Hope

In the Union League Club, founded in 1863 on the plank of "uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to the Nation," regardless of party--a club which has since grown into a great Republican stronghold, numbering among its presidents Joseph H. Choate, Hamilton Fish, Chauncey M. Depew, Elihu Root, Charles E. Hughes, Henry P. Davison, James R. Sheffield (now Ambassador to Mexico) --a birthday celebration was held. It was in honor of the forth coming 80th anniversary of the birth of Elihu Root.

Secretary of State Charles E. Hughes and Solicitor James M. Beck were on hand to speak.

Said Mr. Hughes: "If you ask me what I considered to be the crown of his [Mr. Root's] endeavor, I should say it was his skill in cutting through the entanglements which stood in the way of the establishment of a permanent court of international justice. His suggestion as to the method of selecting judges made that court possible."

Said Mr. Beck: "He has trod the beaten path of Franklin, possibly the most useful citizen that America ever had. When Franklin, in the middle of his career, had made a financial competence, he gave the rest of his life to the public service, and when he, too, was 80 years of age, and was asked to attend the Constitutional Convention, he said:

"'The public having, as it were, pick eaten my my flesh, seems now resolved to pick my bones.'"

Then Mr. Root arose: "It was 57 years ago that I joined the Union League Club. Of the men who joined in that year, only three are now alive: George F. Baker, Chauncey M. Depew and myself. . . . Mr. Baker travels on golden clouds and Mr. Depew has given up counting his years by ordinary measures of time, using light-years instead.

"I want to give an old man's view of the developments of 57 years--not of events, because they do not count, but of permanent tendencies. . . . For one man who was then interested in the advancement of the Government and social order, there are 1,000 today.

"We have more honest elections, the very root of the working of our institutions. . . . There is far greater honesty in public service than there was half a century ago. The excesses and frauds of the Tweed Ring would be impossible today. In the Congress of the United States, if any man be suspected of crookedness, he is a marked man. . . .

"The Mexican War would not be possible today. Our treatment of the Indians, the great blot on our history, would not be possible today.

"My active life is ended. . . ."

A voice cried, "No," but he went on: 'I am an old man. . . .

"Wider things will be accomplished, Senate or no Senate, Congress or no Congress, Legislatures or no Legislatures, Pacifists or no Pacifists, Bolsheviki or no Bolsheviki. I retire from active life with a deep faith that the American people are growing every year to greater competency. . . ."