The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-21
HENRY WATTERsON's THEME he
FORE THE NEW YORK BOARD
OF TRADE.
NATION OF INSTITUTIONS.
REVEALING HUE AND CRY OF TO-
DAY AGAINST THE CORPORATE
ENTITY.
EARLY DAY INDIvIDUALpry COVE
Duty of the Present LIS to IncuIcata
Individual Character and Per-
sOnaI Accountability.

NEW YORK, Jan. 20-The twenty
fourth annual banquet Of the New York
Board OF Trade and Transporta ton
was held in the banquet hall of the
Waldorf hotel tonight. Senator John
M Thurston, who was to have respond
ed to the toast, "The West" was de-
tanned In Washington. William III.
PARSONS acted as POSTMASTER The
principal speaker of the evening was
Henry Watterson. Responding to the
toast, When Uncle Sam Was Young
MT Watterson, after touching on the
hghter side of his subject with a de-
hghtful humor, turned to it's more Sc
rious aspect. He said:
II cling with kind of affectionate ten
aclty to that which was rude in nature and
crude IN art and is somewhat out of touch
with the refnements OF modern life | do
not fail to mark the progress Of events There
are dangers and dangers; and those that
menaced the republic when It's titular saint
was young are not those that menace it
now. We were nation of individuals We
are nation OF institutions. The lion across
our path was the institution Of African
slavery. we survived 1t. The wolf at our
door is the institution Of professional an
archy. We shall survive that, too We
have had our new birth OF freedom, but
before we can come out of the fiery ordeal a
perfect nation, must have a new birth of
morals.
1t is for you, gentlemen, to set the pace.
III the intellect and the aspiration Of the
country insist upon placing the amassing
OF riches above all other considerations,
leaving the administration Of the public bust
ness in the hands of characterless or incom-
petent men-who, though i'll ped are over
pa1d-you need not be surprised if the dregs
OF society should begin to say "since states
men men,. come SO cheap, why not WEI" If the
wealth of the country contents itself with
Duy1ng immunity from its share Of respon-
slbll1ty in public affairs, relegating its poIiu-
cal interests to mere attorneys in and out
OF congress, where shall it look for security
When-baving destroyed the popular con-
science and broken down in the popular mind
the partition separating right from wrong
agrarlan-sm rises in its might, and in turn
tempting your attorneys with still greater
bribes demands it's share Of the pillage?
Already the prevailing hue and cry are
against an entity, word which ignorance
artfully stimulated by demogogism, has con-
verted into a monster of heartlessness and
oppression; and yet what is a corporation but
an association Of individuals seeking bv
united effort to do what is beyond the reach
of its several members? Why should a mans
money be less safe in bank than in his
own pocket? If citizen, rich or poor. has
some surplus cash, much or little and puts
1t in railway shares does he at once become
a public enemy, losing his right to it9
According to certain sect of political phil
osophers he is and he does But that sect
OF philosophers points its moral By pointing
IS ..@zs CORPORATE EXCESSEs,
and adorns its tale by many examples of
triumphant rapacity clothed in corporate an
parel. The characteristic virtues of the cor
poration are obliterated by the occasional
vices of the corporation in the warped minds
Of the Disconnected The ostentatious display
Of wealth, which no law can reach, tends
greatly to augment both the discomfort and
the communistic theories in which it is laid
The ready access to legislation held by the
rich and strong, and their constant and flag
rant use of this, serve fuel to the fame Of
moral perversity. If the better elements of
society are so careless Of moral obligations
and public appearances why should we won
der that the worse eements-the morally
limp, halt and blind among us-should claim
that what is sauce for the goose must be
sauce for the gander, and that, having or
gained raid OF their own upon the national
capitol, they should be justly indignant at
being both warned and forced to keep eff
It Is your own fault, gentlemen, If the
government, falling IN with your own stand
ards fails to attain the ideal. l am no Cassan-
dra. On the contrary, believe that we are
upon the ascending, not the descending, scale
Of national development. and that there are
yet glories in store for US as a nation and as
a people. But it requires no seer to predict
that If you do not set and keep your house
in order-if the custodians of the nations
cretions, not only Of wealth, but culture,
and these moulders Of public opinion. whose
position gives them so great an authority,
do not take from the lOng-haired demagogue
every Illustration of his claim of class dis
tinction-if they do not stop making money
long enough to consider as wise economists
just systems Of taxatton-if they go on hug
ging, along with their riches, the delusion
that when the danger line is reached, they
can buy the election-it is only a question
of time when the hordes Of disorder taking
advantage Of some one of the years of famine
which periodically visits us, and sufficiently
organized and capably led, will swep over the
conservative barriers that now restrain them.
Then shall see done ruthlessly by the
hands of the mOb-perhaps at the ultimate
cost of free institutions-what had been better
done if committed in time, to the hands Of
statesmen.
We are to reconcile capital and labor; and
to this end we must purify ourselves. We are
to teach the lesson that the citizen exists for
the government, not the government for the
citizen. We may not be able to bring back
the
INTENSE INDIVIDUALITY
of the days when Uncle Sam was young; but
we can incucate individual character and per
sonal accountability. Ours is to protect the
rights of property-not less sacred in the form
of aggregations of capital than in that Of pri-
vate ownership-and, to do this effectively,
we must not leave the prosecution and pun
ishment of dishonest and unlawful combina-
tons to the indiscriminate Outcry of ire
sponsible agitation, but ourselves lead such
movements towards redress and reform as the
public interest and credit may require. Just
policies. directed by wise men, never yet
failed of their mark, the glory OF nations and
the good of humankind and they never win.
1t is for this noble city to lead the way; it is
for you gentlemen, who represent so great
part Of its wealth and worth, TO say the word;
and surely as the night succeeds the day,
the rest Of us will follow after.
Gen. Simon B. Buckner responded to
the toast, Patriotism, Country and
Party" Lieut.. Gov. Woodruff to the
toast, THE Prospective Benefits to
Trade and Transportation Incident to
the Creation of the Greater New York.
Postmaster Dayton to the toast, The
Postal Service" Rev. Madison G. Pc
ters to the toast, Immigration"
F. B. Thurber moved that the assem-
blage express by rising, its senti-
ments in favor Of the arbitration treaty
just promulgated between the United
States and Great Britain. All rose and
cheered.