February 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



235 



The Fourteenth Annual Dinner of The Rubber Club of America. 



THE dinner of the Rubber Club of America, held at the 

 Waldorf-Astoria, New York, on the evening of January 

 23d — which, by the way, was the fourteenth annual gather- 

 ing of this kind in the history of the club — was a thoroughly 

 successful function, highly creditable to the officers and to the 

 members of the committee which had the event in charge, and 

 altogether enjoyable to all who attended. 



In the first place the attendance was large — 190 — which, con- 

 sidering the scattered nature of the club's membership — some 

 from New England, some from the Middle States and many 

 from distant points in the West — is a very satisfactory number 

 out of a total membership of 320. 



Another feature that contributed to the enjoyability of the 

 occasion was the fact that so many members availed themselves 

 of the social opportunities afforded by the preliminary reception. 

 The large reception room was well filled a half hour before the 

 dinner by members who utilized the occasion to exchange greet- 

 ings with old friends, and to make new acquaintances — often 

 with men whom they had long known by reputation but never 

 before personally met. Incidentally, this preliminary reception 

 afforded the out-of-town members a chance to acquaint them- 

 selves with the fact that the word "Bronx" does not stand for 

 a geographical location, but rather, in a preparatory way, for a 

 state of mind. 



At the appointed hour — or within a reasonably few minutes 

 thereafter — the diners filed into the big Astor gallery and took 

 their seats. The menu, which is given below, was exceptionally 

 well chosen, and showed the handiwork of connoisseurs, and it 

 stopped just at that golden line between just enough and not 

 too much. The dinner was accompanied by a wealth of music. 

 There was an excellent orchestra, and in addition a singing 

 leader with a robust voice. But these were only incidents ; there 

 is probably not another club in the country that can boast of 

 so many fine baritones, exceptional tenors, and powerful basses. 

 As a consequence there was a full hour of voluminous harmony, 

 which seemed to make even the waiters temporarily forget their 

 chronic grievances. 



MENU. 



Huitres Smith Island 



Tortue verte claire 



Radis 



Olives 



Celeri 



Amandes salees 



Medaillon de bass, sauce Margery 

 Tomates et concombres 



Champignons frais a I'Eugenie 



Mignon de filet de boeuf, sauce Colbert 

 Petits pois a la Paysanne 



Poitrine de pintade a la Hongroise 

 Salade romaine a la Francaise 



Pommes de terre farcies, sauce de vanille 

 Petits fours Fromages assortis 



Cafe 



Sauterne 



The Waldorf-Astori.\ 



le 23 Janvier, 1913 



The after-dinner addresses covered a variety of themes, and 

 covered them in an interesting and informing fashion. The 

 speaking moved very briskly under the influence of President 

 Hood, whose introductions were models of what introductions 

 should be — brief, direct, and just enough to present the speaker 

 properly to the audience. The president's own address was ex- 

 ceedingly practical and business-like, being largely concerned 

 with the marked developments in the work of the club during 

 tlie past year. It was listened to with deep interest by all the 

 members of the club and made a specially favorable impression 

 on those who are most interested in the club's expansion and 

 growing usefulness. 



After everybody — but the most hardened laggards— had fin- 

 ished his coffee, the president arose and when quiet prevailed, 

 proposed the following toast: "Let -us all stand and drink a 

 toast to the President of the United States." His request was 

 carried out with a heartiness and unanimity that indicated that 

 the asperities of the recent election had been entirely forgotten. 

 When the diners were comfortably settled in their seats again 

 Mr. Hood began his address. 



THE ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT HOOD. 



I'ellnw members and guests. — At the dinner held in this 

 room a year ago I mentioned my belief that a club, to be 

 permanent, must be useful. My talk this evening is intended to 

 give you a short resume of the past and some suggestions for 

 usefulness in the future. 



In Eebruary and March last year there was a very serious agi- 

 tation in Washington to place an import duty on crude rubber, 

 because additional income was needed, and one line of argument 

 in support of this agitation was that crude rubber was used in 

 automobile tires; automobiles are a luxury, and luxuries should 

 be taxed. 



A proper acknowledgment should be made and deep apprecia- 

 tion should be shown the New York members of this club, sev- 

 eral of whom gave a large part of many days in preparing statis- 

 tics and data to refute the insidious arguments of certain Con- 

 gressmen, and many more days were cheerfully given to the 

 preparation of a brief for the Ways and Means Committee. 

 This brief convincingly showed that crude rubber is a necessity 

 and not a luxury. 



For this unselfish work, done by a few, but benefitting every 

 user of crude rubber and manufactured rubber, they have our 

 grateful and hearty thanks. 



At last winter's dinner I urged a revision of our constitution 

 and by-laws, in order that your directors might have the power 

 to be useful in case an opportunity arose for possible usefulness. 

 The old constitution provided only for sociability, .^nd at the 

 annual meeting of the club, held last April, the new constitution 

 was unanimously adopted. The directors approved a vote dele- 

 gating to a small executive committee of five the authority of 

 the directors during the interim between directors' meetings, and 

 at last there was a responsible body small enough and so geo- 

 graphically located that they could meet and consider the many 

 problems and the many opportunities for usefulness. 



And, fellow members, after attending many executive meet- 

 ings — of which the president is a member only ex-ofticio — I fell 

 that this club has arrived at another mile-stone in its career 

 where it should desire to do much more. 



The unselfish work of your Executive Committee, and espe- 

 cially its chairman, and the hours and days of work given by 

 your secretary and assistant secretary, are deeply appreciated 

 by us all. 



But it is too great a favor to ask of these men, to do our 



