The New York herald., 1922-11-18

VIII Rogers, comedian and humorlst,
was the principal speaker. and the most
Unconventional one, at the anniversary
luncheon of the Merchants Association.
held in the Hotel Astor.
Mr. Rogers's speech follows:
rI have been playing In New York
off and on for years and have yet TO
b. asked to dinner anywhere. They
say, VIII, come on down. drop in after
the theater and do q little stunt for
us
Now. 1 am mighty glad to be here
to talk to you all, and / am little
disappointed because I asked the gentle
man here. I says. IT saw this little pro-
gram and saw two speakers on there
and / says, Put me on last because
they generally close the show In vaude-
Vile with a big horse or a dumb act OF
some kind. and I think that will help
me pick something out OF these speeches
that the other men make. See? / may
find something in their speeches that
could comment on. but could not 30
really feel stuck.
"Generally at an affair like this they
only bring me there for the comedy re-
lief clement They usually have a man
at these meetings with message. Did
YOU ever get that bird with a message
the fellow that Is going to tell you how
tc run your business? l thought you
would have one of these fellows here
to-day. and II / could follow him, 1t Is
a cinci. but I could not get a thing out
OF these gentlemen; but no doubt they
made very good Presidents.
our Presidents are generally men
that are not known very much, and
generally have much 70 do. They get
good men under them They surround
themselves with a good Secretary or
state, and II anything is done they take
a bow on Il. You have little pamphlet
here OF your organization. and have
been reading this pamphlet sitting here
and IL says: Things done.
"You have all seemed TO have done
such tremendous amount of things
for New York; didn't know to-day
what we really owe you; us people that
don't belong to the organization don't
know what we owe you. From what
/ can read I'm this book, II II hadn't
been for you we would have been
Yonkers or something like that.
You 20 right along here. A gentle
man just told me, Here. Mr.. Piersou,
what n wonderful thing this drive is
He said. II has been q great thing Tor
our members' He said. They got out
the last three or four mornlngs.' lie
SHlu, '1uI lueUlDtTHs MI AeobNi'f
business men and they never get any
where, only from their homes TO their
office. And he said; During this drive
they have had 10 go out and we have
had them come into an office ana say
where Is Fourth avenue and Twenty
eighth street7"'
1T has really been an education In
way to a lot OF them, and the drive
has been. as they say, tremendous
success IN that line. Now. II Is won
derful to belong to something Some
people belong 70 everything In town but
their own families. II Is wonderful to
belong to clubs and things like this: :
otherwise the chances are you would
have TO have luncheon with your wives
These things are great to be coming 20
and give you an excuse 70 be some
where elso
wants One Look nj Wholesaler.
out IN Oklahoma where live
Claraho, Oklahoma-they we're forming
an Eagles lodge. We have had prohi-
billion in Oklahoma and Indian Terri
tory and naturally we had the Same
amount Of drunkenness that you have.
They were forming this Eagles lodge
and there was an old fellow there who
used to be IN these oil wells and they
asked him. lie was quite a character
around there. The fellows said: John.
are you going to join the Eagles?
NO. he said. 4 am neither an Elk nor
Eagle. nor shriner ! am Just an or
dinary drunkard.
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