I06 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mayor Smith : ]\Ir. Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen. 

 If I identify myself correctly. I am one of the near politi- 

 cians mentioned by yonr toastmaster, who sit at this head of 

 this table and has not yet paid for his dinner, and from the 

 remarks from his lips, I am snpposed to be legal tender for 

 everything from the oyster cocktail to cheese. I have a 

 defense to that remark. The mayor of the city of Hartford, 

 owing to his numerous social functions, has to develop his 

 ofifice into a sort of meal ticket ; he has to use his official con- 

 nection with the corporation of the city of Hartford to go out 

 and pay with it his board bill. No longer when the mayor 

 enters the room do they play Hail to the Chief, but Hail to the 

 Chef! (Laughter and applause.) 



It is a difficult thing to be mayor under the present cir- 

 cumstances, a difficult thing for a man of limited physi(|ue 

 such as myself. Aly predecessor. Senator Hooker, had phy- 

 sical qualifications that entitled him to be mayor under the 

 present circumstances. (Laughter and applause.) 



1 am a little at a loss to know what to say to you people 

 here to-night, I see so many faces in this audience that I have 

 met in the last four weeks. I don't dare tell one of my old 

 stories again, I didn't come as an agricultural expert, although 

 this dinner really represents my senior year in agricultural ed- 

 ucation. I started my freshman year with the Connecticut 

 State Grange over in Foot Guard Hall ; I continued my sopho- 

 more year with the Connecticut Dairyman's Association over 

 in the Hotel Vendome ; I finished my junior year with the 

 Alumni Association of the Connecticut Agricultural College, 

 and I am now about to graduate with your Pomological So- 

 ciety. ( Applause. ) I can talk as an expert after to-night, 

 but not to-night. 



Having been introduced as a near politician, it may have 

 suggested itself to you that I could talk upon some forms of 

 fruits. A statesman, according to the definition of Tom Reed, 

 is a politician who is dead. I prefer in the city of Hartford, 

 not to regard myself as a statesman. The pjliticians are at 

 my left hand. (Laughter.) Rut being a near politician, I 



