78 BANQUET TO THE 



Benjamin F. Stevens, Esq., President of the New 

 England Mutual Life Insurance Company, responded as 

 follows : — 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen, — I do not know- 

 that I can say anything in addition to what has been 

 said of the distinguished gentleman whose birthday 

 we are honoring this evening; but I desire to add 

 my tribute to the value of his great public as well 

 as private services to the community during a period 

 of more than half a century of active industrial life. 

 The world knows that Marshall P. Wilder has been 

 a moving spirit in whatever he has undertaken, 

 especially in developing and maturing the great agri- 

 cultural interests of the country ; at the same time 

 following a commercial career, fairly earning therein 

 the reputation of " an honorable and upright mer- 

 chant." 



To have been connected with Colonel Wilder in 

 the management of the New England Mutual Life 

 Insurance Company, in w^hich he has been a director 

 for nearly forty years, is to me a pleasurable record. 

 He has followed the fortunes of that institution 

 through infancy, youth, and mature age, as a mem- 

 ber of its finance and other sub-committees of its 

 trustees. 



