thing, how to run every part of his road, if he has not the sand to stand up and bear all that, he would better sell out what street-railroad stock he may have, and go into some other business. I suppose there are some lines of business where a man will really be suffered to manage his own affairs, and where it will be generally admitted that experience and diligent study of his profession or business would somewhat tend to qualify him for success in it; but it does seem to be, according to my observation, the peculiarity of the business of street-railroading, that everybody else knows all about it; and as a rule are ready to condemn the man who is so unlucky as to have the management of it. He is all the time in hot water, whatever he may do, whatever he may say. The more business, the more cars he has, the more trouble he has. If he wants to buy a horse-why! is there any end to the troubles that a man will have who buys horses? I should think not. Why there are places where people make it a business to buy and sell horses, and they think they have enough to do without anything else. But in street-railroading, the buying and selling of horses is only one of your duties; and what kind of horses do you get, and what price do you pay for them? You pay the top of the market, because you represent a rich corporation; and you get the poorest horses, because you are a mean corporation. Now about cars-it will not do to say too much about cars, because there are some of those fellows here who make cars, you know. But they all have excellent cars; you cannot fail to buy them, if you believe all that is told you in advance; but how many misfortunes happen to your cars after you buy them. And look at the track. Everybody knows

all about a street-railroad track-except the men whose duty it is to lay it; but how many troubles do we have with our track after it is laid; how many troubles do we have with our drivers; how many troubles do we have with our conductors? Why, you street-railroad men seem to be in a state of perpetual war with your employees. Your track is nice, your horses are well, and everything is going along as nicely as can be, when all at once some fellow who calls himself a Knight of Labor, or something like that, comes into the barn and persuades the men that this soulless monoply has been abusing them and taking advantage of their condition and is paying them scanty wages, and that they should have more wages and less work. It takes but a short time to make the men believe all that. It is some pure, sweet-tempered and heroic man, like our President, who made such a happy speech to-night; that is able to get along with his employees without any trouble, but many of us know that our men are ready to believe the worst things of the road. Our kind Chairman strives to make them feel that the corporations are not their mortal enemies, which they are taught to believe in these local assemblies, as they are called; and which instruct the men in the doctrine that the street-railway corporations have done so well for them only because of the united efforts of the employees, who have overthrown the innate rascality of the employers.

Well, how about your passengers? You carry them two, three, four, five, six miles, and sometimes more, for five cents, further than they ever rode in their lives in any other manner for that money; and sometimes you are in a place where you have to sell them tickets for less than that. What is the consequence? If you are a little green in the street-railway business, you

think that these passengers must be really fond of you, for the way in which you carry them to their business and back to their homes. Why, it would cost Mr. Jones there a dollar and a half a day to get down and back, and it would cost somebody else three dollars a day to get out his coach and horses, and you are carrying him both ways for ten cents. You feel as though you were on friendly terms with all your passengers and that they were really indebted to you. It is needless to say that your passengers feel very differently about it. They feel that they are passing their mornings and nights for your benefit in riding in your cars, and that all their leisure time is occupied in this way; they think that the management should introduce numberless improvements for their comfort; they grumble because there is not a seat for everyone at all times of the day; one says the car goes too fast and another howls because it goes too slow. They have an ingenuity, if I may so call it, for fault-finding that is almost infinite. They have an ingenuity that ought to qualify them for making the greatest development in electrical motion. You cannot satisfy them, except for a very short time. If you give them new cars and a good road they would expect chromos ; if they got a chromo they would want a carriage and two horses to go to their doors, As a matter of course you are not on good terms with the newspapers, to a greater or less extent. There are always a lot of reporters around, generally a lot of young fellows, and they put all kinds of squibs in the papers and tell all sorts of stories about these street-railroads; and it often happens there is not a word of truth in the stories, and this is all the better, because next day they have an item contradicting it, provided you write to them. If you don't contradict it, they don't. A man needs sand if he is going to carry on the street-railway business, if it is only to enable him to meet in a braver manner our neighbors the supply-men. What kind of a chance does a sympathetic, amiable-tempered man have with a lot of supply-men that get at him. Suppose they want to sell cars, or spikes or anything else, they will take the very hair off your head, of which I see quite an elderly instance near me. It was never so with any of us until we got into the street-railway business; our hair has all gone since we got into it. [Laughter.] How can we tell which of these articles is the best; which are the best horse shoes, the best cars, the best rails; how can we tell all these things? Why, just think what a state of doubt and indecision a man must be in who undertakes to decide all these things, and how unlucky many purchasers are, and how dearly they have to pay for their experience. We used to have the satisfaction of thinking that if we were in a corporation we would in time become rich people; because we were told that corporations were greedy and heartless, and became enormously rich and depraved. Now we do not have that pleasure. A corporation now does not stand any more chance than an individual. If you want to get rich, you have now got to get into a syndicate. The money getter must be in a syndicate, or he must be in a "trust." Street-railways have never got beyond corporations; we have no syndicates; we are only corporations. The old prejudices still remain ; but the old happiness is gone. Yes, all the old prejudices remain ; and with juries street-railroad corporations seem to be the object of special vindictiveness. It does not make any difference how free your driver is from

blame, how free your men are from blame, let a man, woman or child be injured within twenty-five feet of your track, and you may just as well send the superintendent around to settle, because you will have to pay if you do not. There is no peace for a street-railroad man that I am aware of, except one. I want to say that within the last few years there has been a little peace now and then; there has been a sort of vacation, a little comfort in this life of a street-railroad man, and that is when a man joins the Association of street-railroad men and regularly attends all the meeeings and comes to the banquet. That is the only oasis in his desert of life. This is his elysium. But it does seem to me as we go on, as if a little more happiness has been imported into this short hour, now that they have brought to us not merely the presidents and managers and superintendents, but their wives, sisters and daughters. It is a pleasure, I must say, that in my own street-railway experience I never anticipated. I am sorry, Mr. President, I did not have the pleasure of standing up here earlier, when the others were here, those ladies who have gone. I am only glad that those who remain are among the nicest and prettiest; and so, Mr. President, these are the reasons why sand should be used upon the tracks. [Applause.]

CLOSING REMARKS OF THE RETIRING PRESIDENT.. THE PRESIDENT: In bringing this happy occasion to a close, the Chair desires to tender to the people of Washington our sincere thanks as an Association for all the enjoyment we have had; for all that they have done, and are doing and will do to make our stay pleasant and enjoyable. It has been a most happy occasion for us. We thank you, friends, for all that you have done; and now let us rise and sing Auld Lang Syne.

All joined in singing the familiar song, as requested,

PRESENTATION OF FLORAL HORSE CAR TO THE
RETIRING PRESIDENT.

MR. WINFIELD SMITH: Mr. President, I am requested to present to you this beautiful floral horse car as a memento of this most enjoyable occasion, to which you have contributed so largely. It gives me great pleasure to do this.

THE PRESIDENT: Ladies and Gentlemen- I desire to return my sincere thanks to the gentleman who has given me this beautiful gift. For the first time in my life I find myself the owner of a fully equipped street-railway car, track, horses, the whole institution; and it is by far the handsomest one that was ever built. I wish you could all take a ride in it with me. [Laughter.] Good night.

EXCURSION AND LUNCH.

The Street-Railway Presidents of Washington invited all who were in attendance upon the Convention with their ladies to enjoy an excursion to Mount Vernon on Friday.

The steamboat, W. W. Corcoran, was chartered for the occasion, and, with the Marine Band on board, left the wharf about ten o'clock. The weather was charming, and after a delightful sail of an hour and a half, were landed at Mount Vernon, the birthplace and tomb of Washington.

At this hallowed place an hour or more was spent in the inspection of all that was abounding in interest to every American citizen.

The party then sailed across the river to Marshall Hall, where a bounteous lunch was awaiting the entire party. Gentlemen accompanied with ladies were seated in an open air pavilion, while those unaccompanied were seated at adjoining tables under the neighboring trees. A bounteous repast was spread, of which all partook with zest, the invigorating sail and the effort of sightseeing having given everbody keen appetites.

REMARKS OF PRESIDENT CHARLES B. HOLMES.

At the close of the repast, the retiring President, Mr. Charles B. Holmes, spoke as follows:

MR. HOLMES: Ladies and Gentlemen-There are times in the lives of all men and all women, when words seem very cheap, poor and inexpressive things. It may be that in the far future, and in the higher development of our race, we shall find a language which will express the sentiment of the heart. But I know this, that there is not a delegate of this Association, or any friend who has come with him, who will feel that when we say, "thank you" to the friends who have done so much to make our stay pleasant and enjoyable, that we have begun to express the sentiments of our hearts. [Applause.] In all our travels, East and West, we have never met friends, great-hearted, cordial friends, who strove more earnestly to make every hour of our stay with them full of good-fellowship and pleasure. We are grateful. We only wish that we had a language which would express our gratitude; but we cannot say more to you, friends, than that we shall always remember, with grateful hearts, all that you have done for us. When you come and see us, we will try to express our gratitude in the same grand and cordial way in which you have shown us your good will. [Applause.]

And here I presume I ought to stop; for having passed, as we all have to-day, through such sacred surroundings, words are still more inadequate to express the sentiments of the heart. The flood-gates of sentiment have been opened and our hearts have been filled full. To many of us, it was the first opportunity we have had of visiting that sacred place, where are enshrined the ashes of him who was the Father of his Country; we shall never forget that sacred place; we shall never forget this blessed day. We are grateful to our friends who have given us this rare opportunity, one that will ever remain enshrined in our hearts and in our memories as one of the most grateful opportunities of our lives. Friends we thank you for it; for this grand opportunity, that we may be enabled to realize more and more, than we have ever done before, the greatness of that great man. [Applause.]

As we came along the river, and our gallant boat made its way through those beautiful waters, sparkling in the sunlight of this glorious day, we noticed that the boat had only passed, when the waters were smoothed over, and no mortal would ever know that any keel had ever parted the smooth surface. And so it is with human existence; millions and millions of us commoner beings pass along the stream of life, and leave no mark to show that our lives were ever lived. But that great man whose tomb we have visited to-day has left behind him a pathway that grows brighter and grander as the years go on, and the centuries to come will revere his name more highly than do we. [Applause.] Thus his name among the nations of the earth will stand higher than any words of any language can express. To everyone who loves Republican institutions, I am sure it is pleasing to mark the plain simplicity of that spot. There are places in our world where palaces have been reared; and every palace meant a million hovels for the poor; every palace meant that multitudes without end must go without the comforts of life; but that man had no such palace as that. His life was dedicated and devoted to the love of his fellow-man, to make the world better for his having lived in it. And his memory is enshrined in our hearts, and will be in all hearts so long as the sun shall shine, because he lived an unselfish and noble life, because he lived an active, courageous life that was devoted to humanity and the service of his country and his God. [Applause.] I thank you for your kind attention; and I would request all those who feel in their hearts a sense of gratitude to our friends who have done so much for us, to express it by rising.

Everybody arose; and someone proposed three cheers for our Washington friends, which were given heartily, with a "tiger." The entire party for the balance of the afternoon gave themselves up to speech-making and dancing, all being determined upon enjoying themselves to the utmost.

It was the unanimous vote of all that the day's enjoyment had been a great success, the recollection of which would be ever fresh and green in the memory of all who had had the rare privilege of participating therein