The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-17

l 'As I survey the body of citizens as- sembled in this banquet hall this ev- | en1nS, representing that spirit of pro-
 gress and of local pride that has made l Of Bridgeport, the first city in indus | trial importance in our State, I can | not but esteem it a very great privil- | ege to be assigned to extend a saluta- | tion, in behalf of the Board of Trade of | Bridgeport to our invited guests, and | to welcome with hospitality and good
 will our distinguished visitor, the Jap | anese Ambassador to our Government, | Baron Takahira.
 'I may congratulate the Board of | Trade upon securing the attendance of | the Ambassador at this function. His
 presence would always be pleasing to us, but at this time, when the Gov | ernments of Japan and the United States have been brought into peculiar | ly close and direct international rela- t1ons upon questions of far reaching | importance and of universal interest to the American public, we may in dulge in special felicitations upon this visit. May I be pardoned for turning aside from my theme to further con- gratulate the Board of Trade upon the possession of a most valuable asset in the person of one of your officers, through whom this organization has, in recent years, materially extended its sphere of influence in the industrial world, and to whose efforts are chiefly
 to be ascribed the presence at this table of these guests who represent in their careers and activities the live
 subjects that are expressing the atten-
 tiOn of the great world public.
 ''I can, of course, refer to none oth- CT than that indefatigable worker and
 successful organizer, President Fred
 EnOS.
 HILL WILL BE TRANSLATED.
 "But not all the credit is his. I have
 observed that when this organization
 is particularly desirous of hitting a
 warm pace'' in the arrangement for it's
 annual program. it connects with that
 able and resourceful Representative at
 Washington, who has so thoroughly
 won the esteem of his District and in
 deed of the people in the State at large Congressman Hill.
 ''The time will come-and at no dis
 tant day-when he will be called high
 er-and by that I do not refer to any
 prema ture celestial eXperience-but on
 the contrary, I refer to his elevation to
 a legislative body that, in popular es-
 timation is of the earth. earthly.
 ''The joint efforts of President Enos and the Congressman have brought to this banquet hall this evening, men who in their own personal experiences are representatives of large 10th Gen. tury events.
 Among our guests is a naval officer who assisted in setting at naught the pessinistic fears of disaster indulged in by a considerable number of peo- pie, by sailing with our fleet around the globe, and when at Hampton Roads on the morning of February g with the Stars and Stripes floating in the breeze, amid the strains of music that touched a responsive chord in many a breast.
 we also have the pleasure of greet ing a guest, who is professionally iden- tified with lths great engineering feat that is now in progress at the 1SthmuS of Panama. A Astupendous work in deed in thus overthrowing the grim of nature and all praise to a people who could undertake the task and to those instrumentalities by which 1 it is to be achieved.
 "I take this occasion to express to | the Ambassador from Japan the senti- | ments of friendship and good will that l are so universally entertained toward | the Japanese people in these industrial centers of the East, and indeed, | these hills and valleys in l old New England.
 EQUALITY UNDER FLAG.
 ''The citizens of these New England | States have ever been a conservative | and law abiding people. They have ever taken a broad and liberal view of | the quality that should be enjoyed by | all classes of men alike. under the pro- | tecting folds of the American flag.
 Our ancestors were among the first | pioneers to seek out a new home in this | land. They braved the perilS of the | and it's savage denizens. | They were the first to set up a frame | or government III WHICH they TeCOSllZ- ed the broad and leveling brotherhood | of man.
 'iIn forming this Commonwealth they adopted a Constitution that defined | with precision the powers of govern ment and beyond which none could go, not even our law-making body.
 .sIt was the beacon-1ight of represen- tatiVe government as pract1ced upon the soil of Connecticut that guided the framers of our National Government when these States were united under ! central authority. From the power in a free people, there were .arved out and lodged in the Execu- tive and the Congress of the United States certain enumerated powers with the great mission | hat our forefatherS believed was to De ours in the progress of the world. Men have, in different generations differed as to the interpretation of that