The City of New York gave Lindbergh a dinner of some 4000 guests at the Hotel Commodore. It was there that Mr. Hughes spoke the following unique tribute:
“When a young man, slim and silent, can hop overnight to Paris and then in the morning telephone his greetings to his mother in Detroit; when millions throughout the length and breadth of this land and over sea through the mysterious waves, which have been taught to obey our command, can listen to the voice of the President of the United States according honors for that achievement, honors which are but a faint reflection of the affection and esteem cherished in the hearts of the countryman of the West who distinguished America by that flight, then indeed is the day that hath no bother; then is the most marvelous day that this old earth has ever known.
“We measure heroes as we do ships by their displacement. Colonel Lindbergh has displaced everything. His displacement is beyond all calculation. He fills all our thought; he has displaced politics, Governor Smith.
“For the time being, he has lifted us into the freer and upper air that is his home. He has displaced everything that is petty; that is sordid; that is vulgar. What is money in the presence of Charles A. Lindbergh?
“What is the pleasure of the idler in the presence of this supreme victor of intelligence and industry? He has driven the sensation mongers out of the temples of our thought. He has kindled anew the fires on the eight ancient altars of that temple. Where are the stories of crime, of divorce, of the triangles that are never equalateral? For the moment we have forgotten. This is the happiest day, the happiest day of all days for America, and as one mind she is now intent upon the noblest and the best. America is picturing to herself youth with the highest aims, with courage unsurpassed; science victorious. Last and not least, motherhood, with her loveliest crown.
“We may have brought peoples together. This flight may have been the messenger of good-will, but good-will for its beneficent effects depends upon the character of those who cherish it.
“We are all better men and women because of this exhibition in this flight of our young friend. Our boys and girls have before them a stirring, inspiring vision of real manhood. What a wonderful thing it is to live in a time when science and character join hands to lift up humanity with a vision of its own dignity.
“There is again revealed to us, with a startling suddenness, the inexhaustible resources of our national wealth. From an unspoiled home, with its traditions of industry, of frugality and honor, steps swiftly into our gaze this young man, showing us the unmeasured treasures in our minds of American character.
“America is fortunate in her heroes; her soul feeds upon their deeds; her imagination revels in their achievements. There are those who would rob them of something of their lustre, but no one can debunk Lindbergh, for there is no bunk about him. He represents to us, fellow-Americans, all that we wish—a young American at his best.”
Only by reducing this record to catalog form could it possibly be made to include a fully detailed description of Lindbergh’s four amazing days in New York. Every night there was a banquet. Every day there was a festive lunch. Not hundreds, but thousands attended these entertainments; and at the speaker’s table there always sat distinguished men whose names were household words among Americans.