| OCR Text |
Show I FAIR BANKS PRAISES - FORMED PRESIDEWT 0FTHEU.S. I Salt Lake, Jan. 30. Four hundred members of the Bonneville club were hosts last night to Charles W. Fairbanks, Fair-banks, former vice president of the United States, at an elaborate dinner at the Hotel Utah, In observance of the birth of William McKinley. MY. Fairbanks paid to the memory of the martyred president the tender tribute of a devoted friend. Eloquently Elo-quently Mr. Fairbanks extolled the .character of McKinley, recounted the achievements of the president in his M life of service to hip country, and with wavering voice and hushed tones told of the assassination and the last moments mo-ments in the life of the beloved leader, 1 FYom the life and character of Mc- 'I Ivinley, Mr. Fairbanks drew a lesson d for the warring nations of Europe, t Were the rulers of these European nations possessed of the beautiful, j, peaceloving character of William Mc- j Kin ley. declared Mr. Fairbanks, we t would not be now witnessing the ter rible spectacle of blood and ruin be-. be-. ing enacted in the old world. Deprecates Militarism. The Bpeaker warned the citizens of the United States to resist to the utmost any efforts that might be made to transplant to America the spirit of militarism that was now causing such havoc in Europe "It will be a sad day for this republic." said Mr. Fairbanks "if there Is ever a president of the United States who loves war more than peace " In the opinion of Mr. Fairbanks, the credit for the construction of the Isthmian canal belongs to President McKinley, The Spanish war, the I speaker said, and the trip of the Oregon around the horn brought forcibly for-cibly to the attention of Mr. McKinley McKin-ley the value of an Isthmian cana! both for national defense and for in temational commerce. He said that the president then conceived the plan of an investigation by a commission of the feasibility of a canal connecting connect-ing the oceans and at his request congress voted $1,000,000 for the expense ex-pense of such a commission, which was named by President McKinley Shortly after the death of Mr. McKinley Mc-Kinley the commission reported and largely on the findings of this com mission the canal was buUt. Played Important Part. In the literature issued advertisln g the Panama-Pacific exposition at San Francisco. Mr. Fairbanks said no mmtion was made of the part Mr McKinley playod In the construction of tho canal. He said that it was Mr. McKinley who initiated the movement move-ment to construct the canal, and so long a6 gratitude lived In tho republic repub-lic he did not believe that the citizens citi-zens were going to permit an assassin to rob Mr McKinley of his full share of credit for tho great enterprise. By a peculiar coincidence the picture pic-ture of McKinley appearing on tho menu cards at the banquet last evening eve-ning was a copy of the last picture ever taken of Mr. McKinley, a picture pic-ture taken of him only a few moments mo-ments prior to his death. The committee com-mittee selected the picture because of the excellent likeness, but was not avare that it was a snapshot taken by a young woman as Mr. McKinley was making his address at Buffalo, which proved to be his farewell address ad-dress to the American people. Mr Fairbanks called attention to the coincidence co-incidence and said also that this picture pic-ture was the model of the statue of McKinley at Canton, Ohio Mr. Fairbanks arrived In Salt Lake yesterday from California where ne has been spending tho winter. The citizens of Canton, Ohio, the home and the burial place of President McKinley, McKin-ley, had urged Mr Fairbanks to come to Canton to deliver the McKinley an niversao address, but Mr Fairbanks decided to accept the invitation of the Bonneville club. Attendance Breaks Record. The attendance at tho Bonneille club dinner last evening was the largest lar-gest of any of the series of dinners given bv the club The large dining room of the Hotel Utah was tastefully decorated for the occasion The carnation car-nation the McKinley day flower-was flower-was everywhere. Great clusters were at each table and at each plate was x carnation boutonniere. The dinner was superb and the service ser-vice perfect During the dinner a quartet, sang several charming selections selec-tions and Horace S Ensign sang a beautiful solo. The Hotel Utah orchestra or-chestra plajed while the dinner was i being served. In addition to the members of the , Bonneville club there were a number num-ber of guests from out of the city and several members of the state legislature attended the dinner. |
