The Annual Dinner 



2 7 



in fine condition, and I understand that 

 the then Secretary of War, our present 

 Secretary of State, cabled back and 

 congratulated him on his good health, 

 but solicitously inquired as to the con- 

 dition of the horse. (Laughter.) 



Our next toast is "The Occident and 

 the Orient." The modern means of 

 transportation and communication are 

 bringing the East and the West so 

 close together that they may soon be 

 like the man who, while threading his 

 way through the crooked streets of 

 Boston, became confused and finally 

 met himself coming from the opposite 

 direction. So it is that applied science 

 is each day bringing the Orient nearer 

 and nearer to the Occident; and still 

 there is an Orient and there is an Occi- 

 dent, and the gentleman who will re- 

 spond to that toast was our Charge 

 d'Affairs at Constantinople for a con- 

 siderable time, and was our Minister to 

 Persia, and for three years has been our 

 Minister to Japan — the Honorable 

 Lloyd C. Griscom, who will now re- 

 spond. 



The Occident and the Orient — The 

 American Minister to Japan, Mr 

 Lloyd C. Griscom 



Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



I think I might well begin by asking 

 your indulgence. I need hardly tell 

 you that the Secretary of War is a hard 

 man to follow. I think Governor 

 Wright and all subsequent governors 

 of the Philippines will bear me out in 

 this, and Mr Taft this evening is not 

 the only one who has been troubled 

 about the toast assigned to him. I was 

 informed that 1 was to treat exhaust- 

 ively and conclusively of the relations 

 between the Occident and the Orient, 

 but at the same time I was told that I 

 was to strictly limit my remarks to ten 

 minutes. Now I make no pretense of 

 being able to accomplish this purpose. 

 I do not understand this limit business ; 

 it is a matter which is understood by 



Senators and by Representatives ; but 

 in diplomacy the idea of a time limit 

 never enters into our diplomatic minds. 

 (Applause.) I feel, however, that there 

 are certain phases of the toast of which 

 I may treat. I was told by way of in- 

 struction, also, that I should try to con- 

 fine my remarks to geographic subjects, 

 and to endeavor to instill into you, 

 without your knowledge, a little in- 

 crease in your information about the 

 geography of the world at the same 

 time you were imbibing and thinking 

 of more substantial matters, and at the 

 same time I was warned not to treat 

 too heavily of geographical matters, 

 and to remember that there were ladies 

 present. (Laughter.) Now I am en- 

 deavoring to the best of my ability to 

 follow all these instructions, and the 

 only thing, the only subject that occurs 

 to me of which I might speak will be 

 the country of Persia, which is the only 

 country in which I happened to have 

 made a journey of any unusual or out 

 of the way character. 



Now I would like very much to tell 

 you of a trip which my wife and I made 

 when we rode a thousand miles on 

 horseback, and had many adventures, 

 but I am confronted with this serious 

 question of time, and I can only try to 

 give you a little better understanding 

 of the oriental character by mention- 

 ing some of the incidents of our jour- 

 ney. I recall that in the middle of a 

 trip we made through the central and 

 western part of Persia we were very 

 hospitably entertained by the great 

 chief, the tribal chief, a man of you 

 might say savage birth, but very much 

 of a gentleman at heart. To give you 

 an idea of his character I might say he 

 pointed out to me one day a scar on the 

 top of his head which was obviously a 

 bullet hole, and he said to me, "I re- 

 ceived that from the last distinguished 

 stranger who came this way." (Laugh- 

 ter.) And I said, "How was it." He 

 said, "Well, shooting goat, shooting 



