The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-02-23

Address by DIR. Chauncey VI. Depew
at q Complimentary Dinner.


NEW YORK. Feb. 2.-For the first time
in his after-dinner career Chauncey NJ. De-
pew was tonight the guest of honor at a
complimentary dinner given him at the
rooms of the Lotus Cub. The president of
the club. Mr.. Frank r. Lawrence. sat at
the guests table, and with him were, be-
sides Mr.. Depew. President Seth Low. of
Columbia College, George w. Smailey. Rev.
DR.. S. A. Elliot of Brooklyn. Roswell p.
Flower j. Lindsay Gordon. District Attor-
ney John r. Fellows Chester $. Lord, Capt
William Henry White. F. C. Wagner. Rev.
DR.. r. S. Macarthur, Charles Emory Smith
and Augustus Thomas. President Law
renee, at the conclusion of the dinner. in
troduced Mr.. Depew who said. in part:
''Provincialism and isolation from the
world produce magnificent enthusiasm. The
effect of higher civilization and universal
knowledge is to repress 1t. Enthusiasm is
like the thunder and the lightning, which
clears the atmosphere and gives new vigor
to life. In lamenting the disappearance OF
its manifestations. l often wonder If the
carried along on the waves of emotion,
which, after the end of the civil strife,
swept against the unmoved and immovable
figure of General Grant. But where are our
enthusiasms of to-day? We are in the pres
idential year-the year of all others for
idols and idol worship, the year when the
statesman becomes endowed in the popular
imagination with supreme qua.ities-and
yet the American people are calmly analyz-
ing, instead Of frescoing: they are doubling
instead OF accepting without question as
prophet, sage, leader and savior chosen
favorite, and they are subjecting them all
TO the frightful processes OF the Cathode
rays. All of these are unquestionably the
result of more universal education. of the
universal reading of the newspapers and of
electric touch, day by day, with all the
An1 .tsl
good. old times: believe that a people
should be stirred at least once in a genera
ton by Peter the Hermit enthusiasm.
which sinks the commercial considerations
that now control all the transactions OF
life and sacrifices everything for an idea
or name. 1t is that which makes patriot
ism and patriots; it is that which creates
heroes and statesmen. They are carried TO
the heights where they lead, and the multi
tu0e follows as much by the uplifting ap-
plause and inspiration OF the people whose
enthusiasm condenses in them by their
own superior genius and requirements.
This February for the first time beth
Washington'S and Lincoln's birthdays have
been made legal holidays Never since the
creation of man were two human beings
so unlike, so nearly the extremes OF oppo-
sition to each other as Washington and
Lincoln. The one an aristocrat by birth,
by breeding and association; the other in
every sense and by every surrounding a
democrat As the richest man in America.
a large Shareholder, the possesscr of an
enormous landed estate. and the leader and
representative OF the property, the culture
and the colleges OF the colonial period.
Washington stood for the conservation and
preservation of law and order. And yet.
millionaire, STAKEHOLDER and aristocrat In
it's best sense, that he was, as he lived, SO
at any time he would have died for the
immortal principle put by the Puritans in
their charter. adopted in the cabin OF the
Mayhower and re-enacted I'm the Declara-
tion of Independence. of the equality of all
men before the law: of the equal oppor-
tunity for all to rise.
Lincoln, on the other hand. was born In
a cabin among that class known as poor
whites, in slaveholding times. who held no
less to paralyze ambition and effort.
His situation. so far as his surroundings
were concerned, had considerable mental
but little moral Improvement. by the re-
moyal TO Indiana and subsequently, 10 Illi-
nois- Anywhere in the old world n man
born amidst such environment and teach
ings, and possessed Of uncomfortable en-
ergy and ambition and the greatest pow
ers of eloquence and constructive states
manshp. would have been a socialist and
have been an Anarchist His one ambition
would have been 10 break the crust above
him and ehatter Ii to pieces. He would sec
otherwise no opportunity for himself and
his fellows in social, or political, or pro-
fessional life. But Lincoln attained from
the log cabin of the poor white In the will
derness the same position which Washing.
| ton reached from his pslatial mansion and
baroniai estate on the Potomac: he made
| the same fight unselfishly, patrioticaily
and grandly for the preservation OF the
| Republic that Washington had done for its
| creation and foundation Widely as they
| are separated. these two heroes OF the two
| great crises OF our national life stand to-
| gefher In representing the solvent powers
| the fnspiring processes and the hopeful op
portunitics Of American liberty"