THE LINCOLN DINNER OF THE REPUBLICAN CLUB THE HE Sixteenth Annual Dinner of the Republican Club of the City of New York was given at the WaldorfAstoria, Wednesday, February 12th, 1902, on the Ninety-third Anniversary of the Birthday of Abraham Lincoln. The President of the Club, Hon. Louis Stern, called upon the Rev. Rufus P. Johnston to say grace. INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS OF Hon. LOUIS STERN, PRESIDENT OF THE CLUB, Ladies and Gentlemen, We meet again this evening as friends and lovers of our country to celebrate the natal day of a peerless American, a leader among leaders, and it is indeed a privilege and a pleasure as President of the Republican Club of the City of New York to bid you welcome and extend to you its hospitality. In the swift flight of time forty years becomes as it were but forty days, and to some of you it must seem as yesterday when every eye in these passion-swept United States, nay, in all the civilized world, gazed with questioning and wonderment on the calm marvelous features of that extraordinary American, that indomitable republican chieftain, Abraham Lincoln. (Applause). He stood at the helm of the Ship of State steering her through the storm of war to the harbor of peace. Abroad millions gazed wonderingly upon him expecting that he would add to the reefs of historic time bestrewn with wrecks of government. the ruins of a republic. At home other millions reposed in him their uttermost confidence, giving at his bidding their lives and their treasure, and never faltering in their belief in him. Few in those days accurately measured the greatness of his character or the many-sidedness of his genius. Nay, more, they little realized that his very peculiarities of temperament and disposition preeminently fitted him for the work assigned to him by destiny. He was distinctly and typically an American, and as such posterity will honor him more and more. My friends, little did we believe a year ago while celebrating the birthday of Lincoln that we should ever again be moved to tears by the murder of a President. Little did we think that evening, as we recalled some of the many incidents that closed the career of Lincoln that before a year passed we should have stood at the grave of another war President struck down in the fulness of his manhood by an execrable creature. It is a strange coincidence that close upon the conclusion of two wars the chief magistrates who conducted them should have been stricken down by assassins and their great work left unfinished to be taken up by other hands. President Lincoln saved the Union. No better evidence that the Union was preserved could be offered than that afforded by our recent war with Spain. When the conditions which made war inevitable were developed a cry came from the North and the South, and the sons of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Mississippi and other Southern States, sprang to arms ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sons of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio and all the Northern and Western States. It demonstrated a united country and a union of States. In Washington, long before the Maine was treacherously blown up while lying at at anchor in the port of a nation with whom we were at peace, patiently toiled a man, weary and worn with heavy responsibilities. No one who has not gravely considered the enormous responsibility of the President of the United States can appreciate the patient toil and labor he must undergo when war clouds cast their ominous shadows over the country. No man has ever been called to this high office with a more profound appreciation of its responsibilities than William McKinley. (Applause). President McKinley's knowledge of affairs was so great, his method of being informed on all points having relation to the subject so businesslike, his sense of honor so imbued with the spirit of religious conscientiousness, that he inspired all the people with confidence, and when war was declared they all knew that President McKinley was ready for it. (Applause). If the slave can look to Lincoln, the Cuban can look to McKinley; if a new South, daily growing stronger and richer can date its transformation from the presidency of Lincoln, the new Cuba, Porto Rica and the Philippines can date theirs from the presidency of McKinley. These are the milestones set on the pathway of history. To-day our flag flies on all seas, the emblem of the greatest republic the world has ever seen. Peace and tranquility bless these United States in their relationship to the family of nations, and the unparalleled prosperity of our people gives |