The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-22
GOOD FELLOWSHIP
AND
GOOD ADDRESSES.
President Jesse GreSs Happily Presides-
Responses Made by Joseph E. Nc
Rfbben, E. "a. YOUNG, -. 8. Sfickney
and Lou WiIEses-A Few Five-Minufe
Talks Follow.

In celebration Of the dawn of pros
perity in the Northwest, the CONNER
cial club rendered a banquet last even
ing to the st. Paul jobbers. 1t was an
occasion that fulfilled it's purpose. over
one hundred representative business
men of ST. Paul were seated at the ban
quet tables, to first enjoy an excellent
dinner and then listen to the approprl-
ate and admirable speeches which the
character of the celebration inspired
The programme of toasts was OF just
the proper length, consisting OF hVe
addresses, which were supplemented by
two on three informal five-mlnute
! speeches, All the speakers paid loyal
tribute to st. Paul and it's institutions,
while due recognition of the important
| and valuable assistance of the jobbers
| in building up the city, was expressed.
Jesse A. Gregg, the president of the
| Commercial club, officiated as toast
master. After the menu had received
a thorough discussion, Mr.. Gregg inau-
gurated the feast of reason to follow,
with a brief address. In welcoming
the jobbers, Mr.. Gregg said:
"It gives me great pleasure to well
| come YOU all this evening. Our gath
ering tonight has a two-fold purpose,
first to meet the returning wave of
| prosperity, and, secondly, to call atten-
! tion to the fact that never in all it's
experience have the prospects of st.
Paul looked so bright as they do to-
night"
After paying special tribute to the
| LOYALTY, energy and public spirit OF the
| 11rncnnfp6 IOSPnh
McKibben, the president of the job
bers union, who responded to the toast,
THE Evolution of a Metropolis"
MIR. MKIBBEN'S ADDRESS.
Mr.. McKibben said that the jobbers
desired to congratulate the Commercial
club on it's unity and successful busl-
ness management, two virtues, the.
possession of which by the city OF st.
Paul Illustrated the essential differ
| ence between. this city and certain
| other city. st. Paul, continued Mr.. NC
Kibben, was essentially manufactuf-
ING and iobbing city. 1t was for the
interest of every citizen to do all ne
could to assist the merchants Oh 81.
Paul in their competition with the mer-
chants of other cities.
Mr. McKibben likened the jobbers
to the watchmen in ancient cities, VINO
were the first to announce the dawn
of day So the jObbers were the nTst
to behold the dawn of prosperity. !he
jobbers had already felt its benign
| Influence. The results of the year 1897,
the speaker said, bid fair to eclipse
the results of any previous year.
Mr.. McKibben here related the anec-
dote of the wife, who, ministerlng to
the comfort of her dying husband,
asked him if he wanted anything to
eat. Yes, 1 would like bit OF that
ham that smell cooking in e me kloGn- 4ef1
en-" replied the sick man. NO, 1onn,
YOU can't have that responded the
| fhoughtfuI wife That's for the fu-
neral 0aughterO
But the funeral is off now, and
were here to enjoy the ham, added
Mr. McKibben.
The speaker declared that the evo-
luton of metropolis depended on
three things-a large rural population
producing commodities to be exchanged
in the city for other commodities; sec
ondly, good roads, and lastly, and per-
haps the most important essential, a
nucleus of active, energetic, hard
working, publicspirited citizens. 1t
was profound principal that the fate
of a city lay in the hands of COM
parativeIy few. The speaker alluded
to the scriptural story of the destruc-
ton of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the
failure to find ten righteous men in
the former city. Mr.. McKibben be-
Iieved that ST. Paul had those ten
saving men, and that some of them
We're present on that occasion. And
here Mr.. McKibben won applause
when he said:
''All that is necessary is for each
citizen to take care of his business
his own business"
Such conduct was not inconsistent
with the interest of every mercantile
house in seeing every other line of
business brought up to the proper
standard Mr. McF<ibben thought that
the jobbers had made a mistake in
giving subsidies to enterprises in that
they had given them money as one
would to toss nickel to a beggar who
passes on. SO enterprises assisted in
this way had passed on and gone to
the devil. In conclusion Mr.. McKib-
ben said
I'm behalf of the jobbers of st. Paul.
we pledge ourselves to do our best to
push our individual enterprises to the
utmost limits and to make st. Paul the
metropolis of the northwest and to
keep it there"
E. A. YOUNG ON FREIGHT.
Mr.. Gregg then introduced E. A
Young with the added tribute that no
man had done more to build up the
great trade center in ST. Paul.
Mr.. Young responded to the toast
Our Freight Situation Unique" A
year and half ago the freight situ-
alton in st. Paul was, so Mr.. Young
pointed out, very discouraging. He
described the discrimination against
st, Paul, as shown in the comparative
rates from New York to st. Paul. and
New York to Chicago. Mr.. Young also
explained the lake and rail situation
whereby ST. Paul had to pay an in
crease in rates of SO per cent over Chi
cago, though there was a difference
of only 10 per cent in the mileage
But notwithstanding these unfavor-
able conditions, the jobbers got
through the. season and succeeded in
putting themselves in a fair positions.
With the opening of the present sea-
son they managed to bring about a
still better condition of things. The
jobbers urged that they be put on a
mileage basis from New York to St.