the western world and looking towards the East. All his being is stirred with interest to see what shall come of that attitude. Is a step to be taken, and if so, how far and in what manner? No True American can advocate or approve the acquisition of territory for the sake of greed. His whole nature revolts at that proposition. His own country is founded on the principle that so far as opportunity is concerned, men are born free and equal, and he is not yet prepared to believe that government by the consent of the governed is only a beautiful dream. But this he has within him above everything - confidence in the American people to meet any problem of government that may confront it; not only to meet it but to solve it to the satisfaction of the civilized world.

He does not fear the phantom of imperialism, because he feels that the American Republic can never be changed into an empire. He knows that he would surrender his own life to prevent such a change, and he believes that his brothers would make like sacrifice. The United States will never fall into the error of those republics that have come to destruction through seeking territory by conquest. The doctrine of the universal brotherhood of man has progressed too far, and the True American is too much a part of it, to admit of the possibility of the American Republic being anything else than the home of the brave and the land of the free. It has lent its helping hand to Cuba, and sometime, under its beneficence, Cuba will become allied to, if not a part of, the United States. It has lent its helping hand to Hawaii, and already Hawaii is praying for full sisterhood among the States. It has assumed the responsibility for the

Filipinos, and whether or not it was right in assuming that responsibility it cannot now shirk it. No True American would have his country shirk any responsibility. Whatever final disposition may be made of the Philippines it would be more than cowardly to abandon them in their present condition. The True American has no doubt that his people will ultimately solve the Philippine question, not only to the satisfaction of the civilized world but to the betterment of the Filipino.

Every True American must declare his sympathy with the men that are fighting our battles there. They are our brothers; they are wearing the uniform of our country; they are fighting under our flag; and all our prayers must be for their success and their safe return to the mothers and the wives and the children that are waiting and weeping for them. As between the United States soldier and sailor and the Filipino, every True American is heart and body and soul with his own, and if it be not treason to wish well to the enemy in this conflict and to stay here on American soil and pray for the success of that enemy and the defeat and the confusion and even the death of our own soldiers and sailors, then it is simply madness; for any man taking that position must be either a traitor or a madman.

I can never think of the Philippine situation but that the toast of Stephen Decatur, Commodore of the American Navy, rings in my ears-"Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be right! But, right or wrong, — our country!"

The True American to-day stands conspicuously in the vanguard of the forces that are developing

the theory of universal brotherhood and the capacity of all peoples to govern themselves. Inspired by the bravery of Washington, the wisdom of Jefferson, and the martyrdom of Lincoln, he foresees the time when monarchical government must disappear from the face of the earth, and all forms of serfdom and slavery must be wiped out. As love is the ultimate power to bind the world together in brotherhood, so the justice of full popular representation in government must be the ultimate outcome of the efforts of all the inhabitants of the world to preserve law and order and to mete out justice to every human being. Not more potent with me is the admonition, "Love the

Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul, and love thy neighbor as thyself," not more potent is this admonition than the utterance which fell from the inspired lips of Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield of Gettysburg, an utterance applied by him to the United States of America, but in the ages to come to be applied to all the nations: "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Gentlemen, in the face of that prophecy and in the memory of the man who made it, the phantom of imperialism must disappear from the American mind.

Τ

HE Fifteenth Annual Meeting was held on Friday evening, April 6, 1900, in the Red Room at Delmonico's, which was uncomfortably filled, as more than 230 members had announced their intention of attending, and most of these undoubtedly were present.

The members who, in answer to the Secretary's request, had expressed their expectation of coming

were:

From New York City, Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx: Edward B. Adriance, Henry M. T. Beekman, Charles E. Bogert, Edward S. Bogert, John G. Bogert, Stephen G. Bogert, William R. Bogert, William R. Bronk, Bloomfield Brower, John Brower, Ward Brower, William L. Brower, John H. Cooper, Washington L. Cooper, George De Bevoise, James De La Montanye, Henry C. De Witt, Jacob E. Duryee, Peter Q. Eckerson, Dwight L. Elmendorf, Joachim Elmendorf, Alexander R. Gulick, John C. Gulick, Ferdinand Hasbrouck, Howard Has Brouck, John C. Hasbrouck,

Louis B. Hasbrouck, William M. Hoes, David .H. Houghtaling, George P. Hotaling, Arthur M. Jacobus, Clarence V. S. Kip, Edgar Knickerbocker, Ralph S. Lansing, Charles E. Lydecker, Charles H. Montanye, George E. Montanye, Hopper S. Mott, Isaac Myer, John H. Myers, Jr., Frederic P. Ostrum, Hiram R. Ostrum, Isaac H. Polhemus, Henry F. Quackenbos, Abraham Quackenbush, Abraham C. Quackenbush, Schuyler Quackenbush, De Witt C. Romaine, Dr. D. B. St. John Roosa, Frederick Roosevelt, J. Maus Schermerhorn, David S. Skaats, George W. S. Slingerland, Allan L. Smidt, John H. Starin, John B. Stevens, William M. Stilwell, Clarence Storm, Peter J. Stuyvesant, Duncan D. Sutphen, Lambert Suydam, Sanford R. Ten Eyck, Stephen V. Ten Eyck, Charles H. Truax, Lucas L. Van Allen, Frederick T. Van Beuren, Arthur H. Van Brunt, Cornelius Van Brunt, John R. Van Buskirk, Frank F. Vanderhoef, Harman B. Vanderhoef, Nathaniel S. W. Vanderhoef, N. Wyckoff Vanderhoef, John R. Van der Veer, Nathan B. Van Etten, Frank Van Fleet, Louis B. Van Gaasbeek, George M. Van Hoesen, John G. Van Horne, Stephen V. A. Van Horne, Frederick W. Van Loan, John Van Loan, Zelah Van Loan, Frank R. Van Ness, Russell Van Ness, Warner Van Norden, Gilbert S. Van Pelt, Richard Van Santvoord, Eugene Van Schaick, George W. Van Siclen, George F. Van Slyck, Warren C. Van Slyke, Abraham V. W. Van Vechten, George Van Wagenen, Hubert Van Wagenen, James B. Van Woert, John V. Van Woert, John R. Van Wormer, John H. Van Wyck, Robert A. Van Wyck, William E. Van Wyck, Milton B. Van Zandt, John L. Varick, Commodore