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The Commoner
VOL. 17, NO. 1
12
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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
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Whito House,
Washington. December 5, 1916.
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IjETTERS READ AT BANQUET
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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; '
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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
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