The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-21
DR.. ABBOTT WITH ROOSEVELT.
WE NEED A MORE CENTRALIZED
GOVERNMENT, HE SAYS.

Starts the Graduates Club Cheering with
His Praise Of the President -RaIlrOads.
the Clergyman Declares. should ne
Brought Under q Central Power.
The Rev. DIR. Lyman Abbott aroused the
Graduates Club to cheers last night when
he declared that he was in thorough SYM
pathy with President Roosevelt's IDEAS OF
greater concentration in government. DIR.
Abbott praised the President after roasting
the railroads and saying that some kind Of
Government control Of railroads was badly
needed.
The dinner was held in the rooms Of the
Aldine Association, at III Fifth venue and
was in celebration OF Forefa Tiers Day.
The Graduates rather prided themselves
because they had got ahead of larger 30
cieties in celebrating the event. President
Clarence f. Melleny was toastmaster and
perhaps 200 of the club were present.
DIR. Abbott spoke after President Mel
leny had read extracts from William Brad
ford's simply spelled history Of Plymouth
Colony. He said that the vision Of the
Pilgrims had not been realized, and that
hardly anything they expected has been
accom- lished. They wantedcy a theocra
where we have Q democracy, and they
thought to evade the responsibilities and
burdens Of o world power, but. said DIR.
Abbott, the United States has become q
world power and must accept the RESPONSE
bilities and burdens whether IL likes Il or
not.
What we have said Dr.. Abbott, lis
not q new England % the Pilgrims ex-
pected, but a new Europe
DR.. Abbott told Of q journey from New
York TO Atlanta that he made as a young
lawyer Atty years ago, and said that he had
to lay In a supply of gold because OF the in
security of the bank note circulation OF
that day. Then he explained how the
Government solidifed and ref ormed the
banking system 30 that few me n would be
able TO say on short notice what bank issued
the notes they have in their pockets.
What we have done i9 banking said
DR.. Abbott, I'VE can do in every depart
ment Of energy. l will speak Of the rail-
roads. / am not here to discuss railroad
rates, except to say that IL Is scarcely pos
sible for a nan to know what he will be
charged for shipping a piece OF goods a
certain distance without going TO the rail-
road Office, ami even then he can't be certain
that he will be charged what his n%eighbor
was charged. What is possible is for the
Government to do for railroads and the
insurance business h has been done
with banking.
1T is not necessary to pass the railroads
over to the Government, or to destroy the
value Of individual effort or competition in
any way, but IT is possible to put in opera
ton a system OF railroad management over
which the Government will have absolute
control for the public good. The Govern
ment must in time see that we get from the
railroads the convinience, the uniformity
and the resulting comfort that we now get
from a uniform banking system. Jap
There are some men in his country
that are terribly afraid we are in danger
of an autocracy and they make a great to
about IL. There Is no more danger OF an
autocracy in this country than there is of
going pack to the days Of the RAM
shachle old sta gecoach or to the i'll printed
news sheet we used to read for newspapers.
lApplause.l
President Roosevelt. He doesn't need de-
Iapplausel and | am not sure hat
he would thank me for eulogizing him.. 1t
is said that he is assuming autocratio powers.
let's Use a little common sense. The
President cannot use the army as he will.
cannot make officials of importance +;
the consent OF the Senate. He
over him the authority Of the American
to understand what the American people
are thinking and the concentration OF au-
thority which he favors is the concentration
of public opinion speaking through one
stalwart, courageous man. Applause and
cheering. So long as the people can a
away the authority they confer we are in
no danger of autocracy. The Presidents
kind of concentration is the kind of concen-
tration we need in a great cooperative
undertaking such as ours" lApplause.I
James McKeen, who was Charles +.
Hughes's associate in the life insuran ce
investigation, said that he believed il was
well on such occasions 10 bring in the good
old chestnut tree and shake il vigorously.
repeated MIR. Choate's joke on the fore
that they first fell on their knee
and then on The aborigines.s and also Mr..
Choate's saying that the Pilgrim mothers
great praise tecause they not only
had to endure the hardships and Evils that
the fathers met with, but they had 10 endure
The fathers themselves.
The Pilgrims landed on the shortest day
Of the year" said Mr.. Mckeen. Il suppose
Il was owing 10 the ~forethought Of an all wise
Providence, which knew that IL would take
he longest night in the veal to tell the
Of the Pilgrims and stories about
hem"
Mr.. McKeen told the graduates a story
about a visit Bishop Potter made TO Bishop
Doane OF Albany at the latter's summer
nome in the Thousand Islands.
1T is greatly to be regretted aid Mr..
McKeen. that Bishop Doane is not the
Bishop Of Buffalo, because then they might
call him Buffalo Bill Bishop Doane had
!, yacht when Bishop Potter went to see him.
md the Bishop of Albany was so fond of his
YACHT that he wore a strip OF ribbon on his
Yachting cap with the name of the yacht
IN il, The Only One Next morning Bishop
Potter appeared at breakfast wearing a cap
With this inscription on it: There Are
u hers.T