“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. [Illustration: 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.