Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-18
HARVARD MEN URGE
PATRIOTISM Of OLD
Representative PIatt Would
Revive Acts of Fifth Con-
gress in Present Crisis.
ANNUAL BANQUET is HELD

Patriotism of the brand Of 1888 in the
present international crisis was advo-
Gated by Representatives Edmund Plat
and Frederick. W. Dallfnger in ad-
dresses at the thirty-fourth annual din
ner of the Washington Harvard Club
at Rauscher's last night.
81 don't know why we should hesitate
to uphold our rights as a nation Of a
hundred million people as we did as a lit
tie nation of five million people" declared
Representative Platt. amid the cheers OF
the Harvard men. Rear Admiral Charles
H. Stockton, president Of the George
Washington University. was among the
guests. George N. Henning. president
of the local Harvard club, acted as toast
master.
absolutely intolerable position" Repre-
sentative Plat said. II don't see how we
can go on. with our own shipping tled
up afraid to go out on the high seas, and
l think we must be compelled to stano
up for our rights
Recounts Trouble With France.
THE destruction of merchant, tom
mage throughout the world. if it con-
tinucs, will have most disastrous cf-
feet upon this land, as upon every
other" continued the speaker. He then
told of how he recently had been look
ing over the acts of the Fifth Con-
greSs, in 1888, when trouble with
France compelled the patriots OF that
day to pass acts permitting the arming
of American merchant ships, non-in-
tercourse between America and France.
and permission for war vessels Of the
United States to go to sea to hunt
French war vessels.
Representative Platt said he had
taken these old acts of the Fifth Con-
gress almost word for word. substi-
tuted Germany" for France" and in
troduced them into the present Con-
gress.
what we need in this country is
more of the old American spirit" Rep
resentative Dallinger told the univer-
sity men,. Nations, like individuals. as
they get old, lose some of their en-
thusiasm and loyalty and Willingness
to sacrifice which they had when they
were young. Prosperity will kill an
individual and it will kill a nation.
LAS nation, we should be proud of
what our republic did in those early
days. And here we are confronted by
the same problems We ought to see
to 1t that our citizens should have the
rights guaranteed to them by inter-
national law" concluded Representative
Dallinger.
Harvard Men Win Fame.
Representative John ]. Rogers, an
other Harvard man in Congress, told
the banqueters of the fame men of
their alma mater have won in the Ma
tional Capital, in the various govern
ment Offices Other speakers were
Profs. Bliss Perry and F. J. Turner,
both of Harvard College.
Prof. Perry aroused the enthusiasm of
his auditors when he read letter writ
ten by Lincoln, and which he declared
was to date unpublished, which the
great wartime President wrote to a
young man who asked that he might
read law in Lincoln's office.
If you are resolutely determined to
make a lawyer. of yourself" Lincoln
wrote, 1.-The thing is already half done.
Always bear in mind that your own res
olution to succeed is more important
than any other one thing
. The national Harvard" Prof. Perry
said, lis made up of individual boys
who are determined to succeed"
Throughout the evening Harvard
songs interspersed the courses and adj
dresses, and three 'Harvards" were
given for all the speakers Arthur Die
bert led in the singing of 1.-The Stein
Song"
The committee in charge Of the din
ner was composed of L. Russell Alden,
Percival Hall. Walter r. Tuckerman,
Edward NJ. Evarts and John L. Barr.