The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 13, 1898, Page 9

N FRANCISCO CALL, SUND AY, FEBRUARY 13, 1898. , Feb. 12—The an- niversary of the birth of Abra- ham L n was this eve made the occasion of the se annual ba of the Y Men's Rep ue of Lc Angeles. A most enjoyable and enter- taining time was had by the 400 guests who ga et table to y of the gr ient, and to hear again rines which he gave to which are to-day the in- £ the Republican party of the the occasion. portraits aine and of the £ the Republic: t 8 o’clock th orated for of i B LT L B S . B nt, who opene and the flow ;:THE FEAST OPENED. ‘: Remarks by Toastmaster * Brown, League President. RRVRUNN "\MTH MALICE. TowARD NONE © = & 8% % 8 WITH CHARITY “Fellow R ans— 2 this too BTest Moo iE "OR ALL” pose to with any extended ible, however, to in feeling of gr juestioned su 1tifi ou_w e a genulne Repu “It was the pur | and that we may then as now rejoice in the fact that California is a Repub- lican State.” HENRNRRRRURRBRRY ROLL OF HEROES. s i $ Hon. F. R. Davis Pays Tribute & to Great Republicans. e NRURREREIR{YUEIQL The Hon. Frank F. Davis responded as follows to the sentiment, “Our Re- publican Heroes.” “Mr. President and Gentlemen: The w1i¢n.. | field of heroism is as limitless as e Al | human endeavor. Wherever the o ehange of | Senius of man has crystallized human effort into a system there shine fits nd to defed L . end to defeat the | splendid examples. It has been the 0. The tariff in the nominees com- v leaders and all 2Ny 8% great 1 party ** Senator Bulla Shows Califor- nia Is a Republican State. ‘“Califor- 1 State, enator Bulla s the fidelity of Cali- tepublican c aking. 1 prob creation of religion, of business, of po- litical life in all ages of civilization. “Circumstances and exigencles cre- ate e b political parties. Into that new ion as its essence of life comes the burning question of the hour. That question may be as selfish in char- acter as what shall be the standard cting our credited intere: but should such medium of éxchange, or it may rise to of the N n be s mpted by the Dem- the splendid ideality of human liberty; f vould redound largely | but when that question, whatever it the Republican ticket. | may be, becomes vital and around it bill has | gath the hosts which make a polit- ical entity, then dawns the day for he- roic action. It is the glory and boast of the Republican party that its he- | roes are the nation’s heroes, and their immortal names the common heritage the Dingle: of the republic. The {oremost figure | in the field is the pioneer hero. He is born, reared, perfected under cjrcum- | stances of trial, and in the fire which | tries the hearts and souls of men. He | is the man of the ax. Beneath the | strokes of his arm fall the tangled | forests of human error, and he bares | his breast to the impending rocks of human opposition. His the unfaltering | courage, the clear and well-defined | purpose, the never-tiring brain, the | never-ceasing progressive movement, | the unalterable faith in the certainty of prevailing truth and the undying hope that in the end all things will work out for the welfare of humanity. ‘“‘Such in character was Abraham Lin- coln. What a birth and training for the fleld of heroism. A log cabin in the wilderness, a chore boy upon the farm, a clerk in the corner grocery, a struggling country lawyer. His sphere of action the fleld of Western politics, a farm wagon for a rostrum, the scarred and worn toilers of fleld and E forest for audience, the political bat- .ates claimed for it, the fact| tl€ fought by night and by day in - z school-house, in open field, in countr; Omaha next June. that thousands of mortgages | SC e 1 , o4 “We have no quarrel, or even any ; State in the Union are being f{l‘“"‘hv ““,“1’,1“53 sqoare, and aritial] gpirit of rivalry with any Republican | discharged, and even though that may | the struggle for dally bread, with mis- 5 S5t . s 2 e fortune, sorrow, opposition ke me- « of emulation not to due art to a shortage of crops|: s HODI en, some. club, save a spirit of emulation not D 9P8 | times almost overwhelming, the daily to the National League Convention in be outdone by any in our zeal for the :n lands while ‘our own fruit- aliget Republican party. We realize that oth- s laugh in abundance, a kind ;“’j" nightly wage. So born and trained er clubs are necessary to the proper cnce has seen fit to bring this | 1€ came to wield the destinies of a great nation. After stirring eulogies of Lincoln, Grant and Blaine, the speaker closed in this eloquent manner: This hour of uncertainty demands the genius of the hero statesman. The crisis demanded and received the splen- did leadership of the Plumed Knight, James G. Blaine. Then was born the watchword, “The American workshop for American labor, protection to home industries.” Under the broad utilitari- anism of that gifted genius mark our country’s progress. Out into the wil- derness stretches the iron threads of numberless railways; the whistle of the steam engine, the roar of the forge and the crash of machinery awaken the echoes of the forest, and on thé broad fields of the public domain where wild Indians and still wilder beasts have made their haunts and lair rise the humble cabin of the homesteader. Into every line of human activity come strength and prosperity. New flelds of action open, the unemployed millions of other shores invited to participate in our prosperity join the advancing hosts, and the unfed and ill-clad millions of the unemployed find hcnest work for honest hands to do. The population doubles, national wealth increases by the thousands of millions, capital finds safe investment, and labor steady and remunerative employment. It is but a sketch, an outline. Time forbids more. about during a Republican administra- tion, and our party will be the bene- organization of the party; we bid all such welcome, and assure them of our cordial co-operation in all plans that| ficiary of this benevolent action of the will tend to the success of the princi- | Almighty. Of course the -currency ples of the Republican party. | auestion is still an open one, but our “The Young Men’s Republican | pa is certainly in no worse position League has no candidates for any of- erence thereto than it was one fice from Governor down to Justice of | the Peace, but when the Republican | party, in delegate convention bled, has nominated its candidate; will be with them till the day o tory, for we know not defeat. 'ynere turn to their own party, but the intro- but one thing that we aémand, | au and passage in the Senate of that thing we have a right to de . | the .r resolution has emphasized and that is that thebest menintheparty sues of the last cam- be nominated to office. The league do S0 vers fHEEE of not desire to boss the party or to Iun | goupd money will see the necessity for things, but don't ask us to fight a los- | 3 0 G 0 00 ¢ Vigilance that was the fl.;“h[" (;h(;x ‘s’(‘:he e and | ;. juired at that time to maintain the we will give you victory. ; 7 e . 2 The toastmaster then caused pa [prsitlata dloe il Dl o ic. letters to be read from Republic D of all friends of sound prominent in the affairs of the ne \hi‘e Vexxtions | problam among the authors being President L. been S_'v‘”gmfl“r”y adjusted J. Crawford of the National L;:(a;‘:\up,} st e n i Hon. Nelson Dingley, Hon. Tragk Me-| ;™ the Democratic ~conventions Laughlin, Senator George o Her fe| throughout the different States have and Congressman . U 18 letters were | indorsed and declared their adherence senUimants ters WEr¥ | {0 the principles and declarations of voeiferously applauded. e as Fitch was then intro- | the Chicago platform, and upon these e issues the people one year ago emphat- C and responded with a master- X : l‘;i‘ifneed(,f Q]()quef}ce to the toast *“Abra- | ically declared their opposition to its Par X incoln’ revolutionary statements. Che only danger which has threat- 1 us at any time upon that issue was the defection of the sound mony or rather their possible re- is and Te the fact that the paign are not dead - i-| “There are some things, however, In responding to the toast, ““The Cali 5 s | Tears for the heroes dead, fornia Republican League,” Colonel | Which Republicans must do. They | 40 Hving?’ "Crant: aza mechole:ra:x?g George Stone of San Francisco, among | must act P“”}“’m“f‘s”' adopt a plat-| gy, ine have passed from the theater of other things, said: ‘“‘The scope for | form fair to all classes, nominate good | ;. tive life, but the field still demands yoliti ~fulness of the National Re- | men for office, renounce and denounce ;é%;ffi:n ulsfeiugue is not understood in | all_lfosscs faithfully discharge their this State. There is no other political | political duties as citizens, adhere to organization possessed of such elements | their patriotism and respect for Gov- of strength and power. Its principles | ernment in all its branches, and organ- are of the highest and its methods the | ize thoroughly and effectively for the most dignified. The rule of non-inter- | work of the campaign. These things ference with local caucuses and con- | being done, 1 am unable to see any ventions appeals to that large number | sufficient reason why we should fear of citizens who, while recognizing the | the failure of the Republican party at necessity under certain conditions of | the next election, and 1 confidently caucus manipulation, personally dislike | predict for our entire ticket, from Gov- | for the work of the pioneer in new and to engage in such work. The loyalty | ernor to Constable, a most glorious and | untrod paths, that of the soldier on the with which the league always supports | triumphant victory next November, field of battle, or that of the statesman Republican heroism. In that fleld of action stand the young men of to-day. From-' their ranks must spring the he- roes of the future. The strength of the Republican party is In its young men. That strength is well founded. The face of youth is ever toward the dawn, and on the uplands of the rising day of action’ it fights and wins its battles. From the ranks of the Republican par- ty, as the hour shall demand, whether et =g =31 =g A E0F08 108 108 0 10 306 300 308 308 0¥ ¥ f-t-tcg=8-3-8-8-3-3-3-3-8-1 =3=8=3-33"1 fag=3 =3 ON. THOMAS FITCH, in re- sponding to the toast, “Abra- ham Lincoln,” said: It is 89 years since Abra- ham Lincoln was born. It is nearly 33 years since he climbed to jmmoriality. We may now impar- tially discuss his character and his acts, for time wears out prejudices, tranquilizes passions and induces men to respect the integrity of mo- tive of those from whom they have radically differed. If Wendell Phil- lips were alive to-day he would propably incur no personal risk in addressing an audience in New Or- Jeans. If Jefferson Davis were still in the flesh he would certainly be accorded a patient hearing in Bos- ton. The men of this generation can scarcely realize that less than half a century ago slavery was not only powerful but popular in the North as well as the South, while those who claimed themselves in fa- vor of its abolition incurred social, business and political ostracism in the North, and insult, assault and expulsion in the South. Few post- masters south of Mason and Dixon's line would have delivered a copy of the New York Tribune to a sub- scriber, and few subscribers would have ventured to receive a copy of it except in a sealed envelope. The Northern man who journeyedsouth- ward padlocked his lips when he crossed the Potomac or the Ohio. In the streets of Southern cities slaves marched to the auction block with the clank of their manaclesun- muffled, but the voice of freedom was hushed to silence, her dramas were unpresented, her songs un- sung. A despotism more drastic than that of Russia ruled in fifteen States. The vast amount of capital invested in slave property was ap- parently safely intrenched behind barriers of Judge-made law, bas- tions of commercial power and bat- terfes of social prestige. In all of the Southern and in many of the Northern States the great forces of society were enlisted in the inter- ests of the slave holders. The con- servative influence of the churches, always exercised in favor of exist- ing authority, was allied to theprej- udices of the slums against the ne- gro. The powerof thebanks—millions upon millions of whose money was loaned upon the security of human chattels—was linked to the ambi- tion of politiclans whose nomina- tion and election depended upon the favor of the slave-holders. The en- ergles of merchants anxious for Southern custom and the power of a press seeking for commercial adver- tising were all massed against anti- slavery agitation. The millionaire and the proletariat marched in the lock step of comrades and bowed to Dagon, and slavery officered our army and navy, ruled our courts and Legislatures and Congresses, dictated our foreign and domestic policies, dominated our political parties and selected our Presidents, Cabinets, Embassadors, postmasters and customs officers. Yet, even with the combined power of all these forces, agitation for the abo- lition of slavery could no more be suppressed than could the waves be stopped from dashing when the storm king rides the seas, or the earth be stopped from quivering when internal fires throb in her fur- naces. Radical utterances on the one side instigated utterances equally radical on the other. A Southern Senator characterized the constitu- tion of the United States as *“‘a prof- itless compact with Northern mud- sills,” while Garrison denounced it as “a league with death and a cove- nant with hell.” Toombs boasted that the time would come “when he could call the roll of his slaves on Bunker Hill,” and Seward de- clared that the hour was approach- ing when “New Orleans must cease to be a mart for the bodies and souls of men.” Yet, notwithstanding, the rising tempest of agitation, the dormant and drowsy conscience of the North slept on, until the slave-holders themselves arcused it by repealing the Missouri compromise which they themselves had enacted thirty-four years before. Their action was bit- terly denounced at the time by men of all parties, yet its logic may not at this day be justly criticized, for slavery was aggressive by that very necessity of its nature which de- manded expansion as a condition precedent of continued existence. The world was weary of it. Pro- gressive civilization called for its extinction. It was a relic of bar- barism out of touch with the times. The nineteenth century had become for It the ememy’s country where to halt was to die, and go it defi- antly smote the nineteenth century in the face and marched out into the open with drums beating and colors flying. Then the freemen of the North awoke with the spring and roar of lions aroused from slumber. Out of the farms and fac- tories, out of the forests and mines, out of the shops and counting- houses they came. They formed the grandest association of freemen that the world has ever known, and they named it the “Republican Par- ty.” For it and its beneficent pur- poses the tongue of the orator has been kindled with fire from the al- tar. For it the strain of the poet has swelled to the sweetest song. For it the sword of the soldier has flashed along the line of victorlous armies, and whatever the future may have in store for it, its glori- ous past will live as long as the English tongue. 08 30 00 30 0F 16 XX f=g=3=8-8-3-3-3-3-8-3-3-3-3-3-1 BRILLIANT ORATION BY THOMAS FITCH. 06 306 108 10 106 108 100008 34 1 308 3 306 08 30% 30 L0308 208 108 10 006 0 0 106 X 6 106 0% 6 8 0 6 8 . =383 It may not always have been in- fallible in its selection of measures, and it may not always have been ‘wise in its choice of representatives, but its purposes have ever been high and patriotic. It was officered at its inception by captains, whose names now stand high on the roll call of fame—Sum- ner and Wilson and Fessenden and Hale of New England; Seward and Greeley and Curtis in New York; ‘Winter Davis and Cassius Clay and the Blairs in the border States; Chase and Wade and Giddings and Trumbull in the Northwest; Baker on the Pacific. There were giants in the land in those days, intellectual caryatides who upheld their age. Small men with large bank accounts had not then excluded large men with small bank accounts from the high places of state. The pretorian guards of politics had not then inaugurated the practice of shamelessly selling Senatorial togas to metallic acci- dents, whose dense and unsensitive egotism made them unaware that a seat In the United States Senate is not of itself distinction, but only an opportunity to achieve it. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill made no longer available the honeyed glue of compromise with which Henry Clay had so often linked repellant atoms in inhar- monious alliance, and in 1856, for the first time in our history, the forces of freedom and slavery were aligned for battle. Candidates for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency were numerous, but the chief contest was between Douglas and Buchanan. Douglas was com- paratively young,' his fidelity to slavery had not been tested, the slave-holders needed the Keystone State, and they selected the morally cartilaginous and mentally unossi- fled Pennsylvanian as an affable availability. Out of the ultimate West came Fremont to lead the forces of freedom. Pathfinder was he, seeking untrodden ways in poli- tics as in the exploration of moun- tain and desert. With the light of freedom in his loyal eyes and the bronze of Western suns on the face that never feared a foe or shirked a contest, he led the Republican party to a battle which, though lost, yet proved the Bunker Hill of our new revolution. The contest of 1856 was the midnight sun of an emanci- pated North, for its setting rays glowed with the presage of a vic- tory that was to bring the {llumina- tion of freedom to a nation. Four years of fruitless struggle, in which slavery vainly sought to fasten itself on the new North- west, and then the hour of tri- umph arrived. A leader ~ of leaders' was needed, and all eyes were turned toward Illinofs. A man for the times was demanded, and the God of the eternities presented him in the person of Abraham Lin- coln. He was the child of poverty and toil. Not the hopeless poverty and cringing toil of those who labor amid the din of European marts, but the manly submission to priva- tion, and unmastered toil of the Western pioneer, whose eye of faith beholds the star of hope shining above the clouds, and who in his dreams of the future drapes himself with the Senator's toga or the Judge’s gown. Abraham Lincoln was self-made and self-reliant, but never self-seeking or self-sufficient. He was honest, not with that nur- tured integrity which too often proves an exotic that dies at the first blast of adversity, but he was honest by instinct, and because it never occurred to him to be other than honest. He was in spirit as in fact one of and one with the peo- ple, and he needed no guide to find the way to their hearts. He loved liberty of action, of speech and of thought, and in so far as his gener- ous and chivalric soul would suffer him to hate anything, he hated tyr- anny and meanness and shams. His was a personality so vital that it cannot die, and after all these years he seems a living presence rather than a memory. He was a master of speech, his passion and pathos and humor were matchless, and as as a logician he was peerless. His jron-limbed syllogisms crushed sophisms as if they were eggshells. His wit, his philosophy, his, strong saving common sense, his quaint forms of expression have fllled our political literature with familiar apothegms. What better rebuke to dogmatism than the phrase, “Ev- erybody is wiser than anybody”; what clearer description of a repub- lic than “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” ‘What more complete destruction of sophism than his answer to the con- tention of his oppenent than slav- ery must be excluded from a terri- tory by unfriendly legislation. “Judge Douglas,” said he, ‘“holds that a thing may be lawfully driven away from a place where it has a lawful right to go.” What annihl- lating sarcasm in his reply to those who Insisted that Republican vie- tory would entail negro equality and miscegenation. “Because I do not want a colored woman for my slave,” sald he, “it does not follow that I do want her for my wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone.” His argument against secession is stated in a sentence, “Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws?”’ What grander plea for liberty than his appeal to Congress in behalf of the 13th amendment? “In giving freedom to 106 X0 206 108 X0 308 108 X0 208 308 30F 308 ¢ X slaves,” he said, “we assure free- dom to the free, honorable alike in what we give and in what we pre- serve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.” ‘What more comprehensive state- ment of tHe duty of the hour than the familiar sentence, “With mal- ice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness for the right as God gives us to see the right.” There are many words of Lincoln so fitly and grandly said that they will burn in the sky of history like fixed stars, even when the master- pleces of great orators shall have vanished with their train of rhetor- ical splendors into space. There are ideas of his which victorious arm- jes have placed upon their eagles and carried to a grander fruition than ever prophet foretold or poet dreamed. Never was ruler or.rep- resentative truer to a trust than he. His reigning animating purpose was to preserve the geographical integ- rity and political unity of the United States of America, and his determination to extend the bless- ings of freedom to every human be- ing dwelling beneath the shelter of our flag was an outgrowth of the original design. He never lost sight of this purpose. He was conserva- tive when the premature adoption of radical measures might have allenated the wavering and weak- ened the Union cause. He was rad- jcal when the power of time and circumstance had crumbled the bar- riers of prejudice which for years had obstructed the road to justice. His individualism was never ab- gorbed or subverted even by the genius and power of the great men who daily counseled him. Without being egotistic or dogmatic or stub- born, he was firm. He “took each man’s counsel and preserved his judgment.” Without previous train- ing in the conduct of public affairs, he was called upon to grasp the reins of government when the char- jot of state was rocking amid the convulsions of war. But he kept a steady hand, and neither the terri- fled counsels of o'er-cautious con- servatism, nor the demands of un- thinking and improvident zeal could drive him from the road along which he believed the safety of the nation demanded he should guide his countrymen. It was his privi- lege to select the best policy for the time, and his gift of discrimination was marvelous. He stands ap- proved by the popular judgment, both of his times and of later his- tory, as seldom having made a mis- take. He was sometimes deceived in his judgment of men, but he was hardly ever at fault in his judg- ment of measures. Understanding the American people better than many men of more experience in statesmanship, he never entertained a doubt as to the final issue of the contest. When disaster encompassed us and defeat hurled back our arm- jes, he called for more men. Sus- tained by his imperturbable trust in the righteousness of our cause and in the power and willingness of the people to meet all requirements, he pressed steadily onward to that perfect consummation of national peace, unity and freedom which, with the faith born of presence, he felt would be sure to come, and which he almost lived to see. Shall we of this day not profit on the performances of public duty by recalling the life and teachings of this patriot and martyr? On the morning after the news came of Lincoln’s assassination, crowds surged in front of the United States Government buildings in Wall street, and the air was charged with panic. Then there arose upon the granite steps a son of Ohio, who years afterward worthily, though briefly, occupied Lincoln’s chair and quieted the fears of the multitude with a sentence now historic, “God reigns, and the Government at ‘Washington still lives.” A month ago another son of Ohio, emerging in triumph from a politi- cal contest, the mephitic odors of which still peison the atmosphere, paraphrased, and shall I not say it? burlesqued Garfield's great utter- ance by telegraphing to the Presi- dent of the United States, ‘“God reigns, and the Republican party still lves.” Yes, our goddess lives, notbecause of the result of the Senatorial elec- tion in Ohio, but in despite of it. May she live hereafter as in Lin- coln’s day, an expression of the brains and conscience and patriot- ism of the nation, and not as a sat- rap, scourged and gasping and weary at the chariot wheels of Plu- tus! May she live unswindled by the hucksters of the caucus and undebauched by the bawds of the lobby! May she live with ears un- attuned to the clink of the briber's gold and with brow unbranded with the scarlet letter! May she live with her foreign policy unshaped by the magnates of the sugar trust and her finances unruled by the mouthpiece of a banker’s syndicate! May the harvest of prosperity which her rule is bringing to the nation not be blighted by the hot and greedy blasts of selfishness while the corn is still in the milk, and may those who now control her des- tinies turn their backs upon Wall street and their faces to the western stars, and so guide our ship of state that from his place above, Abra- ham Lincoln, The firm patriot there, ‘Who made the welfars of mankind his care, Bhall know he conquered. BEEENSEEREEERTEERE defl G /’\fflf REDUBUCAH JEAGUE oF 08 508 208 308 306 06 3CF XCF X0F 30F 308 10F 30f 308 308 10F 108 408 08 08 0% X0 X Q6 fifi(fifififififififififififififififififififi)}figg pued L L T p=3=] paded paded feg=] gl L puded pusag badd pagal $=3=3 o 40| g pused puagald o0 gaded paged oo pad=d aged pag=d gl L pegnd puted pugad pused fuged pagsd pused o0 paged paged paged L pused pased pated p3ed pes=d pesed paded puded pased Lo pased oo paded paed pased Lo pased pat=d puded pused puted pused L0 DO prs=d peded T pated pagns gaded puted pus=d paed paged pased pased paded pas=d puged puded oo L paded paded pas e Lt lof ANGELES. in the halls of legislation, shall be born as the hour demands new Lincolns, new Grants, new Blaines, to guard the eter- nal welfare of the republic. Hon. H. C. Gooding, Hon. R. J. Wat- ers and ex-Governor John L. Beveridga also responded to toasts. The enthusiasm during the evening was simply unbounded. The banquet was a success in every way, exceeding any previous event of the character that has ever occurred in Los Angeles. HEESERLEERNRRERNLY = LEAGUE HISTORY. = 2 fad 2 % Chief Incidents in the Career RE of the Organization. ?; HRUVBBUBRVEBARIRERRRS The Young Men’s Republican Leagua of Los Angeles is the pioneer organi- zation of this city, having been formed in 1892. Its members are always in the front of the fight, bold, aggressive and never discouraged by reverses. The league was organized in Febru- ary, 1892, with A. W. Kinney presi- dent, H. P. Platt secretary and W. F. Hemming treasurer. Its first head- quarters were on West Second street. This was in the Harrison-Cleveland campaign, and the league, being a uniformed organization and the first composed of young men in this city, it at once took an active part in advanc- ing the welfare of the party, visiting during the fall Pasadena, Wilmington, Santa Monica and other cities. This activity so stirred up the opposition that a party of “unknowns” entered the league's headquarters and smashed its furniture and fixtures. However, the organization continued to prosper and its efforts were indorsed by the County Convention. During this campaign the club assisted in en- tertaining the drill corps of the Union League Club of San Francisco. The league reorganized in the Estee- Budd campaign with 400 members. George Francis was elected secretary and Edward Booth treasurer. The headquarters were located on South Spring street. During this year many oganizers and speakers were sent to neighboring places to form auxiliary clubs. This work was recognized by the county convention in a fitting man- ner. The county platform was first established in 1894, and the Young Men’s League contributed much to its welfare. Commendatory letters were re- ceived from Mr. Estee ahd State Chairman D. M. Burns. In 1896 President Kinney and Secre- tary Francis were re-elected, F. Down- ing being made treasurer and S. G. Brown vice-president. The campaign was formally opened on March 4 by the first annual banquet of the league. This was a memorable occasion. Let- ters were read from Thomas Reed, J. S. Clarkson, Mr. Quay and others high in the councils of the party. Hon. Wil- liam McKinley wrote: “Ever since the organization of the league movement I have recognized it as a factor in shaping the policy and destinies of our party. It affords me pleasure to send my best wishes for the success of your banquet and to express to you my con- fidence that the great principles of the HON. THOMAS FITCH. (Photo by Taber.) Republican party are now universally recognized throughout the United States as being absolutely necessary for the progress and prosperity of the coun- try.” The League opened up elegant quar- ters in the Stowell block, and its 700 members immediately got to work. Strong resolutions were adopted favor- ing San Francisco as the city for hold~ ing the National Republican Conven- tion, and these were sent to the mem- bers of the National Committee. At its annual election in 1897 the league elected the following officers: President, Luther G. Brown; first vice- president, George B. McLaughlin; sec- ond vice-president, W. M. Hiatt; third vice-president, F. P. Frost; treasurer, Alexander Caldwell; secretary, George Francis; assistant secretary, O. R. Staples. In the coming battle of '98 the Young Men’s Republican League will be found ‘in the thickest of the fray and with its banners well toward the front. It will not attempt, as an organization, to bring out candidates or influence con- ventions, but when the nominations are made its members will support them loyally until the polls are closed on the first Tuesday in November. The members of the executive com- mittee for 1898 are: P. J. Kennedy, T. Hughes, F. Brakesuhler, G. B. Mec- Laughlin, A. Caldwell, L. R. Garrett, S. McClure, F. P. Frost, C. C. Bonnell, C. R. Staples, W. Knippenberg, W. E. Ludlow, C. McStay, H. J. Hutchinson, George E. Pillsbury, Edw. Bouth, George Phibbs, A. Walshe, Z. Swabie, R. E. Drummond, George P. Adains, W. M. Hiatt, George Francis. The Young Men’s League is repre- sentative of the hope, the vitality and- aspirations of the Republican party, and as Hon. Charles Emory Smith ex- pressed it: “It is the flower of the great political force which, as a crea- tive and constructive organization will rank in history with the party of Chat- ham and the younger Pitt, and with the party of Washington, Hamilton and Marshall.”