304 BANQUET. 



I have no doubt that the period through which we have been passing — through which 

 all the world has been passing^these recent years, will adjust itself, and that all things will 

 come out right in the end. But in order to bring about that happy ending, it is imperative 

 that every man shall show his colors, shall take his own proper part in the upbuilding of his 

 country; and, above all, let everybody show that he has in his veins the richest of red blood 

 of a good American citizen. Therefore, gentlemen, I make no apology for beginning our 

 proceedings with an invocation for the Divine blessing. "In God we trust" has been our 

 national motto, engraved on our coinage from the beginning, and you may recall that, when 

 a few years ago it was temporarily omitted, a storm of protest arose. The second number 

 in our program will be the signing of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," and we are going to 

 liave "The Star-Spangled Banner" before we leave. I need not say more in emphasizing 

 the fact that we take pride, every one of us, in being known as virile, law-enforcing and 

 law-abiding citizens of America. (Prolonged applause.) 



The company then sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." 



The President : — The first toast on our program always is to the one we have chosen 

 to preside over the destinies of our country. At present he is stricken in health. With 

 this toast, therefore, we wish to drink most earnestly to his speedy recovery. Gentlemen, 

 the President of the United States. 



The company then rose and drank the toast to the President of the United States, and 

 followed with the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." 



The President : — Among the other injunctions which the toastmaster received was 

 to keep things moving; in other words, the presiding officer must realize that he is here to 

 carry out instructions. It is not often that a naval officer has the opportunity of present- 

 ing an army officer to an audience of this kind, and the president is tempted to make use of 

 the opportunity to get in the usual anecdote at the expense of the sister service. A distin- 

 guished officer of the Navy who had seen much service in the Philippines had a story which 

 he always told with great relish. As the army officer who will respond for the army is 

 an old Philippine campaigner, I know he will not take it amiss. In the early "days of the 

 Empire" in the Philippines, the Army was constantly trying to put it over the Navy or the 

 Navy was trying to put it over the Army — always in a fine fraternal spirit, of course. In 

 one of the outlying districts, a very good officer of the quartermaster's branch of the service 

 had a casco or native lighter, on which there was a lot of timber logs; there was also ap- 

 parently some ballast on the casco. The lighter was leaking badly and the quartermaster 

 feared he was going to lose his timber. So he tied a line to what appeared to be one of the 

 ballast stones and tied the other end of the line to one of the logs, and before abandoning the 

 sinking casco, threw them overboard. The stone floated and the log sank. The Army took 

 this reference to their ignorance of some of the peculiarities of Philippine materials a little 

 seriously at first, but they have long since got over it. (Laughter and applause.) 



