She's gentleness itself till crossed, Marvelously she flashes green To several circuits hereabout You are the power station; Soft nestled in your armature, No more my carboned heart would roam ! My isolated plant be. Two pretty feet on equal poles Nimble and quick denote her, The envy of all rival souls; Who else has such a motor? Though winds and storms may rave about, She isn't easily put out, She yields when she re-fuses. Contact with her for me is peace, She looks best after dark. "Cost of construction?" Yes! I know It costs a lot to rig her, Ah! alternating current girl, No praises can be flattery; When longing nearer joys to taste, And, dearest, should you rather not Accept my offering votive, Might I most humbly ask you Watt [Applause.] TOAST: "THE PRESS." RESPONDED TO BY MR. HORACE RUBLEE, THE PRESIDENT: There is a class of citizens in every community who are at least entitled to share with us the title of philanthropists and public benefactors. Their number is necessarily limited, but what they lack in numbers they make up in individual shrewdness. They are the men who are occupied in doing the thinking for those of us who haven't time to do it for ourselves. They are supposed to know all about every sort of thing. which for the time being is engrossing the public mind. They are employed in moulding and holding public opinion. This class of citizens is technically known as "The Press." Sometimes the individual rises above his immediate surroundings and wields an influence which is widely disseminated over the country. Such a one we have with us to-night. I have the pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, of introducing Horace Rublee, Esq., of Milwaukee. MR. RUBLEE: Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: -When I came here this evening, my friend, the Rev. Mr. Titsworth, who invoked the Divine blessing upon this banquet, informed the President that I was never so happy as when responding to a toast. I am not going to deny that; but I get the chance to do it so infrequently, and am so little in the habit, therefore, that I usually prepare myself by writing out my impromptu remarks and frankly reading them from the manuscript. I intended to make that sort of preparation to-night. I have not the excuse to say that I did not expect to be called upon; but I was told that I should not be expected to occupy more than two or three minutes. I was not at all offended by this limitation of time, because I knew that the country had recently been supplied with an over-production of talk, and I was quite well apprised of the fact that the appetite for that sort of thing was getting a little dull. But two or three minutes is a short time to discuss a great subject like the press, and the press in its relations to street-railways. There are, of course, certain analogies between the two. We both work upon lines and we both strive to increase circulation. The press with all its short-comings and faults and I know that it has many-has yet, I think, a very wholesome influence upon a great many people, in taking them out from the narrow sphere of thought in which they might otherwise be left ; in bringing to them information concerning the outside world; the thought of the leading minds in all quarters, and accounts of events that have happened in distant places. So it opens to them wider horizons of thought and feeling; and the street-railway, I might say, in a similar way serves the people on the material side. These systems of rapid transit which traverse our cities extend far out in all directions, enabling the people to reach the centres of business and industry easily and cheaply, and at the same time to have their homes where they have better air and more of it, more sunlight, brighter prospects, and where they can see the green grass and the trees. In these days of the rapid upbuilding of cities, or rather the days that were before the stringency struck us, these rapid means of transportation have served to promote and almost indefinitely expand the limits of cities, and at the same time they have helped that great and beneficent institution, the press, which largely depends upon the patrons of city railways to find its best support. Therefore, gentlemen, the members of the press of the city of Milwaukee are glad to see you here. They esteem you, and welcome you, and wish more power to your elbows. I trust that your visit has been both pleasant and profitable to you, as it certainly has been to the citizens of Milwaukee. I trust that your conference together and interchange of views will enable you to make still further improvements and progress in your undertakings. I might say for myself that I should see you here with still greater pleasure if you came as the representatives of cities whose people possess such wisdom and foresight that they manage their municipal affairs in a business-like manner without reference to party politics, and so build their own street-railways and own them, and employ you to operate them, while the profits go into the public treasury, rather than that you should be the representatives of corporations, whose roads are operated for the purpose of gaining dividends for private and individual stockholders. But I recognize that the wisdom to do this is not yet possessed by the people of our cities, and that we should have very few of these conveniences, and very crude ones probably, if private enterprise did not step in and take charge of the matter. We have a very excellent system of electric railways in this city, but we are not quite satisfied with them; we want something better, and we shall look forward with confidence to the time when you will be able to furnish electric power by some system of storage batteries. Ladies and gentlemen, I think my three minutes are over, and I thank you for your attention. [Applause.] INTRODUCTION OF THE PRESIDENT-ELECT, MR. HENRY C. PAYNE. THE PRESIDENT: It now becomes my Payne-ful duty to introduce to you a gentleman who has been thoroughly discussed during this session of our Association. He is a tenderfoot, as we say in the West, in our line of business; but don't get deceived in him on that account. I have heard something to-day which I will repeat to you in confidence, which leads me to believe that those old barnacles who think they have got large systems of transportation had better look out for their laurels. You all know that through the misfortunes of adversity the Northern Pacific Railroad Company has been unable to pay to our German cousins the interest on its hundred of millions of bonds, and has therefore passed into the hands of receivers, and one of the receivers is the gentleman whom I shall name. These German cousins are coming over here to see about their interests. They are coming to Milwaukee, and what I heard was, that this gentleman would make them an offer for their bonds, with the intention of making that system a suburban annex to the Milwaukee Street Railway system. I have the honor to introduce your President-elect, Mr. H. C. Payne, of Milwaukee and the United States. RESPONSE OF MR. H. C. PAYNE, PRESIDENT-ELECT. MR. PAYNE: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :—I only want to say in response to this very kind introduction that we are very much delighted with your visit to this city. We have enjoyed it so much that it is our purpose to renew this invitation under somewhat different circumstances, and hope to see you all with us again. Allusion has been made to the Northern Pacific Rail road. The receivers of that road are principally engaged in efforts to rejuvenate it, and have studied a plan whereby they can use the trolley over its lines, and I think about the year 1900 we will have accomplished that result; and in that year I shall hope to extend another invitation to the American Street Railway Association to hold its session somewhere on that line, and go with the trolley from St. Paul to the Pacific Ocean and back. We shall hope to have a continuous banquet from one end of the line to the other. I thank you, Mr. President, for your complimentary remarks, and I hope, one and all, you have enjoyed your visit to Milwaukee. I shall hope to renew your acquaintance a year from this time in Atlanta. [Applause.] TOAST: "THE HEALTH OF WILLIAM RICHARDSON; MAY HE LIVE LONG AND PROSPER." RESPONDED TO BY MR. WILLIAM RICHARDSON. THE PRESIDENT: In the wonderfully fast age in which we are now living it is not to be wondered at that the sturdy pioneer of a generation ago should be crowded out to make room for the rising generation. Perhaps in no other line of business have so many changes taken place in the past few years as in the personnel of the men who have owned and managed the street-railways of this country. In the great march of improvement this must be so. When men reach a certain age they decline to take on additional burdens such as belong to a complete transformation of their business, and prefer to step out and let others go on with the work. But it is sad and cruel to witness this surrender on the part of an old associate, where others are permitted to reap the harvest of profit which a lifetime of care, worry and toil has made possible, and I know you will permit me to voice the sentiment of the delegates when I extend to the gentleman whom I have in mind our heartfelt sympathy that he was not able himself to reap the crop which his more youthful hands had sown! It is with great personal pleasure that I name as the next speaker a gentleman whom you all know, an honored associate whose voice has been heard in every convention from Boston to Milwaukee, and whose sound judgment and earnest efforts in the business has done much to advance the material interests of our organization; a gentleman whom we all delight to honor, and though he has now retired from active management, let us hope that for many years to come, he will be the honored guest of our Association at its annual meetings. I propose a toast, gentlemen, in the words of Rip Van Winkle : "Here's to the health of William Richardson: May he live long and prosper!" |