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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1917)
y L) The Commoner VOL. 17, NO. 1 12 VIS ? "'J f I K IV t Washington Banquet to Mr. Bryan Tho following Is a roport of tho after-dlnnor gpeochcs dolivorcd after a banquet tendered by prominent democrats of Washington, D. C in honor of William Jennings Bryan at tho Hotel Lafayetto in Washington, D. 0., Wednesday evening, December Gth, 1910: Hon. Oliver P. Newman, president of tho board of commissioners of tho District of Columbia, acted as toastmaster, and the following gentle men responded to toasts: Hon. Thomas J. Walsh, United States senator from Montana, "How It Happened." Hon. James D. Phelan, United States senator from California, "Tho Awakened West." Hon. Warron Worth Bailey, representative from Pennsylvania, "Tho Thirty Peaco Treaties." Hon. Henry F. Hollis, United States senator from New Hampshire, "Ho Kept tho Faith." Hon. Claude Kitchin, majority ldader, house of representatives, "Southern Democracy." (Holt; James L. Slaydeu, momber of the houso of representatives from Texas, responded to the toast "Southern Democracy" in tho absence of Hon. Claude Kitchin of North Carolina, who Was ill at h's home and unable to bo present,) William Jennings Bryan, "Democracy's Deeds and Duty." BANQUET SPEECHES District of Columbia Commissioner Oliver P. Newman, .'as toastmaster, 'opened tho banquet with tho following romarks: I feel that I onjoy an unusual advantage in acting as toastmaster on this occasion because my experience as a nowspapor reporter has taught mo that tho success of a banquet is meas ured in inverse ratio to tho length of tho toastmastor's speech. On that basis I can assure you that thlB dinner will be one of tho most suc cessful in history. When I was honored with an invitation to act as toastmaster on this occasion, I wondered why I had been selected. Since thon, however, I beliovo I have figured it out. It must havo been because of my close kinship to Mr. Bryan, coupled with tho fact that I was born in "Lincoln and have been his friend and admirer for so many years. I am particularly proud of the kinship of which I have spoken and I am suro when I toll you what it is you will appreciate why I am proud. My father's brother's wife's brother's son married Mr. Bryan's daughter! (Laughter.) Commissioner Newman: The. first toast of the evening I find according to tho prpgram, is How It Happened." Considering) that there. is a Mon tana connection with that toast I am curious as to whether it refers to tho election, to tho din ner we are giving to Mr. Bryan, to the result in Montana, or possibly to tho election of a certain congresswoman in Montana! (Laughter.) How over, wo will lot tho speaker explain his inter pretation of tho toast. I take great pleasuro in Introducing Hon. Thomas J. Walsh. (Applause.) "HOW IT HAPPENED" (By Hon. Thomas J. Walsh, United States Senator froip Montana.) Mr. Toastmaster, Mr. Bryan, and Fellow Dem ocrats: Penerally tho duty of explaining "How It. Happened" is one that ordinarily devolves, as you all hfvo abundant occasion to know, by a ong and very well established custom, upon the vanquished, and not upon the successful leader J (Laughter.) It is tho other fellow whom unmerciful disaster has followed who is required, to write, "i Regret to roport," fpllowed by such harrowing details as his ingenuity in excuses will enable hlin to make, or as some inexorable fate will supply him, Tho victor may content htjns.elt with, the classic "Venl, vidi, vici," or tbq equally laconic "We have met tho enemy, and they djs ourj!" Some generous minded persons havo been .kind enoughoto intimate that the conduct of tho canjpajgn byj tho western headquarters of the nationAl committee was not without, things worthy of note (Applause). That's rather, funny In vjewj of this story. It may be known to 0 0 0 Whito House, Washington. December 5, 1916. 0 IjETTERS READ AT BANQUET 0 : My dear Mr. Commissioner: Will you not bo kind enough to convey my very cordial greetings to Mr. Bryan and to those who are assembled to do him honor at the dinner on Wednesday even ing? In tho recent campaign no one ren dered more unselfish service than Mr. Bryan, and I am happy to know that this dinner-expresses tho genuine admiration of all democrats for him. May I not by this means to convey to him my warmest congratulations and best wishes for his continued health and happiness? Cordially and sincerely yours. WOODROW WILSON. Hon Oliver P. Newman, Toastmaster, Washington, D. C. l'. The Vice-President's Chamber, Washington, 4th Dec. 1916. Cotter T. Bride, . . City. Dear Sir: The invitation to attend the dinner In honor of Hon. W. J. Bryan has just reached mo. It has arrived so late that I am unable to change other arrange ments, much to my regret, as I should like to signify by my presence the debt of gratitude the party owes Mr. Bryan for his generous and incomparable cam paign in its behalf. Courteously yours, THOS. R. MARSHALL... November 29,1916. . . Cotter T. Rrjde, Esq., , 131-B St. S. E., Washington, D. C. Dear Sir: I have just received the kind invita tion to- attend $he banquet in honor of Hon. William Jennings Bryan. I regret to say I have another Import ant engagement that night, but if it is at all possible to have the date changed, I will be glad to do so, and join with you and your friends in doing honor to Mr. Bryan. Thanking you for your very kind in vitation and hoping I may be able to ac cept it, I am, Very truly yours, ! vance c. Mccormick; ' . 0 . most of you that I first made tho race for the senate' In my state in the year 1910 against Sen ator Carter, the then retiring member. The state was supposed to be, and quite accurately, republican at that time, the candidate for con gress having been elected by about five thou sand. Wo succeeded, however, in electing a democratic legislature by a majority 'of seven, and my friends fondly hoped that I might be elected, but they succeeded in getting a very distinguished old gentleman to get into the race against mo, and the result wajr"aIead-lock for sixty-days, resulting in the election tof another gentleman. However, one of the members of the upper house waB elected after quite a stren uous campaign in his county, and being a friend of mine for quite a good many years came to mo, very generously, and told mo that he. was going to vote ultimately for me, but he said he was under somo obligations to this other old gentleman, and ho was going to vote for him once or twice, and then for me. Ho was quite equal to his words. He has voted for tho other man once or twice, !? miide, a great speech for him. He told the legislators what a fine man he was: he described him as an empire builder, a man of large affairs in tho business vorld, and so on, and so on, and so on. After he had voted for him once or twice or three times, he started in and made an equally eloquent speech for mo describing me likewise as an extremely fine man a student of public affairs, a lawyer known from ono end of the country to the other, etc. and then he wound up his exhortium by saying "An a politician, however, Walsh is a dismal 'fin ure!" (Laughter.) au" Now, as a lawyer, I never felt that verdicts could be won by bamboozling the jury, rather than by talking sense to them, and by attempting to guide their reason, and I have been so good a democrat aj. to believe"' that whenever any cause, righteous in character, is submitted to the judgment the enlightened judgment- of the people, in the great majority of cases, it will be resolved in accordance with the essential principles of justice. (Applause.) I never doubted for a moment that the admin istration of President Wilson (prolonged ap plause started by Mr. Bryan), and the record of his democratic associates, had justly earned the enthusiastic endorsement of the American peo ple; that there was a dormant sentiment of ap proval of them, and that if we could only trans late that dormant sentiment into action and make it vocal at the polls, there was no doubt that we should win. And with that task before us, tho first, I might say, the factor most trans cendent In importance, was the distinguished guest of honor who sits with us tonight! (Cheers and applause.) Never before, I tell you upon the testimony of capable, competent, and dis cerning judges, never before did he deliver such splendid, such convincing speeches, nor was he ever listened to by larger or more en thusiastic audiences. (Cheers and applause.) One who was there told mo only today that his progress through the state of North Dakota was a triumphal march, and I entertain no doubt v but that state voted right because of the appeals that he made to its electorate. (Applause.) In any analysis of the result, over which we have such abundant cause to rejoice, with a view to determine tho forces through which it was attained, no small significance must be given to the vote of the women in the states in which they are permitted to cast their ballots. (Applause.) It is no mere coincidence that in ten of the twelve states in which women have been enfran chised, the electoral vote will be cast for Wilson and Marshall. (Applause.) That suggests another story: When that cele brated "Wall Street Special" (Laughter and applause) passed through my home at Helena, the governor of our state, who very happily was re-elected by a flattering vote, was in the eastern part of the state, engaged in carrying on a very spirited campaign. He was unable, unfortunate ly, to greet the ladies as they came to that city, and he was unable to attend their meetings. In the course of his addresses in the eastern part of the state, he told the people there something like this, that it was not in the plan under which the train was proceeding on its journey westward to stop at Helena at all, but that tho maids whom the ladfes had taken along to take care of the poodle dogs insisted that the dogs needed exercise (laughter) ; so they stopped at Helena! (Laughter and applause.) And that While the maids were .exercising the dogs upon the station platform, the ladies went uptown and proceeded to enlighten the good women upon their duties as citizens and their obligations as electors. Now, the governor continued, I do not vouch for the truth of this story (laughter); I tell it as it was told to me but thTs he added: "I do assert that the dogs needed the exercise more than the women did the enlightenment!' (Laughter and applause.) Now my friends, notwithstanding these things, no one can doubt that the overwhelming consid eration which addressed itself to the good people of theGolden West to whom isdjStfauch of this great victory, a citizenry that Is typrolly Amer ican, an electorate that in point of intelligence, discrimination, discernment and Independence is not surpassed in any quarter of this Union (ap plause, was the fact that the defeat of Mr. Wilson meant the restoration of invisible gov ernment and the substitution of that system or which Mark Hanna is the exemplar, and wbicn rhe perfected; that was the one paramount ana overwhelming consideration. (Prolonged ap plause.) The Toastmaster, Commissioner Newman: K there will be anything as interesting as the story y -v tAJftjt.-
