The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-24
BANQUET
NOT WELL.
ATTENDED
Anniversary More Representa-
tive of all Oklahoma.
H. E. ASP ON HAMIL TON
Splendid Tribute to the Finan-
cier of Revolution.

Oklahoma City. o. T, April 23.-The
second anual banquet of the Oklahoma
Anniversary Republican club has passed
into history and probably a more repre-
sentive gathering of Republicans was
never held in the territory. Twenty-six
men who arrived in Oklahoma fourteen
years agon on the END. were present at
the banquet. Fourteen men who partici-
pated in the first Republican convention
ever held in Oklahoma were in attend
ance and many We're the stories told OF
the early days in hotel conversations.
While the banquet was not as well at
tended as last year, yet men from all
parts of Oklahoma were present 1t is
stated that as far as localities are con-
cerned, more counties were represented
than was the case one year ago.
On the opening of the banquet Toast
master Frank II. Greer announced that all
jokes were. to be confined to the vintage
of Abraham and that the toastmaster
was entitled to two-thirds of the time
of the evening. If any speaker has dyna-
mite to explode" said Mr.. Greer. ''he is
requested to send a few sticks TO the
executive committee for examination be-
fore the explosion is scheduled to take
place" This made a hit for those pres
ent last year remembered one sensational
toast delivered at that time
Sam Murphy, former postmaster of
Oklahoma City, who halls from Arkansas,
delivered the Declaration of Independ-
ence from an Arkansas. point of view
and made a decided hit. Murphy stated
that he was from the second state in the
Union and when asked how that hap
pened. he referred his questioner to the
alphabet.
One Of the splendid things of the even
ing was the toast on Alexander Hamil-
tom my Henry f. Asp, of Guthrie. Mr..
Asp had little time to prepare for the
toast. The following extract is given:
Mr.. Toastmaster. and Gentlemen of
the Oklahoma Day Club: On an occasion
Of this kind. time is too limited to do JUS
tice to the life and character and especi-
ally the public work of such a man as
Alexander Hamilton.
Il have never been, and am not now,
hero-worshipper- 1 have ever believed
and now believe that all men have their
weaknesses and possibly no brighter ex-
ample exists than the subject of this
toast yet no one appreciates more than
/ the great men that have lived and left
their mark on the pages of the history
of this country. No one can accord to
them more honor than I am willing to
accord
The lives of the illustrious men of this
country who have had TO do with it's for
nation. control and perpetuation and its
policies. have a brighter page in the his
tory of the world than Is made by the
great men in any other country.
From the great men who have figured
in the history of this country, as a boy
and as man, I have selected three ideals
whose lives and memory and examples.
to worship and defend.
First of these is Washington. who in
all his grandeur, beset and harassed by
surroundings and circumstances. that
nothing but his indomitable will integ-
rity and wisdom could surmount: he was
truly the father Of his country To him
more than any other Is to be ascribed the
credit of the fact that we have a country
Entrenched in the hearts of his country
men, the crowning glory of his life was
the voluntary surrendering of power
when he had it in his grasp.
Next. but not least, is the life and
character and accomplishments of that
man without peer. Abraham Lincoln.
Rocked in the cradle of poverty, nursed
in the arms of adversely, his life chris
tened and moulded and chastened by
western frontier life, he grew the west
ern gian above his peers. with a keener
vision and purer statesmanship than
inspired the statesmen of his day, or the
men Of his time. Through the clash of
arms. the horrors of civil war, in victory
and defeat misjudged and maligned he
stood as a rock with his hand on the
helm of the ship of his country and
guided it safely through the storm. The
crowning glory of his life is the fact
that throughout the length and breadth
of his native land all men love him. even
his enemies.
As a lawyer and a man who is sup
posed TO understand something of the
Constitution and Of the government in
which we live, the next ideal 1 have in
my mind Is Alexander Hamilton To
Washington may be ascribed the title
father of his country and the creator
of the national entity but to Hamilton
must be ascribed the title. of creator of
the national policy. In other words.
Washington by his wonderful presence
and hold upon. the hearts OF his country
men. held them together as one nation
whereas Hamilton indited upon the pages
of history the compact by which they
were united and have ever been kept to-
eether.
As Republicans ] have sometimes
thought that we do not properly appre-
ciate the great work accomplished by
Alexander Hamilton. 4 stripping Of a
boy. on July s liza. at great field
meeting held in New York. then the hot-
bed Of Toryisnl. he commenced his public
service by addressing the multitude IN
behalf OF the Colonists. His clear logic
and forcible presentation or the Interests
Of the colonssts so impressed the people
that he at once sprang into prominence
as one Of the important factors in the
pending struggle for freedom
characteristics Of his irnpuIsive nature
ard love Of truth and friendship. we find
f-ssNesSNssNrFssrr.rssrr ssrrrsnetse.ssNssnNerv