Wednesday, November 10, 1 p. m. LUNCHEON TO J. W. BENGOUGH Mr. Bengough will speak on the general subject of Mr. WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, Jr., will preside. Thursday, November 11 PROF. SCOTT NEARING Formerly of the University of Pennsylvania, and now of the University of Toledo, will deliver an address on "PUBLIC OPINION" In editorials, several of the Boston papers have urged that Professor Nearing be heard in Boston; the Club has extended this invitation, which has been accepted. Prof. ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, of Harvard, will preside. Friday, November 12, 6 p. m. CITY PLANNING DINNER Thursday Evening, November 18 HON. CHAMP CLARK Speaker of the National House of Representatives, will deliver an address upon UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Hon. WILLIAM F. MURRAY, Postmaster of Boston, will preside. Monday Evening, November 29, 6 o'clock Dinner to HON. THOMAS R. MARSHALL LEON M. ABBOTT will preside. Tickets at the Office of the Civic Secretary. REVIEW OF RECENT EVENTS Thursday Evening, October 7 OPENING NIGHT CONCERT The season of 1915-16 was ushered in with a concert by the Boston Quintet, assisted by Edwin M. Whitney, Reader, and Leon Van Vliet, 'Cellist. President Fish addressed the members previous to the concert. LUNCHEON TO LORD ABERDEEN, OCTOBER 13, 1915 President Frederick P. Fish presided, and called on Mayor Curley to welcome the guest. Mayor Curley said: "Mr. President, Your Lordship, Honored Guests and Fellow Members of the Boston City Club. It is fitting that the Boston City Club should extend a welcome to Lord Aberdeen because every ideal that is represented in this institution has been represented in the administration and the daily life of this distinguished and great representative of the English Nation. No country in the entire world has profited more by England's mistakes (sometimes perhaps rightly called English oppression by we Irishmen) than America. Because of misrule we have had the extreme good fortune to have ten men who derived their birth from Ireland as signers of the Declaration of Independence (our Bill of Rights), eleven as Presidents of the United States, including the present great leader of public thought in America, the Honorable Woodrow Wilson. "I confess if the same policy of justice, of mercy, of righteousness that has been evidenced continuously under your administration had been in evidence during the last seven centuries, it would be difficult to determine where America would stand in the sisterhood of nations. Certainly if humanity had been the watchword, and mercy the objective, in Ireland, it would be impossible for patriotic Frenchmen to toast the memory of the greatest Frenchman with the exception of Napoleon. It would have been impossible for the residents of Chile to drink a toast to the memory of the great Chilean O'Higgins. Perhaps in this country it would have been impossible to drink to the memory of one of the dearest characters and one of the bravest men that ever served as President, the martyred William McKinley, whose grandfather died at Vinegar Hill in an attempt to secure liberty for Ireland. "But you are here and your work speaks for itself. It has not been necessary for you in your responsible office to make the business of that office personal in character. It could have been impersonal because of the importance of the office. It had been impersonal for seven hundred years before your time. You have made it personal and in consequence of that fact, peace, prosperity, contentment, happiness, respect for organized authority to-day pervades every portion of Ireland. "All the average human being wants is what we Americans term 'a square deal,' what the English term justice; and when we receive it we have respect for the responsible authority that makes it possible for us to be the recipients of it, and in the spirit of justice, in that spirit, we welcome you here, we trust your mission will be successful, your journey and that of your charming wife will be one of extreme pleasure, and that when you return to your great and responsible trust in Ireland, it will be with the knowledge that patriotic, honorable, painstaking, personal service yet has its reward." President Fish then called on Mr. Edward A. Filene and Mr. James P. Munroe to welcome the guest, which they did felicitously. Mr. Fish, following them, in introducing Lord Aberdeen said: "Gentlemen, it is only in a limited sense, as I look at it, that Mr. Munroe is right in saying that our Club lacks atmosphere and tradition. We are only ten years old, but we have with us and as part of us the atmosphere and tradition of all the ages, and that is at the foundation of our Club, of our Club spirit. We are based upon a recognition of the things that are admirable in life as shown by history, and one thing we know, every one of us, and recognize as a Club, and that is that we each and all have duties to-day, to those for whom we are working, duty to the community, and a duty to ourselves, and whenever we find a man who has been true to all those duties we confess that he is worthy of our regard. We have also known that not only has be contributed to the well being of the world, but that he has been a man who has enjoyed life, for it is in the fulfilment of those duties that there comes real enjoyment. Our guest to-day has been true to all those duties and he is here in this country in the performance of his duty to the world and to himself. We welcome him as such, and we sincerely hope that his trip in this country, his journey through our cities, will be one that he will never forget. We hope that he will succeed in the main purpose of his visit and that incidentally he will find everywhere (and no doubt he will) that appreciation of him and of his merits that the Boston City Club has at the present moment. I call upon His Excellency the Marquis of Aberdeen." LORD ABERDEEN "Mr. President, Your Honor the Mayor, and most kind hosts. I am not sure that such an extreme manifestation of welcome, kindness and good will is altogether the best incentive, the best promotive influence, for making a speech, however brief; but it certainly is an influence which will endue any utterance, however inadequate in itself, with a most profound and heartfelt sincerity. I have looked forward to seeing something of this Club ever since, through the kindness of my friend, Mr. Filene, I became acquainted with its existence and still more its main purpose and object; but I little thought that I should have the privilege of being entertained in this princely style. It is more than princely because that gives an idea of extreme distinction and style, but it is princely because of the generous kindness, good will and encouragement which has breathed through every utterance this afternoon in this room. "Well, I said I looked forward to seeing the Club. I read the account of its inauguration (also sent by Mr. Filene) and of course I could not fail to be struck by the dominant feature and aim. I guess I am not mistaken in trying to indicate how it presented itself to me by remarking that, as we all know, there is a sort of natural tendency in social life for the formation of horizontal strata in the, so to speak, parallel lines. Euclid tells us that parallel lines will never meet. I always thought that was a very simple axiom in geometry, but when you come to the idea of the vertical connection, that is, the line of sympathy, when different orders of interest, and of enterprise, and of social converse are brought into contact, then, of course, we are in the line of sympathy, mutual sympathy, which, after all, is the most potent factor in the promotion of all that is good. Then we get what is needed, but we need opportunity also, and that sort of opportunity is offered by such a Club as this, where you come on to common ground, on to a common basis of mutual good will and common desire to promote the welfare of the community, and, so far as it can be gained by personal intercourse, the promotion of the welfare of all the individuals concerned, and of the whole body of membership connected with it. "I could talk at length on this fine idea, but it has been done very well by Mr. Filene, but, before sitting down, I wish to express my special gratitude and appreciation regarding what has been said. It was, I think, a kindness to indicate, as has been done here first by his Honor the Mayor when he spoke of our mission. Mr. Filene, the President, Mr. Fish, and Mr. Monroe spoke of a mission. It would be a mere affectation to ignore the fact that while we are overwhelmed, in a sense, with the extreme welcome we have received and its significance, we have come here for the purpose, if it may be granted, of gaining some practical sign and token of the good will of America, I don't say only one section of the community of course, our Irish friends have given special encouragement, but, as I mentioned, on a wider basis. "I wish to say this in regard to Mr. Filene's remarks as to the ideal American, for example the man who is not circumscribed by the thoughts of the welfare of his own land, however magnificent, the man who is a citizen of the world. Having come within the last few days across the Atlantic, I am proud to give my testimony as to the splendid impression that has been made, not only in Great Britain, but in France, by the manifestation of generosity and far-reaching sympathy on the part of America. They have found out this sympathy and concern and good will, and if one thing more than another has gratified them it has been the great volume of toys sent to the children of the peoples afflicted by the war, the children, not prominent in this time, but deeply affected all the So toys were sent, and if nothing else would have touched our hearts that would and did, but we have had a boundless testimony of your regard and it has created an impression which will never be effaced. In every sense it might be described as a self-contained, mighty sympathy to have extended this hand of good will, and it has been deeply appreciated. same. "Well, as to our mission. The purpose and spirit, I hope, of the movement of which Lady Aberdeen and I may perhaps be allowed to be regarded as representatives, is permeated with the very principles that have led to the formation of this Club and its success. The principles of this Club are those which have helped us, I am sure, in any degree of success, in the aims which have been so generously attributed to us to-day. While we have been in Ireland, since 1886 (and I say this for Lady Aberdeen also), since the day she set foot in Ireland she has never lost the most intense sense of concern for that country. She lost her heart to Ireland at that time, and if anything she is more devoted to the country than ever before, but we are just as Scotch as possible. I could not help thinking, when the Mayor was speaking about the confidence of the Irish, I could not help thinking how we Scotch claim to be rather modest, but, on the other hand, we are not insensible to the claims of our country. The story came to my mind of the Scotchman who had been manifesting his pride in his country to an Englishman, who said that if the Scotchman thought everything was so fine in his country, would he claim Shakespeare for a Scotchman. The Scotchman replied that the ability of the man might well justify the supposition that he was Scotch. "I am not going to enlarge upon the question of the mission. All I will say is that some one told us we were not coming at the right time. It was the only time we could come. If there is anything left in your provision for continuing this grand, world-wide encouragement, we hope we may have a share of it before we return. Meanwhile I would say that your thoughtfulness is, if not deserved, at least appreciated greatly and, in that sense, well bestowed. Thursday Evening, October 14 FUTURE OF THE PORT OF BOSTON At the dinner preceding the meeting, Vice-President Rollins presided. The speakers were Hon. H. C. Attwill, Attorney General of the Commonwealth; Hon. James F. Cavanagh; Mr. Sylvester Baxter; Mr. James B. Connolly; Dr. Francis D. Donoghue; and Vice-President W. T. A. Fitzgerald. George S. Smith presided at the largely attended meeting in the auditorium. In introducing the speaker, Hon. Edward F. McSweeney, Chairman of the Port Directors of the city, Mr. Smith pleaded for an era of constructive action by officials and citizens alike, forgetting the errors of the past, and emphasizing the duties and opportunities of the morrow. Mr. McSweeney prefaced the constructive portion of his address by a discussion of the effect upon the port's welfare of (1) the plans projected and in part executed by the first Board of Directors, and (2) of the consolidation of the Boston and Maine and the New Haven roads as planned by Mr. Charles S. Mellen. Proceeding thereafter to a statement of what he and his associates were trying to do in order to justify their existence, he said: |