20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



mosphere. We know It in tbe South. We are 

 observing men, and I know tLiat this association 

 is composed ot respectable gentlemen, but it 

 may be that you may get up on the sticks 

 somewhere ; some o£ the boys may wander o£E 

 and come in contact with the guardians of the 



O. O. AGLER, CHICAGO. FIRST VICE PRESI- 

 DENT. 



peace. [Laughter.] If you do, and it you are 

 not dry all along the line, and you get a little 

 wet and they put you on the sticks, and you 

 get in the hands of the guardians ot the peace, 

 remember one thing : I have already said to 

 the chief of the police department [applause] 

 that if any such there be. deal gently with the 

 young men for my sake, as was said by one of 

 old. [Laughter and applause.] 



I will say one other thing and then I will be 

 done. Tliis city is named Memphis. I had the 

 distinguished honor of being introduced to a few 

 of the wives of some of the association members. 

 Now, gentlemen, I am a married man and in 

 domestic servitude, and I know what that means, 

 and you know it. I explained to the ladies w-hy 

 this hotel was named Gayoso, and they will ex- 

 plain further, but there is scarcely a man in 

 Memphis who knows why it is so named. There 

 is no woman in the world who, if she knew 

 why it was named Gayoso, would not be proud 

 of the fact. I won't tell you that. But this 

 city is named Memphis after another city that 

 flourished live thousand years ago upon the 

 banks of the Nile in Egypt, the great inland sea 

 of the continent of Africa. Memphis of today, 

 Memphis, Tenn., sits upon the banks of the 

 Mississippi river, the grandest river in the 

 world, the inland sea of the continent of 

 America. [Applause.] And if. in future years, 

 when you and I have passed away, if our suc- 

 cessors have any doubt in their minds as to 

 where they wish to meet, they will turn their 

 eyes to the Mississippi river and to the city 

 of Memphis and find, as you do now, a hearty 

 welcome in our midst. I thank you for your at- 

 tention. [Applause.] 



President Palmer : I want to tell you about 

 it. [Laughter.] The mayor said to me a 

 second ago : "Shall I go now, or shall I wait 

 until you are through speaking':" I think, in 

 common justice, if I can stand to hear his 

 speech he ought to listen to mine, [.\pplause. ] 



Mayor Malone : 1 will do that. 



President Palmer : I wish to say that one ot 

 the most trying features of the office which I 

 have held has been the duty to respond to ad- 

 dresses made by orators such as the mayor of 

 Memphis. When you put a lumberman beside 

 a trained orator, a trained law.ver, he doesn't 

 appear very well in competition. 



Mayor Malone : I am only a common lawyer. 



President Palmer : Mr. Mayor, someone has 

 said that to paint the lily or to gild the finest 

 gold were a wasteful and ridiculous excess, and 

 I believe that any attempt on my part to add 

 to that which has already been said with re- 

 gard to the quality of Memphis' hospitality may 

 well be placed in the same wasteful category, 

 I should, however, be false to the trust reposed 

 in me as presiding officer of this meeting did I 

 fail to thank the mayor for the kindly words of 

 welcome to which we have just listened. We 

 fully appreciate the warmth and the sincerity 

 of the welcome that has been extended to us 

 by the city of Memphis, through her executive, 

 the mayor, ' who in his address alluded to a 

 Memphis away back five thousand years ago. 

 To my mind, Memphis rather corresponds to a 

 city of later date, a city thrown upon her seven 

 hills and stretching her scepter over the entire 

 civilized world. That city was Rome. Memphis 

 might well be compared to the Rome of the past. 

 Rome became great by conquest and Memphis is 

 liecoming great by conquest : but the conquest of 

 Rome was over empires and that of Memphis is 

 over human hearts. I leave it to you, gentle- 

 men, as to which will be the more enduring. 

 But Memphis, in imitation of her ancient proto- 

 type, situ binds her willing captives to the 

 wheels of her chariot, with a golden chain. 

 The greatness of Rome is of the past. Her sun 

 lias set, while the sun of Memphis has scarcely 



c. E. LLOYD, ji:,. i'iiii..\iii:i,pniA, second 

 VICE pkesident. 



risen, and no one can foretell what its glory will 

 be at noonday. The greatest reason, to my 

 mind, for the downfall of Rome, was the fact 

 that there was lacking an essential element in 

 her citizenship. In all the cosmopolitan popuhi- 

 tion of Rome, history has failed to disclose the 

 presence of a single hardwood lumberman. 

 [Laughter and applause.] Now, while I may 

 be wrong in assuming that the downfall of 

 Rome was due to the absence of the lumbermen, 

 there is none that can gainsay the statement 

 that the upbuilding of Memphis is largely due 

 to the lumbermen. [Applause.] The Memphis 

 lumberman — a topic worthy of a better speaker 

 than your humble servant — the Memphis lum- 

 berman is not a local product. He comes from 

 Wisconsin, from Michigan, from Indiana, and 

 from everywhere : from the nortliern and eastern 

 states, in stubborn pursuit of the gradually 

 receding hardwood timber belt, until he has 

 made his final stand here in this city, and has 

 converted Memphis into the largest hardwood 

 producing market the world has ever known. 

 [Applause.] Memphis was an old town when 

 the lumberman discovered it. [Laughter.] 

 Memphis was a cotton town : it was a town 

 in the true meaning of the word. But since the 



lumbermen have come here and gone out and 

 advertised it in all the marts of the world, Mem- 

 phis has become a city — a city of destiny — and 

 the people of the United States, through the 

 active efforts of the lumbermen, have been 

 caused to sit up and take notice of the destiny 

 of Memphis. As I say, these Memphis lumber- 

 men are big people. They are, I believe, in a 

 class by themselves, and as such they are 

 viewed with pride and hailed with joy by the 

 remaining portion of the lumber trade. I would 

 like to discontinue this response right here. 

 I believe I have said enough. 



Mayor Malone : Go on, Mr. President. 



President Palmer : I am going to, sir. I be- 

 lieve that I have an accounting with the mayor. 

 I noticed a wave of surprise and sadness settle 

 over the faces of this distinguished audience 

 during a portion of the remarks of the mayor. 

 It may not be seemly for me to find fault with 

 an address of welcome, but I am here to do my 

 duty, and I am going to object to that portion 

 of the address in which the mayor referred to 

 the fact that special instructions had been is- 

 sued to the police force on account of the at- 

 tendance at this meeting. Mr. Mayor, we are 

 your guests today, but we are asking for 

 nothing but the liberty to enjoy every rational 

 and lawful entertainment that may be ex- 

 tended by our hosts. We will have none of 

 your license. [Lauguter.] I would, therefore, 

 suggest that those special instructions to the 

 blue-coated guardians of the peace and guar- 

 dians of law and order be recalled, and in place 

 thereof, that they be directed to be exceedingly 

 vigilant during the next two days. [Laughter and 

 applause.] Let them throw out a drag-net for 

 evil-doers of every description, and, sir, I pledge 

 you, up*m the honor of every guest here, that 

 when that net is pulled in not a single member 

 of the National Hardwood Lumber Association 

 will be found entangled in its meshes, unless 

 he also be a member of the Memphis Lumber- 

 men's Club. [Great laughter and applause.] 

 Perhaps you would desire to know why I speak 

 with such cocksure authority on that question. 



Mayor Malone : I would. 



President Palmer : I want to tell you we 

 are traveling under the guardianship of our 

 hostesses who are sitting on the seats in the 

 rear. [Applause.] Now, going back to Rome 

 again — when Rome ruled the world the conrte- 



H. C, HUMPHREY, APPLETON, WIS., THIRD 

 VICE PRESIDENT. 



sans occupied the throne, and that is why Rome 

 fell. Today, in our own country there is a 

 throne at every fireside, and that throne is 

 occupied by a wife and a mother. 



Mayor Malone : That is right, sir, that is 



