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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
most sincerely for your kind reception in
the name of the navy. I believe that the
navy is entitled to the warm-hearted greet-
ing and praise and confidence of the Ameri-
can people. (Applause.) It is enough to say
perhaps that the navy in the year 1898
maintained the high prestige won by the
American navy in former years. And the
success of the navy (if you will allow me
to say it) is very largely due, I believe, to
the professional spirit, standard and char-
acter of the men who make it up. Not in
any spirit of modesty, but from a desire to
state the simple truth, I say that no credit
is due to the head of that department; all
credit in connection with that branch of
the Government is due to the men and
officers—to the personnel of the navy.
(Applause.) I do not believe that a finer
spirit exists anywhere in any body of men.
It is not merely a martial spirit; it is not
merely a naval spirit; it is not merely the
spirit which seeks to win victory. It is
the high professional spirit which marks
character, purpose, elevation of the mind
—high ideas. I refer to this because I
think the achievements of our navy show
the advantage of a high professional spirit
—because I think they emphasize the im-
portance of such associations as that in
which you are now organized—an associa-
tion which, as Mr. Conway and other
gentlemen have said, has been instituted
for the purpose of cultivating in your de-
partment of business and among the mem-
bers of your association, a high professional
spirit—a spirit rising above the mere com-
mercial question, important as that is—a
spirit higher than the mere industrial ques-
tion, important as that is—a spirit of ac-
complishment, of achievement, of doing
the work which you have to do in the best
possible way and with the best possible
results.
And how delightful it is that your work
is connected with the most exquisite of
the 'fine arts—the exquisite art of music,
the beauty of--which is in its very efferves-
cence—the subtle vanishing of the tone,
the sound, the melody, the harmony,
which, even as it vanishes, becomes per-
manent in the memory and in the dream.
The other arts suffer somewhat from the
fact that they deal with elements which
remain before the eye; but music, even as
it fades, becomes immortal. (Loud ap-
plause).
And then, too, I do not forget that this
great industry in which you are engaged
is one of the great benefactions of the time
—not merely in carrying into humble
homes this means of melody and harmony
—this means of rest and recreation after
the day's toil—this means of the cultiva-
tion of the mind and spirit and soul of the
boy or the girl—this exquisite art which
refines and delights, which makes home
beautiful, but which also furnishes em-
ployment for the artisan—the means of
making the home which, in its turn, shall
receive this product of your art.
We are passing to-day as we have been
for the last year through stormy times—
times which try the national soul, the na-
tional loyalty, the spirit of the citizen—the
stability, the strength, the force, the per-
manence of American institutions. Repre-
senting, as I do in my humble way, the
National Government, may I not appeal
to you to remember that you are gathered
here not only for the advancement of this
beautiful art to which you are devoted, not
only in behalf of the noble craft which you
follow—not only as manufacturers but
also, deeper than that, as American citi-
zens ? (Applause.) When you selected
the National Capital as your place of meet-
ing at this time, there was, I doubt not,
something of patriotic purpose in connec-
tion with the selection. You feltth at you
were coming here as citizens, as represen-
tatives of this great nation, as men who
employ labor, as men who are influential
in yoiir homes and vicinities, as men who
desire to do something for the maintenance
of this American Government.
As I have just now remarked, we have
been passing through trial and difficulty.
There are many phases in the public con-
dition to-day which are painful. It is sad
to any lover of his country, to any lover of
peace, to any man who has the right in-
stinct with regard to the great cause of
been the hard toil; there has been the
movement of the plane, the chisel, the saw.
But at last, after all these things have
passed, there has come this perfect instru-
ment resulting in the most exquisite pro-
ductions of the art of music. May it not
be that after this year of hardship and toil
and battle—after all the blood that is shed,
after all the dear lives that are lost, after
all the wounds that must be bound up,
there shall be perhaps in the years to come,
in the far islands of the sea, a new,
a brighter, a better civilization, where the
sword shall no longer reign, where the gun
shall no longer blaze, where the battle shall
no longer rage, but where the church and
the school shall hold sway, where homes
shall be happy, where labor shall be re-
warded, and where, when daily toil is
done, sweet music shall close the day with
the fall of the evening shadow. (Secre-
tary Long resumed his seat amid enthusi-
astic cheering).
PRESIDENT
F. H. OWEN HcPhall Piano Co
humanity—it is sad to feel that the hand
of war is still abroad, that the glove is still
folded, that the sword sweeps the air,
that the red cannon blazes, that human
life is held cheap, that blood and slaughter
occur. Let us hope, however, that out of
all this, some higher and better fruition
will come, not only for our own country
but for the world; and if there be sacrifice,
if there be suffering, if there be things we
regret, that they are merely the agencies
which are leading towards a higher and a
nobler development and civilization for the
whole world. (Applause.)
May we not derive some lesson of consol-
ation from your craft ? As we listen to
MILLER:—And
now,
gentle-
men, we have another Massachusetts' man
with us to-night. We are glad to have him
honor us with his presence, and would be
glad to have him speak to us on any subject
he might choose. Rut when he comes to
us ready and willing to talk to us on the
subject in which every member of the as-
sociation is more deeply interested perhaps
than in the thousand other subjects that
might be spoken of, when we have before
us a man who has through his speeches
and writings given to us the thoughts
which have enabled us to study the advan-
tages in connection with the handling of
labor—we are indeed fortunate; and it is
with the greatest pleasure that I introduce
to you now Hon. Carroll D. Wright.
HON. CARROLL D. WRIGHT'S SPEECH.
MR. WRIGHT:—Mr. Speaker and Gentle-
men: I would gladly have struck my
colors to the American Navy; and certainly,
in asking me to follow the gentleman who
last addressed you, you have set me a task
as difficult as that of the Spanish Admiral
when he undertook to leave the waters of
Santiago. (Applause). To follow Governor
Long means, in the inception of the work,
defeat: and to undertake to follow him re-
quires the moral courage that would carry
a man up to the guns of his ships. But he
and I are old friends; we know how to
handle each other; we know how to get on
without clashing; for we have worked to-
gether many a year.
What Governor Long has said stimulated
this thought, almost as a text of what I
shall say to you—that the soul of industry,
of social progress, of educational results,
of deep religious life, depends upon the
success of industry; and the success of in-
dustry and its great prosperity to-day,
depend upon sentiment. You have print-
ed in connection with your menu these
words: " T o steer steadily towards an
ideal standard, is the only means of ad-
vancing in life, as in music." It is this
that makes industry to day what it is. Fifty
years ago, there was what is known as the
iron law of wages, explained, but not for-
mulated, by the great Ricardo. It meant
simply this—that a man should be paid
that wage which would enable him to keep
a working human machine in proper con-
dition—a sufficient amount to supply food,
C. H. PARSONS—Needham Co.
raiment and shelter. That was the iron
these musical sounds, as we hear the touch law of wages in industry until our period
of the piano, the enjoyment is so exquisite. —a period when invention dominates all
I do not forget, however, that in the con- industry, and human ingenuity finds its
struction of that exquisite instrument, the greatest play in supplying the wants which
savage axe felled the tree; there was the are demanded by the highest sentiment.
grind and screech of the saw; there has If industry to-day depended upon the iron
been the dust of the factory; there has law of wages, this meeting, Mr. President,