Mr. Mayor, Fellow-citizens of Indiana, Ladies and Gentlemen—I very heartily appreciate this large gathering assembled to greet me. I very heartily appreciate the welcome which your kind and animated faces, as well as the spoken words of the chief officer of your city, have extended to me. I have known this pretty city for more than thirty years, and have watched its progress and growth. It has always been the home of some of my most cherished personal friends, and I am glad to know that your city is in an increasing degree prosperous, and your people contented and happy. I am glad to know that the local industries which have been established in your midst are to-day busy in producing their varied products, and that these find a ready market at remunerative prices. I was told as we approached your city that there was not an idle wheel in Terre Haute. It is very pleasant to know that this prosperity is so generally shared by all our people. Hopefulness, and cheer, and courage tend to bring and maintain good times.
We differ widely in our views of public politics, but I trust every one of us is devoted to the flag which represents the unity and power of our country and to the best interests of the people, as we are given to see and understand those interests. [Applause.] We are in the enjoyment of the most perfect system of government that has ever been devised for the use of men. We are under fewer restraints; the individual faculties and liberties have wider range here than in any other land. Here a sky of hope is arched over the head of every ambitious, industrious, and aspiring young man. There are no social conditions; there are no unneeded legal restrictions. Let us continue to cherish these institutions and to maintain them in their best development. Let us see that as far as our influence can bring it to pass they are conducted for the general good. [Applause.]
It gives me pleasure to bring into your city to-day one who is the successor as the head of the Navy Department of that distinguished citizen of Indiana who is especially revered and loved by all the people of Terre Haute, but is also embraced in the wider love of all the citizens of Indiana—Col. Richard W. Thompson. Let me present to you Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy, of New York, the Secretary of the Navy. [Cheers.]
[DANVILLE, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 7.]
Danville was reached at 6 P.M. The roar of cannon sounded a hearty welcome to the Prairie State. Fully 10,000 people were assembled around the pavilion erected near the station. Among the prominent residents who received the President on the part of the citizens were: Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, Mayor W. R. Lawrence, Justice J. W. Wilkin, of the Supreme Court of Illinois, Col. Samuel Stansbury, H. P. Blackburn, W. R. Jewell, M. J. Barger, W. C. Tuttle, Henry Brand, and Capt. J. G. Hull.
Congressman Cannon introduced the President, who said:
My Fellow-citizens—I regret that the time of our arrival and the brief time we can give you should make it so inconvenient for you who have assembled here to greet us. Yet, though the darkness shuts out your faces, I cannot omit to acknowledge with the most heartfelt gratitude the enthusiastic greeting of this large assembly of my fellow-citizens. It is quite worth while, I think, for those who are charged with great public affairs now and then to turn aside from the routine of official duties to look into the faces of the people. [Applause.] It is well enough that all public officers should be reminded that under our republican institutions the repository of all power, the originator of all policy, is the people of the United States. [Great applause.] I have had the pleasure of visiting this rich and prosperous section of your great State before, and am glad to notice that, if the last year has not yielded an average return to your farms, already the promise of the coming year is seen in your well-tilled fields. Let me thank you again and bid you good-night. [Great applause.]