Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-11-24
AIAPlTAL ADDRESS
HON. JOHN F. LACEY DELIVERS a
TALK ON "REcENr POLITICAL
i LEADERS,"
Lecture Was RepIete With Recital Of
Humorous Incidents In Lives Of
Prominent Statesmen - Y. M. C. A..
Auditorium Well Filled.
From Tuesdays Daily.

Auditorium Well Filled.
From Tuesdays Daily.
Hon. John r. Lacey, of Oskaloosa,
congressman from the sixth district,
in his address on Recent Political
Leaders in the United States" in
which he told many humorous Incl
dents of the life at Washington, de.
lightedFa good sized audience of men
y last evening in the auditorium of the
. Young Mems Christian Association.
The occasion was the second rally of
the members of the local institution
and the lecture was the first in Sc.
ries of popular addresses on timely
and practical subjects which are to be
delivered by prominent men under the
direction of the educational committee
n of the Y. NJ. C. A.
Senator s. H. Harper was the chair
man OF the meeting, and the regular
routine business was not dispensed
with. DR.. F. F. Stoltz, pastor of the
First Presbyterian. church, read a
scripture lesson. taking the forty-sixth
/ Psalm. Secretary G. G. Thomas read
the minutes of the last meeting. E.
F. Denison ten announced the pro.
/ the educational committee.
"A master of much eloquence and
possessed of pleasing delivery Major
Lacey last night demonstrated the fact
that he could talk ,entertainingly on
subjects other than politics On IRE
cent Political Leaders in the United
States" Mr.. Lacey was competent to
talk with authority. His labors in the
national house has placed him in close
touch with many of the leading states.
a men from whom he cleaned much val.
liable information. His lecture was
replete with humorous incidents, and
that it was enjoyed was evidenced
abundantly by the applause he re.
ceived at it's conclusion With a few
chosen remarks, Senator S. II. Harper
introduced Mr. Lacey.
~ Mr.. Lacey's Address.
In part, Mr.. Lacey spoke as fol.
lows:
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen: The
announcement that you were to have
an address on foundrymen, is in a way
somewhat identical with the subject
with which / deal this evening. A
& foundryman can use a sand mold but
} once. The mold that makes states
men can be used but once. Going
back even to the days of the Roman
period. Macauley speaks of the Ro-
n mans:
Then none was for party,
IN Then all we're for the state,
u Then the great men helped the poor,
III And the poor man loved the great
Is Then lands were fairly portioned,
N Then spoils were fairly sold;
S The Romans were like brothers
sgs In the love days of Old
n SO, my friends, it has always been
custom to look for precedent, but
must recollect that the mold is
ss oxen. In these days we are prone
look back upon the early statesmen
d leaders of this republic. Washing.
"a pm was but Al; John Jay but 80; John
Hancock 80; John Marshall 81; War
Ient35; John Adams Al, and Lafayette
DutS19 AS far as we will find there
is nothing new under the sun to
be taken as precedent. We are also
prone to look upon the newspapers of
today as less moral than years ago.
In 1914 John Adams said:
deplore the putrid state into
which our newspapers have passed ;
In the malignant, vulgarity and menda-
cious spirit in which men write for
them
.'But the principles Of human pro-
gress then and now are different.
!. This gathering is made up of young
men of this association and this city.
They no doubt have ways and habits,
andSwhen ever. l talk to young men l
always recall these lines:
Sow a thought and reap an act;
4 Sow an act and reap habit;
1t Sow habit and reap character;
Sow character and reap destiny
N Il Now, my friends, to get back to the
II subject of this address. Leaders in
/ politics are the same as leaders in
ether things. 1t all takes industry,
much energy and plenty of work See
man diligent in his business; he
shall stand before kings. William
Shakespeare was great leader and a
great man. His works today are read
withs as much fervor as twenty-five
ssy ears ago. If Shakespeare tonight
would appear in this room, every man
would stand. If Jesus Christ should
appear in this room, every man would
kneel
Now we come down to the time
when the names Of the great leaders
are becoming shorter. When we talk
opouI LIS great Abraham LluCOlu, we
never call him Abraham Lincoln, but
4 Just plain Lincoln. At one time Sew
4 erus, the Roman, was called
Lucius Septimius Severus Plus PERTH
max Augustus Parthius Adiabenient
Arabius Maximlus and what not. To
day he is referred to simply as Sew.
erus. Our ideas of great names were
somewhat crude in our younger days.
1t was Ingerson, think, who said
people think of Washington, as steel
engraving. When I was boy the
steamboat tSilas Wright passed our
house very often. Wright was then
Agovernor of the great state of New
York. but no one could make me be.
lleye Silas Wright was any other than
steamboat.
1T is not so much the leaders that
anect the times, but those who are led
IS the people after all TIC be relied
Alpon. Take the, present war between
VJapan and Russia Every victory of
(he Japanese establishes a reform in
Russia. Napoleon has said that men
n will fight nIyicLor For th ~