contributions to the records of men and
events of those early days. He suggested to me
several times that, while I was living, there should
be a statue in this park. He said, which is true,
that the difficulty with most statues is that
they are made long after the death of the sub
ject and the recreation has to come from photo
graphs and personal recollections. They are the
only guide for the artist and his work is rarely
satisfactory. The sculptor, Mr. Sigurd Neandross, has in
the work now before us been successful. His
creation is in the judgment of those who have
studied it a happy combination of artistic merit
and likeness of his subject.
I was very happy to join with my fellow citi
zens in placing here last year the memorial of
my old friend. General James W. Husted.
When Mr. Couch again suggested that now
[351]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
would be the appropriate time for me to be
near my friend, I accepted. General Husted
and I were fellow students at Yale sixty-six
years ago. We studied law together and were
on terms of the closest intimacy until his death
twenty-five years ago. There is to me a tender
sentiment that, as the years roll by, after I have
passed away, the story of this long and unusual
friendship will be perpetuated.
I am very happy that my friend, Sanford
R. Knapp, participates in these exercises. I
joined Mr. Knapp as a student at the Peekskill
Academy in 1840, seventy-eight years ago. We
were both prepared there for college, he went
to Princeton and I -to Yale. After graduation
we were united again in the study of law in the
office of Edward Wells and that friendship and
camaradarie has continued unimpahed during
almost fourscore years.
The question has often been asked, and oc
casioned much dispute, as to where is the most
fortunate location for a boy to be born and pass
the formative period of his life. Some claim
it is Paris because, on account of the manifold
attractions of that city, every good American
if not privileged to visit it during life, goes
there for a while after his death, but the most
eminent and successful Frenchmen were not
born in Paris but in the provinces. Paris is a
post-graduate course. Some say London, but
the same is true of this most prominent of cities.
[352]

THE UNVEILING OF A STATUE
Ever since history and romance have recorded
the wonderful story of Dick AVhittington going
from the country in Gloucestershhe at the age
of thhteen to seek his fortunes in London, and
becoming thrice its Lord Mayor, it is admitted
that the wonderful careers of great Englishmen
did not begin within the sound of Bow
BeUs. We are proud of the growth of New York
City. We glory in its supremacy as the metrop
olis of the western world. We see it rapidly
becoming the financial center of the whole earth.
It is unexcelled in its educational system from
the kindergarten to the university; in its pro
fessional schools of law, theology and medicine
and its technical schools of music, art, engi
neering and electricity, but it is rare to find in
its eventful history a leader in any branch who
was born and passed his early life within its
boundaries. Most of them came to New York
from all parts of the country and in the fierce
competitions of metropolitan life are the sur
vivals of the fittest.
WeU, then, you naturaUy inquhe, "what is
the best place in the world for a man to be
born and prepared for the inevitable contest
with the world which decides his place in the
sun?" I answer unhesitatingly "PeekskiU!"
The reasons are obvious. They stiU prevaU
though they were stronger in the earlier and
more primitive days. During my boyhood and
[353]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
youth, Peekskill was a village of between three
and four thousand inhabitants. It was far
enough from New York so that, as the trans
portation during that period was mainly by the
river, there was very little invasion of wealthy
residents from the city. At the same time, it was
sufficiently near the metropolis for those who
were old enough to enjoy its advantages. The
characteristic of the village was neighborliness.
The greatest war of all times is now in progress
with the avowed object of making the world
fit for democracy, but the vUlage through its
neighborliness is a school of democracy. Every
one knew everybody, sympathized with theh
sorrows and rejoiced in theh success. The
church was the center of all our activities,
every denomination was represented and doing
active work. Churchgoing was universal and,
among its members, theh gatherings were not
only devotional but social. No class distinction
existed, the people of the congregation met fre
quently to work not only for themselves but
for the whole community, and in the larger work
of domestic and foreign missions. There was
universal acquaintance among young people,
some went to the common schools and some to
the Academy. The graduations from the com
mon school to the Academy were constant
among the brighter boys who had greater am
bitions and broader aims. After leaving school
they separated, some starting on the lowest
[354 1

THE tHNVElLING OF A STATUE
rung of the ladder in the foundries, some in the
mercantile houses, some on the farms, some in
the professions, but they had all been boys to
gether. I find that in the city these conditions
are impossible, one's friends are scattered all
over town, and in the constant . changes inci
dent to metropohtan life, one rarely knows a
half a dozen families on the block where he
hves. The next advantage which Peekskill has is
its patriotic associations. I know of no place
in the country which has so many. Every les
son so necessary to be learned in the present
great conflict is taught by our hUls and valleys.
On the campus of the Academy is the oak
from one of whose limbs was hung a spy during
the Revolution. Gallows HUl nearby was so
named because of the famous event when Sir
Henry Chnton sent a message to General Put
nam saying "Edrnhnd Palmer, an officer of our
army, has been captured by you and I demand
his immediate exchange" and threatening ven
geance if the sentence upon him as a spy was
carried out.
General Putnam sent this brief reply:
"Headquarters, Aug. 7, 1777.
"Edmund Palmer, an officer in the Enemies'
service, was taken as a spy lurking within our
hues. He has been tried as a spy, condemned
as a spy, and shaU be executed as a spy, and
[355]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
your flag of truce is ordered to depart immedi
ately. "Israel Putnam.
"P. S. — He has accordingly been executed."*
This village was, during the whole of the
Revolutionary War, a headquarters of the
American army. General Washington was a
frequent visitor here, so were Lafayette and
Alexander Hamilton. Rochambeau was also
entertained here with his staff. Only about
thhty miles separated the hues of the American
and British armies. The interval was caUed
the neutral ground and occupied by a popula
tion nearly equally divided between Revolu
tionists and Loyalists. The result was that for
seven years there was intense mihtary activity
in and around our village. Within a short dis
tance occurred the whole tragedy and also the
patriotic lesson of the capture of Major Andrd.
Drum Hill, within our village limits, was the
playground of the children. From some pe
culiar formation of the ground an echo could
always be had by stamping upon the sod. It
was a tradition, which the boys at least be
lieved, that the thunder of the guns planted
on the hUl by our artillery forces during the
Revolution had become so imbedded in its soil
and rocks that it was possible at any time, by
*This story has been mentioned once before in this volume,
but its historical value is such that it may well be told t-wice.
[356]

THE UNVEILING OF A STATUE
any crowd of boys, to receive a reminder of the
sacrifices made for liberty by drawing out an
echo of patriotic artillery.
One of our frequent excursions was to climb
up the mountain to the north to find if possible
the hiding place and watch-tower so graph
ically described as the home of the spy in Feni
more Cooper's famous novel of that name.
Scenery does much in developing healthy
imagination and autistic ambitions. There is
nowhere in the country greater beauty than is
to be found on our glorious Hudson River, in
our bay and its surrounding mountains with
their legends. The Dunderberg opposite, the
Storm King beyond and Anthony's Nose on
this side have been enveloped by the genius of
Washington Irving with romance and mystery,
which increases in interest with the years.
There was infinite insphation to research,
study and reading in Irving's stories of the
Headless Horseman, of Sleepy HoUow and of
Rip Van Winkle which were located all about
us. During those early days, the newcomers to
the village were principally from New England.
Most of the families here had been resident for
many generations. Washington Irving's His
tory of New York, which was universaUy read
and generally believed, had added to the local
suspicions of the Yankees. Washington Ir
ving's story of Wohert's Roost where the cock
[357]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
on his barn, who refused to turn with the
varying winds, but kept a watchful eye constant
to the East to warn against a Yankee invasion,
and fell a victim to his loyalty by being hurled
from his perch in a gale, had more influence
on local opinion than the father of American
literature ever expected. The land was mainly
owned by these old families, and, in theh con
ferences, the principal questions discussed, be
sides heated pohtics, were the innovations urged
by these Yankee newcomers. They were satis
fied that generation after generation had hved
to a good old age and died happy without any
of this public water system and public sewage
system, and paved streets, and widened side
walks, and a health officer, and sanitary laws,
all of which meant more taxes. Even the sweet
voices of lovely women wUl now say "damn
the Kaiser," but in those early days a confer
ence of our residents would frequently break up
with a chorus of "damn the Yankees."
Among those Yankees who did so much for
our town, I recall Dr. Brewer. He was a man
of education, broad views and a courageous re
former. He was the earliest temperance advo
cate we ever had in Westchester County, but
he did one thing for which I owe him a great
debt. He established a circulating library.
His taste ran to the English classics and his
advice was sound for those who were ambitious
to secure the benefits which his library offered.
[358]

THE UNVEILING OP A STATUE
I think I read every book in his collection.
The Waverley Novels I repeatedly devoured. I
never have known since the interest and fascia
nation there was as the volumes of Thackeray
and Dickens appeared and were placed
in Dr. Brewer's library. I could almost re
peat the writings of Washington Irving and
Fenimore Cooper who were both of our neigh
borhood. We had few magazines in those early
days but the English and Scotch Reviews were
taken. For many years an uncle of mine was Post
master. On returning from the Academy for
home, he would permit me behind the boxes to
shp the magazines and reviews from theh cov
ers and read them before they came to theh
owners. I have often wondered as a question
of ethics whether this appropriation of current
literature and discussion, which added so much
to my education and whose loss the owners
never knew or felt, was an excusable per
formance. The other day the Lent famUy, very nu
merous now, had theh annual celebration. The
ancestor of the Lents and my ancestor were
the patentees of the land upon which Peekskill
now stands and where we are, under what is
known as the Rycks Psi,tent. Subsequently the
grantees divided the property, and this park
came to the one from whom I am descended.
This Patent was originally granted by the In-
[359]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
dians and, after the conquest of New York by
the Enghsh, was confirmed by the English
Governor Dongan. While streets and residences
have in the main obliterated aU there was of
that early transaction with the Indians, this
park will remain forever as a memorial of just
deahngs by bargain and sale with the aboriginal
owners of our country.
I recall one incident of our early days which
had an influence upon our merchants. The
leading merchant was named Christian; he was
the most successful of any. From his profits he
became one of the largest property owners in
the town. His neighbors formed a committee
to ascertain what was the source of his pros
perity. They said, "You must rob us in some
way, otherwise we would do as well." "No,"
said Mr. Christian, "I am a Christian not only
in name but in business. I have an invariable
rule to make a profit of only one per cent."
A further investigation developed the fact that,
in the simple and honest mind of this merchant,
one per cent meant just double the cost.
My first commercial transaction, which hap
pened a few days after I opened my law office,
was with a very enterprising and speculative
neighbor of mine with the ambitious name of
"Napoleon Bonaparte." He said to me, "If
you will loan me ten dollars, I can double
it, if not more. I will open a fruit stand
at the camp meeting now in session at Ver-
[360]

THE UNVEILING OF A STATUE
planck's Point." A few days afterwards the
crestfallen Napoleon came into my office and
said, "I am bankrupt. A customer bought a
watermelon, gave me a ten dollar bill and I
returned him nine dollars and seventy-five
cents in good American money. The bill was
counterfeit and my capital lost." Napoleon
had met his Waterloo. That was sixty years
ago and the transaction still remains unsettled.
It was very fortunate for our village that
early in its history some enterprising citizens
founded the Peekskill Academy. This venerable
educational institution has always been the
pride and hope of our town. High Schools came
within recent years but the Academy, which
served the purpose both of a High School and
a preparatory school for college, largely filled
theh place. Its influence has been incalculable.
I recaU the boys it sent out during the period
of Mr. Knapp and myself. There was never a
failure among them and many attained large
places at the bar, in the pulpit, in medicine, in
education and in business. There rises before
me a vision very distinct of fourscore years.
I remember, as if it were yesterday, when at
four years of age my mother took me to the
school of Mrs. Westbrook, the wife of the Rev.
Doctor Westbrook, one of the original thinkers
and writers of his day. Few men did more to
direct the reading and thought of those who
came under his influence. He dined at my
[361]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
grandfather's house very frequently and made
me as familiar with the characters in Greek and
Roman history as if I had been at a Classical
school. I have never heard since from all the
great orators any word picture which equalled
the old doctor's description of the Roman Gen
eral Marius sitting after his defeat amidst the
ruins of Carthage. I recall the veterans of the
Revolution, of whom there were many in our
village when I was a boy, of the soldiers of the
War of 1812, of those who came back from the
bloody fields of Mexico in 1848, and of comrades
who fought and fell in the Civil War. In all
those wars, we were a divided country with
American opinion seriously at variance.
Now the boys of our viUage are fighting
"Over There." Though the seas divide them
from us, nevertheless there is no waking mo
ment when they are not in our thoughts and
no sleeping ones when they are not in our
dreams. There is no division now, as one peo
ple we are giving our best without stint and
without criticism for the only world purpose of
any war.
The Crown Prince of Germany said recently
in an official interview, "The American soldiers
do not know why they are in this war. I asked
an American prisoner who was brought before
me for what he was fighting. He said it was
on account of Alsace. I said to him, 'What is
Alsace?' and he answered, 'It is a lake.' " His
[362]

THE UNVEILING OP A, STATUE
Royal Highness understood as little as does the
German supreme command, the character and
intelligence of our boys. The young soldier
sized up the Crown Prince and treated him as
he would have done a countryman from the
back hills of Missouri.
We have the youngest army which ever en
tered the battlefield — its average age is only
twenty-two — but it understands as well as the
President and his Cabinet, or the Senate and
the House of Representatives, why it is in
France. It knows the story of Lafayette and is
paying the debt incurred by our ancestors to
Lafayette and France of a hundred and forty
years ago. It asks no loot or territory or in
demnity, but it is determined never to return
until autocracy has been beaten to its knees,
until militarism has received its death blow and
until the world is sure of permanent peace
with liberty.
I want to say a word to the boys and ghls
who are here. I congratulate you upon the
opportunities you have which were denied to
us in our early days. When I was a boy there
was no telegraph and the raihoad had not yet
reached our village. The news from Europe
came by slow steamer or sailing vessel and was
. many weeks old. We never heard at all from
Asia or Africa and rarely from South America
or Mexico. I congratulate you that you are
hving in this day, in this, the most wonderful
]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
of aU periods and in which is being enacted more
history affecting the whole world than is to be
found in the hbraries. This very day is one of
the most remarkable in the story of people or of
nations, the whole world is in arms, one side
fighting for the lessons of civil and rehgious
hberty achieved by our ancestors in heroic
deeds, many of which were enacted within sight
of where we stand, and the other side to destroy
hberty and its ideals.
This morning you read of victories of the
forces of civihzation on the widespread battle
front in France. You read of the victorious
advance of our American army, fighting in the
noblest cause and for the purest purposes in
which soldiers ever enhsted. You read also
this morning that way up in the mountains of
the Balkans, where more cruelties and out
rages have been perpetrated by the Bulgarian
and German armies upon the populations of
Serbia and Rumania than were ever known
before, the AUied army of French, British,
Greeks and Serbians had won a decisive victory
and opened the way for the rehef of the
oppressed and the punishment of the op
pressor. You also read this morning the most
insphing news from ancient Palestine. It was
only the other day that Jerusalem, after cen
turies of oppression by the Turks, was rescued
by our Allies. You read that when the Ger
mans, the Bulgarians and the Turks take a
[ 364 ]

THE UNVEILING OF A STATUE
town they destroy its sacred places and its tem
ples, they massacre its inhabitants or carry them
into slavery, and loot aU private property. But
these rescuers of the Tomb of the Saviour came
as an army of hberation, protected the inhab
itants and gave to them all the benefits of law,
order and hberty. You have read of the cru
sades and the gaUantry of the crusaders, but
they won only Jerusalem. Today's paper teUs
you that, in the victories of yesterday, two
Turkish armies were wiped out or captured,
that Nazareth, the bhthplace of Jesus Christ,
was rescued and the victorious army is on the
eve of freeing the whole of Palestine, Mesopo
tamia and Syria, and restoring them to con
ditions when they were the garden of the world.
Boys and ghls, this is a glorious age, a glori
ous year, a glorious day in which to hve, but
the greatest blessing is that we are enjojdng
everything which makes life worth the hving in
our own glorious country of the United States.
On this day, more than on any other, during
the last tragic four years, we can see the dawning
of a victorious peace when all the nations of
the earth on theh own lines, according to theh
own necessities and asphations, can develop in
peace and protection, with the blessings of that
hberty which we enjoy.

[365]

Speech by Hon. Chauncey M. Depew at the
Luncheon of the Merchants' Association
of New York, Hotel Astor, October 10,
1918.
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
It was a great pleasure for me to listen to the
insphing suggestions of your President, and I was
also glad to hear the very wise words of that
eminent financier who is the leader of this great
army of investors which is to help our Army
on the other side by placing this Liberty Loan.
We live in rapid times. The events of to-day
are amazing, of to-morrow wonderful, of the
next day miraculous. It taxes the mind to
keep pace with the changes of the hours. On
the other side of the ocean our American army,
marching and fighting beside theh gallant and
glorious comrades, the British, French, Itahans
and Belgians is winning a series of victories day
by day, week by week and month by month
with never a setback. We at home are
marching through the streets of the cities
and villages and over the country roads to
enfist interest in the purchase of Liberty
Bonds. Our gallant boys are periling theh
lives for us and we are asked to peril neither
our lives nor our property for them, but to
invest in the best security ever offered.
WhUe these two hosts are marching to vic
tory, the enemy makes a seductive proposal for
[366]

MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION SPEECH
an armistice under which both shaU halt. We
wiU leave that to Foch, Haig, Pershing and Diaz.
Our success in France and beyond its borders
means safety, security and liberty for all the
future. Our success in this bond campaign means
that we will keep our armies supplied while
they fight, that we will bring them home when
they have performed theh task and that we will
care for them after they arrive. This can only
be done by money. Autocracy cries for peace
largely because the present German loan has
faUed. The English loan has succeeded, so has
the French, and so must the American!
In this wild time of unnatural excitement, the
most valuable possession is a level head. Who
ever else may pardonably be moved from his
base by hope or dread, I have faith that the
one man most important in all the world at
this crisis will act wisely and well, and that is
our President.
It is one of the most remarkable experiences
in history that the autocratic governments of
Germany, Austria and Turkey have so utterly
failed to understand the psychology of demo
cratic thought and motives. It was illustrated
in the rape of Belgium, in the ravages in
France, in the crushing of Serbia and the early
and long-continued contempt for the armies
of France, England and her colonies. It was
most conspicuously illustrated in the repeated
insults and barbarities upon our people, our
[367]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
sovereignty and our flag, until we were forced
into this war. It was further iUustrated by
the Kaiser and his advisers in theh loud ex
pressions of opinion that the American Govern
ment could never raise an army, that if it did
raise an army it never could get that host
across the ocean, that if it did land in France
it would not fight.
When the German drive upon Paris had been
halted, and before the counter-offensive began,
the French and British generals were wisely
from theh experience doubtful for the purpose
of attacks of our new and partially trained army.
The American generals said, ' ' Trust us. " With
that quick genius in grasping the situation
which has made Foch the supreme strategist
of the century, he accepted the American chal
lenge, he ordered the advance, and after
Chateau-Thierry said proudly to Pershing,
"You have not only the freshest but the best
army in Europe."
When I was in France just before the be
ginning of the war, an eminent French states
man said to me in great agitation, "We are
making every effort for peace, but the German
army is aheady nine miles over our border and
war is inevitable. We will fight to the last,
but we cannot succeed unless England helps."
At the critical moment England did help;
not only the British Isles responded, but the
self-governing colonies of Canada, Australia,
[368]

merchants' association speech
New Zealand and South Africa have voluntarily
sent theh sons in numbers proportionate to
theh population, which would give to us an
army of twelve miUions of men.
After two years and a half the French and
British, overmatched in numbers after the faU
of Russia, were in great peril. The cry was
heard across the Atlantic, "We are fighting
your battle; our fleets are keeping the enemy
from your shores; we are seeldng to preserve
for us the same hberties which you enjoy.
WiU you help?"
The help came, two miUions of American
soldiers crossed the Atlantic, and the tide of
battle changed. So it is another source of
pride that at the crisis when the question was:
"Shall we wait until the winter is over for the
training of this new American army, or shall
we attack at once while the skies are clear and
the roads are good?" It was the confidence of
our generals in our boys and the response of our
boys to the confidence of theh generals which
began this wonderful campaign.
I have been a close student of human nature
during the sixty-two years since I left college
and with very large opportunities for investiga
tion. I never yet have met an individual nor
a crowd, nor a corporation, that could be
licked every day with no let-up and no get-back
for a continuing period and still be full of fight
and hope. [369]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
When a little over two months ago, the Ger
man army and theh alhes, after crushing Rus
sia, Roumania and Serbia, were within a few
miles of Paris, while the Gothas were dropping
their bombs every night over that city and the
long distance gun was exploding its shells in the
streets and in the churches, Germany made a
proposition for peace. It was to satisfy the
people. It was, "We will keep what we have
won by the sword; we will retain Belgium; we
will keep Northern France, with its coal and
iron; we wUl hold on to the provinces which
have been surrendered to us from Russia; we
will take back our colonies, and to stop further
bloodshed we will make peace without in
demnities." A few months have passed. AUenby's vic
torious army has redeemed Palestine, Mesopo
tamia and Syria and crushed four Turkish ar
mies. D'Esperey in twelve days has brought
Bulgaria to unconditional surrender and re
leased Roumania and Serbia. The Russian
provinces are in revolt; the oppressed nation
alities of Austria are in revolt; Foch's trium
phant armies in France have won innumerable
battles, taken 300,000 prisoners and incalcu
lable amount of mihtary stores. The Foch
pincers are closing around the German armies.
The German Government now makes a second
offer of peace. They say, "If you will grant
an armistice, we wiU meet you for conference
[370]

merchants' association speech
and negotiate on the terms laid down by Presi
dent WUson."
Has there been any change of heart since the
shell of the long-distance gun fell in the Church
of St. Gervais and killed its worshippers? Does
autocracy surrender any of its militarism?
Does it offer to disband its army? No!
"The Devil was sick, — the Devil a monk would be!
The De-vil was weU, — the devil a monk was he."
With an armistice Germany would feed and
recuperate its army. Has it admitted the people
to the Government? It says, "Yes, because
we have taken the leader of the majority Social
ists into the Cabinet." The people in Germany
can only have a voice by a change in the Con
stitution. That change has to pass the Lower
House, the Upper House, and be ratified by
the Emperor. All the kings, dukes and princes,
with theh legislatures, have to assent. To
amend our Constitution requhes a two-thhds
vote of both Houses of Congress and a vote by
the legislatures affirmatively of three-fourths
of the States. This change in the Germain
Constitution by admitting a Socialist into the
Cabinet would be the same as if in our country
the President should make Mr. Gompers Sec
retary of the Treasury and then tell the world
the Constitution of the United States has
been amended. It is another evidence of
that singular belief of the German autocracy
[371]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
that a democratic people can be fooled all
the time.
I do not see how any peace discussion on
President Wilson's terms can take place while
the German army is holding Belgium and
Northern France. It was only the day before
yesterday, and apparently after this offer, that
the Kaiser said in a speech to his army, "We
will fight until we have shed every drop of
blood before we surrender Alsace and Lorraine."
It was only yesterday that the cable brings us
the news of the barbaric and savage looting of
French viUages and the carrjdng off in Belgian
towns of young men and women into slavery.
This is not a change of heart, these are not
works meet for repentance. We do not want
territory nor indemnities. We do not want
reprisals in kind. No American army under any
provocation could subject German cities to the
atrocities of Louvain and Dinant, of Noyon and
St. Quentin.
The German people have kept theh armies
in the field and enthusiastically supported them
by taking Government bonds to the extent of
thirty billions of dollars. It seems just that
Germany should make a new issue of bonds
sufficient for the reparation of Belgium, for the
restoration of Northern France, for the rehabili
tation of Serbia and for other righteous things.
These bonds should be first mortgage taking
precedence of the war loans. They might be
[372]

merchants' ASSOCIATION SPEECH
caUed the debt to justice and mercy. This
would effectuaUy discourage another war for
the conquest of the world.
One of the amazing recent offers of the Ger
man Chancellor was that Germany would be
wUling to act with the twenty-four Government
nations allied against her in sharing apparently
one twenty-fourth of the money necessary to re
store Belgium; and the other equaUy remark
able utterance is in the morning paper — that
the Kaiser says he is wiUing to forgive his ene
mies for resisting his ambitions.
My friends, it is a wonderful privilege to be
alive now. I heard in my boyhood, seventy-
five to eighty years ago, from the lips of Revo
lutionary soldiers, of divisions among our
people into Revolutionists and Loyalists during
that war. I have read how the opposition to
the War of 1812 was so great that New England
threatened to secede. I remember the bitter op
position in Congress and out to the War of
1848. Many of us participated in the Civil
War between brethren fighting for different
ideals. We were divided in the war with Spain.
Today a hundred millions of people of divers
views on all questions but one stand together
with unequalled enthusiasm and unanimity.
The Revolutionary War was settled by the
unconditional surrender of Cornwalhs and his
army at Yorktown. The Civil War was settled,
the Union restored and the sovereignty of our
[373]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
Republic made secure forever by the uncondi
tional surrender of General Lee and his armies
at Appomattox. Militarism, with its army
intact, is still militarism and a menace.
We read in the New Testament that the
Devil took Christ up on an exceedingly high
mountain and offered Him all the world for
surrender. The Devil's title was bad, but not
so bad, after all, when we consider that the whole
world at that time was given over to the mili
tary and imperial power of Rome. The only
voice for "peace on earth and good-will among
men," for "loving thy neighbor as thyself," was
that of the lonely Saviour upon that mountain
top. Critics and scientists have questioned this
story because of the impossibility of seeing all
the world. To the Divine mind the inventions
and scientific triumphs of the future are per
fectly clear. We now, through the wheless and
cable, see aU the world. In the morning we
are with our boys on the battlefields in France;
we are with them as they are being conveyed
across the ocean; we see what is going on in all
parts of Russia; we witnessed the surrender of
Bulgaria yesterday and the fall of the Turkish
Cabinet in Constantinople. We read that yes
terday evening Allenby and his army crossed
the Jordan and that this morning they captured
the Turkish army and rescued Bethlehem, the
bhthplace, and Nazareth, the home of Christ.
These victories are instantaneously communi-
[374]

merchants' ASSOCIATION SPEECH
cated to our minds. The world is aflame with
the success of our ideals. We see the beginning
of a new era when all people shall enjoy in their
own way the principles of our Declaration of
Independence and be insphed by the teachings
of Bethlehem and Nazareth.

375]

Extract frona Speech as Presiding Officer and
introducing the Guest at the Dinner given
by the Pilgrims Society of New York to Sir
Eric Geddes, First Lord of the British Ad
miralty, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, October 14,
1918.
My Friends:
Our PUgrims Society has welcomed dis
tinguished representatives of every branch of
pubhc service and of distinction in other walks
of Ihe from Great Britain and her self-governing
colonies. This is the first thne we have had the
opportunity to receive a British Cabinet Minis
ter of the first rank whose training and oppor
tunities have been American as weU as Enghsh.
Sh Eric spent several years of his earher life
in our country. He gave indications then of
his future greatness by managing successfully
those two most difficult enterprises — a raihoad
and a lumber camp. Broader experience came
in tropical India, whence success caUed him
to one of the most important of the great raU-
way systems of England.
Lloyd George is one of the most original and
successfully audacious of statesmen. Not the
least of his distinctions is that for assistants
and advisers he selects and associates with
himseh men of aU parties and opposite activi
ties to his own, who in peace times have demon-
[376]

TRIBUTE TO SIR ERIC GEDDES
strated theh abUities in many industrial and
other pursuits. Among the first of these is
our distinguished guest. The Premier drafted
him from raUway management to the control
of the vital work of the manufacture of muni
tions, and then made him Fhst Lord and head
of the British Admhalty. Sh Eric teUs me that
he is only half of my age. A large part of that
hah was occupied with chUdhood and boyhood.
Now, if with these comparatively few produc
tive years he has made such a wonderful record,
there is no limit to what he may accomplish
before he rounds out fourscore and five.
The British navy is the senior arm of Great
Britain's defensive and offensive power. It
has for centuries protected her island coasts
from hostUe invasions and carried her flag and
planted her colonies around the globe. The
work of the British navy in the present world
war deeply interests us. It has protected our
coast and our country from hostile fleets and
invading armies, until we were ready to join
in this fight, in which our own hberties and
civUization are at stake. When it was a vital
necessity to our present AUies, who had done
so much and suffered so much during two years
and a half of constant battle, that the United
States should come in and come quickly and
with all its resources, it was again the British
navy which by loaning us its ships and adding
its war vessels to our own as a convoy built
[377]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
the bridge upon which two milhons of our
American boys have gone over to France with
a maximum of safety and a minimum of acci
dents beyond anything in naval experience.
It is the American army thus arriving in such
numbers, and without the usual intensive train
ing by theh dash, sphit, daring and boundless
courage at the critical emergency between
offensive and defensive decided the pohcy of
attack which now, with equaUy wonderful
efforts by our Allies, is rapidly sweeping the
Hun out of France and Belgium.
We haU Sh Eric as embodying in his own
person the leading principle and object of the
two Pilgrims Societies of New York and
London. We were organized and labor for one
great purpose, and that is to bring the Enghsh
speaking peoples of the world in close and
harmonious relations by helping to have them
understand each other better. No man has
done more to accomphsh this result than Sh
Eric. He understands his own countrymen
and, happily, he knows us equaUy well.
It is said that for hundreds of years a weather
vane on top of the Admhalty building in Down
ing street was connected with the Admhalty
offices down below so that the Fhst Lord,
sitting at his desk, always knew which way
the wind blew. There is no doubt in the
minds of the earlier naval officers there was a
settled belief that the dhection in which the
[378]

TRIBUTE TO SIR ERIC GEDDES
wind blew in London it should blow all around
the world, but Sh Eric owes his distinction to
having an open mind for new discoveries and
no reverence for useless or false traditions.
From his own experience he knew that the
wind blew as it listed and according to local
conditions in America and Calcutta. So he
adopted the wheless, or at least enlarged its
use, and now the reports in the Admhlalty
offices keep it in hourly contact with conditions
on all the seven seas.
When we entered the war our navy, happily,
was in good fighting trim. It sailed at once
for the other side to do its part and has done
it admhably. Many a naval battle in other
thnes has been lost by disagreement among
aUied commanders. On many occasions there
have been fine exhibitions of fellowship between
the American and the British on the sea. Soon
after Dewey's battle in Manila Bay, I had an
interesting talk with that bluff and gaUant
British sailor, Captain Chichester. I com
plimented hhn on what he did for Dewey.
"WeU," he said, "when I saw the German
admhal take a threatening position which
would have prevented Admiral Dewey from
using his guns, I changed the position of my
ship and said to the German: If you interfere,
you have got to fight me first. Blood is thicker
than water. "
When our battle fleet reached the other side,
[379]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
it, of course, had to act in concert with our
Alhes. Sh Eric has brought about conditions
which make absolute concert of action and
harmony of pohcy. There is camaraderie
between the American and the British officers,
and a brotherhood among the crews afloat and
on shore. Feehng between the two fleets is
healthy emulation and pride in the successes
of each other. It is to this camaraderie that
we owe the wonderful campaign against the
U-boats and the total defeat of the German
hopes through theh murderous sinking of
merchant ships and unarmed crews and pas
sengers to control the seas.

[380]

LETTERS AND LITERARY
CONTRIBUTIONS

A VISION OF HIGHER LIFE
Written for "Leslie's Weekly,"
Christmas means hope and its reahzation.
The child grows eagerly expectant as the time
approaches for the visit of Santa Glaus.
While this fiction remains unquestioned, the
imagination opens new and wider worlds, and
ideals become so much a part of the mind that
the prosaic and commonplace can never crush
them. Until the youth reaches manhood and
independence, Christmas is the happiest day
of the year. Its gifts and hearty good cheer
impress family affection, parental thoughtful-
ness and brotherly love. The dullest and most
irresponsive of fathers and mothers are uplifted
to a vision of higher life by the interchanges of
souvenirs and the merry meeting with children
and grandchildren at the table* and fireside.
Few can escape and all enjoy the meaning of the
festival, the lessons it conveys and the inspira
tion it gives, and we enter upon a brighter
future and a fuller appreciation of the benefi
cence of the practice of faith, hope and charity.
The loved ones who have crossed to the other
side, the loved near and far who are stUl with
us, the old homestead with its precious mem
ories, the old church whose sacred associations
tie together chUdhood, maturity and age, love,
[383]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
marriage and death; the schoolhouse where the
beginnings of education were so painful, and
the ever-increasing pleasures of the pursuit of
learning through the high school, academy and
college are recaUed and recited, and there is
exquisite delight in these oft-told tales, and new
experiences enliven this blessed anniversary.
The skeptic who denies the divinity of Christ
recognizes Him as a philosopher whose teachings
have contributed more than all others to peace
among nations and friendship between alien
peoples; but to those who revere and worship
Him, this natal day has a personal meaning.
It strengthens faith and confirms the promises
which have influenced theh lives. The world
grows brighter and more beautiful. The antag
onisms of neighborhood disappear and we get
a more intimate understanding of the basic
principle of Christianity, "Love thy neighbor
as thyself."

[384]

CHANGES WITHIN THE NEXT
SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS
Written for the "Brooklyn Eagle" on its
Seventy-fifth Anniversary, October 26, 1916.
The seventy-five years just closed have been
so crowded with marvels that it is difficult to
conceive of happenings of equal or greater
moment during the next three-quarters of a
century. But, based on present experience,
some judgment may be formed. The world
cannot stand still and the force of the present
momentum will be felt for a long period. This
gigantic war is economic and not dynastic.
It is significant that the Russians did better
when the Czar assumed supreme command;
the British hail with delight the presence of
King George at the front; the German assault
is more energetic when the Kaiser is behind,
and Von Hindenburg, who is as nearly a man of
the people as is possible among officers in the
German army, when promoted to supreme
command, selects as his chief lieutenants to
lead the three most important armies not those
who have won rank and distinction during the
war, but the heirs to the thrones of Germany,
Prussia, Bavaria and Wihtemburg. There is
nowhere apparent any sentiment among the
people of the warring nations to get rid of their
[385]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
ruling houses. So it is not probable that the
inevitable changes of the future involve any
early emptying of thrones. But the inevitable
result of this war will be an enormous spread
of the democratic spirit. The army is the uni
versity where a new hfe is opened to the milhons
who had no opportunity in theh narrow civil
hfe to learn theh value to the State and theh
share in its activities and preservation. They
will demand and enforce a larger share in govern
ment. The greatest change wUl be in Rus
sia and in the transfer of the arbitrary power
of the bureaucracy to the hberal working of
the legislative coming from and representing
the people. If a wise Czar recognizes this he
will evolve into a constitutional monarch,
if he faUs he may have to yield to another or a
republic. The economic development of Russia
with her exhaustless and varied resources and
vast population will be the marvel of the future.
The problem of Germany is more difficult.
The program of the Allies is to minimize her
mUitary power and compel her to keep the peace
in the future. They contemplate in the dis
solution of the German Emphe the restoration
of the old kingdoms and principalities to abso
lute independence and the creation of new
national units. They also feel that the Hohen-
zoUerns and the Hapsburgs must go. But the
resistless tendency of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries has been to racial unity
[386]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
and nationality. It cannot be stayed by arti
ficial creations. The brotherhood of blood has
become a tremendous force and must be reck
oned with. No peace has any promise of per
manency which ignores it. The Allies must find
other ways to make impossible another Arma
geddon. The recent power which Germany is
showing in the sphit of her people and in her
farms and factories when transferred from
armies to industries will make her the most
formidable competitor in the world's markets
and in our own. She educates promoters and
trains young men for different fields in aU the
continents and on the seven seas to expand her
commerce as no other nation does. Unless other
competitive nations develop equal efficiency
and preparation for world-wide trade, economic
necessities will again imperil peace in the future.
The United States is as unprepared for this
industrial contest as for war.
Great Britain has not only financed her own
unprecedented expenditures, but loaned sub
sidies of thousands of millions to her allies, and
at the same time maintained her productions and
exports and mastery of the seas. She will come
out of the war with a debt which staggers the
imagination, but with a unification of her pow
ers and a co-ordination of her world-wide em
pire which will enable her to so stimulate her
productions and syndicate them for effecting
entry into all markets that she will meet her
[387]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
obligations and be stronger than before the war.
With all power in the House of Commons and
no constitutional restrictions, her government
is more immediately responsive to the popular
will than any other. The poverty of the
aristocracy will, however, diminish their in
fluence, and labor will have a more potential
voice in the future in British affairs. The
entrance of the self-governing colonies into the
Imperial Parliament is inevitable after their
contributions and sacrifices in this war.
No age has witnessed such a finding of its
soul by any people as has come to the French.
Men and women of all classes, and with fury
and frenzy extraordinarily tempered with judg
ment, are ready and eager to suffer or die for
France. With her provinces restored and the
perpetual menace from the Rhine removed,
France can devote her superb energies, vitality
and temperament to progress and development,
mental and industrial. French art and French
literature will become dominant factors in the
intellectual life of the world.
Our country must share in the progress and
development of the next seventy-five years.
We will begin the period richer than other na
tions. They will believe that a large measure of
our wealth has come from their necessities, and
will not hesitate to try and regain it if the oppor
tunity offers. Ours is a splendid isolation and its
peaceful prospects possible only with adequate
[388]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
and available power. We have no worthy
military system for national defense and no
educational facilities for trade expansion. We
are handicapped by restrictive legislation for
competition with the great syndicates of other
nations backed and supported by their govern
ments. Our one hundred millions of people
will increase to two hundred millions and the
new experience of congested populations will
present fresh problems. Free land for settle
ment has been the safety of the past, but that
is practically exhausted. We must have foreign
markets and increase our industrial and agri
cultural outputs. To have and hold foreign
markets there must be a radical change in the
attitude of our Government toward citizens
who have the enterprise and initiative to settle
in the foreign countries and develop business.
Secretary Daniels, in warning American resi
dents and investors in Mexico that as they
carried their money and energies to Mexico
because they could do better there than at
home they must abide by the conditions in
Mexico, and could expect no protection from
theh own country, undoubtedly expresses a
large opinion among our people. Great Britain
and Germany regard theh people who make such
an adventure in foreign lands as advance agents
of trade and markets and shield them with aU
the protection of their diplomacy and theh
flags. We can never have an equal chance and
[389]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
standing -with the citizens of the highly organized
industrial nations in international competition
until the flag follows the American and its sov
ereignty guards him and his rights everywhere.
Labor will increase its political power and
dominance over executives and legislatures.
The conservative strength of the country will
be farmers. Though the country -will make
marvelous progress in arts and industries, yet
agriculture wiU remain our chief reliance.
"Back to the farm" is a futile cry, but remain
on the farm is possible and practicable. A re
cent authority on agriculture has stated that
one-third of the farmers make money, one-third
break even and one-third who lose money would
do better as farm laborers. Reclamation, inten
sive farming, knowledge of soils 'and fertilizers
will change these conditions on the material
side, while farm communities brought into inti
mate touch with urban opportunities by auto
mobiles, trolley, telephone and wireless will
add social and educational advantages to the
larger and freer life of the farm. Production
will keep pace with population and there will
be wealth in the export of the surplus. It was
the farmers who defeated on the referendum
the eight-hour law in California, because they
thought it a waste of time, and it was the farm
ers who beat the full-crew law iii Missouri,
because they thought increasing expenses to the
railroads would add to the rates on their prod-
[390]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
nets. The farmer is a capitalist and thinks on
property lines. His land is his, the citadel of
his family and the hope of his children. To
protect it and aU its interests, he will work, vote
and fight. The politician of the future must
satisfy the farmer as well as labor.
There will be little change in the Constitu
tion. It wUl meet in the future as it has in the
past the needs of the expansion of the country
in every department. The growth of execu
tive authority and its dominance of the Congress
and legislatures will increase. The power of
the President has grown by leaps and bounds in
the last few years. As the population in
creases, the importance of the legislative branch
wUl diminish in popular estimation and the
authority of the Executive grow. To avoid a
masterful and popular President becoming
dictator, there will be an amendment to the
Constitution limiting the office to one term,
but extending it beyond the present four years.
In the next seventy-five years The Eagle
wiU find the United States the greatest Power
in the world in all that constitutes a nation.
Its population will be more American, for suc
ceeding generations will each enjoy greater op
portunities because they are Americans. There
wiU be such a clear understanding of the rehance
of hberty on law that liberty better understood
and practiced wiU grant larger freedom.
[391]

LITTLE TALKS WITH BIG MEN
Interview in the "Brooklyn Eagle," December
17, 1916.
Chauncey M. Depew had many interesting
things to say when I called on him a few days
ago. You have all heard of Mr. Depew, of
course. He was twice United States Senator
from New York, and is noted as one of our
greatest speakers and humorists. Though he
has arrived at the great age of eighty-two, Mr.
Depew is as active as many a man half his years.
He is keen and witty, and talks in a quick,
lively manner.
"Boys now have a great number of advan
tages which were not possible when I was a
boy, say from seventy to seventy-five years
ago," remarked Mr. Depew, in reply to a ques
tion. There was a merry twinkle in his clear
gray eyes, as if he were thinking of the good old
days. "There were few raihoads," he went on, "and
traveling was by water. The result was that
few boys ever got far from their own neighbor
hoods unless they lived near rivers or canals."
"How about the schools when you were
a boy?" Mr. Depew was asked.
"The schools were poorly equipped, compared
with today. Academies were strong in Latin
[392]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
and Greek, but pubhc schools had httle beyond
a few English branches and reading, writing,
and arithmetic. Music could only be had
through private instruction. Laboratories
didn't exist."
Mr. Depew then spoke of the scarcity of
books in his boyhood days.
"I read through every book in the circulating
library in my village," he said. "Public hbraries
had not yet been built, but in the larger vil
lages there were sometimes chculating libraries
whose stock was mainly histories and standard
English novels."
The former Senator had some interesting
things to say about sport in the old days.
"BasebaU games were primitive," he told
his interviewer. "No rules, no diamond, and
no umpire. In winter there was active warfare
between rival snowball clubs, and many boys
were severely hurt. Riding down hill or coast
ing was common, and boys went mUes to find
steeper and longer hiUs. Skating was universal
on ponds and brooks, or if near, on the river."
"Well, the boys in your day seem to have
had a very good thne," I said. "They appear
to have had few school studies to worry over,
and they had all manner of sports to take up
their spare time."
Mr. Depew did not agree with this, however.
He said that the young folks seventy or seventy-
five years ago had to endure many hardships
[393]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
nowadays unknown. There was little real
comfort, he said.
"Houses were mainly heated by fireplaces
and had cold nights and mornings," remarked
the famous after-dinner speaker. "Parents
believed it toughened boys for them to sleep in
rooms without fhe and wake up in the morning
with their breath frozen to the sheets. Bath
tubs existed in few houses, and the toughening
process continued by the boys breaking the
ice in a tub and then sponging off in the ice
cold water. Those who survived were a vigor
ous lot."
Mr. Depew was himseh the proof of his
statement. One must be vigorous indeed to
carry the weight of eighty-two years so lightly.
" Churchgoing was universal, and the Sunday
Schools were crowded," Mr. Depew went on.
"Boys became self-reliant because they had
always before them that they must make theh
own careers. They were full of hope and energy.
Those who watched the clock lived and died
as they were born, and those who were deter
mined to get there climbed farther and farther.
Though theh equipment was meager, aU of
¦ them got on who tried."
Chauncey MitcheU Depew was bom in
PeekskUl, N. Y., on April 23, 1834. He was
graduated from Yale in 1856 and two years
later began the practice of law. In 1861, the
first year of the Civil War, he became a member
[394]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
of the New York Assembly, and he was Sec
retary of State of New York State from 1864
to 1865. Fifty years ago Mr. Depew became
an attorney of the New York Central. Long
after he rose to be president of the great rail
road. President Harrison wanted to make
him Secretary of State of the United States,
but the offer was refused. Chauncey M. Depew
was in Washington as Senator from New York
from 1899 until 1911. He gained great popu
larity as a statesman and as one of the most
eloquent orators this country has produced.
His speech at the unveihng of the Statue of
Liberty, thhty years ago, is still remembered
as a wonderful example of public oratory.
Editor, Junior Eagle.

[395 ]

Congratulation to Walter W. Griffith.
Hot Springs, Va., June 26, 1917.
Walter W. Griffith Esq.,
Commander in Chief.
My dear Brother:
I deeply regret that I could not participate
with you in the celebration of your jubilee.
There is no event in public society, social or
family life, so picturesque and so full of senti
ment and valuable reminiscence as a jubilee.
The parents who have been so rarely fortunate
as to live together in peace and harmony the
critical years which end in the one of jubUee,
have around them in loving and grateful vener
ation theh children, grandchildren and great
grandchildren. So, when a nation celebrates
its jubilee. It is a day of joy and festivity with
all the people.
I was present in London when Great Britain
celebrated the jubilee of Queen Victoria. I was
on one of the ships, when from aU parts of the
world the fleet was gathered, which was the
symbol of Great Britain's power and safety.
I saw the processions on land, when the many
races -and tribes, the representatives of the self-
governing colonies, kings and princes loyal to
Great Britain and part of her empire enchcling
the globe passed in front of the Queen. The
reign of sixty years had witnessed a progress in
[396]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
the arts and sciences, in civilization and liberty,
in power and expansion, in social and industrial
development, beyond that of any other similar
period in English history. But when our histor
ic Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite celebrates its
jubilee, the reminiscences and associations are so
close and intimate that they are like those of a
family; but they are more than the records of the
family, because they recall long years of brother
hood, of benefits bestowed, of charities granted,
of men rescued and saved and of good work.
We are privileged, who are members of the
Masonic Fraternity, to know and to feel in our
own lives not only what it has done for us but
for our brothers.
I became a Mason over fifty years ago. That
half century is crowded with the men I have
known, the statesmen I have been intimate
with, the many events in public and business life,
with which I have been associated; but of them
all, there is a certain sentiment, tenderness,
loyalty to God and man in Masonry not to
be found elsewhere.
I know that every one who participates in
your ceremonies, as he looks back over the past,
appreciates the blessings of the present and
buUds his hopes on its future, wiU feel as
never before that for a Mason espeeiaUy, life
is worth the hving.
FaithfuUy and fraternally yours,
Chauncey M. Depew.
[397]

Letter From the Children of Peekskill, N. Y.
PeekskUl, N. Y., July 7, 1917.
Dear Senator Depew:
We want to tell you about our playground,
because it is in the park you gave our village,
and we thought you would like to hear about it.
It opens on Monday morning and will be
open every day except Sunday from then until
the last of August. There wiU be swings and
sand boxes and quoits and bean bags and volley
balls and Indian clubs, and the longest shde
that you climb up and slide down. And any
boy or ghl from anywhere in the village can
come. And a young lady who knows all about
playgrounds will be the Dhector.
The Y. M. C. A. takes charge of aU this work
and the Park Commissioners give them per
mission to use the park, but the one we like best
of all about the playground is you, for if you
had not given all your fine land to our village
for a park there would not have been any place
for a playground.
The older people like the park, too. Some
of them did not really appreciate it at fhst,
but a good while ago they began to see what a
fine thing it is, and now they would not know
how to get along without it, especially the peo
ple who want to hold patriotic meetings and
[398]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
open ah church on Sundays, and the people
who want to have basebaU games, but most of
all the people who live in houses that have no
porches, and the mothers who can not go away
for the summer and who have no nice cool place
to take their babies. Now they come to the
park and sit under the big trees and watch us
play and have a good time.
So we thought we would write you a letter and
thank you for giving the park, although you
gave it quite a long time ago. And no matter
where you happen to be this summer we want
you to know that while across the ocean so many
thousands of children are sad and unhappy,
up here in PeekskUl we children will have a
happy summer because of the playground and
your park.
Do you remember one day some years ago
when you were on your way from Peekskill to
a convention where you were to make a speech
you came to a country school house and saw
the flag had been put up the wrong way — ^with
the stars down — and you stopped and asked
the teacher what was the matter, and while
she was explaining she discovered who you were
and asked you to come in and speak to the
children and yoU went in and made a speech
to them? We remember it from hearing our
parents talk about it. Well, you may have
thought that a very simple speech compared
to some of the great speeches you have made,
[399]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
but the children who heard it wiU remember
it the longest of all your speeches — because
it was made to them.
Now your gift of Depew Park is, to us,
something like your speech to those children
in that country school: for during all the
years to come it will be speaking to us of you,
and will be saying how you thought enough of
the people of the village where you lived as a
boy to give them a park for theh benefit and
enjoyment. And when we grow up to be men and women
we are going to thank you in another way, a
way that, we believe, will please you better than
thanking you in words: we are going to give
something to some one ourselves. That wiU
show we learned the lesson you so beautifully
taught us: that the things folks do that last
longest are the things they do for others.
Good-bye,
The Children of Peekskill.

[400]

Answer to the Children of PeekskiU, N. Y.
The Homestead,
Hot Springs, Va., July 13, 1917.
My Dear ChUdren:
I was deeply touched by your letter to me
about the play ground in the park. The
happiness of older people is largely dependent
on you, so when you are enjoying yourselves
everybody shares in your pleasure. When I
was a boy in Peekskill from seventy to eighty-
three years ago, we, the boys and ghls of that
time, got what we could out of the woods,
fields and streets. We enjoyed ourselves because
of the wonderful adaptation of young people
to theh conditions, but we would have been
happier if the better things of today had been
provided for us. Each generation finds itself
sharing in the advantages of progress and dis
covery, and I am glad that the things we missed
are coming to you. I remember when the
viUage newspapers announced as an event worth
recording in the social column that a young
married couple had taken a honeymoon trip
to Buttermilk Falls or Lake Mahopac, each of
them within twenty mUes. We had no raU-
roads here then, while now it is as easy
to go to Niagara Falls as to either Butter-
[401]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
milk Falls or Lake Mahopac. "All work and no
play makes Jack a dull boy " is a very old saying.
I have found by experience that one helps the
other and if you are faithful in both you grow
better sphitually, morally, mentally and phys
ically. When you work do your best and when
you play enter into it with heart, mind and body.
I thank you for your letter and hope sometime
I may meet you on the play ground.
Cordially yours,
Chauncey M. Depew.

[402]

Tribute to Dr. Charles E. Fitch.
New York, January 15, 1918.
To the Editor of The Post-Standard,
Syracuse, N. Y.:
For more than half a century I was in inti
mate personal and official relations with Charles
E, Fitch. During his career as a journalist I
met him frequently, and we were for many years
regents together of the University of the State
of New York. He was noted for his devotion
to the duty imposed on him or which he assumed
with untiring industry and great ability and
wisdom. He met and discharged the many
responsibilities of an unusually active and use
ful life. He never lost a friend and rarely made
an enemy, though positive in his opinions and
frank in theh expression. His rare geniality, his
consideration for others, and the honesty of his
convictions won the friendship and esteem of all
who were fortunate in knowing him. As jour
nalist, educator, author and citizen his was a
long and Uluminating career.
Chauncey M. Depew.

[403]

Letter from President Woodrow Wilson, in
Appreciation of Speech delivered before
the Pilgrims Society, January 23, 1918.

The White House,
Washington,

26 January, 1918

My dear Mr. Depew:
May I not express my warm
appreciation of the generous speech you
dehvered last Wednesday? It is such
speeches that clear the ah and contribute
much more than the present sort of
criticism and cross purpose can to real
advance of the cause of liberty through
out the world. Sincerely yours,
Woodrow Wilson
Hon. Chauncey M. Depew
27 West 54th Street
New York City
Note— The speech referred to in the President's letter wil
be found on page 316.
[404]

Letter sent to Mr. Louis Seibold, Toastmaster
at the Dinner given to Mr. Edward G.
Riggs by his Friends, April 6, 1918.
Dear Eddie Riggs, we love him. The senior
of many associates, the youngest of them all.
Prince of optimists and flayer of frauds. No
raihoad problem is too deep for him and no
political mystery escapes his revealing , psy
chology. Every gathering is cheerier and hap
pier for his presence. He would think it a
waste of fhst class material to die for a friend,
but he would rescue him, heal his wounds, kill
his enemies and laugh. Among good fellows
the best of the gang. Give him my love.
Faithfully yours,
Chauncey M. Depew.

[405]

Letter of Sentiment to the Rippey Bible Class,
First Presbyterian Church, Geneva, N. Y.
New York, April 19, 1918.
Mr. W. A. Gracey, President,
My dear Mr. Gracey:
It gives me great pleasure to respond to your
letter asking for a sentiment to be read at the
twenty-first anniversary of your Bible Class
on the evening of April 23rd.
I cordially congratulate the class upon attain
ing this age. For an American, it is a most
interesting period, he steps at once from tute
lage to sovereignty. New duties and respon
sibilities devolve upon him by law. He becomes
under equal suffrage one of the governors of his
village. State and country, if he fails to act and
to act inteUigently he is guilty of treason to the
greatest of trusts which will ever come to him
in life. It is both a cowardly and an ignorant
statement which is frequently made that one
vote counts little among such a multitude.
There are numerous instances where one vote
has decided an election and determined a policy
of government, but the young man who appre
ciates this privilege and responsibility when he
casts his vote does more than deposit his ballot.
Behind that vote is his personality and his
character. [406]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
A Bible Class makes for character in a very
large way. One who is worthy of its member
ship and has absorbed its lessons is a better
citizen. He is more likely to influence others
to adopt his views, and his teaching will in
cline him to right views. There never can be
any doubt where the Bible Class student will
stand where morality and liberty are concerned.
Every Congressman and Judge, every Governor
and President has, from his first vote and
appreciation of its duties and responsibilities,
risen to leadership and then been selected by his
feUow citizens to administer their government.
The American citizen never faced such respon
sibihties as are before him now. The princi
ples of our Declaration of Independence have
gone all round the world. They have liberal
ized every government except Germany, Austria
and Turkey. In immortal words the Decla
ration of Independence said: "We hold these
truths to be seh-evident — that aU men are
created equal; that they are endowed by theh
Creator with certain unalienable rights; that
among these are Ihe, hberty and the pursuit of
happiness; that to secure these rights govern
ments are instituted among men, deriving
theh just powers from the consent of the
governed." These principles are the ones which
are at stake in this most frightful battle of all
history. Autocracy is determined to crush
out in the world the preaching and the practice
[407]

AT FOURSCORE AND FOUR
of the principles of our Declaration of Indepen
dence. This involves, if successful, a return
to medieval conditions. It destroys aU that
has been accomphshed by so many sacrifices
during the centuries for humanity, civilization
and liberty. From the principle that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by
theh Creator with certain unalienable rights
and among these are life, hberty and the pur
suit of happiness, the world turns back to the
old motto of authority that most of the world
are created with saddles on their backs and bits
in theh mouths and the privileged few booted
and spurred to ride them. If this battle is
lost, which is now going on day by day with such
fearful slaughter, France will be crushed, Eng
land cowed, Russia and its millions in men
and endless resources annexed and the struggle
transferred to our own shores.
America is awake, its fresh resources are to
go in constantly increasing volume, justice and
hberty are to win, the ability and power of any
nation to make war is to be forever ended by a
league of nations strong enough to compel
peace. The day of your anniversary, April 23rd,
completes my eighty-four years of life. It is the
eighty-fourth anniversary of my birth. I grad
uated from Yale University sixty-two years
ago and have led since a life of intense activity.
It has brought me in contact with most of the
[408]

LETTERS AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS
people worth knowing in the world and given
me the inestimable privilege of seeing history
in the making during the most important of
periods. I have had my ups and downs, good
fortune and bad fortune in full measure both
ways. My mother was a rigid Presbyterian
and Calvinist. She was a very brilhant, able
and wise woman. When great and, as I thought,
fatal losses had come to me, she gave me this
phUosophy: "My boy, you will find that what
you think are your greatest misfortunes are
simply the discipline which the Lord gives
you and they will prove your greatest bless
ings." This is a hard doctrine to believe,
especially when the blow comes, but my experi
ence has demonstrated its truth. This is a
mighty good world to hve in and the people,
take them as they come, a mighty good sort
to live with.
With best wishes for your Class.
Faithfully yours,
Chauncey M. Depew.

[409

Grand Central Terminal.Kew York City,
January 11th .1919 ,
RECEIVED
JAN 2 4 1919
ANSWERED

Li'oravian^Yale University Lil^rary, Hew Haven, Conn.

iJfcar Hie:-

A copy of ay ?' iipeeches and Literary

^,f;^j;B5*W**»**IW**'***'^**''='**'****^

Ooati-ibutioris" has leer, called to you, which please
accept .vith ^rrj co •i-,;li::i'ient? and place upon the shelves
of tiie liorary you represent.

Kind! V .<?<iIr-nowlpf'<Tf '''=3aQipt.

t^

Very truly yours,

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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