Morning journal and courier., 1892-03-18
KNIGHTS OF ST. PATRICK.
Their Annual Banquet-A Large
Gathering and Successful Affair.

KNIGHTS OF ST. PATRICK. c
their Annual Banquet-A Large
c.therins and Successful Affair.
The fifteenth annual banquet of the
yniphts Of St. Patrick took place ct Music
,a1l last night The hall was tastefully
,ecorated in honor Of the occasion. The |
,sndstand was decorated with green hage,
palms and other potted plants.
The tables were also dotted here and
there with potted plants, while American
and Irish flags alternated on the wall. |
The flowers and palms were from Dioker-
mans and the flags from the New Haven
Decorating company.
At the head of the table sat Colonel
John g. Healey, president of the society;
on his left was Rev. A. v. Higgins, o. P;
on his right was Mayor Sargent.
The feasting began about 10 o'clock.
A tempting banquet was served,
President Healey in few brief remarks
welcomed all and introduced the toast
master, Edward J. Downes, the genial city
clerk. Mr.. Downes responded happily
and after rendition of est. Patrick's
Day" by the orchestra, introduced Bernard
Heating of Bridgeport, who spoke on
"The Day We Celebrate. Rev. A. V:
higgins, o. P, spoke next. His toast
was "The United States" The Hon.
"Ireland." Other speakers were Hon. G.
T. Driscoll, who responded to the toast
'tThe State of Connecticut" Hon. David
Callahan, 'sThe Knights of St. Patrick"
Hon. J. B. Sargent responded to the toast
''The City of Elms."
Mr.. J. ]. Splain answered to the toast
"The Press"
He said that the historic traditions cluster
| ing around St. Patrick's day owed their
preservation perhaps no more to the
| spirit of nationality that burned in the
| influence of that great engine of thought
| and action which formed the subject of
his toast. Modern journalism had great
range of power and purpose. So great Is
it's power, 80 wide its possibilities, 30 ex-
| tended its influence, SO far reaching its
grasph that it seems to have created a
new era and to be remodeling our social
| and political character into it's own like
| ness. The observation of the great Irish
statesman, Edmund Burke, made before the
dawn of the nineteenth century, that "the
newspaper press is part of the reading
of ali, the whole Of the reading of the far
greater number" seems immeasurably
more true in these days when the distrib-
| ution of metropolitan and provincial
newspapers is absolutely marvellous.
Whether it be regarded as a leader in the
human progress, as an investigation of
scientific and genealogical problems, as q
sentinel to guard the interests of the COM
munity, as a search light to uncover the
darkness of vice and wrong, as beacon
to light the way of civilization along the
strenuous and often strident strife Of con.
tending forces the press is q mighty en-.
CINE whose extraordinary possibilities
have not yet even developed into their
most potential perfection.
In speaking of the instincts of the press
the speaker said: cit was Mr.. McCullogt
of St. Louis, himself an editor, who once
remarked that journalism was the art o.
observing where hell would break loos'
next to have reporters and editors or
hand. This definition, however, Nigh
| be paraphrased, perhaps by some of thos
the art of raising hell when hell failed t
break loose of its own accord. And yet i
is not the instinct of mischief that so Otter
| turns the editorial sanctum into o Pan
dora's box of blue lightning. tits not tn
spirit of mischief that pushes the editoria
pen as it tears the veil of hypocrisy ant
insincerity from an individual or party
It is the instinct of public spirit, the in
stiuot of natural intuition which reminde,
the journalist that
1.-THE name is but the shadow that we find
Too often greater than the man behind"
Abiding to the privileges of the jour
, nalist, the speaker said that one of tn
| most prominent WAS to be the football fo
the kicks of angry individuals whose fu
had been rubbed the wrong way. 9Th
f priest and the masher," he said, "ma
provoke public criticism by pulpit utter
| ances or private actions, but the voice c
4 censure is hushed and speaks only in whis
= pers. The judge may do a wrong from tn
bench, but the very victim of his ERIC
A will condemn him in muffled terms an
measured language. The lawyer may d
) an injustice to his client through indiffe
ence or neglect, or he may sery
= the opponent Of his client wit
all the invective and satire of tt
. human vocabulary, but he will be excuse
on the plea that it is the privilege of h
o profession to prevaricate. The physicia
l. may compound death with his pills, or
h may stand powerless beside the yawnin
ehasm that looks into eternity as the spir
of his patient takes it's flight across Il
= dark river, but the worst that will be sal
q | in criticism of him is that he lacked skill
:, But let the editor make what some hyp,
critical individual deems to be mistak
let the cold types reflect views and sent
n ments that are not in touch with those I
% some casual reader, let the journalist ls
bare the schemes of an individual or
party, let him nail to the cross some In
pertinent public thief or hare-brained POI
d tician, and straightway the walls of crit
J, oism are uncorked and the streams
| damnation let loose upOn his luckle
head. 1t is in this respect with the edit
much as it was with the fatalist of old.
IL "He can and he can't,