230 BANQUET. 
by the splendid work done by these splendid men to drink to their health, and therefore, 
gentlemen, I give you ‘‘The Army and Navy of the United States.” (Loud applause.) 
The entire company then stood and drank to the toast. 
THE TOASTMASTER:—Now, gentlemen, we have only two speakers for this evening, 
and you will not be detained long. My chief regret this evening is that I am in the 
talkative class. I do not feel justified in becoming talkative, as some of my friends have 
this evening, much as I would like to, because it is up to the toastmaster, usually, to 
keep his head, and it takes mighty little to turn one’s head nowadays. 
But I do want to congratulate you all upon being in the shipping and shipbuilding 
business. We have noticed recently in Virginia that there is no trouble at all in getting 
perfectly husky and fine mechanics to work on repair work—overtime, holidays, and 
nights particularly. In fact, one of the chief jobs of our watching force is to prevent 
the setting up of small illicit bars around the plant, at which drinks are sold to the 
workmen at 50 cents each. 
The other day, when an Italian ship entered the dock, I noticed a man come off 
the ship—he went aboard as if in a great hurry and came ashore as if miserably deformed. 
(Laughter.) 
But the shipbuilding and shipowning business is quite popular now, and those of 
us who are located on the seacoast look for a tremendous increase in population; in fact, 
I think it must have something to do with the shortage of housing. 
We are all interested in the American Merchant Marine—we have heard a great 
deal about it, and we will hear still more about it before we have one, a real one. 
(Laughter.) But we hope that the youngest members present will live to see the time 
when there will be no doubt about its existence and its continuance. 
The unfortunate part of it is that some of us insist that it shall be American—of 
course, we have always been provided with the other thing—and we have tonight, as 
one of our principal speakers, a gentleman who for years has represented the Fourth 
Pennsylvania District in Congress, and is the second senior member of the House Com- 
mittee on Merchant Marine, and who, as you all know, has done splendid work in con- 
nection with the congressional investigations of that subject. He was instrumental 
in the presentation of the Merchant Marine Bill that was passed at the last session of 
Congress, and in particular his work in the investigation of insurance matters was the 
best along that line that has ever been done in any Congress. His interest is just as 
intense as yours and mine; he has always been our friend. 
T regret that at this particular time there should be so much publicity of a certain 
kind in regard to shipping. Of course, when Noah outfitted the ark for a journey of 
forty days and nights, I daresay that the steward demanded something from the out- 
fitters. (Applause.) I believe that the custom has continued from that time to this; 
but I do think it is a pity that so much publicity should be given to certain phases of 
the case, so that the public obtain an impression which is distorted. Heaven knows 
that everyone connected with the new merchant marine has enough to answer for with- 
out over-emphasizing any particular point. 
However, we are very glad to have with us this evening the gentleman who will 
now address you, and whom we are very glad to have with us. We will now drink to 
the toast, ‘“The American Merchant Marine.” 
I take great pleasure in presenting the Hon. George W. Edmonds, who will respond 
to the toast, ‘‘The American Merchant Marine.”’ 
