The San Francisco call., 1896-02-23
BANQUET TO MR.. DEPEW.
He Concludes an Eloquent Patriotic Id
dress With a DroU StorU


dress With DrOU Story.
NEW YORK, N. Y, Feb. 22.-The Lotus
Club gave dinner tonight in honor ot
Chauncey NJ. Depew at the clubhouse, 55s
Fifth avenue. The banquet room was
decorated not only with the stars and
stripes, in honor of Washington's ami
versary, but also with evergreens and
flowers.
The president Of the club, Frank r.
Lawrence, sat at the head of the table.
There were about $50 diners present
among whom were President Seth Low OF
Columbia College. Walter P. Phillips,
George w. Smalley, J. Lindsay Gordon,
Captain William Henry Waite, Chester S.
Lord, F. B. Thurber, Rastus S. Ransom,
Arthur f. Bowers, Lieutenant f. c. Du-
val, Gilbert Parker, j. Howard Jr., ]. l. C.
Clark, r. E. Bonner and f. A. Burnham.
President Lawrence made a short ad-
dress. touching on the observances of the
day when Americas greatest patriot and
statesman was born, and then introduced
Mr.. Depew, who said in part:
II do not know why you should have Sc.
lected Washington's birthday on which to
pay me this honor. There is no resem-
blance between the Father of his Country
and myself, unless in my capacity as rail
road man you connect me with him from
his first venture, in what has grown to be
the great system OF transportation, or be-
cause Parson Weems, in his delightful and
simple story of Washington's life, says
that when small boy he took a hack al
the cherry tree.
This February. for the first time, both
Washington's and Lincolns birthdays
have been made legal holidays Never
since the creation of man were two human
beings so unlike, so nearly the extremes oil
opposition 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 sur.
rounding democrat.
LAS the richest mal in America, a large
STAKEHOLDER the possessor of an enormous
landed estate and the leader and repre-.
sentative OF the property, the culture and
the colleges of the colonial period, Wash
ington stood for the conservation and
preservation of law and order. He could
be reyolutionist and pledge his life and
fortune and honor for the principles
which, in his Judgment, safeguarded the
rights and liberties OF his country. Bu
in the construction of the republic and il
the formation of its institutions, and in
the critical period of experiment unit
they could get in working order, he gave
to them and implanted in them conserva
tive elements which were found in nc
other system Of government. And vet
millionaire, STAKEHOLDER and aristocrat, il
its best sense that he wss as he lived, so a
any time he would have died for the i'm
mortal principle put by the Puritans il
their charter, OF the equality of all mer
before the law. and of the equal oppor
tunity Of all to rise.
Lincoln, on the other hand, was born ir
a cabin, among the class known as poor
whites in slaveholding times, who hello
no position, and whose condition was sc
hopeless as to paralyze ambition and eff
fort. His situation, so far as his surround
ings were concerned, had considerable
mental but little moral Improvement by
his removal to Indiana and subsequently
TO Illinois. Anywhere in the Old Worlc
man born amid such environments anc
teachings, and possessed of unconq uer
able energy and mbition and the creates
powers of eloquence and constructive
craftsmanship would have been a socialis
and the leader OF a social revolt. He
might have been al anarchist. His one
ambition would have been to break the
crust above him and shatter it to pieces
But Lincoln attained from the log cabin O
the poor white in the wilderness the same
position which George Washington
reacned from his palatial mansion anc
baronial estate on the Potomac.
He made The same fight unselfishly
patriotically and grandly for the preserva
tion of the republic that Washington hac
done for its creation and foundation
Widely as they are separated, these two
heroes of the two great crises of oul
national life stand together in separating
the solvent powers, the inspiring processe!
and the hopeful opportunities of Amer
lean liberty.
at is a curious trait of this period,
said Mr.. Depew, branching into pleas
antries, 'that we are inclined to take
nothing seriously. A story goes father
than an argument and a joke capture!
more than speech. To hit {
Populist Senator and get hori-
zontal view of great statesman
they tell the story of Senator
being shaved by an aged colored barber a
the Arlington and remarking to the bar
ber: Uncle, you must have had among
your customers many of my distinguished
predecessors in the Senate; many of tht
men now dead who have occupied the
great place which flip
Yes, sir said the barber I've known
most all of dem. By the way, Senator
you remind me of Daniel Webster
"The gratified statesman raised In hi.
chair and placing. his fingers upon hi,
forehead said, is it my brown
"'No. boss said the barber, 1T is you
breath !"
NO SPEECHES MADE.