The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-23
NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY DINNER.
General Miles Tells of the Patriotism of
the Army and Secretary Herbert
Speaks About the Ndyy.

NEW YORK, n. Y, Dec. 22.-The New
England Society of the City of New York
celebrated the ninety-first anniversary of
its organization and the two hundred and
seventy sixth of the landing of the Pill
grims by big dinner at the Waldorf. A
feature of the occasion was the costume Of
the walters, who were got up as New
England farm laborers and wore blue
striped shirts, blue jeans trousers and
straw hats.
Among the list of toasts were the fol-
lowing: "Forefathers' Day. f. ]. Phelps,
ex-Minister to England; "Our Debt to the
Pilgrim Fathers" the Rev. DR.. ,Minot ].
Savage; New England Literature"
Hamilton w. Mabie; "The Results of
Puritan Influence" General Horace Por-
ter; 1.-The Navy" Hilary A Herbert,
Secretary OF the Navy; THE Army"
General Nelson A. Miles.
The attendance was the largest in the
history of the society. Among those
present besides those mentioned were:
Horace Russell, Stewart L. W3odford
Elihu Root. ]. Pierpont Morgan, General
Thomas Ruger Commodore MONTGOMERY
Sicard, Hon. Charles A. Dana, Cornelius
n. Bliss, c. P. Huntingto Arthur F.
Bowers and Ex-Governor Roswell P
Flower.
General Miles in his speech reviewed
the history of the army, and, COM
ing down to modern times, said: ''In
this enlightened age. with greater prog
ress being made in the appliances of war
and the effective use of modern inven-
tions by every nation on earth, it i'll be-
comes the American people to sleep the
sleep of apathy or dream the dream of
victory and unwarranted confidence. un-
consciously disregar ling all the lessons of
history. Our army springs from the fire.
sides of our people. No nan can be
perfect soldier without first being a good
citizen.
He must be prompted by the loftiest
purposes to defend his life, the welfare of
his people and the interests of his Govern
ment. We have body OF men who are brave
enough TO meet in the defense of their
Government the destructive engines OF
war now used by every civilized nation.
who are patriotic enough to risk their
lives in the defense of their country's
flag. the welfare OF their people and the
maintenance of institutions we inherited
from our fathers. Our army is one grand
school of patriotism. where the best
thought, the best principles and the best
purposes of our young men find congo
NAL atmosphere"
Secretary Herbert said in his speech:
'When eleven years ago / was put in
charge of the Naval Committee of the
House of Representatives l knew little or
nothing about the subject, but the time
had come to build new navy, and there
was reason why l especially desired to
go on that committee. l was al ex-Con-
federate soldier and felt that in helping to
rebuild the navy, which represented the
majesty and power of the United States as
one country, l might also help in the good
work of reuniting the two sections. No
one can tell to what extent, if any, the
votes of Southern men for the navy
have contributed. Our Civil War stands
out in the past as an unrivaled testimonial
OF American courage"
Mr.. Herbert went on to tell of the
building up of the new navy and con-
trasted it with the navy at the command
OF the descendants of the Pilgrim fathers
in 1872.