Omaha daily bee., 1906-02-23
BIG GUNS ATPEORIA BANQUET
Thomas W, Lawson Principal Guest al
Annual Feast Of 0reve Occur Club,
]. ADAM BtOE DISCUSSES CIVILIZATION
other Speakers are Admiral Schicy,
President \. ". Stic<ncy OF the
Great western aud charles
a. Towne.

a. Towne.
PEORIA, Ill. Feb &-After travelling
half across the continent to accept an IN
vitation to speak at the Crevc Coucr club
banquet today as chief speaker of the
evening. Thomas W. Lawson of Boston
was overcome by the length OF the pro-
gram ahead OF him and surrendered to the
iatcness of the hour.
He apoloeizcd gracefully to an audience
which had packed the Coliseum mainly to
hear him. but which showed evidence of
needing sleep at midnight. and referred
| them to the newspapers, to whom he had
given copies of his speech for the mes
sages hc intended to deliver.
| The eighth annual banquet of the
Crevc Couer club with Thomas W.
Lawson, Admiral w. S. Schley, y.
r. Stickney, Congressman Bede and
| Charles a. Townc the principal speak
ers. was held at the Coliseum here to night.
| Eight hundred people sat down at the ia
bles while fully 1900, including many
women. crowded the galleries \ special
committee met Mr. Lawson and Mr. Stick
ncy at Chicago last night, while another
committee did similar service for the
mainder of the party which Travelled from
Chicago in the private car of General Man
ager Melcher of the Chicago. Rock Island
| & Pacific road. An elaborate luncheon at
| the Country club and reception at the
Creve Couer club preceded the banquet.
In honor OF the day the speakers stage
was made i'm imitation of the Washington
home at Mount Vernon. There was no
| trace of the misunderstanding which arose
| when It was first proposed to invite Mr.
| lawson large number of railroad men
were scattered through the big auditorium.
George T. Page. president of the Illinois
Bar association, acted as POSTMASTER. The
program was as follows:
| "The Railways and the People," a B.
| Stickney.
The Navy of Our Country" Admiral W.
| s. Schey
| Civilization: Its Cause and Cure" Con-
gressman j. Adam Bede.
The Enemy and the Enemies the Enemy
| Has Made" T. w. lawson.
'Washington's United States" Congress
man Charles A. Towne.
Bede ConvuIses Audience.
Mr.. Bede kept the audience convulsed
with laughter for a full hour speaking of
| civilization and the pursuit of happiness.
He said milionaires were not happy He
had known several of them in the east
! who spent many ninety days in the
''Wilds of Dakota" looking for IT, and the
courts would not let them have 1t.
He struck a serious strain with reference
| to the railroad rate bill and was vigor-
ously applauded when he asserted that the
people need not hope for a perfect law this
winter, next nor in the congressional
sessions of six winters, but that each sue
eessiyc action. of congress would show a
step toward perfection.
Townc on Rate situation.
Mr.. Towne said in part:
| i want to refer, in view of certain
ports from Washington in the morning
newspapers. to the so-called Moody, amend
to be deliberate despite the impromptu
nature of my remarks.
after his magnificent fight for rate leglsla-
tion, is coerced by his party representa-
which will throw railroad rates into the
courts in such way as TO leave the rates
complained of in force meanwhile, making
a party measure out of what has not been
so. then the citizens of the United States
power which will keep its promises.
TOO Late for Lawson.
1t was midnight before Mr. Lawson
arose to speak and in view of the lateness
of the hour the speaker announced that he
would not deliver his speech. but leave
the audience to read 1t in the newspapers.
Mr.. Lawsons speech as prepared and
given out to the press was in part as fol-
lows:
Chicago arose and surprised the world
by turning out the organized grafters and
political parties and proclaiming for mu-
nicipal ownership. No. | am no municipal
ownershipist, but the fact that the people
| of the greatest city in your state found
vent for their feelings in municipal owner
ship means nothing more than that they
been and IN 1t dd nd
have been something else, which only
means that they had begun to feel the
fetters. Next came Philadelphia where
the people marched the streets in mobs
but law-abiding mobs-drove out of their
| strongholds the most snugly entrenched
band of political grafters this country has
ever seen-drove them into exile and dis
grace though they had ben group of
mice pursued by an army OF elephants.
Soon came an oyerturnng in Florida. no-
| toriously bossrldden, by the FIagiers and
oil eNape %he4 one b
rose out OF the ranks of the people and
in his begrimed tugboat overalls, stumped
the state and was elected governor for
four years In New York the fearless
Jerome, turned down by each and all the
different political parties was elected with
, Thousands Of votes TO spare, In Wiscon-
sin you know what LaFollette is doing
with the people at his back. These are but
| twenty-one months the people have shown
the spirit that is in them. l could go on
through the country citing other happen
ings, but to cover my ground | Will take
up another series of even more significant
incidents.
of banks in which the people had de
posted their savings. He had been specu-
lating with these savings for the purpose
OF acquiring a great fortune. One day he
stubbed his toe, and his banks went down
like row of bricks. Net result, the peo-
pie lost millions of their savings. If he
, had been successful he would have made
millions for himself by putting i'm jeopardy
the deposits upon which his banks had
paid / per cent interest. When he was
unsuccessful, the depositors lost their saw.
4 ings, a perfect example of the heads
win and tails you lose" game OF the ''sys-
tem.'
MIR. Lawson also mentioned Frank G.
Bigelow, the convicted bank president ol
Milwaukee, as being another exponent OF
heads / win and tails you lose.
Mr.. Lawson then spoke at some length
on his financial views.