Wliiii 1 will li:> . ' <liis iiioriiiii); will not be niuru tlinii 



to nui|ilify wiml Iiho uUwj.Iv Utii wiiil so uloqueutl.v l)y your imtiomil 

 couii!U>llor to tlio Oiambcr of Coinmorcc ou tlii? iluty of tlip ImsiiicHs 

 ■linn ill thii* present em. 



Wlicii your socrt'Uiry, Mr. Fisli, so (jpuprously iiiul courlwuHly niive 

 me opjiortunity to come liorr to tiUk to you, nn<l nMkcil mo for tin' 

 sulij.K-t of my adclroiu<, 1 stiitod tlmt it woulii Ihj "The Now Crisis 

 iiid the Now Pntriotism," becauHO wo nro in tlio miiUt of ii grciit 



i!<is nnil the call is for patriotism of tlic higlirst order. 



Other crises in the history of this nation have Kenerally Imvii 

 political, liut today wo face an industrial crisis that iu rcsulta will 

 equal in import and portentous dovolopinent any other through which 

 the nation has passed. The appeal for patriotism is distinctively to 

 ■'.:•• business man — tliat is, to the manufacturer, the trader, the Imnker 

 >nd all tho.se who have engaged iu the commercial activities of life. 



I compliment you on your attendance upon this occa-sion because it 



licates a deep personal interest in your work. Civilization has 

 riigressed through the work of organization. Pioneers have pene- 

 • rated into unexplored territories, but communities and nations have 

 Iways Itoen developed through the co-ojierative efforts of men. Back in 

 ■ ill' days of the caravan, organization began through a sense of safety. 

 1 :.'cause it was dangerous for one man with his goods loaded upon the 



iiuel's back to cross the desert, he went in company with others for 

 rotection. Then those who had assembled in groups discovered that 

 I variety of articles carried for commerce enhanced the value of the 

 :iravan and so general tratling began. 



Materlinck indicates the force and power of organization in his book 

 ..» the life of the bees by showing that bees working together can 

 accomplish things that men have found it impossible to do. Alone, 

 and a few miles from the hive, a bee falls upon insanity and death. 

 While the subject of this story doubtless never read Materlinck, he 

 arrived at the same conclusion through actual cxj)erience. 



Colored Eph and a friend were wandering through an orchard. 

 Eph had a long whip of the blacksnake variety and amused himself 

 now and then by flicking a honey bee from the petal of a flower with a 

 cracker of his whip. His friend greatly admired this dexterity and 

 finally inquired, "Ejdi, does yo 'spose yo can kill tvo or three 

 honeybees right in succession wif the cracker ob dat whip ? " " Sho, ' ' 

 said he. And demonstrated it by taking three lightning-like shots at 

 three ilifferent bees. Finally he struck at a honeybee and hit a hive. 

 As the swarm of bees swept down the orchard after Eph, who was 

 nmning for dear life, his friend yelled, "Hey, Eph, why don't yo all 

 use that cracker?" "Cracker hell," said Eph, "dem bees is 

 organized. ' ' 



Doubtless we shall obtain a clearer view of what we have to discuss 

 after taking a short survey of conditions with which most of us are 

 familiar and make endeavor to arrive at the truth of things. We 

 have been told during the last several months that lobbying at Wash- 

 ington is not to be permitted, and we are all glad to know that that is 

 true. Whatever criticism may be made of the lobby, there was doubt- 

 less a good excuse for it l)ecause of the conditions that existed when it 

 was bom and during the time it developed. The lobby has been a 

 means of abuse, but it is my opinion that most frequently was it used 

 because business interests felt that they were not sufficiently powerful 

 to secure representation in Congress through the votes of the people 

 and obtain a fair representation for their business interests. Mean- 

 time, the lobby has been made a splendid excuse whenever it became 

 necessary for a chief executive to effect control of Congress. Facing 

 failure in such an endeavor, he could always refer to the menace of 

 the insidious and powerful lobby, nullifying the will of the people 

 through its subterranean work. 



However, the lobby has gone forever, we are told, and more than 

 ninety-nine per cent of the business men of America will be thankful 

 if this is true. It seems somewhat singular, however, that during a 



—18— 



recent vote upon a bill of intense interodt to uuiou labor and I'lnployiTH 

 alike, the man who haw been terme<| the arch lobbyist of Americu sat 

 in the lower house and apparently defying the S4'ntinient agaioHt the 

 lobby, exercised an iufluencc almost unjianilleled in any influence 

 exerted on legislation in modern history. KijunI opportunity before 

 the law is tlie basic principle of our government. If one claim of in- 

 terests are going to be permitted to lobby, why not give the name 

 o|iportiinity to other classes? The battle against the lobby has been 

 one splendid re.sult. The liusinesx men today are out in the open 

 fighting shoulder to shouhler for what they demand and are giving a 

 straightforward reason for the faith that is in them. 



The tendency of the times is to agitate the minds of the people 

 against business and that promises results that will visit a far greater 

 burden upon the shoulders of the people than those who are rejiponsi- 

 lilo for the agitation can possibly imagine. The cry is "Business 

 seeks to dominate and control." Why not? Without business civiliza- 

 tion is impossible. Agriculture is the first industrial fact. You 

 can live on the natural ])roducts of the earth, eking out a bare exist- 

 ence, but the first step for the comforts and conveniences of life is the 

 beginning of business. Primeval man fashione<l his rude instrument 

 for digging out of the soil a means of sustenance whereby liegins the 

 great work of manufacturing. 



Too long has the business man been looked upon as the average army 

 officer looks upon the Missouri mule — a necessary adjunct to the 

 quarterinaster 's department, but not very ornamental to society. We 

 can all recall when the three leading citizens of a community were 

 the doctor, the lawyer and the preacher. After extended experience 

 people discovered that the doctor would charge a fee ranging between 

 .■fa.OO and $5,000 to diagnose a case, treat for a disease or perform an 

 operation. The lawyer never set a certain sum for his 8cr%'ices, but 

 generally took everything a man had. If, perchance, there were auy- 

 thing left the minister was more than willing to receive that. It was 

 the business man who always passed across a dollar's worth of value in 

 goods and generally added one or two cents more in service. 



Civilization is impossible without business and experience demon- 

 strates this to be a fact. You might go into the heart of Africa 

 and place there a university with an efficient president. Beside it 

 put a fine cathedral with a great choir and magnetic orator in the 

 pulpit and surround these with community houses and social settle- 

 ments, but until your business man went into that territory and put a 

 skirt on the savage woman and a pair of pants on the savage man, 

 you would not have civilization. You cannot erect a building without 

 business. The railroads surveyed and constructed through an un- 

 known territory — blazing the way for future civilization is the product 

 of business. It is the business man who stands behind the college, 

 endowing it with gifts of money. It is the business man who stands 

 behind the church, who sends the missionary to those who know not the 

 way of civilization. It is the business man who pays the taxes that 

 makes the community a comfortable place in which to live. It is the 

 business man who keeps the railroads going by paying the freight. 

 There is not one movement in philanthropy or education; not one in 

 religion or politics; not an activity that makes for the wider liberty 

 of the people or the comfort of humanity that is not the direct product 

 of the business man 's effort. 



Washington guided the rebelling colonies into the harbor of a com- 

 pact nation, but could Washington have succeeded without Robert 

 Morris? Stephen Girard, the business man, financed the nation in the 

 war of 1812. It was Jay Cooke who financed the government in the 

 Civil war and lent as much assistance as any other single factor to 

 achieving the final result of that struggle. 



Yet we are told that because a man toils only with his hands, he 

 ought to command civilization and particularly government in its 

 ramifications. Yet if a man came to you for employment, would it be 

 your judgment that he ought to be paid more from the neck down 



