Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-20
P A TRIOTIC TOPICS
ADDRESSES BEFORE SONS OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
First Fall Meeting of the Organization
Held Last Evening-Large
Attendance

An exhibition of eloQuence, expressive of
lofty sentiments. marked the first winter
meeting Of the Sons of the American Rev
olution. which held last night at
Rausoher's. The speaker was Judge John
Goode, whom Inspector General Breckin-
ridge the presiding officer OF the evening,
introduced 1.-The Nestor of the American
bar and one of Virgfnias most notable
sons and the address concerned the ter
centenary of the settlement of Jamestown,
the progress which has marked the three
hundred years of Americas history. and
the promise of the ensuing century viewed
in the light of the past fifty years. Judge
Goode spoke extemporaneously.
Many circumstances contributed to make
the occasion notable The meeting called
together about 200 members of the local
chapter of the Sons. A series Of earlier
talks by Gen. Breckenridge, formerly the
president general of the organization Gen.
Thomas NJ. Vincent, one of it's most widely
known members; Major Fred C. Bryan an
Ohioan who reviewed tersely and entertain
ingly the 100 years history of his state
Mr. William A. DeCaindry. who urged the
Sons of the Revolution to unite with the
Daughters in constructing the proposed
Continental Memorial Hall in this city: and
MI Loren B. johnson. who protested Wig
orously against the Dissertation of the
American flag by advertisements. on race
t7acks. in the fighting ring and elsewhere.
had aroused the interest and held the At
tentlon OF the meeting until the last conner
had arrived
Founding of Jamestown.
When Judge ,Goode was introduced he
was warmly greeted.
Major Bryan's interesting review of
Ohio's history had merited the attention
with which it had been received bv the
society," he said, in opening The ceIe-
bration of centennial by any state in such
a union of states could not fail TO excita tba
patriotism and pride of every citizen in the
land Yet, as a product of Virginia. state
which has contributed no small part to the
making of Ohio-he hoped the Sons of the
American Revolution might associate with
the interest in Ohio's celebra ton a measure
or patronage for the tercentenary which
which was to be celebrated in jamestown in
i9oi. He took that occasion to invite every
one present to attend the Nirginian ceIebra
ton, and it was an open secret he said
that he himself had already accepted an in
v1tatlon to attend with a very racious and
Deauteous young lady
This tercentenary'' he exclaimed ..is of
no mere local significance. 1t marks the
first meeting of the white man and the In
DIAN: There the first ak chopped the first
log Tor the flrst cabin of the first American
settlement. There was sown the spirit of
American liberty. and from that center ra-
dated an influence which now reaches To
another ocean and beyond that ocean to
the far-oH isles of the southern seas
Advances of Civilization.
Several references to the history of Vir-
gfnia then followed as an introduction TO a
specific review of the past fifty years. No
man who had seen the advances of civiliza
ton in the last half of the century could
be blind to the blessings of that advance
ment: Inventors had contributed more to
the welfare of their fellows in that period
than Alexander, Caesar or Napoleon and
their names would survive when those of
the great conquerors had passed into oh
lfvion.
harnessed and controlled that subtle sririf
electricity; they have courted coy Nature:
they have annihilated time 10 spac. y,.i'
the telegraph and the telephone and in fu-
ture years the names of great soldiers will
shine but dimly beside the names of Full
ton Morse and Henry
But these inventions have all contrib
uted to create new problems for the Amer
lean people to solve in the course of the
new century, on whose threshold the ma
ton now stands. May l be permitted to
advert to what seems to me the chief of
those problems? I refer to the centraliza-
ton of power which threatens us every
where. The. civil war settled for good and
all two great principes-the indissoubility
of the Union and the inability of any state
to secede. Thank God for it. But it did
not centralize in the hands of the national
government the power of the separate
states 1t did not rewrite or destroy the
federal Constitution. Unless the tendency
toward the obliteration of the states is
checked, unless combinations of capital are
checkmated in their efforts to control the
industries of the nations, the republic must
inevitably suffer great loSes. Men cannot