BOSTON CITY CLUB BULLETIN FOR THE INFORMATION OF MEMBERS OF THE CLUB "This Club is founded in the spirit of good fellowship and every men VOL. XI MARCH 1, 1917 ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR MARCH No. 6 Thursday Evening, March 1 GEN. GEORGE W. GOETHALS "THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PANAMA CANAL " MOVING PICTURES JAMES W. ROLLINS, presiding. Dinner at 6 o'clock. The preliminary announcement in the February BULLETIN has resulted in a full house for the dinner. No more dinner tickets are available. General Goethals will speak at 8 o'clock in the auditorium. Thursday Evening, March 8 JOHN STOUGHTON DENNIS Assistant to the President, Canadian Pacific Railway "YOUR NEIGHBOR ON THE NORTH" LOUIS E. CADIEUX presiding. Dinner at 6 o'clock. Tickets at the office of the Civic Secretary. Thursday Evening, March 15 WILLIAM G. THOMPSON, Esq. "ADMINISTRATION OF LAW IN MASSACHUSETTS" HENRY F. HURLBURT, Esq., presiding. Dinner at 6 o'clock. Tickets at the office of the Civic Secretary. Thursday Evening, March 22 An evening in the interests of THE NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES Speakers HON. JOHN W. WEEKS (United States Senator from Massachusetts) "OUR NEW NAVY" LIEUT. EDWARD G. BLAKESLEE, U. S. N. (Illustrated.) HARRY K. WHITE, Chairman Massachusetts Branch, presiding. Wednesday Evening, March 28 HON. NATHAN MATTHEWS, LL.D. (Former Mayor of Boston) "PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY VALUATIONS AND RATES ' B. N. JOHNSON, Esq., presiding. Dinner at 6 o'clock. Tickets at the Civic Secretary's office. Thursday Evening, March 29 ORCHESTRAL CONCERT BOSTON OPERA PLAYERS ELMER WILSON, Conductor Eighteen Musicians, Select (WILLIAM G. DODGE, Concertmaster) Instrumentation: Four first violins, two second violins, one viola, 'cello, bass, flute, two clarinets, two trumpets, two horns, trombone, drums and tympani. FOURTH ANNUAL SONS OF MEMBERS' DINNER FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, 1917 Each year the interest in our annual Sons of Members' Dinner greatly increases, and it has become one of the regular features of the Club's activities. The following gentlemen will speak: HON. JAMES J. STORROW HON. JAMES M. CURLEY J. H. HUSTIS Receiver of the Boston & Maine Railroad WILLIAM F. GARCELON "THE BENEFITS OF HIGH STANDARDS IN COLLEGE SPORTS" HON. EDMUND BILLINGS Collector of the Port of Boston "COLLECTING THE REVENUE OF THE UNITED STATES" "PLAYGROUNDS AND RECREATION" Members are invited to bring their sons or a friend's son. GROUPS OF SINGERS FROM HARVARD, DARTMOUTH, TUFTS AND TECHNOLOGY WILL BE PRESENT AND PARTICIPATE ORCHESTRA GEORGE S. SMITH will preside. Dinner at 6.30. Tickets at the Civic Secretary's office. EDITORIAL A DECADE OF USEFULNESS A club, such as the Boston City Club, as a getting-together place for persons not united by natural ties of kinship, is an idea older than Christianity. One of the laws of Solon guaranteed the administrative independence of the clubs of that day. Aside from the church, no human institution has had such an influence on the thought of each age as the clubs formed for political, religious, charitable, private, social and various other purposes. Charles II was so exasperated by the criticisms of the London coffee-house clubs that he suppressed them by royal proclamation; but this act was so unpopular with the people that he was forced to withdraw it, and since Queen Anne's reign the coffeehouse clubs and their multiformed successors in England and America have been established as an indispensable feature of modern political, artistic, sporting, and social life. It is not unduly boastful to claim that, in the short decade of its existence, the Boston City Club has been able to exercise a wider influence on its environment than any club in the world during the same period of time. The charter membership of 600 men in 1906 has grown to 7,000 members, with a long waiting list. The 10 sleeping rooms and 6 private dining rooms in the old Clubhouse on Beacon Street have expanded into the 62 sleeping rooms and 25 private dining rooms of the new Clubhouse. It is getting to be the rule that there is each night a waiting list for the sleeping rooms. The capacity of the private dining rooms is constantly taxed. The widened activity of the Club is significant. Conferences on various subjects are constantly attracting gatherings of men representing the most remote sections of the state. The daily average attendance at the Club is approximately 1,800. A visit to the City Club at the luncheon hour gives proof that as a social and political solvent the Club has far exceeded the anticipations of its founders. Here, as you enter the main dining room during the noon hour, are gathered at one table fifteen to twenty active and graduate members of the newspaper profession, poets, writers. A few tables away are a dozen school men. In the center of the room is a table full of architects. Here is a group of lawyers; there, social workers and society executives. The echoes of the discussion of a gathering of extreme radicals mingle with those of a party of the most extreme social" standpatters" that conservative Boston can produce, seated at the adjoining table. Everywhere are business and professional men, young and old. In this democratic atmosphere opinions are unrestrained; discussion is keen, but friendly; the keenest thrusts leave no scars. The type of entertainment under Club auspices has gradually broadened. Entertainments of various sorts are frequent, and between eight hundred and one thousand men with serious messages of more or less importance have addressed meetings. With a membership of seven |