The record-union., 1895-12-20

| to Our Benefit.
NEW YORK, Dec 19-American
fcommerce celebrated the centennial of
its liberty tonight by a banquet at
| Delmonicos Tonight was chosen for
| the banquet because it marked the one
hundredth anniversary of the full ap-
proval by the President and Senate of
the treaty negotiated with Great Brit
ain by John Jay, then Chief Justice of
the young republic.
Chauncey NJ. Depew, President of the
Empire State Society of the Sons of
American Revolution, presided at the
banquet, and at his right sat William
Jay and at his left Secretary of the
Navy Herbert. The others at the Presi-
dents table were Mayor Strong, Bishop
Potter General Horace Porter, Charles
H. Taylor, Russell A Alger, Henry B.
Hyde, William P. Frye, Charles H
Cramp. Clement A. Griscom James T.
Kilbreth, Don NJ. Dickinson, Charles A
| Dana, Andrew H. Green and William
H Webb
! When the covers had been removed.
ceived kilograms from Tacoma and Sc
| attic saying that they were celebrating
| celebration Day" in those places. He
| then went into history of the Jay
! treaty, and how it was accomplished
He touched upon the War of 1872.
| The victory of the War of 1872" said
Mr.. Depew, was this-that the deck of
an American vessel was the indisput-
able territory of the United States, and
was inviolable by any other nation
| That was the Monroe doctrine of 1872
/ Since that time we have Inquired in
many arbitrations scarcely noticed be-
cause of lack of nsationaIism. / trust
the principle of arbitration embodied in
the Jay treaty, which has only been
| broken by four years of war in the his
tory of the United States, will continue
the guiding star in the rule of the
United States during the year 1885,
This sally was received with great ap-
plause.
Senator Frye, who was the next
speaker, spoke as follows on the subject
of Our Merchant Marine" He said in
part:
THE occasion calls for eulogies. My
speech will be more Of an elegy. Our
| cOastWise, lake and river fleet through
! the century has experienced a steady,
/ healthy growth, until it has reached
magnificent proportions, until its ton
mage of dOcumented and undocumented
vessels is 5000, 900 greater than that of
Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain
and Italy combined employed in like
! business. In 1892 it took 3, 500, 600 ton
mage to carry our freights, chiefly prod
uctS of our farms, on the Mississippi
alone. In 1898 there were passed
through the locks at Sault ST Marie
! in eight months, a little over II 000,-
600 tonnage, 1000. 600 more than the
ia
/ Is there any American whose blood
does not quicken at the mention of this
/ achievement?
If the toast has reference to our
I ships engaged in the foreign carrying
trade, a subject of much graver i'm
portance from national point of view
then the picture l am compelled to
draw is indeed a mortifying and humil-
/ iating one for a rich, prosperous and
powerful maritime country, once the
rival of Great Britain on the ocean, to
look upon
! The speaker portrayed our marvel
! Gus growth in all but one of our indus
tries, and which has been without par
allel in the history of nations. Clad
stones early and unwilling prediction
that Our daughter over the sea may
oVertake her mother had been full
filled, for the daughter had distanced
her. "One industry alone" he said
/ and that, too, of prime national i'm
portance, seems to have fallen into a
state of hopeless bankruptcy. With an
. almost limitlesS seaboard great har-
borS, bOundlesS forests, inexhaustible
mines Of coal and iron, splendidly
equipped ship yards, the best mechanics
in the world wonderful inventive ge-
MUS. an abundance of capital, an enor-
nous foreign commerce, we have looked
/ passiVely on and seen the nations of
the world, our interiors in these re-
/ CARDS, seize upon and GUST US from all
the great pathways of the OCEAN
He denied that Protection" was to
be held responsible for this condition 1t
is rather the logical result Of a lack of
protection. He reviewed the maritime
history of the country, and quoted
copiously from treasury exhibits to sus-
tain his position The low Wages Of
laborers in Europe and the subsidy sys-
tenn were the chief cause of our deca-
dance in ship building.
Now, is there any remedy?" he
asked. In his opinion Free Ships"
would afford no relief. The Nicaraguan
Canal would bring New York nearer
to San Francisco, to be sure, but the
SueZ Canal was an injury rather than
a benefit to the shipping trade Bounties
and subsidies might accomplish the de-
sired object. But as history has con-
clusively proven, discriminating duties
/ and taxes were once a lever powerful
enough to lift our marine from the
depths of adversely to the nights of
prosperity. Might they not again? He
said he knew there are lions in the
way but there never yet was an advanc-
ing pathway without a lion. Pluck,
courage and will generally make him a
lamb.
Responding to the toast american
Business Man" General Horace Por-
ter in his usual happy vein, spoke of
the dignity of labor; compared slavery
with freedom, and showed how the lat
Ter had made two blades of grass grow
where one had grown before. Pluck
and hard work were the true sources of
success. If our active business man of
to-day lived in the days of Greece, they
would have been the champion ath-
letes. carrying off all the prizes in the
Olympian games.
Don NJ. Dickinson of Michigan spoke
at considerable length on American
Commerce" He paid glorious tribute
TO New York, saying: Material ad-
versity anywhere in the United States
causes immediate distress in New York,
and substantial material prosperity
here is a guaranty of prosperous con-
ditions throughout the length and
breadth of the land When the genius
of America felt the virility and strong
ambition born Of freedom and inde-
| pendence. he took commerce for his
bride. and New York of to-day is their
stalwart and beautiful first born.
Having made her, the people of the
North, of the West, Of the East. of the
South. claim New York as National.
Proud of her. in our confident pride we
Invite comparisons with the cities of the
world, and challenge for her the ad-
lmiration of mankind.