The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-04-08

HONOR GUEST
President Attends the Annual
Banquet Of BOOkmen's
Association.

WASHINGTON, April S.--A repre-
sentative and distinguished company
attended the dinner Of the Periodical
Publishers Association of America
given at the New Willard hotel last
night. President Roosevelt was the
honor guest. To his right sat Count
Cassini, the Russian ambassador, dean
Of the diplomatic corps, and on either
side Of them were Mr.. Hay, the secre-
tary of state; NJ. Jusserand, the
French ambassador; Baron Won Stern
burg, the German ambassador; Justice
Peckham of the supreme court, VIII
liam b. Rowland president of the as
ISOLATION; Hamilton w. Mabie, the
POSTMASTER, and other distinguished
members of the society. The Chinese
and Japanese ministers sent letters Of
regret.
When President Roosevelt arose to
speak he was given an ovation, the en-
tire company rising and cheering him
repeatedly. TOastmaSter Mabie intro
duced him as the best known author
in America today, the author and IL
illustrator of American IDEALS He
spoke ms follows:
1T is always = pleasure to a man in
public life to meet the real governing
classes. bid you welcome to Wash
ington and to say but a word of greet
ing, and that word shall take the form
Of Il warning and a hope | did not
speak in justice when | alluded TO you
as representatives of the governing
classes. | think that we of the United
States cannot keep too fresh in our
minds the fact that the men RESPONSE
BILE for the government are not the rep
resentatives of the people, but the PEG
pie themselves and that therefore
heavy is the responsibility that lies
upon the people and upon all those
who do most toward shaping the
thought of the people. Now in the
days of my youth | was literary man.
| have recently In reading book been
immensely struck by che thought de-
veloped in il by one Of our greatest
scholars who was speaking Of freedom
and of the fact that freedom could not
exist unless there went with 1t a sense
of responsibility, and he used phrase
somewhat like this, That among all
peoples there must be a restraint; If
there is no restraint there is for an in
evitable result anarchy, which Is the
negation of all government
II believe in the future of this peo-
pie. l believe in the growth and great
ness Of this country, because | believe
that you and those like you approach
their tasks in the proper spirit-not al
ways, but as rule. And, gentlemen,
it seems TO me that because of the
very fact that we are so confident in
the greatness OF our country and our
country's future we should beware of
any undue levity or any spirit of mere
boastfulness.
individual courtesy is n good thing,
and international courtesy is quite as
good a thing. If there is any one quail
ity which should be deprecated in the
public man ana in the public writer
alike il is the use of language which
tends to produce irritation among ma
tons with whom we should be on
friendly terms. Nations are now
brought much nearer together than
they formerly were.
I'VE have very large field in war
ring against evil at home. When all is
as it ought to be in nation and state
and municipality here at home we can
then talk about reforming the rest of
mankind Let us begin at home"
Baron Won Sternburg, the German
ambassador, when called upon by Mr..
Mabic said:
During my wanderings In foreign
lands | frequently have been struck
4 by the wiTlespreading of the American
periodical not only among the Eng
fish speaking people, but also among
the people belonging to all races and
nationalities. Some years ago when
in Samoa l was discussing with
Samoan chief the history of his is
lands. | was surprised by the intelli-
gence of the man and by the interest
! luE hubNlChEt ht p'NHtNHtu ltlulllh
to the past of his people. When
asked him from where he had gained
his information and if his islands had
any written records of their past
handed down by his ancestors the
chief smiled and said no such records
never existed because Samoans had no
written language. But he continued,
there is a foreign book which has told
us all of our past history Saying
this he opened an old ships chest, re-
covered probably from some derellct,
which held his few humble posses
sions, and handed to me a number Of
an American magazine containing a
/ lengthy article on Samoa and the Sa-
means. This he said. lis the only
record our islands ever possessed, and