[Speech of Seth Low at the 112th annual banquet of the Chamber of
Commerce of the State of New York, May 11, 1880. George W. Lane, the
second vice-President of the Chamber, presided, and called upon Mr.
Low to respond to the tenth regular toast: "The Chamber of Commerce of
the State of New York--its Past, Present, and Future."]
MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:--If the
historian wished to convey to your minds some idea of the antiquity of
this Chamber, he would scarcely do it, I think, by saying it was founded
in 1768. So few besides the reporters would personally recollect those
times. He would rather tell you that it dates back to an epoch when each
absentee from the annual dinner was fined five shillings sterling for
the offence. Think of that! How eloquently it seems to tell us that
there was no Delmonico in those days. I can understand how a people that
punished such a slight to commerce in such a way, would rebel at stamp
acts and other burdens of the sort. The Revolution itself seems to get a
new interpretation from this early custom of the Chamber. [Laughter.]
But, perhaps, a better way of making vivid to this generation the age of
this body, would be to say that it dates back to a time when New York
actually had a foreign commerce of its own, carried on chiefly under the
American flag. It sounds like a fairy tale to one who counts the ensigns
in our harbor now, to be told that tradition speaks of a day when the
Stars and Stripes floated over a larger fleet of common carriers on the
highways of the world--at least, so far as American business was
concerned--than even that omnipresent banner of St. George. Strange, is
it not, that a nation which surpasses all others in its use of machinery
on the land, should have been content to yield up the sea, almost
without a struggle, to the steamships of the older world? Events over
which we have had no control have had much to do with it, I know; but is
a single misused subsidy to keep us off the sea forever, or so long as
the dominion of the steamship lasts? Are we to wait until England can
build our steamers for us, and hear her say, as we run up the Stars and
Stripes to the mast-head of the ship which she has built: "See, Brother
Jonathan, how cheap these subsidies which I have given all these years
enable me now to build for you!" It may be we must wait for this, but
let us hope for a happier consummation. Nevertheless, Mr. Chairman, this
Chamber does date back to the time when we had a commerce of our own.
[Applause.]
In glancing over our old records, it is interesting to see what a
perennial source of discussion in this body have been the pilots of the
port. They have been mentioned, I think, even the past year. The first
formal reference to the pilots appears in 1791, and the minutes ever
since teem with memorials, protests, bills, measures, conferences and
the like.
A story is told of a Chinese pilot, who boarded the vessel of a captain
who had never been on the China coast before, and who asked the captain
one hundred dollars for his fee. The captain demurred, and the
discussion waxed warm, until the white head of an old China merchant
appeared in the companion-way, and caught the pilot's eye, when he cut
the dispute short by crying out: "Hi-ya! G'long olo Foxee! ten dollar
can do!" [Laughter and applause.]
I apprehend there is much wisdom in this appeal. In the olden days, the
complaint against our pilotage system was not only that it was costly,
but that it was inefficient; and so even more costly in the losses of
vessels and cargoes than in fees. But, after half a century of contest,
the present system was reached in 1853, and it is, beyond dispute,
acknowledged by underwriters and by merchants that, as a system, it has
worked well--uncommonly well. If, therefore, the present dispute between
the merchants and the pilots be, as I understand that it is, in all its
vital points a dispute as to fees, I recommend to the merchants and to
the pilots the Chinese method of adjustment--by compromise. Do not let
us expose to the hazard of legislative interference a system which is
not likely to be bettered, and which gives us certainly efficient
pilotage, because we cannot all at once get by compromise a reduction in
our favor quite equal to what we think our due. [Applause.]
But what can I say, Mr. Chairman, of the Chamber of to-day? The subject
is full, very full, of interest and of other good things. "May good
digestion wait on appetite, and health on both." It is curious to see,
all along the history of the Chamber, how coming events have cast their
shadows before. In 1837 the Chamber petitioned Congress to improve the
navigation at Hell Gate; in 1846 they approved a report suggesting as
feasible a railroad across the continent to the Pacific; and in 1852
they asked Congress to remove the mint from Philadelphia, intimating
pretty plainly that Philadelphia was too insignificant a place to enjoy
so great a luxury. The first two achievements have been accomplished.
The mint is almost due in Wall Street. Let Philadelphia hear and
tremble. [Applause.]
When I think, Mr. Chairman, of the influence the Chamber wields, and of
the influence it ought to wield, it seems to me one thing of all others
should be avoided. The Chamber ought never to be put upon record in an
important matter until full discussion upon fair notice has preceded
action, whenever this is possible. Sometimes I have thought the action
of the Chamber was somewhat the result of chance, even with reference to
questions of great importance. If the Chamber is to continue free, as in
the main it has been free, from being used for personal ends, and at the
same time is to exert an influence at all commensurate with its power as
a representative of commercial New York, the action of the Chamber ought
to be the result of intelligent discussion. I would only suggest one
definite thing. Why might not the notice of each monthly meeting state
the items of unfinished business that may come up, and also give notice,
so far as possible, of the matters to be submitted by the Executive
Committee? The attendance at our meetings would be better, I am sure, if
men knew when matters of interest to them were to be discussed.
Glancing towards our future, I seem to see the day when Judge Fancher
shall sit in a telephone exchange and receive his testimony in ghastly
whispers from unseen mouths when the president of the Chamber shall
take the ayes and nays of a meeting whose component parts are sitting in
a thousand counting rooms in this city. But I never can seem to see the
day when the annual dinner can be conducted by the members except
face-to-face. At all events, we can wait till Edison perfects the
electric light, before asking him to make a dinner available with
Delmonico fifteen miles away. [Laughter and cheers.]
In 1861 the Pacific Mail Steamship Line was petitioned for, or, at
least, a mail line on the Pacific, between the United States and the
Orient world, and that, while the nation was engaged in a mighty
struggle for its life. The Pacific Mail Line to the East, the Pacific
Railroad across the continent, the superb government buildings at
Washington,--all constructed, in whole or in part, while the nation
seemed to be strained to its utmost by the demands of a civil
war,--these things are to me among the mightiest evidences of the faith
of the men of those days who, while the present seemed to be surcharged
with duties and burdens for their hands, still laid hold upon the future
with such powerful grasp. Are we, of the Chamber of Commerce, worthy of
the blessings that have come down to us out of the glorious past? If we
wish to be, we must live partly for the future as did they.
We need a building of our own, commodious, and in some way proportioned
to the great interests we represent. We need a fire-proof building for
the safe-keeping of our records. Once already in our history our seal
has been returned to us from an obscure shop in London. Our Charter was
rescued from an old trunk in the Walton house on Pearl Street, and our
historic paintings were only discovered after long loss, as the result
of the fire of 1835. The Chamber of Commerce is standing now at the door
of Congress, and asks them to sell at public auction the site of the old
Post Office, for not less than three hundred thousand dollars and to pay
to the Chamber from the proceeds of the sale the sum of fifty thousand
dollars, originally subscribed, in the main, by members of the Chamber
when that site was purchased from the General Government a few years
ago. It is the purpose of the Chamber to buy this plot, and to build
there a building worthy of itself and of this great city. [Applause.]
But so far we ask in vain.
The House Committee of Ways and Means has reported our bill favorably,
but Congress does nothing. The Chamber wants this plot, not so much
because of the fifty thousand dollars it has of _quasi_ interest in it,
but because of its eligibility. The Chamber believes it deserves well of
this community and of the nation, and, so believing, it asks of Congress
the passage of this bill.
I look back over the past twenty years, and I find the Chamber of
Commerce has been always alive to encourage gallantry, to reward
conspicuous service, and to relieve distress. Eighteen hundred thousand
dollars--almost two millions of dollars--has been given by this Chamber
in these twenty years. The money has not all come from members of the
Chamber, but the Chamber has always been recognized as the fitting
leader and minister in this city in deeds of public spirit. [Cheers.]
In 1858 it celebrated the completion of the first Atlantic cable, by
giving medals of gold, with generous impartiality, to the officers of
the British ship "Agamemnon" and the American ship "Niagara" alike. And
in 1866 it feasted the distinguished and persevering American citizen
whose pluck and courage, with reference to this cable, no disaster and
no faint-heartedness anywhere could dismay.
In 1861, in token of gratitude and of patriotic admiration, the Chamber
placed a medal of bronze upon the breast of every officer and private
who sustained the national honor in the defense of Fort Sumter and Fort
Pickens.
In 1862 it sprang to the relief of famished Lancashire; in 1865 our own
sufferers in East Tennessee and in Savannah partook of its bounty; and
in 1871 the bread cast upon the waters by Rochambeau and Lafayette, a
hundred years before, returned through the ministry of the Chamber in an
abundant harvest to the war-stricken plains of unhappy France.
In 1865 the Chamber honored itself by giving testimonials to the
officers and crew of the "Kearsarge."
In 1866 it presented to the widow of a Southern officer in the United
States Navy several historic swords, sending with them a purse, "in
recognition of the valuable services rendered to our country by the
father and son, and as a token that gratitude for fidelity to the flag
of the Union is an abiding sentiment with the citizens of New York,
descending from generation to generation."
The cities of Troy, Portland, Richmond, Chicago, three of them when
swept by fire, and Richmond when cast into gloom by the fall of the
State Capitol, all in turn have realized, through the prompt action of
the Chamber, the large brotherliness of commercial New York.
And, finally, in 1876, at Savannah, and in 1878, through the whole
southwestern district of the country, and again in 1879 at Memphis, the
contributions made through the Chamber of Commerce gave substantial
relief to the distressed victims of yellow fever. Thus has the Chamber
contributed to promote a union of hearts throughout the broad expanse of
this great Union of States. Thus has the Chamber done what it could to
show that the spirit of commerce is a large and a liberal spirit, too
large to be bounded by the lines that divide nations. Thus has the
Chamber shown itself not unworthy of the Empire State of the New World.
May the future of the Chamber be in every respect worthy of the past.
[Loud applause,]