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■k: «Li 11
I^W^i
>.;,pi,.i,'
pMPUMENTARY BANQXmT GIVHN TO
CARL EWALD GRUNSKY, BY
CrriZENS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
Glt-1 Oi-
Ttr. Charles David Iferx
\ Mh-o
/tr
COMPLIMENTARY BANQUET
GIVEN TO
Carl Ewald G-runsky
By the Gtizens of San Francisco
on the eve of his departure to
assume the duties of
ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSIONER
PURSUANT TO APPOINTiyiENT BY THE
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Palace Hotel : March 15, 1904.
BAN FBANCIBGO:
CUBSBT AND COMPAMT, BOOK AND JOB PBIIITZBS, NO. 587 MISSION STBBST
1904
J - J . • . -' J
589443
CM «f 6mtt.
Edmrdl.. Baldwin
iV. a. Bkldwin
Hemuim B»rth
Edviud Bnmdeiutein
WlUlun Bl&ckweU
Bunnsl Bnujnhart
Henrjr Bmne
J. OtisBoTTAga
C. B. Banedlot
H, L. BriKham
J B. Bourds
E. E. Bersin
J. 8. BanneU
Hugh C. Bonks
Frmnk C. Biroh
B. Broemmel
Arthnr B. Bruwa
Albert H. Uender
William H. BmUt
H. Beudel
Carl BsTEfrisd
Dr, B. W! Bsam
J. D. Clark
A. T. CorboB
J. B. Covden
T. J. Crowl™
A. E-CbuidleT
PBter J. &tii
Lnnia O. CuDnon
Foster P. Cols
Dr. C. R rarrier
N. P. Chipnan
E. L Cnttan
Jnhn Connor
P. J, Cosgnro
». H. DuisU
Dr. P. dfl V»oobl
HoiriB K. DbtIb
George W. Diakls
Hoben HoF. Doble
ChurlM J. Deerin«
HurrB. DnttoD
J. J.Dowllns
Hngh Donegan
U. Dasskinc
Dr. Drapar
H. Danker
H. EpeMiu
Dr. e. N. Ellinwnod
OanrRB C. Edwards
Nathan H. Prank
LoniB^SkeDan
I. H.FooW
B. B. QiddberK
H.D Gtatea
GiutaT OnWoh
F. A. Qardnei
Thomaa F. Qraham
n. H. Ooldbent
F^mnnd Oodabani
C. E. Qmnsky
James U. Qoeway
Cbarlea Qomksr
William E. Hammi
W. H. Healj
F. Hagemann Jr.
B.BrHale
George W. Hooper
B. E. HoDghtOD
D. ' . Henny
L. Hernemann
P. C. HerrniBDD
Frederlok Eaaa
William Hernuuin
8. C. Ii-iinB
B. B. JenDlnga
Alphonee Jndls
L.Vo'oker?''"''
ByroD Jackson
Rnfne P. Jennings
Edwin C. JohnstoD
Blobard Keatinge
John Ken
leld
Jndae F. H. Kerrigan
P. N: Lilienthal
WiUiain P. Lawlor
Otto Lang
FmnkliuK. lane
Renben H. Uoyd
Percy T. Loi
^rke
Andrew C. Lawson
Charles J. Liindgrren
N. B. Liyermore
£ J. Molera
Dr. George H. Martin
James McNab
Professor Eiwood Mead
Heniy H. Meyers
Frank P. Meding
Byron Maozy
C. F. McCarthy
Lonis Mooser
Marsden Manson
John D. McGilvray Sr.
Charles D. Marx
H. Meyer
Jadge W, W. Morrow
Gayin McNab
S. M. Marks
H. F. Maass
JohnD. McGilvray Jr.
William H. Mills
A. J. McNicoll
• ^ernard Moses
E. O. McCoi mick
Benjamin G. McDongall
£, J. Morser
W. H. Metson
A. H. Mailer
P. Noble
F. Y. Nelson
H. A. Noble
James M. Owens
J. Leo Park
James D. Phelan
P. P. Paschel
Frank H. Powers
W. B. Pentz
Panl W* Pmtzman
Governor G^•o. C. Pardee
Dr. Easpar Pichel
£. C. Prather
John S. Partridge
James W. Beid
Dr. Adolph G. Bosenthal
Joseph Hosenberg
F. Beather
Henry Boot
P. C. Bossi
George Benner
W. C. Balstun
Dr. Theodore Bethers
John W. Boberts
W. J. Banbinger Jr.
W. W. Sanderson
Felix Santallier
W. B. Storey Jr.
Professor brank Boole
Paol Scholz
Val Schmidt
E. T. Schild
George F. Schild
F. P. Stone
A. Sbarboro
Dr. Emii Steltzner
Edward J. Smith
Li. S. Sherman
J. C. H. Stnt
J. C. Sala
George Stone
F. G. Sanborn
Frank J. Symmes
John T. Scott
James N. Smith
A. .W. Scott
L. A. Steiger
Henry A. Scholze
Dr. M. Solomon
Frank D. Short
Frank Morton Todd
J. B. TopUtz
Lawrence Thompson
Bobert Tibbitts
Arthur G. Towne
Charles F. Thierbach
B. L. Toplitz
Carl C. Thomas
L. H. Taylor
Carl Uhlig
E. J. Yogel
Dr. Victor G. Vecki
C. M. Volkman
George Yolz
H. Yischer
W. M. Weil
^urthnr H. Williams
George W. Wittmaa
Dr. John M. Williamson
A. A. Watkins
William B. Wheeler
J. H. Wallace
Gnstav Wormser
W. J. Watson
John C. Wilson
Frank Y. Wright
Bobert Wieneoke
Thomas S. Williams
B' I- Wormser
Dr. Conrad Weil
Henry A. Whitney
Thomas P. Woodward
Dr. B. W. Westphal
Herman Zadig
Cist of Si^akers.
Chairman - - . . James D. Phelan
The President - - - Chief Justice Beatty
Our Isthmian Canal Commissioner
Marsden Manson
Response C. E. Grunsky
Science coupled with the name of the
Academy of Sciences, and Applied
Science coupled with the name of
the Technical Society - - George W. Dickie
San Francisco . - . Franklin K. Lane
Civic Progress - - - Frank J. Symmes
President Merchants' Association
The Panama Canal - - - W. H. Mills
The Commerce of the Pacific - - W. J. Dutton
Chairman Executive Committee,
Merchants' Exchange
The German Benevolent Society - Henry Epstein
Vice-President
The Native Sons - - Dr. Washington Dodge
California Frank D. Short
Complimentary Banquet Qiven to Carl Ewald Qrunsky, by
the Citizens of San FrancUco on the eve of his Departure
to Assume the Duties of Isthmian Canal Commissioner,
pursuant to Appointment by the President of the United
States, Palace Hotel, March 15, 1904.
[Stenograhlotlly reported by St^hen Potter.]
Mr. Phelan — Gentlemen, this very large outpour-
ing of our fellow citizens here tonight must have some
significance. A notice was sent out by a com-
mittee, duly authorized, inviting a number of our citi-
zens to participate in a banquet to be given in honor
of our City Engineer, who has been called to higher
office, and the responses have been so numerous that
we were obliged to move from one room into another ;
and now we are assembled, I am sure, with one ac-
cord and purpose, to do honor in this manner to Mr.
Grunsky (applause) — for no other reason — and this
should be impressed upon the minds of all of us, as
well as upon his mind — than that we believe him
worthy of the honor. (Applause.) It seems to be
offered as a spontaneous testimonial, and I don't be-
lieve that a man, after laboring faithfully and disin-
terestedly for the welfare of his city and State, could
receive a testimonial more gratifying than this simole
gathering of men bound together by a common pur-
pose to honor one for what he has done and to rejoice
in his advancement— one who is at once so modest and
so worthy. (Applause.)
There is another reason which brings us here, sec-
ondary in importance, but none the less sincere, and
that is to express also our thanks to the President
(applause) for having conferred what we may also
call a great honor upon the city of San Francisco and
the State of California in selecting one of our citizens
to represent the Pacific Seaboard on a com-
mission charged with probably what is the
most important public work undertaken by any
nation at any time, a work whose impor-
tance is not to be measured alone by its cost,
nor by the engineering difficulties which must be over-
come, but by the influence which it will have upon the
trade and the commerce and the destinies and the
fortunes of the nations of the world. It is an office
so high that it has been taken out of the realms of
patronage and reserved exclusively for the g^eat and
wise discreation of the President. (Applause.)
I have said that Mr. Grunsky — ^and it is always a
matter of embarrassment to speak in the presence of
the recipient of one's testimonial — is modest, but it
has been said by somebody who is very wise that
''modesty is the chastity of merit ;" and there is, I am
sure, pervading this company to-night, apart from
these other considerations, a certain gratification that
a man, modest though he be, for no other reason than
his merit should have been promoted to this exalted
position. Every man must feel if interested in the
fact that that man who day by day does the work
faithfully and well which is at his hand, though he
6
goes on in silence, yet accomplishes much, shall not be
forgotten ; that if he is faithful in small things he shall
thereafter be put over great things. That condition once
established in a country like ours has an enormous
moral effect upon every man who works, no matter
in what field, be he engineer or mechanic, in stiffening
the fibre of industry, in sharpening the tools of
skill, because let it be known, the guerdon will
come to the man who deserves or earns it
without regard to the political and other con-
siderations that work to advance individuals in life.
Our President has picked out one of our fellow citi-
zens without any influences of that kind working for
his preferment, and I say it is a matter of gratification
to us all to-night, for which we should be thankful to
the President, that he who bears the palm merits it.
(Applause.)
I am here as toastmaster because I have been
associated with Mr. Grunsky in some of his work,
and the committee that met to call you together asked
me to participate in this capacity, and it was indeed
a matter of great satisfaction to me to consent, be-
cause when we went into the business of municipal
government here under the new charter not long ago,
Mr. Grunsky, and his good friends, Mr. Manson and
the late Colonel Mendell, all were enthusiastic about
doing something for their city, willing to give their
great professional skill, not for any compensation the
city might offer them, because their private practice
was far more remunerative, but they were zealous
citizens in the cause of good government, and we
thought we had much money to spend, and we of the
administration were gratified that we could enlist
such men in our service. In the preliminary delibera-
tions looking to the adoption of the charter, Mr.
Grunsky was there as a delegate to the charter con-
vention, and gave his valuable advice and assistance,
always showing in and out of office his interest in the
citizens' welfare. And then in that very responsible
position of City Engineer, a position created by the
charter and filled by the Board of Public Works, he
had the designing of vast undertakings, the bringing
of water from the Sierra, itself involving enormous
study, and he leaves us a perfected plan of the drain-
age of the city of San Francisco, and of things of
minor importance, as the establishment of a light
works, as the building of a street railway, but requir-
ing engineering skill and knowledge. And all this he
has given to us, and he goes away bequeathing it to
us, because it remains a part of the records of the
city and county; and all through these years during
which I have known him, and longer periods of time
probably embrace your experience of Mr. Grunsky,
he has been the same faithful, capable officer; and I
say it is gratifying to you, as it is to me, here to-night,
to know that the President has seen fit to recognize
his high character and abilities, and raise him to a
position which is pleasing to him because it is in the
line of his professional advancement, but which also—
and this is what interests us more than anything else
as citizens — enlarges his field of public usefulness.
(Applause.) And there is where we will get our re-
turn for the very great deprivation and loss which we
incur by allowing him to go away from these smaller
8
fields of his labor in the service of the city and county
of San Francisco. But I repeat again, we can not
complain, because it is so written, although it may
not always be recorded that he who is faithful in small
things inevitably will be put over great things.
(Applause.)
I have a few messages to read. This is a telegram
from the Governor, just received. He had expected
to be here :
Sacramento, Cal., March 15, 1904.
James D. Phelan, Grunsky Banquet, Palace Hotel, San
Francisco:
Regret exceedingly inability to be present. California
has just cause for pride that one of her citizens has been
chosen for so important a position and one requiring so
great talents as that of Canal Commissioner. In choosing
Grunsky, whom all California knows, and appreciates, the
President has secured the services of one whose presence
will compel respect. The Nation's gain is our loss. Hail
and farewell, Mr. Commissioner.
GEORGE C. PARDEE.
This is a letter from Mayor Schmitz:
March 8, 1904.
Hon. J. D. Phelan, Chairman Committee of Arrangements
of the Testimonial Dinner to C. E. Grunsky, 301 Phelan
Building, City:
Dear Sir — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your
esteemed favor of the 4th instant, extending an invitation to
me to be present at the testimonial dinner given to Mr. C.
E. Grunsky at the Palace Hotel on March 15th. I am very
sorry to say that I find it impossible to be present on that
occasion, having made a previous engagement.
Personally, I feel very much pleased at the appointment
of Mr. Grunsky, as he is a native-born Californian, and will,
I am sure, by his good work, bring credit to himself and to
his State.
Again thanking you, and regretting very much that I find
it impossible to attend, I remain,
Yours very truly,
E. E. SCHMITZ, Mayor.
9
Mr. De Young was asked to respond to the senti-
ment of "The Press," and he sends this letter :
San Francisco, March 5, 1904.
Hon. James D. Phelan, Phelan Building, City:
Dear Sir — I regret very much that I will be unable to
accept your very kind invitation to the testimonial dinner
given to Hon. C. E. Grunsky, whose appointment as Panama
Commissioner has met with such general approval by our
citizens.
I feel that he will reflect credit on our State, and that
the President's selection has been a good one. Wishing,
through you, him every success, I remain,
Cordially yours,
M. H. de YOUNG.
This is a letter from Mr. Von Geldern, a personal
friend of Mr. Grunsky, who shares, in common with
all engineers, a feeling of great pride and satisfaction
that one of his colleagues has been appointed on the
Panama Commission. It reads this way:
March 15, 1904.
Grunsky — I am very sorry that I am prevented from
being with you to-night. I trust you will take the will for
the deed, and although I can not be with you in person I
shall certainly think of you on this day when the city of
San Francisco is doing honor to one of her most deserving
citizens.
From the bottom of my heart I congratulate you.
OTTO VON GELDREN.
Before we sat down to the banquet, I sent this tele-
gram, as Chairman, to the President:
The President, Washington, D. C:
Three hundred citizens, representing commercial and
scientific bodies, at a banquet in honor of Isthmian Canal
Commissioner Grunsky, send greeting to the President, and
offer their respectful congratulations on the wisdom of his
choice and thank him for the honor done their city and State.
(Signed) JAMES D. PHELAN, Chairman.
10
I have just received this response:
White House, Washing^ton, D. C, March 15, 1904.
Hon. James D, Phelan, Chairman, Palace Hotel, San Fran-
cisco, Cal.:
Please convey to assembled guests my hearty greeting
and best wishes.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
I have now the honor of calling upon the Chief Jus-
tice of our State, Judge Beatty, to respond to the senti-
ment of "The President." (Applause.)
REMARKS OF HON. WILLIAM H. BEATTY.
Mr. Chairman, it is not often that the sentiment to
which I have been asked to respond finds more ap-
propriate expression than it does here tonight. The
toast to "The President" is, of course, merely one of
the modes in which the citizens of our free Republic
proclaim their loyalty to the land of their birth or
adoption, and whether we approve or disapprove the
policy of the President for the time being, we may
all join heartily in the toast without impeachment of
our political consistency. But when we consider the
occasion, and that the very purpose of our assembling
here is to manifest our hearty approbation of one of
the most recent acts of our National Executive, we
may allow our response to this toast to express not
only our fealty to the Constitution and laws of the
country, but also our grateful appreciation of an act
which has awarded to an esteemed fellow townsman
a place on the Board of Commissioners charged with
the execution of a work of transcendant importance
to this country and to the world.
There is no more important function pertaining to
the Presidential office than the selection of subordinate
11
agents of the Government, and when the President in
the exercise of this power displays his good judgment
and good intentions by putting a man of proved worth
and capacity in a position of great responsibility and
trust, the act is especially deserving of the commenda-
tion of those who best know how well public duty has
been performed, and we, the friends and neighbors
of Mr. Grunsky, in responding to this toast, may allow
it to express, over and above its usual significance,
our sense of personal obligation for so signal a rec-
ognition of his merits. (Applause.)
There is another reason suggested by the occasion
of our meeting why the toast to the President is be-
coming more and more the appropriate expression of
American loyalty. The history of every country en-
joying a popular form of government will show
that the issues upon which political parties have
arrayed themselves in opposition have arisen out
of questions of internal or domestic policy. As
to such questions the head of the executive
department, whether it take the form of a min-
istry representing the majority of the popular
branch of the Legislature, as in England, or a presi-
dent chosen by the people, as in the United States, is
necessarily the representative of a party, and so when-
ever we are engaged in the discussion of our domestic
affairs, one portion of his fellow countrymen are
bound to regard our President in the light of an ad-
versary. But with respect to questions involving our
relations with the rest of the world there is less room
for differences of opinion among ourselves and greater
necessity for supporting the head of the Government
12
in whatever attitude it may deliberately assume. Th^
result is that, while as to the first class of questions
the President stands for only a fraction, and possibly
for a minority of his fellow citizens — as to the latter
he generally has what is practically a united nation
at his back — a truth that is well illustrated by the
popular approval of the enforcement of the Monroe
Doctrine, whether by Cleveland, the Democrat, or
McKinley, the Republican President.
Now it happens that in this country questions of
domestic policy are becoming relatively less numerous
and less important in comparison with questions of
external policy, and our recent territorial expansion
will, I believe, render this tendency more marked in
the future than it has been in recent years. The most
obvious change which existing conditions and prob-
able future contingencies has wrought in our external
policy is the determination to provide ourselves with
a naval force equal in strength to that of some of the
more formidable maritime powers. In this deter-
mination our people are practically united, and for a
number of years past, whether the national admin-
istration has been Democratic or Republican, the
popular aspiration for commanding power upon the
seas has found a zealous exponent in the President.
And the fact that this policy has been firmly supported
by the probable candidate of one great party at the
ensuing election, and zealously advocated by the not
improbable candidate for the other party, affords good
ground for hoping that it will not be abandoned.
(Applause.)
But turning from this question, in which our atti-
13
tude is that of rivalry with other nations, to one which,
though not wholly disconnected, involves no clash of
interest between us and the rest of the world, we may
find a better illustration of the fact that outside of
our domestic affairs the President of the United States
represents the entire people. There is no difference of
opinion as to the necessity of uniting the Atlantic and
Pacific by a navigable canal across the isthmus which
connects the two halves of this western continent, and
not only we, but the whole world, look with eager
anticipation to the completion of that great and bene-
ficent work. If in respect to this matter there is any
difference between us and the people of other lands, it
is only because we believe, as our President has de-
clared, that the glory of the achievement should be-
long to us and to us alone. As in this, so in respect to
all questions between us and alien peoples, it is my
confident hope that our countrymen may continue to
stand so united, and may ever be so worthily repre-
sented in the chief executive office that on every occa-
sion such as this we may join as heartily as we have
done to-night in the toast to "The President."
(The company then arose and sang "The Star-
Spangled Banner" to the accompaniment of the
orchestra.)
The Chairman — I will now propose that we drink
a toast to the guest of the evening, and I will call upon
Mr. Marsden Manson to respond to the. sentiment of
"Our Isthmian Canal Commissioner."
REMARKS OF HON. MARSDEN MANSON.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, a civil engineer is so
U
seldom called upon to draw plans and specifications
for and to construct an after-dinner speech that I hope
you will pardon a rough attempt at trying to lay the
foundation for the superstructure of eloquence and
wit which are to follow on the part of others — an en-
gineer has only to build the foundation. Then again,
all that our worthy toastmaster has said of our guest,
the Commissioner, after he mentioned the President,
were parts of my speech, so you can credit that to
what I intended to say, because I have it upon the
memorandum before me. My heart is full of pride
and gratification that our President has recognized
our profession, in that when he has a great canal to
build he selects an engineer. This is not always done
in parts of California, and has not always been the
case. When the Board of Public Works was called
upon by our worthy Mayor to select some one to look
after the great and the growing interests of this mu-
nicipality, upon which interests depend its successful
future — a water supply and a system of sewerage —
we selected from among our profession the best man
we could find, the present Canal Commissioner. (Ap-
plause.) And it is gratifying to us to find that tRe
President of the United States could do no better than
follow the pace set by the Board of Public Works of
this city. (Applause.)
In wishing the Canal Commissioner God speed to
his work, and wishing him health, we wish health also
to those who will be with and under him. They go
to a difficult, a dangerous and a desperately sickly
country. We wish him health and God speed through
15
that work — ^through the years of toil and of thought
that he has to follow out for the good of his people.
There is one great lesson in this work to San Fran-
cisco. Are we to have only the great honor of hav-
ing a Commissioner chosen from our midst? Only the
honor of having a Commissioner chosen from the
profession whose duty it is to develop the resources
and forces of nature for man's benefit? Are our com-
mercial men to permit that it shall only redound to
our honor ? Or is this canal to be used to develop our
wealth? Is the work which our Commissioner is to
do to give us any material benefit? Are we going to
use it? Or are we going to accept as our share of
the commerce only that portion which is left to us
after the other cities and the other rival communities
have taken all they want and leave us what they do
not want? Or are we to step forward, not only to
participate in its construction, but in its use ; not only
to develop it as a machine for developing our wealth,
but developing it at all times for the use of our com-
mercial interests, for the command of the traffic and
the trade that is to pass through it? In wishing you
God speed, Mr. Commissioner, to your work, we
wish health, honor and happiness to you always.
(Applause.)
Mr. Phelan — Our guest, gentlemen. (Cheers and
applause.)
REMARKS OF HON. C. E. GRUNSKY.
Mr. Chairman, Friends and Fellow Citizens,
words are entirely inadequate to give expression to
my feelings this evening. The many kind words, con-
16
gratulations and good wishes that have come to me
in the last few days have been perfectly overwhelm-
ing, and will be a pleasant recollection for me and
for my descendants for all time to come.
When I accepted the position of City Engineer, four
years ago, I had little idea that I should retire from
the office under such pleasant circumstances. In re-
tiring from the office and severing my connection with
the city government I can only say that I am proud
to have been one of the first officers under the new
charter (applause) ; proud to have been the first City
Engineer called to office by such public-spirited and
able men as ex-Mayor J. D. Phelan (applause), the
late Colonel G. H. Mendell (applause), Marsden Man-
son (applause) and Jeremiah Mahoney (applause).
I am proud to have had placed in my charge one of
the sub-departments of the Board of Public Works;
I am proud of the achievements of the Board of
Public Works, even though the same has been ad-
versely criticised and held up to ridicule, knowing
thoroughly how ably and efficiently their work was
taken in hand, notwithstanding the many difficulties,
incident to the organization of a new department, that
had to be overcome.
One of the reasons why I was willing to give up
my private practice four years ago and assume the
duties of City Engineer was the fact that the charter
made it the duty of the City Engineer to investigate
public utilities. He was not alone charged with in-
vestigating public utilities, planning the same and
making cost estimates, but he had like duties assigned
17
him in the matter of public improvements to be con-
structed with money raised by bond issue.
I am proud to have had the opportunity as City
Engineer to design and report upon the many im-
provements which are now about to be carried out
under bond issues. (Applause.) It will always be a
source of gratification and pleasure to me when these
improvements have been completed and are being en-
joyed by the people to know that I may have been,
in a small degree at least, of service to our people in
connection therewith.
In these improvements the first step only has been
taken. The sentiment of the people is now known;
they have declared beyond the possibility of question
that San Francisco must be improved (applause) ;
that streets must be put into better condition; that
the sewer system must be improved and extended;
that the public schools must be made adequate to the
requirements thereof and a credit to the city; that a
new hospital must be erected; that public parks and
play grounds must be established in various parts of
the city. These and other improvements now seem
within reach. If the bond issue be declared legal it
will be but a few years before many of them will be
nearing completion^ but even then the work of beauti-
fying San Francisco will have only been commenced.
The good work must go on in future years, and to the
improvements already planned more must be added.
It has been a matter of great satisfaction to me, as
already stated, that the investigation of public utilities
for this city has fallen mainly to my lot, and of one of
these, the public water supply, I wish on this occasion
18
to say a word. San Francisco is the only city of its
size in the United States which does not own its
waterworks.
There is no question in my mind that waterworks
municipally owned would be well managed, would
enable a reduction of water rates for the same service
rendered and would enable the city to provide for its
inhabitants the best and purest of water obtainable
from any source.
Half a century is but a short time in the life of a
city. Looking into the future fifty years, we see in
place of our present city a magnificent metropolis;
the upper end of our peninsula from bay to ocean
densely covered with buildings; the population in-
creased to over one million; Oakland, Berkeley and
Alameda clamoring to become a part of San Fran-
cisco, if they have not already been made a part
thereof, and for this city of the future it is now time
to plan the waterworks, nothing being so essential to
the health and comfort of the inhabitants as an abun-
dant supply of pure water. (Applause.)
In thus looking ahead it has become apparent to
those who have carefully studied the matter that the
ultimate source of supply for our water must be in
the high Sierra Nevada Mountains. The steps that
have been taken to secure water from these moun-
tains is known to all and need not be repeated. Legis-
lation is now pending in Congress which may give to
San Francisco the source of supply which comes near-
est to being ideal. Whether the project for municipal
waterworks based upon such a source tnust be carried
out at once as an independent project or whether the
19
same must be combined with the present system is
the question which will, in the near future, confront
the people of this city; but whatever the source of
the water, the waterworks should be municipally
owned, the sooner this is brought about the better
for the city. Until then the annual trouble and an-
noyance of fixing the rates to be charged by private
corporations will continue, and ill feeling will be en-
gendered between municipal authorities and the officers
of the water corporation: and the service can not be
expected to be such as would be rendered under mu-
nicipal ownership.
No private corporation can ever do as well for the
public, so long as its efforts are continually being dis-
credited and its income is uncertain, as could be done
by a competent water department of the municipality.
Of all questions relating to municipal ownership of
public utilities, none is of such importance, none so
urgently pressing as that of the ownership of the
waterworks. The obstacles which at the present time
seem to be in the way of securing from the Federal
authorities the reservoir rights of way in a forest res-
ervation, as asked for, are probably not as great as
appear on the surface. The main opposition comes
apparently from the irrigation districts which are de-
pendent upon water from the Tuolumne River. These
districts are not now in a position financially to in-
crease the flow of water into their canals by means of
storage in the high mountains. They look forward,
however, to the time when the increasing areas under
cultivation, the increasing demand for water which
will be necessary for irrigation, will make storage in
20
the high mountains desirable. These districts at the
present time look with alarm upon the taking of any
water from Tuolumne River for the benefit of San
Francisco. As a matter of fact, however, the water
to be taken by San Francisco is not water which
would be of any benefit to the districts, being only a
small portion of the waste flood waters of the river
which now flow unused to the sea.
San Francisco would then be depriving the districts
of nothing except merely of the opportunity to store
water for their own use, when the time for such stor-
age shall liave come, in those two particular reservoir
sites for which San Francisco has made application.
To these reservoir sites San Francisco has as good a
right as any person or any other section of the State.
San Francisco has made the first application for them
and San Francisco must take every step necessary
from time to time to protect its rights, and to be al-
lowed to use these storage sites for the impounding of
water if such storage be ever permitted in the forest
reservation. But the flood waters impounded when
the storage works shall have been completed will for
many years — from a quarter to half a century — be far
in excess of the amount actually required to supply
the needs of San Francisco and its inhabitants.
There will be a large surplus of water in the reser-
voirs, and this surplus can be liberated at times when
it will be of greatest benefit to the lands in San
Joaquin Valley upon both sides of the Tuolumne River
requiring irrigation. It is to be anticipated that in
these irrigated districts the soils will gradually be-
come saturated with water, and after a number of
21
years the water required per acre irrigated will grad-
ually decrease. At the same time the districts will be
decreasing their bonded indebtedness and the time
will come when they will feel financially able to carry
out storage works of their own; and then they, like
San Francisco, will be compelled to apply for the
privilege of utilizing storage sites in the forest
reservation.
When this situation is thoroughly understood by
the irrigation districts, instead of opposition, San
Francisco should receive their help. (Applause.)
The more thoroughly the available sources of water
supply are investigated the more it will become ap-
parent that the solution of the water question lies
along the lines that have been indicated ; and that the
time has come for determining to what extent the
established waterworks are to enter into the ultimate
water-supply project. I trust that the day may not be
far distant when the municipal ownership of water-
works will be an accomplished fact. (Applause.)
This gathering to-night is to deal with a water prob-
lem of an entirely different character. The great ques-
tion of the evening is the proposed Isthmian Canal. I
am not yet in a position to talk upon this subject with
a full understanding of the various problems which
will confront the Canal Commission. The idea of
uniting the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean at Panama
has been in the minds of men ever since the first white
man crossed the isthmus. Examinations and surveys
were made in the early part of the sixteenth century,
nearly 400 years ago, and the obstacles to be over-
come in carrying out this great work have been grad-
22
ually removed one by one, until at last the people of
this great nation are in control, and with the means at
hand to carry the work to successful completion. (Ap-
plause.) The difficulties in the way of the canal con-
struction have, until within recent years, been less of
a character involving engineering skill than such as
involve statesmanship of a high order. After all of
the failures that have been made in the past a project
has been reported to the United States by the Com-
mission whose report is the basis for the acquisition
of the properties of the French company, and this
Commission's plan of a canal best represent the work
as it will probably be carried out. Although the ad-
vantages of a sea level connection between the oceans
was recognized, the disadvantages — among others of
increased time of construction and increased cost of
such a project — led the Commission to plan the canal
with a summit level about ninety feet above the ocean.
The canal is to be made thirty-five feet deep; it is to
have a bed width of 150 feet; it will be forty-nine
miles long from the six-fathom line on the Atlantic
side to the six-fathom line in the Bay of Panama. The
maximum depth of cutting where the canal crosses
the continental divide will be 286 feet. In the con-
struction of the canal the amount of dredging and
earthwork will be about 42,000,000 cubic yards. Fifty-
four million cubic yards of hard and soft rock will
have to be moved, of which amount about 5,000,000
cubic yards lie under water. Nearly 4,000,000 cubic
yards of concrete, and upwards of 65,000,000 pounds
of iron and steel will, it is estimated, be required for
the various structures on the line of the canal.
23
From Colon on the Atlantic side, the canal will ex-
tend inland over low ground, closely following Chagres
River for a distance of seventeen miles. The river is
there to be closed by a dam and its water surface
raised, and the lake formed by the dam will be used as
a canal section for a distance of about fourteen miles.
The next eight miles will be in the great Culebra cut.
The remainder of the canal, about ten miles in length,
will be on low ground adjacent to the Bay of Panama.
It is estimated that the value of the work already
flone on the canal approximates $40,000,000, and this
estimate has been made the basis of the proposed pay-
ment to the French company. The estimated cost of
completing the canal on the lines indicated by the
Canal Commission is $144,000,000. It is thought that
eight to ten years should be required for the com-
pletion of the work. That this is a work of stupendous
magnitude becomes apparent when it is compared with
such other great works as the Suez Canal, opened in
1869, which, with its length of seventy-two miles, cost
about $60,000,000, and with the Manchester Canal,
thirty-five and one-half miles long, which cost about
$75,000,000.
The last Canal Commission assumes that the annual
cost of maintaining and operating the canal will ap-
proximate $2,000,000. It is thought that upon the
opening of the canal to traffic, about 5,000,000 tons per
year will pass through it, and that this amount would
be doubled within ten years.
To have been named by the President a member
of the Commission which is to take charge of the
construction of this great work, which is not only of na-
24
tional but of international importance, is an honor con-
ferred not upon myself alone but upon me as a citi-
zen of San Francisco, as a native of California and
as a representative of the entire Pacific Coast. (Ap-
plause.) Of this I shall always be mindful and no
effort will be spared by me to prove myself worthy of
the confidence and trust reposed in me. (Applause.)
I drink to the continued and increasing pros-
perity of San Francisco, the Queen of the Pacific.
(Applause.)
The Chairman : — Gentlemen, who are the men who
are most gratified — if I may say most gratified in this
connection — with the appointment of Mr. Grunsky?
They are the engineers. The engineers of the city.
State and Nation feel they have been recognized in
the person of Mr. Grunsky. And we have engineers in
San Francisco of exceeding skill and national reputa-
tion. We have with us to-night a gentleman who has
brought to our city credit and distinction in construct-
ing those most delicate and perfect of machines, I may
call them, the modern battle ships. We have here,
as representing the Academy of Sciences and the
Technical Society, the man who as an engineer has
given to the seas and to the Nation, and to the glory
of San Francisco, the "Oregon" and the "Olympia.''
In response to the sentiment "Science, coupled with
the name of the Academy of Sciences, and Applied
Science, coupled with the name of the Technical So-
ciety," I call upon George W. Dickie of the Union Iron
Works. ( Applause. )
25
REMARKS OF MR. GEORGE W. DICKIE.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Grunsky and Gentlemen: I
thought when I undertook to respond to this double
sentiment that it was quite an easy thing to do, but
when I got to thinking about it I found that I had
made a mistake, and in this connection I want to con-
gratulate my friend Mr. Grunsky on the magnificent
opportunity he is going to have in the next few years
of making mistakes. (Laughter.) For the past
thirty years I have been told twice a week that en-
gineers were great men for making mistakes. Now, I
made a mistake at one time. I remember a good many
years ago when the Technical Society wanted to get
a paper to amuse them for a night, they sent down to
me and asked if I would prepare a paper for them, and
I said I would ; and I sent them in the title of my pa-
per, which was to be the mistakes that I had made in
twenty years. I do not know whether Mr. Grunsky
was then a director or not, but when the directors got
together they decided that it was an impossibility, that
no one evening would be sufficient in which to present
it. (Laughter.)
I am very much in the same condition to-night as
Judge Beatty. I wrote what I had to say, and I wrote
it so that I could say it in ten minutes. I made an
experiment last night, and I read this thing, having in
my room a chiffonier for an audience (laughter), and
I got through with it in ten minutes. Then I laid
down the paper and I tried to deliver it without. I
got along splendidly. It was a magnificent address.
And I got through in half an hour. (Laughter.) That
is a scientific experiment, and I give it for the benefit
26
of my fellow speakers. So I will keep my eye on this
piece of paper in order that I may finish you off in
ten minutes, instead of treating you to a kind of tor-
ture for half an hour.
The Academy of Sciences and the Technical Society
belong to the same family, and have the family trait
of not getting along very well together. (Laughter.)
The older member of the family, the Academy, is quite
a dignified character, when compared with its younger
brother, who, in the estimation of the Academy men,
is little other than a mechanic. Some time ago, when
an effort was being made to bring the two into closer
relationship, an old Academy man asked if they had
not better take in all the street-car conductors, as they
were also take-nickel men. (Laughter.)
Our guest to-night and myself are both active mem-
bers of these two societies, and we have ever worked
to get them into closer relationship with each other,
as the work of the one should always follow close on
the research of the other.
The Technical man is ever striving to make an ap-
plication of the knowledge the Academy has acquired
in some low, grovelling workshop problem, and by so
doing brings disgrace upon himself and the contempt
of the man of pure science. (Laughter.) The great
work upon which our guest is to expend the knowl-
edge he has acquired is of such grand proportions and
of such far-reaching utility to the world at large that
even our men of pure science will consider it no dis-
grace that one of their number is to have a prominent
part in giving it practical form.
Yet I would like to show you what a different esti-
27
mation the world at large places upon purely scientific,
and practical technical knowledge:
The world has decreed that the investigations into
and the manifestations of natural phenomena should
be divided into two classes, that of the scientific and
the technical. A simple definition of these two classes
would be that those investigations that are of no im-
mediate use are scientific, while those that have an
immediate application to some great industry or that
satisfy some immediate-felt want, are technical.
(Laughter.) I believe that all knowledge that lies
within the power of man to acquire will some day be
useful in supplying some want of his; but at present
much scientific knowledge that has been acquired ap-
pears to have no connection with our present physical
well-being. ( Laughter. )
Is it not curious that the world should honor those
men most whose life work has no immediate bearing
on man's physical comfort, or the extent of his re-
sources, and has but litle admiration for those whose
lives are spent in devising means whereby the gen-
eral burden of humanity is lightened? The world
places the philosopher in the top row of the Scien-
tific benches, while the engineer is relegated to the
lowest form in the Technical class, and he who
stumbles upon or discovers a new element in some
of nature's laws, stands infinitely higher in the eyes
of the world than the engineer whose labor has pro-
duced machines that have lightened the labors of
millions of his fellow-men. I do not mention this
by way of complaint for I believe it may be taken
as a strong proof of the inherent intellectuality of
28
man, yet, when we consider the fact that the greater
part of mankind labors under the constant and un-
avoidable necessity of providing itself with daily
bread and never lose an opportunity to protest against
the imposition, (laughter) it would seem that one
who seeks to relieve the burden of toil by the inven-
tion of labor-saving machines, would gain the last-
ing gratitude of his fellow-men. Yet I do not know
that the Technical man deserves any better fate than
has befallen him. His ambition is of the earth,
earthy. He deals with things instead of ideas and
therefore gets his reward from things and not from
men. His days are passed in close offices or dreary
workshops. He has no delight in nature except so
far as she will help him turn his wheels. He con-
centrates his whole being within some little trade
circle. From dawn till dark the Technical man lives,
moves and has his being in cast iron and hammered
steel, in wood or leather, in calico or woolen cloth,
in tallow or beef, or whatever other thing he makes
or vends, and he often carries the nasty things home
with him to make a technical shop of that sanctuary.
(Laughter) Tries to make a reputation by dis-
cussing them at the Technical Society with other
technical fools like himself, and is sadly disap-
pointed when the world takes no notice of him.
And yet the world knows full well that there is but
one possible source of relief for toil burdened human-
ity. This lies in the improvement and development
of the industrial arts, and this is the end and object
of all technical effort.
I have often been surprised that so few of the
29
K ■
general public possess any knowledge of the men to
whom the honor is due for the bettered condition
of life we enjoy. The ladies of society are considered
wanting in culture who have no knowledge of those,
who, by their writings, add to the means of mental
pleasures and accomplishments; but can one of them
in a thousand tell to whom we owe the spinning
jenny or the power mule? Yet it is because of these
inventions that they have the time for mental culture.
If the question be asked in a miscellaneous collection
of educated men "Who invented the locomotive?"
it is almost certain that George Stephenson would
be the name given, and doubt would be expressed
if any one should explain that he only added a little
to the labor of others in the same field. Yet,
amongst that same collection of men it would be con-
sidered a sign of want of education and culture not
to be acquainted with the works of Kejj&er, Bacon,
Newton, Davy, Farraday, Darwin and many others
who have contributed to the sum of human knowl-
edge, but whose work, at least at the time it was
done, had but little promise of material help for a
world that needed it much.
The world is not entirely without gratitude, only
the Technical man is disappointed because he cannot
buy its admiration by material benefits. A man may
labor hard and wear his life out in the effort to feed,
clothe and educate his children, but if he forgets
that they have hopes and fears, passions and emo-
tions, when the earth receives him he will be for-
gotten, while the man who has a soft heart for their
sorrows, and sings a song to brighten their lives,
30
lives long in loving memories, even though he was
careless about their comfort and though his song-
singing may have involved them in empty bellies and
bare backs.
Where intellectual and moral emotions are pos-
sible, bodily comforts, difficult as they are to obtain,
for the majority of mankind, seem small by compari-
son, at least when they are actually enjoyed. Food
and money appear the greatest possible blessings to
the hungry and the poor, but when once the stomach
and the pocket have been filled, it is difficult to recall
the cravings of the past, or exhibit the gratitude we
expected to feel for those who made it possible for
us to get into so comfortable a condition. Commu-
nities as a whole are very much like individuals in this
respect. They soon forget those whose labors bestow
upon them the power to do with little effort on their
part, what it took their fathers much time and toil to
accomplish, while they reverence those who furnish
them with some new mental pleasure. Who knows any-
thing about Fairbern, the millwright, and who does not
know something about Shakespeare, the playwright?
Outside of engineering circles, James Watt is little
more than a name, with nothing about it to inspire
admiration, and if he had not had the great honor and
good fortune to be a Scotchman (Laughter and Ap-
plause) and thus become the object of a clannish ad-
miration, he would be as nearly forgotten now as the
Welshman, Trevithick, yet every man, woman and
child of this and the past two generations in the civi-
lized world, have been the better for his inventions.
Take a contemporary name with Watts, that of
81
Burns, and we find it known and admired wherever
men's hearts can feel the touch of a brother's. He pro-
vided nothing new to help widen the scope of intellect-
ual vision, the things he sang about were in the field
and in the town, full in the sight of all, and only be-
came bright from the charm and beauty of his setting,
yet when touched by his inspiration they became a
treasured possession of mankind never to be abandoned
or forgotten, until human nature changes, of which
there are as yet no signs.
The difference between the scientific and the tech-
nical, is, however, not so great as that between the
poet and the mechanic. The purpose of the man of
science is to search ou^ the meaning of that great uni-
verse, of which he himself is a part, while the technical
man labors to convert what science has discovered, to
some useful purpose. They are but two links of the
same chain. Sometimes these links are far apart and
sometimes close together, but they arc always of the
same material.
Farraday, laboring to deduce the laws of electro-
magnetic induction, is very close to Wheatstone or
Siemens, laboring to produce a practical dynamo ; only
the one worked at the Royal Institution for the ad-
vancement of science, while the others labored in the
workshop.
The astronomer computing the orbit of a planet is
doing the same work as the engineer computing the
orbit of a centrifugal governor, with only this differ-
ence, that the astronomer may make a mistake but the
planet rolls on its orbit just the same; but if the en-
32
gineer blunders his whole work may be rejected and
his engine thrown useless on his hands. (Applause.)
How would a blundering astronomer feel if, on ac-
count of his mistake in computing the orbit of a planet,
the whole planetary system should be thrown on his
hands. (Laughter.)
Regnault's researches into the properties of steam
are not more important than the experiments of the
engine builder, who embodies the results in a motor of
surpassing economy.
Lord Kelvin is not greater when he is investigating
the physical condition of the ether than when he is
quadruplexing an Atlantic cable. Nevertheless the
world has made up its mind that useful, practical
knowledge stands on a lower footing than that to
which no suspicion of utility can attach. (Laughter.)
It will not consider if there be any difference in the
intellectual power required to produce the result; the
moment it sees a commercial bearing in any discovery
it puts it and its author at once and forever in a second-
ary position, and feels at once relieved of all obligation
to, or recognition of him. His discovery may have
been the result of long and deep thought, and the
research of a life-time may have been expended in its
development, but it is technical and therefore has no
claim on man's admiration. This is true, but on be-
half of my technical brethren, I claim that it is not
right. (Applause.) Undoubtedly mind is above matter
or force, and life is more than meat, yet there need
not necessarily be anything debasing about that which
makes meat more easily obtained for the bulk of
hungry mankind. If the thing to be s^ccomplished re-
83
quires the application of the highest quality of mind
for its solution, it is none the less intellectual because
its accomplishment simplifies the struggle for daily
bread.
As a Technical man let me say to our Scientific and
Philosophical friends that we rejoice in all the honor
and admiration the world is ready to bestow upon
you. We would not have you deprived of one ray of
glory, for you deserve all the world can bestow, and I
am sure you are ready to join us tonight in hearty
appreciation of the honor conferred on a California
Engineer by the President of the United States, in
placing him on a Commission to carry to completion
such a stupendous undertaking as the construction of
a ship canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Here
the Scientific man and the Technical man must work
together, and we are proud to know that the man
chosen for this high position knows the Science as
well as the Art of Engineering. (Applause and cheers.)
The Chairman — For the consolation of Mr. Dickie
and the Technical Society, it may be recalled that
Burke, in justification of the men of his class, said that
"a politician was a philosopher in action:" and, by
parity of reason, we may say that an engineer is an
astronomer in action; and in view of the present cir-
cumstances, it is the duty of the engineer, therefore,
to improve and amend this planet, correcting it so far
as the isthmus holds together the two continents, —
indeed, correcting the work of the Creator. (Laughter
and applause.) So the engineer's mission after all is
an exalted one. Mr. Grunsky has been associated with
U
civic progress to so large an extent that it will suggest
the next sentiment. During the next ten years, accord-
ing to Mr. Grunsky, the canal will be built, and San
Francisco will have put on her new clothes and will be
ready, as already proposed by the Merchants' Associa-
tion, through director R. B. Hale, for a world's fair on
these shores to celebrate the completion of the Panama
Canal. (Applause.) In connection, therefore, with
the sentiment of "Civic Progress" I will call upon the
President of the Merchants' Association, Mr. Symmes.
REMARKS OF FRANK J. SYMMES.
Mr. Chairman, worthy guests, fellow citizens:
I esteem it a great privilege to be permitted to stand
for a few moments by the side of the speakers this
evening to add my tribute of respect to the dis-
tinguished guest who has been honored by the high
office which has come to him. I congratulate him up-
on the great opportunity which is presented to him to
take a prominent part in this world's great work, a
work which is destined to change the geographical as
well as the commercial relations of many of the na-
tions of the earth, and which has already affected
some of their political relations, — which is destined to
make one ship perform the work which is now per-
formed by two or three, and to save in sailing vessels
from one to ten thousand miles for the maritime com-
merce of the world. It is suggested that I should
speak to you upon civic progress. That is too long,
and too broad, and too deep a subject to be treated in
any five or ten minutes address. It would be like at-
tempting to review the Encyclopaedia Britannica in
85
fifteen minutes. But civic progress is one of the most
important interests in San Francisco. To name it in
brief, it is good government, and good government is
that which the Merchants' Association stands for, and
which all good citizens stand for. Civic progress may
be rapid and strong, or may be slow and weak ; and if
San Francisco is to become the great city which we
know it is to become — for geography has fixed it and
destiny has declared it — ^that progress should be rapid
and strong; and it depends upon the good citizens of
San Francisco to see that that progress is such. To
accomplish that we need good men in office. We
need men who are big enough, and broad enough, and
who love their country and their city more than they
do their pockets. We need men who, like our worthy
guest of the evening, are sufiiciently satisfied to devote
themselves faithfully, earnestly and honestly to the
work which is before them, regardless of any great
offices which may come to them afterwards; and that
is the way that great offices are secured. Civic pro-
gress for San Francisco is that which we look forward
to with the greatest of pride and satisfaction; and
when the canal shall be built, and Mr. Hale's beautiful
dream shall be realized, and we shall have a great ex-
position here on this coast to celebrate it, we will be
able to rejoice that good citizens have done their duty,
and that good ofiicials have done theirs.
But the canal is the subject which comes nearest to
our hearts for the night; and whilst we congratulate
ourselves that one member of the Commission has
been selected from our state, and our city, we rejoice
that it has come to a man of the character of Mr.
86
Grunsky; and whilst we rejoice at that we realize, as
he realizes, that there is a great work before him. The
eyes of the world will be upon him. The action of
the nation which has taken this first step in progress
is one which will be to the satisfaction of all, and add
to the glory of that distinguished and honorable gen-
tleman who presides over the nation.
Mr. Grunsky, whilst we congratulate you, we rec-
ognize that the office which has come to you is due to
the fact that you have been, as the Chairman has
said, faithful over little things, and now that you are to
be made ruler over greater things, we bid you God-
speed, and give you our blessing whilst you enter
into the joy of our lord and ruler the President of the
United States. (Applause.)
The Chairman — Mr. Symmes has suggested a
thought, and the sentiment which I am now
about to propose gives a color of justification
for its introduction here : that men, not measures,
are the principal elements in a city's pro-
gress, as in a nation's progress. Canning,
in England, many years ago, when there was a cry for
measures, and not men, said something to this effect :
Away with the cant of ''measures not men;" that the
harness and not the horses carry forward the chariot ;
and if a distinction must be made, men are everything,
and measures are nothing. And in this assembly, it
might be well to recall to your minds that the charter,
in which Mr. Grunsky and Mr. Symmes and all men are
working for civic progress have been interested, was
designed to give us the tools or the implements of
37
good government, but necessarily of itself could not
confer good government. The engineer, if he is not
skilled, will only wreck the machine that is given into
his hands, and the only consolation id that he may
himself be injured in the wreck. And so that charter,
of which we expected so much, has been exposed to
some criticism. But I may say for the friends of the
charter that they simply regard it as an instrument
fixing responsibility and conferring power, and the
charter of San Francisco will ultimately work out its
usefulness. I now propose a sentiment which is first
in your thoughts : "The City of San Francisco," and
call upon Franklin K. Lane to respond. (Applause.)
REMARKS OF HON. FRANKLIN K. LANE.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Grunsky, and gentlemen : Don't
think for one moment that at this hour of the night,
and under these circumstances, I am going to talk
about the charter. The charter speaks for itself — let
us speak of the canal. France tried to dig a canal
across the Isthmus of Panama, and failed. And what
France tried to do, and could not, the United States is
going to do ; and they have a San Franciscan to do it.
(Applause.) You heard the Chairman speak of Mr.
Grunsky's modesty. You saw how modest Mr.
Grunsky was himself. That, gentlemen, is the result
of several years experience as an office-holder in the
City Hall. (Laughter.) I wish to pay my tribute to
Mr. Grunsky. I worked with him for four years,
side by side, and seeing him almost daily. The man
as presented to you tonight is the man we have always
known, a man of merit, of "simpleness and gentleness
88
and honor and clean mirth ;" a man who did his work,
and did it out of a sense of duty, and out of a sense
of loyalty to the great public, which oftentimes did not
appreciate it. I doubt very much, gentlemen, if the
President of the United States, in appointing Mr.
Grunsky to office knew what his politics were. I have
known him for years, and today I don't know whether
he is a Republican or a Democrat. (Applause.) But
this thing I do know, that there is something better in
Grunsky than Republicanism, or Democracy. There
is good American citizenship, loyalty to America, and
loyalty to San Francisco. (Applause.) And better
than that. When the President was out upon this
coast, he went to Nevada, and there the Democratic
Governor of that state had the temerity to say of him,
"There is not gold enough in the United States to buy
you, Mr. President, and that is the reason that we like
you;" and so I can say of Grunsky: he is a man of
honor, and no matter what temptations may be put to
that Canal Commission, with its two hundred million
dollars to expend, Grunsky will always prove that he
is a man of honor. (Applause.) I listened with de-
light to what Mr. Dickie said. His was a charming
paper. A better I have never heard. There is the
man who does things, as against the man who develops
theories. We tonight, lawyer and merchant and doctor,
all of us, Mr. Dickie, bow down before the engineer,
the man who accomplishes things, the man who makes
two blades of grass to grow where but one did before,
the man who joins two oceans, the man who, as the
Chairman says, boldly changes the surface of earth,
doing work which the Creator himself forgot to do.
39
And we are here tonight, gentlemen, doing a rather
singular thing for a San Francisco audience. (Laugh-
ter and applause.) I see you catch the idea. Three
hundred of us actually boosting a man. (Applause.)
Why, what could not we accomplish if we all united
together to boost some man who was not going aw^ay.
(Applause and laughter.) There lies the lesson of
this banquet to us. That is its meaning. San Fran-
cisco will be benefited by the Panama Canal. San
Francisco will be more benefited if the three hundred
men who are here tonight would unite together and
say each to himself: I am for San Francisco, first,
last, and all the time, the man who is a San Franciscan
is my man, and the interests of San Francisco are my
interests. (Applause. )
There is one thing that has appealed to me during
the talks tonight which perhaps has not appealed to
most of you. How few men there are in any walk of
life who are recognized as at the head of their profes-
sion ! What an achievement that is, gentlemen, to be a
lawyer, or to be a business man, to be a professional
man of any kind, to be in any trade, and rise up to the
point where the President of the United States looks
three thousand miles across a continent, away over the
prairies and over the peaks of the Rockies, and comes
down and puts his hand upon one man, and says:
Sir, you are fitted to be an engineer of the United
States, capable of doing this work in which other na-
tions have failed. Your ability is great enough to be
commended by all. That, I take it, is the greatest
honor that any man can achieve — ^greater than any
40
political honor that a man can have bestowed upon
him. (Applause.)
As the President of the United States, — shrewd,
practical, as he is, careful as he is in his selection of
men, — has shown what he thinks of us, let us show to
him what we think of ourselves. Let us prove our-
selves worthy of the great chance which he thinks we
have. San Francisco is to be, gentlemen, what we
want it to be, and nothing else. San Francisco is today
the gi*eatest city fifty years old that the world has
ever seen. San Francisco is today regarded in New
York as the second city in the United States.
They skip the intervening cities, and come out
here, because here is the city of the future.
We stand, as some one has said, with a nation behind
us, and the world before us. (Applause.) Now, let
us from tonight know this, that San Francisco is to be
what her men make her and her men are large enough
to have faith in her.
"For it's East all the way into Mississippi Bay,
And West to the Golden Gate,
Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear lass,
For men bulk big on the out trail, the long trail, our own
trail,
And life runs large on the long trail, the trail that is always
new,
And the wildest tales are true."
San Francisco is to be made, not by Panama
Canals, though commerce is to come here by reason of
such canal. San Francisco is to be made, not by hav-
ing Commissioners upon the Commission that digs
that canal. But San Francisco is to be made by you,
and by myself, by the faith that is in us, by the love
that we have for her, by the belief that she will be
41
great, that here beside the western sea is opportunity.
My friends of San Francisco, rise up, reach out and
seize those opportunities, make San Francisco what
she may be, and twelve years hence we shall greet
Grunsky as he comes back from his completed work in
some great hotel far out by the Presidio, and as we
overlook the Pacific Ocean, we may say : This is the
great San Francisco, the city of your dreams, Mr.
Grunsky. We have been true to ourselves, while you
have been away working for us. (Applause and
cheers.)
The Chairman — ^We now come, gentlemen, to the
great subject of the evening. The eloquent remarks
of Mr. Lane have naturally led up to it : "San Fran-
cisco." The chief port of the United States upon the
Pacific. Fifty years ago William H. Seward saw
what we see today; at a time when Japan was not
knowh, when Russia had not dreamed of penetrating
the wilds of Siberia to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
William H. Seward said at that time :
"Henceforth, European commerce, European poli-
tics, European thought, and European activity, al-
though actually gaining force, and European connec-
tions, although actually becoming more important,
will, nevertheless, relatively sink in importance, while
the Pacific Ocean, its shores, its islands, and the vast
region beyond, will become the chief theatre of events
in the world's great hereafter."
Not the least of those events which are about to
be realized is the construction of the Panama Canal;
and I call upon a gentleman familiar with the subject
42
to respond to that sentiment, "The Panama Canal,"
Mr. W. H. Mills. (Applause.)
"the PANAMA CANAL** — REMARKS BY MR. W. H. MILLS.
On this convivial occasion we do honor to two of the
noblest sentiments of the human mind — ^friendship and
gratitude.
In expressing the gratification and joy we feel in the
elevation of the distinguished guest of this evening to
a high position, we are manifesting a spirit of friend-
ship. The sentiment which prompted this tribute to
our fellow-citizen, serves another purpose. It indi-
cates to the President of the United States our appre-
ciation and gratitude for the honor he has conferred
upon our municipality and upon our commonwealth.
At the outset, in responding to the toast, "The
Panama Canal," I take occasion to promise fidelity to
the text which has been given me and brevity and
directness in the treatment of the questions to which
it gives rise.
Convivial occasions like the present are not the most
auspicious for the consideration of a question which
so deeply concerns the future welfare of our State, of
our Country and of the World. And I shall keep in
view the well formed purpose of avoiding repetition
of the arguments which have prevailed in bringing
this nation to the threshold of the consummation of
this great undertaking. Moreover, I shall seek to .divest
what I shall say to you of all the formalities of a set
discourse, but shall indulge myself and earn your
thanks by employing only plain conversational forms.
In 1523, now closely approaching four centuries ago.
43
De Avila, the Spanish Governor of the Isthmian Prov-
inces, discovered Lake Nicaraugua, and was driven to
the Pacific Coast by the hostile attitude of the natives
of the region, and thus became in possession of the
geographical knowledge that only a narrow strip of
land separated what he was pleased to term an inland
sea from the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The sug-
gestion of an artificial water-way between the Lake
and Ocean was self-prompting.
During all these four centuries, students of com-
mercial geography have fully comprehended the vast
importance to the commerce of the world of the con-
struction of an Isthmian canal. More than this, they
have clearly perceived the great influence such a water-
way would have upon the distribution of national pow-
er arising out of the relative commercial supremacy of
the nations.
From that date to the present, the construction of
that water-way has been obstructed, impeded and ac-
tually prevented by national jealousies, by the inertia
of conservatism and by the greed and selfishness of
those whose interests were in the maintenance of ex-
isting conditions.
At last all the forces of opposition have been over-
come; at last a great nation has decreed that, com-
mercially speaking, a new ocean shall cpme into being;
at last, it has been decreed that the narrow neck of
land which has forced the channels of commerce to
employ an unnatural detour of seven thousand miles
in east and west passage, shall no longer stand as a
barrier across the path of civilization. And now, after
nearly four hundred years from the birth of the idea,
we assemble around this banquet board, in the chief
metropolis of the Pacific empire to congratulate the
honored guest of this evening that all obstructions
have been removed, all opposition overcome, and that
he and his associates may now enter upon the con-
summation of this great enterprise.
In this instance, the centuries of delay pay just trib-
ute to the magnitude of the undertaking. And now
that hope is to be rewarded for patient waiting, now
that prophecy is to undergo the test of fulfillment,
even unfaltering faith cannot wholly forego the ques-
tion, "What is to be the result ?"
To indulge in prediction at the prei^ent time would
be but to repeat the argument which has prevailed in
the determination of this nation to construct this water-
way. All reasoning from existing condition to future
results must undergo many modifications in reaching
just conclusion. The unexpected is the only certainty
the future holds in store for all human enterprise.
We seek to penetrate the future by following the trend
of existing forces, but these forces are not immutable ;
they bring into being other forces, the deflecting in-
fluence of which cannot be estimated.
But there are elements of certainty attending the
construction of the Panama Canal, rising by contem-
plation even to the dignity of infallibility. They may
be called into view by negative and affirmative gener-
alizations.
First, of the negative generalizations: It cannot
be possible that the emancipation of ocean commerce
from the slavery of seven thousand miles of useless
45
sea transportation can be other than good to man-
kind.
Every object of commerce is enhanced in value by
reducing the cost of its movement to final market.
It cannot be otherwise than that the operation of the
Panama Canal will reduce the cost of the movement
of the commerce of the world.
If the construction of this water-way can, by any
possibility, work a hardship to any portion of the
world, it will be because the portion Injured seeks to
perpetuate the advantages it enjoys at the expense of
the highest good of mankind.
It cannot be otherwise than that the construction of
the Panama Canal is in the interest of mankind at
large. And it is a well grounded opinion interwoven
with all the opinions of my mind that whatever is best
for humanity as a whole is best for every separate
portion of the human family.
The affirmative generalizations have far reaching
significence. All nations will be interested in its com-
pletion because it will draw them into closer relation,
minimizing occasion for war by augmenting the value
and blessing of peace.
All industry of all countries will partake of its bless-
ing because commerce is the hand-maiden of industry
and lies at the very basis of its prosperity.
It will expand the commerce of the Pacific Ocean
as by the touch of magic by merging the tragic stage
of the world's commerce on the Atlantic with the iso-
lation of the Pacific.
It will contribute to the awakening of the vast popu-
lation of the Orient by causing the spirit of modem
46
progress to move upon that dead sea of arrested de-
velopment.
To our nation, it will be a guarantee of commercial
primacy in the commerce of the Pacific Ocean.
When we acquired possessions in the Orient and
assumed sovereignty over eight millions of people, we
became a factor in all meaningful movements among
the nations of the Orient. With the acquisition of
Oriental territory we assumed higher duties to our-
selves and broadened responsibilities to the world.
The acceptance of this new relation with the Orient
made the construction of the Panama Canal a national
necessity.
Coming nearer home, the Panama Canal will give
to the states of the Pacific Coast a closer commercial
intimacy with Europejand to the people of the Atlantic
Coast a better commercial relation with the Orient.
Whether carried by land or by sea, the Panama
Canal will reduce the cost of interstate transportation
and thus identify the common interests of the east-
ern and western portions of our country and weld them
into closer commercial relationship.
It will turn the face of industry from the interior
of our country to the eastward and westward oceans
which wash its shores.
It will increase the military and naval power of our
nation without increasing the magnitude of our mili-
tary and naval establishments, and by thus augment-
ing our power, promote our influence in the councils
of the nations.
In all these blessings to the world and to the nation,
we will be full and free partakers.
47
To our own commonwealth, it will confer the bless-
ing of reducing the cost to us of all our imports and
increasing the value of all our exports, by enforcing
cheap rates of transportation for both.
It will make the free highways of the ocean con-
trolling factors in the commercial and industrial de-
velopment of our state.
It will make San Francisco a port of cheap ton-
nage, and 'consequently a port of distribution. These
two factors lie at the very basis of all commercial
greatness.
In all history, the material progress of mankind has
depended upon the science of engineering. The en-
gineer has been the pioneer of civilization in all ages.
To his genius and knowledge we owe all the victories
we have achieved over time and space. The iron ways
of overland commerce, which have conquered moun-
tain barriers; the steamship, which plies across wide
oceans "without missing one beat of its iron heart from
shore to shore;" the discovery and transmission of
electrical power, with all other mastery of physical
forces, are due to the civil engineer. The summit of
engineering triumph will have been reached in history
with the completion of the Panama Canal. No other
undertaking is comparable with it in the magnitude
of the difficulties to be overcome, or fraught with
greater blessing to mankind than the objects to be ob-
tained by its construction.
Such is the nobility of the great office to which our
friend, the honored guest of this occasion, has been
called; and such the broad philanthropy of the great
48
work in whose construction he is to bear an honored
share.
I felicitate him and ourselves that he has received
his appointment at the hands of a president to whose
patriotism, continuity of purpose and executive force,
the Panama Canal, when completed, will be an im-
perishable monument. (Applause.)
The Chairman — Before we leave this theme, I de-
sire to inform the company that we have with us the
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Mer-
chant's Exchange. They are the people who are di-
rectly interested in the commerce of the Pacific, and
the President of the United States who has so .elo-
quently preached against race suicide, must feel an
especial gratification in announcing the wedding of the
Atlantic and the Pacific (laughter), and the progeny
of that union will be more ships, and more sails, and
more commerce upon the sea; and I ask Mr. Button
to respond to that sentiment.
REMARKS OF WILLIAM J. DUTTON.
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen : Commerce is rather
a dry subject to which to respond. You might expect
I would bring you a table of statistics showing the
commercial growth of our community; and, indeed,
it would have been easy to have done so; but I feel
that on an occasion of this kind such matter is out of
place, and anyone wishing to avail himself of oppor-
tunity to discover that kind of information can get it
once a year from all the papers. Had I turned to an
encyclopaedia before coming here for a definition of
commerce, I would probably have found its two prime
49
factors were exports and imports. Exports make
your money, and imports take your money.
Away back in the time of mythology we read that
one Jason started with a band of followers in a little
ship, the Argo, to secure and bring home with him a
golden fleece from a ram which had been sacrificed to
Jove, and its fleece hung in a grove sacred to Mars,
the god of war, in a far-off country called Colchis.
He, after passing through wonderful experiences, re-
turned with the pelt. That, I suppose, is the first case
of importation on record, and that wool then should
stand as the original import.
Something near three score years ago there was a
difference of opinion between Mexico and the United
States. They resorted to the arbitrament of arms,
with the result that Alta California came into the pos-
session of the United States. At about the same time
that the news of this acquisition was borne through
the world another piece of news also reached keenly
attentive ears. A golden fleece had been discovered
hanging also in that sacrifice to Mars which Mexico
had made. Up in one of our gullies a golden nugget
had been found, and at once from all over the world
another band of argonauts hastened to this unknown
land, — ^this far-off country, through mountains and
valleys and by sea, and they scattered over its fair face.
They diverted the waters of its streams to sift its sands
for gold. They marred the fair bosom of its valleys
with placer mining. They bored into its mountains
with tunnels. And in all these directions were re-
warded with gold — ^gold. The necessities of this army
called for the traders down at the bay by the Grolden
60
• • ••
t •
Gate, where they had entered^.upon this land of
promise. These traders furnished 'tiij** toterprise, the
ships abandoned at wharf and in streaVh by-'these gold
hunters furnished the means, and "old oc'ean^^-'waste"
furnished the highway, and commerce sprltHfe*'. lull-
fledged on the Pacific Ocean, and with San Frailci^&D .^
as its ultimate point.
But this character of commerce was the commerce
of import which takes your money. California was pro-
ducing nothing. Her men were delving in the mines,
obtaining their gold, and spending it for the neces-
saries and luxuries of life. Some of these miners
raised on farms at the East, noting our deep alluvial
soil, and noting our fertile valleys, sent for their fam-
ilies, built their homes, and soon there were very dif-
ferent cradles rocking in those homes from what the
tired miners had brought to the side of the stream and
the sluice boxes. A community was growing up here.
California bared her fair bosom to the plow, and from
its rent and furrowed surface there sprang a second
golden fleece which gave back tKe sheen of the sun-
shine with the glint from the bending heads of the
yellow grain.
This golden fleece provided the other factor of com-
merce. It gave us exports. These exports furnished
the money abroad which paid for the luxuries and
necessities which were brought to our shores. The.
gold drawn from our hillsides and our valleys and our
streams remained here to be spent in beautifying our
land, in building up our cities, in providing all the
surroundings of a permanent State. This golden har-
vest, this second golden fleece, outstripped the first in
51
value, and far moXe-.tJian outstripped it in its benefits,
• • • •
for they were irinrty.
First, as'»I have stated, it provided the payment for
our ircr6^ts>' Next, by the multitude of vessels which
came."'Jt«fe seeking an outward freight we were fur
^.^nfeihfid with our imports at a much lower price, for,
\'*'.Vith an outward freight at hand, they sought oppor-
*• tunity to take freight in them. The price of freight
reduced, the amount of merchandise coming here in-
creased through the activity of competition. Prices
were reduced. Our people were able to buy their
goods cheaper. San Francisco became the distribut-
ing point for the coast, from Mexico on the south, to
British Columbia on the north, from the Rocky Moun-
tains to the sea. And that would never have been ac-
complished by our gold from our hills. It was our
gold from our valleys which furnished that. It stim-
ulated the inventive genius of the American people in
naval architecture ; and the result of their activity, and
their energy, and their ability, was shown in such
ships as the "Andrew Jackson," Flying Cloud," and
our "Young America." The California clippers, which
represent the finest naval architectural results in the
way of sailing vessels that have ever been ac-
complished throughout the world, brought America
to the front as the mistress of the seas. We lost that
position during our war of the rebellion, through our
vessels going to foreign flags, but later, through the
enterprise of our shipbuilders, our members of the
Technical Society, if you will, we furnished the world
with a fleet of vessels which has not been surpassed,
nor equalled, by any of the foreign countries, while
52
the matchless "Oregon" and Admiral Dewey's flag-
ship the "Olympia" stand at the head of naval war
vessels, and place our country and our California ship-
builders at the very head of their profession. (Ap-
plause.)
Presently our position of the arbiter of commerce
for this coast was seriously injured by the completion
of the various railroads, which took from us our trib-
utary country, and we turned again to mother earth,
and again a golden fleece, — a third golden fleece, was
given to us as a reward for our enterprise. Our pop-
ulation, coming from all over the world, possessed
the knowledge and adaptability of all nations, and
we were able to apply the knowledge gained in all the
older countries to the development of our resources
here. Our valleys, which formerly were given over to
the yellow grain, were planted in fruit and vines. Our
hillsides blossomed, and in spring the fair face of our
country smiled with our cherries and our berries. In
summer our hillsides rejoiced in a wealth of luscious
and ripening fruit. In the autumn the face of the
country blushed with the turning leaves of the vine
and the ripening grapes. And in winter it laughed
aloud at the sprinkling rain, with its round-faced or-
anges. While throughout the year an ever-increasing
and never-ending crop of tourists was raised here to
pay golden tribute to our golden land and buy climate
by the front foot. (Applause.)
Now, this represents the condition of our country
up to the present time. Our commerce has kept pace
with our growth. The seas are dotted with the white
sails of the ships. The coast line is streaked with the
58
smoke of the steamers plying up and down. We have
developed a trade with the Orient, which requires the
largest of carriers. Fifty years ago some scientist
built a great ship — the Great Eastern — ^built it
rather to show what could be done in the way of naval
architecture in grandeur and size rather than utility,
for she was too big, at that time they said, for profit-
able use. Today the Pacific is being sailed by vessels
which are larger than she, and there are vessels build-
ing to meet the increasing wants of our trade with the
Orient in which the "Great Eastern" could be loaded
into their gaping holds, and yet lots of room be left for
cargo. Our imports were for a long time larger than
our exports. As late as 1899 that condition existed in
San Francisco here. I find that in 1899 we had but
thirty-nine millions of exports against forty-five and a
half millions of imports, but from year to year in the
past five years our exports have increased and our im-
ports diminished, until at the close of 1903 our $38,-
900,000 of exports had increased to $51,500,-
000, our imports from $45,600,000 had gone down to
$36, 500,000, and there was a margin of millions to our
credit in the money-making side of commerce against
the money-spending side. (Applause.)
Another matter, gentlemen, which I think it is but
fair to mention : San Francisco is big enough not to
decry any of our fellow cities on the coast here. We
like to see them grow. They will all add to the might
and glory of our commercial prestige. But we have
heard a good deal about the exports to the Philippines
from Puget Sound and San Francisco. I will only state
what, perhaps, is not very generally known, that these
64
figures which are reported are made from the mer-
chandise which passed through the Custom House. All
the merchandise which goes to the Philippines on
the United States transports passes directly out of
port, and does not pass through the Custom House.
All the merchandise which is sent over on chartered
vessels passes through the Custom House. Practically
all the United States transports go across to the Phil-
ippines from San Francisco. That does not appear
to our credit as an exporter. It does not appear
in the Custom House figures. And yet it
is all the merchandise handled by San Franciscans,
bought from San Franciscans, shipped by San Fran-
ciscans on transports and sent across to the Philippines.
I throw out this piece of information simply as infor-
mation in order that we may understand that we are
not losing all our trade, and we are not
going to the "demnition bow wows" because the
reports of the Custom House don't indicate that we are
rolling ahead in figures that run many times beyond
all our fellows on the coast, whom, as I say, we want
to encourage to grow.
And now the Isthmus of Panama, which was so hap-
pily expressed by Mr. Dickie as the "attenuated waist
which connects North and South America," is to be
pierced by a water channel which will unite the At-
lantic and Pacific. Those of you who have, as I have,
had the pleasure of crossing that Isthmus and noting
the abundant machinery, the locomotives strung in
long strings on unused rails, rusting, rotting, would
perhaps think that the "attenuated waist" might have
been spelled in another way, and that it was not
55
very attenuated either. (Applause.) When the
United States gets to paying the bills, and when our
San Francisco Engineer gets to passing upon them,
there will be more work done for loss money. (Ap-
plause.) And then we will look for a future San
Francisco and a future commerce against which the
present condition will be merely a beginning, — merely
an exponent to indicate the growth to which the com-
merce of this Pacific Ocean will reach, and surely a
great part of it must come through the Golden Gate,
and across our golden state ; and when that comes, and
when every one of the trickling streams which run
down the western slope of the Sierras for a thousand
miles, pursuing their courses to the ocean, will on
every hundred feet of their descent be turning wheels
which will be running machinery that will be manu-
facturing for the community, then we will be able to
show the world what commerce is, backed by enter-
prise and manufacture. (Applause.)
The Chairman — Gentlemen, our guest this evening
is a man of many resources. I feel that we are suffer-
ing from Panama fever, and it would be gratifying to
you to know tonight that Mr. Grunsky is President of
the German Benevolent Society, and the evening
would be incomplete, in fact we would all go home
sick, unless we called upon Mr. Epstein to say a word
on behalf of that worthy organization over which Mr.
Grunsky presides.
REMARKS OF MR. EPSTEIN.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I am indeed proud
to be able to respond to the sentiment "The German
56
General Benevolent Society," an organization which
most of you know has but recently passed the half-
century mark. Our usefulness is manyfold. Not only
do we support the needy, whether they be members
or otherwise, give counsel and advice when asked for,
and obtain positions for newcomers, we also maintain
one of the largest hospitals on this Coast for the use
of our members, free if so demanded, and at a low cost
to such others who wish to put them&elves under our
care. Like most kindred institutions, we have passed
through many vicissitudes and children's diseases ; we
have weathered them all, and I am happy to say that
we to-day stand on a firm financial footing and count
upward of 4,000 members and patrons, the largest
number of any German organization of its kind, I
think, on this Coast or in the United States.
A little over twenty-five years ago, we lost the first
hospital built by conflagration. It was not long be-
fore it was replaced by another, on a new and larger
site, and it is now contemplated, plans for which are
nearly ready, to construct a new building which will
be an ornament to the city and a proud monument to
the enterprise and patriotism of our German popula-
tion. We have a tract of over seven acres of ground,
and it is univefsally admitted to be an ideal spot for
a hospital. In evidence of how wise the committee
was who selected the site, I beg to mention that an
old resident only the other day stated, in speaking of
that site, that in days long gone, this spot was known
as "Bird's Rest." The small feathered pioneers of
Yerba Buena sought that place for refuge against
wind and fog.
57
When invited by our worthy Chairman to reply to
this sentiment, he suggested in a P. S. to make short
responses on account of the number of speakers on
the program. I agreed, and .want to be as good as my
promise. However, I have to crave your indulgence
for a few moments and also ask pardon for a possible
digression from the theme allotted me. We all re-
gret to lose our worthy guest, although perhaps tem-
porary only, but there is no one here who will miss
him more than your humble servant, having worked
beside him for the past two or three years, and par-
ticularly of late in connection with the planning of our
new hospital. I only hope, in behalf of our associa-
tion, that the one who will have to represent him dur-
ing his absence will not prove inadequate to the task.
During our existence of over fifty years we natu-
rally have had a g^eat many leaders, and to use the
Irishman's phrase about the Kentucky beverage, "that
it is all good, only some is better," I might say "all
our Presidents were good, only some were better."
However, Mr. Grunsky has created a class of his own.
It is the first instance in the history of our society that
a Native Son has wielded the gavel at our delibera-
tions, and though native bom, he thoroughly masters
the German language, which he has often evidenced
by talking to us like a "Dutch uncle."
We all appreciate the honor thus bestowed upon
our friend by the President. We appreciate it in his
behalf, but let us admit a little selfishness on our part
at the thought that the lot has fallen to a Californian,
and yet no better selection could have been made, no
matter from what quarter, combining as he does the
58
many good qualities necessary for a position of that
kind. As to his profession of civil engineer, he cer-
tainly ranks second to none, and does it not look a
little prophetic that at his christening already he re-
ceived the prefix C. E. ?
And now I ask you gentlemen of the German Benev-
olent Society, as well as all of you here present, to
raise your glasses and voices and give three cheers
in the well-known Teutonic way, "Er lebe hoch, Er
lebe hoch, er lebe hoch, etc., drei Mai hoch !"
The Chairman — Proud as our German-American
citizens are of Mr. Grunsky, because of his descent,
the Native Sons of California are equally proud be-
cause of his navitity, and we must now have that senti-
ment, "The Native Sons," and I call upon one who is
worthy to respond to the sentiment. Dr. Washington
Dodge, a member of the same parlor of the order to
which Mr. Grunsky belongs. (Applause.)
REMARKS OF HON. WASHINGTON DODGE.
Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens: Fortunately,
considering the lateness of the hour and my position
on the program, I did not come here intending to make
any long, drawn-out remarks. Indeed, were one so
disposed it would be a difficult task, considering all
that has been so well and so interestingly said. I am
here, however, representing an organization of 15,000
native-born citizens of this State, to testify to the
high regard and esteem in which we hold our brother
member, Mr. Grunsky. I am here to express the
pleasure which his appointment has given to us. We
feel highly honored that for this great office there has
59
been chosen one of us, a native son of this State of
California. (Applause.) Knowing him to be a worthy
son of his State, and knowing him to be one who will
never reflect anything but honor upon that high offi-
cial who has selected him, we proudly, in common
with all citizens of this State, give his services to our
Nation.
And now, Brother Grunsky, when, through your
instrumentality, the Atlantic shall be wedded to the
Pacific, may you be the best man at the ceremony
(applause) ; and before the honeymoon is over may
you return to us and to your native State, where you
may be sure a warm welcome awaits you. And now,
as a last word, God speed you, say the Native Sons,
and so say the citizens of this city. (Applause.)
The Chairman — ^The Governor was expected up to
the last moment, when he sent his telegram, but we
have confined our remarks to the city of San Francisco
and to the Pacific Ocean, and the sentiment of "Cali-
fornia," to which the Governor was to respond, has
not been as yet mentioned. But the Hon. Frank D.
Short of Fresno is here, and he will bid us good
night by responding to the sentiment of our State.
(Applause.)
REMARKS OF HON. FRANK D. SHORT.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Grunsky and Gentlemen: I
know but little, but I know the time of the night when
I look at the watch, and I know that it is too late to
respond to "California," or any other sentiment. I de-
sire to say, however, a word in farewell to our friend.
Of course, I know if I concluded to talk through the
60
evening, out of respect to my high official position,
you would stay and listen to me (laughter), because
if the Governor had been here you could look at him
and see how a governor would look. I being in his
place, you can look at me, and see how a governor
does not look. And if he were here you could listen
to him and understand how a governor would talk.
By listening to me, if I did not have any more sense
than to keep on talking, you would understand how a
governor did not talk. (Laughter.) But I do say in
regard to our distinguished friend that he exemplifies
something we might all take home to ourselves. I
have had occasion to know him well, to cross-examine
him some, and to learn his merit. I know that he has
succeeded because he is an aristocrat ; that is to say,
he belongs to the only real and enduring aristocracy
in the world, the artstocracy of people who do things
honestly and well. (Applause.)
San Francisco is full of brilliant young men who
are proud of their achievement in getting something
for nothing, and getting a salary that they do not earn,
but Mr. Grunsky has not grown that way, and he is
a living illustration, not of the idea that you can get
something for nothing, but of the doctrine that not
only is an honest man the noblest work of God, but he
is the wisest work of the Almighty, because "a fool
and a rogue are always twin brothers to each other."
Now, my friends, we wish the gentleman all pros-
perity. If I could respond to that most inspiring
toast, "The State of California," if I could say what
this great and coming and growing commonwealth
deserves to have said of her to-night, I should be
61
pleased and glad to do so; but there are other times
and other occasions. We say that we hope and be-
lieve that Mr. Grunsky will confer honor upon this
the greatest of the American commonwealths. Cali-
fornia has but little history. Her name and her
memory are in the breasts of men now living, except
the story of the padres; for us, and for our time, and
our opportunity is for the future. California has little
history. With us it is only to-day and to-morrow, and
Mr. Grunsky stands to assist us in declaring a broader
and a better and a higher to-morrow for this new
empire on the Pacific sea. (Applause.)
The Chairman — Mr. Grunsky leaves to-morrow
morning to assume his new duties, and I suggest we
drink again to him and bid him God speed.
(The toast was drunk and three cheers were given
for the guest of the evening.)
The Chairman — It is just 12 o'clock, and I bid you
all good night.
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