“But, proud as we must all feel of Irish services to the Republic ‘on the decks of fame’ and on many a stricken field, is it not rather our duty as an organization to shed the light of history upon Irish services in the council chamber and the law court, in science and scholarship, and the fine arts? In the retrospect of the year that is gone, what Irish-descended American can fail to thrill with pride at the spectacle of that distinguished and at the same time enthusiastic assembly which paid honor to the memory of Augustus St. Gaudens, a native of Dublin, and the foremost American sculptor of our own day?
“And in this retrospect we have to include at least one example of the type of Irish descendant which rises to eminence in the peaceful professions in our late-lamented and highly-respected President-General, Thomas J. Gargan, whose obsequies in Boston last fall were the occasion of so impressive a manifestation of civic gratitude and esteem. Surely his life was in itself a powerful effort to ‘place the Irish element in its true light in American history.’ Eminent in the legal profession in a community where the standards of that profession are especially high, he also gave to the state of Massachusetts as a trusted official such services as were duly acknowledged by the presence in his funeral cortege of the Mayor of Boston, the present and past Governors of Massachusetts, and an immense multitude of citizens. And if this great lawyer’s career brilliantly illustrated the truth that the Irish race excel in other things besides fighting I must not pass over in silence that other departed fellow-member, Major John Crane of New York, a man whose career was illustrious both in war and in peace, a citizen who first turned his back upon commercial success in order to take up arms for what he considered the cause of the Republic, and then, when he had won glory for himself in four years of active military service, returned to the peaceful pursuits of commerce to achieve a place among the leading merchants of New York, and at last to dispense his honorably-acquired wealth and to apply his talents and his time in the charitable relief of poverty and suffering.
“I have purposely left to the end of this retrospect my sincere tribute to the memory of that man whose death, coming in the interval since our last annual meeting, has been a peculiar loss to us as a body. In addressing you two years ago, my distinguished predecessor, Admiral McGowan, said, referring to our then Secretary, Thomas Hamilton Murray: ‘A competent secretary is a priceless possession for any society, and we have been especially fortunate in this respect.’ The distinguished Admiral was speaking in the presence of Mr. Murray when he uttered those words. What may we not add now that death has removed the restraints imposed in such circumstances by modesty and good taste. Thomas Hamilton Murray was indeed a man to whom the American Irish will forever owe a debt of gratitude for his work along that line which we, as a society, have especially taken for our own. He was a journalist by profession, an ornament, I may say, to American journalism, as so many good American Irish have been; and before this Society had come into existence he had already anticipated its aims, by rendering out of his own initiative and his own exertions no insignificant service toward placing the Irish element in its true light in American history. From its very inauguration our Society was aware that no other man in all the length and breadth of this country could have held his position with so much advantage to the cause which we have at heart. To say nothing of that which many of us must feel in the removal of a dear friend, the Society cannot but be conscious of the calamity it has sustained in the loss of this truly ‘priceless possession’ to whom our rapid success in the past has been so largely due.
MICHAEL J. JORDAN.
Of Boston, Mass.
Vice-President of the Society for Massachusetts.
“In the year that has passed our Society has singularly suffered from the loss of many of its ardent and enthusiastic workers. These pioneers of our organization have been summoned from our midst, but the heritage they have left is beyond measure or computation. Their memory will always be fragrant with the sweetness of their lives, and, whilst we chant their requiem, may they enjoy the hosannas that are sung for them in their happier abode.
“Coming now to the actual aspect of our life as an organization, we may congratulate ourselves, I rejoice to say, upon a thoroughly sound and vigorous condition. Most especially would I single out for mention the astonishing success of our new membership committee. That committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. John J. Linehan, was appointed in New York City, I need hardly remind you, scarcely two months ago, with the object of promoting the numerical increase of our membership, while of course taking due care that its quality should not fall below the standard which we had thus far maintained. So zealously and efficiently has the work of the committee been done, so just and cordial has been the appreciation of the Society’s aims, that within one month 125 new and good names were added to our roster, and the total increment, I believe, since the appointment of the committee, amounts at the present moment to something over 200. I am sure that we all heartily welcome these new recruits, and in voicing that welcome let me express the hope that every man of the new squad intends to do his utmost for the furtherance of our great aims.
“To do this, gentlemen, no mere machine action of the Society will be adequate. Our work is, remember, a work of enlightenment, therefore a work dealing with the intellect of our times and our country, and not to be accomplished without intellectual exertion. Now while societies, academies and universities have their immense value as a directive and unifying apparatus, the intellectual forces which operate under their control must of necessity be individual. To be effectual all effort must be controlled by system, but the most perfect system without an abundance of individual effort must be like an elaborately-constructed piece of artillery without a sufficient supply of ammunition.
“Our system has now been elaborated by the inauguration of the Recorder, to be published at stated periods and which will serve as a vehicle for such notices on topics of American Irish history as the zeal and enterprise of individual members may prompt. It is confidentially hoped that the supply of such material will be both abundant and rich in quality, and that our Recorder will become in itself a valuable magazine of information in those lines of research which are the Society’s special province.
“Let me even urge on members the advantage to our cause that would be attained if every one of us will make a point of forwarding to the Secretary-General, Judge Lee, who has assumed, in addition to the many exacting duties of his present office, that of editor of our Recorder, any newspaper clippings or other material concerning contemporary happenings relating to our work.