Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-21
BUSINESS MEN AT TABLE
Annual Dinner of New York Board Of
Trade and Transportation.
HENRY WATTERsoN is CHIEF SPEAKER
Entertnins the Company with Re-
sponse to the Toast, "Whcn
Uncle sam WAS Young
other Addresses.

annual banquet of the New YORK Board Oh
Trade and Transportation was held at the
Waldorf hotel today. Senator John NJ
Thurston who was to have responded TO the
toast The West" was detained in Washing
ton William H. Parsons ofiiciated as toast
master. The principal speaker of the even
ing was Henry Watterson. Responding to
the toast. when Uncle Sam Was Young
Mr.. Watterson said:
In these degenerate days with their deep,
dark and dire contra sts-when, not to be
n millionaire Is to be a pauper-when, II a
man cannot draw his check for SlOoOoV ne
is apt to be in need of an overcoat-ahu on
a solemn occasion like this, IT seems NJ
ting--indeed, ii Is both a privilege ana u
pleasure to revert to the older and better
days of the republic, when nobody had
anything, and when, as a consequence
everybody had something.
When our robust kinsman-l VIII not say
our venerable uncle-when our robust klns-
man was young, there may have been
down about the Battery-a board OF tradS
wearing a cooked hat and par oil
tSadUt that it could not tell tell the difference be
tween n ticker and n typewriter, and, II
some enterprising Yankee out of Boston or
from the uptown regions of Wall street,
had opened bucket shop its members
would have been curious chiefly to learn
whether the buckets We're TO be manulac-
single member of this Board of Trade, l
am sure who does not know what
ticker is and what i implies, and, as t,, for
the typewrter-but the joke grows musty
Withal and | will not pursue 1t.
When our delightful Uncle sam was
young-whieh is not to imply that he 1sud Is
cats-nobody thought about arbitration, or
preconceived the coming of the great sec
Tetary of state; the bank of the United
States was located in Philadelphia; there
was no such thing as a trust or syndi-
cate in all the land and the bloated bond
holder himself was a baby In that idyllic
period when n friend called upon you, he
scraped his foot upon an iron projectile
provided for the purpose, knocked before
entering, and, in case he wanted loan,
took off his hat as he mentioned the
amount. Behold the revolution which
time has wrought! The door-scraper has
become a sky-scraper, and not infre-
quently should the friend in quest of
pecuniary accommodation take off his hat
at all, it will be found TO have bomb
" " SAFE IN NEW YORK.
When Uncle Sam was young, one could
walk the whole length of Broadway, be-
tween Chambers street and South Ferry,
and reach his destination without having
his pockets picked or his virtue assailed.
But then, the man had not become the
played with a limit; water was used but
sparingly, even in stocks, and, If amid the
plans and schemes of certain hardy
pioneer-nay, If among his widest dreams
as he wrapped his furs about him and lay
down to bissful slumber on the banks of
the Mohawk--so much as a vision of this
failed to mention it in his Will, or to leave
his descendants any specific sinking fund
or architectural suggestion.
Those were brave days, gentlemen, and,
whatever else we may say of them-of
their primitive conditions, their provin-
cal limitations and their clumsy upright
business methods-they laid the national
foundations in type of civilization which
has become known and respected, and is
beginning to be feared, throughout the
world as American manhood and which
of all our possessions is still the best we
have.
If can hold to this manhood we are
safe, and, whilst no one can exceed me
in admiration for the secretary's latest
and greatest diplomatic achievement, / am
not sure that 1t will eliminate war
am myselt man of peace. l had my
fill of war when / was young enough to
enjoy 1t. If, by the grace of God and
permission of Mr.. Olney, we may have
another experience of that kind. 1 want TO
so into the quartermaster's department, or
be connected with the commissariat.
There are dangers and dangers and
those that menaced the republic, when its
titular saint was young, are not those
individuals. We are nation of insttu-
tions. The lion across our path was the
ihstiTStlon Th oIe OF African slavery We survived
IL. Inc wolf at our door Is the institu-
ton of professional anarchy. We shall sur
yive that, too. We have had our new
birth of freedom, but, before we can come
out of the fiery ordeal perfect nation, we
must have a new birth of morals.
, AI,ready the prevailing, hue and cry are
artfully stimulated by demagogism, has
converted into u monster of heartlessness
tion but an association of individuals seek
ing by united effort to do what is beyond
the sho,TS reach % Of its several members? Why
bank than in his own pocket? If a citizen
rich or poor has some surplus cash, ,muci
or little, and puts it in railway shares,
does he at once become a public enemy
losing his right to 1t?
VICES WARP THEIR MINDS.
According to a certain sect of political
philosophers he IS and he does But that
sect of philosophers points its moral by
pointing to corporate excesses and adorns
Its tale by many examples of triumphant
characteristic virtues of the corporation
are obiterated by the occasional vices of
the corporation in the warped minds of
t9e dlsG0ntented, The ostentatlous display
OF wealth which no law can reach. tends
greatly to augment both the, discomfort
IS lald. The ready access to legislation
held by the rich and strong, and their con-
slant and hagrant use of this, serve as
iuel TO the flame of moral peryersity. If
the better elements Of society are SO care
less of moral obligations and public ap-
pearances, why should we wonder that
the worse e!ements-the morally limp, halt
and blind among us-should claim that
for the gander, and that, having organized
itdi Taid & OF their 9Tn upon NE national cap.
being both warned and forced to keep off
and to this end we must purify ourselves.
We are to teach the lesson that the citi-
zen exists for the government, and not
not be able to bring back the intense in
diyiduallty of the days when Uncle Sam
waa young; but we can inculcate individual
character and personal accountability.
ours Is TO .rotect the rights of property
not less sacred in the form of aggrePa-
tions of capital than I'm that of private
ownership-and, TO do this effectively we
must not leave the prosecution and punish
ment of dishonest and unlawful combina-
uons to the indiscrlminate outcry OF lr-
responsible agitation. but ourselves lead
such movements toward redress and re-
form as the public interest and credit may
require. Just policies drec ed by wise me n |
never yet failed of their mark the glory
of nations and the good of humankind |
and they never Will 1t Is for this noble |
men. who represent so great a part of its |
wealth and worth, to say the word; and :
surely as the night the day, the rest OF
us will follow after.
General Simon b, Buekner responded TO |
the toast Patriotism, Country and Party" |
Lieutenant Governor 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 Servlce;" Rev. Mad
ison c. Peters to the toast Immigration"
f. B. Thurber moved that the assemblage
express by rising it's sentiments in favor
OF the arbitration treaty just promulgated
betWeCn the limited States and Great Rrtt.