[ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI, OCTOBER 10.]
The first reception in the State of Missouri took place at St. Joseph at 6:30 the morning of October 10. Many thousands greeted the President at the Union Depot. Conspicuous in the assemblage were the veterans of Custer Post, G. A. R., who escorted the party to the neighboring hotel. The Committee of Reception consisted of Col. A. C. Dawes, Chairman; Mayor Wm. Shepard, Hon. John L. Bittinger, Capt Chas. F. Ernst, Capt. F. M. Posegate, Col. N. P. Ogden, August Nunning, Wm. M. Wyeth, Major T. J. Chew, Hon. Geo. J. Englehart, Hon. O. M. Spencer, Dr. J. D. Smith, James McCord, ex-Gov. Silas Woodson, John M. Frazier, Frank M. Atkinson, Rev. H. L. Foote, and Major Joseph Hansen.
Colonel Dawes made a brief welcoming address and presented the President, who spoke as follows:
My Fellow-citizens—If you are glad to see me at this hour in the morning, if you are so kind and demonstrative before breakfast, how great would have been your welcome if I had come a little later in the day? [Applause.]
I beg to thank you, who at an inconvenient and early hour, have turned out to speak these words of welcome to us as we pass through your beautiful city. Many years ago I read of St. Joseph. I know something of its history, when, instead of being a large city, it was a place for outfitting those slow and toilsome trains that bore the early pioneers toward California and the far West. Those days are not to be forgotten. Those means of communication were slow, but they bore men and women, full of courage and patriotism, to do for us on the Pacific and in the great West the work of peaceful conquest that has added greatly to the glory and prosperity of our country. And yet we congratulate ourselves that the swifter means of communication have taken the place of the old; we congratulate ourselves that these conveniences, both of business and social life, have come to crown our day. And yet in the midst of them, enjoying the luxuries which modern civilization brings to our doors, let us not lose from our households those plain and sturdy virtues which are essential to true American citizenship; let us remember always that above all surroundings, above all that is external, there is to be prized those solid and essential virtues that make home happy and that make our country great, and that enable us in every time of trial and necessity to call out from among the people some who are fit to lead our armies or to meet every emergency in the history of the State. We are here as American citizens, not as partisans; we are here as comrades of the late war, or, if there are here those who under the other banner fought for what seemed to them to be right, we are here to say one and all that God knew what was best for this country when he cast the issue in favor of the Union and the Constitution. [Applause and cheers.]
Now, again united under its ample guarantee of personal liberty and public security, united again under one flag, we have started forward, if we are true to our obligations, upon a career of prosperity that would not otherwise have been possible. Let us therefore, in all kindliness and faithfulness, in devotion to the right, as God shall give us light to see it, go forward in the discharge of our duties, setting above everything else the flag and the Constitution on which all our rights and securities are based. Now, my comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic and fellow-citizens of Missouri, again I thank you and bid you good-by. [Cheers.]
[ATCHISON, KANSAS, OCTOBER 10.]
Entering Kansas the President was the recipient of a unique welcome at Atchison, where 1,000 school children and several thousand citizens greeted him. Little Edna Elizabeth Downs was the orator on behalf of the children, and delivered a beautiful address, at the conclusion of which the children showered the President with flowers.
The Mayor of Atchison, Hon. B. P. Waggener, and the following prominent citizens welcomed the Chief Executive: Hon. John J. Ingalls, Hon. Edward K. Blair, Hon. Clem Rohr, Hon. S. C. King, Hon. S. H. Kelsey, Hon. John C. Tomlinson, Hon. A. J. Harwi, Hon. Henry Elleston, Hon. S. R. Stevenson, Hon. C. W. Benning, Judge Rob't M. Eaton, ex-Gov. Geo. W. Glick, Hon. H. C. Solomon, Judge A. G. Otis, Judge David Martin, L. C. Challiss, E. W. Howe, David Auld, B. T. Davis, Chas. E. Faulkner, Major W. H. Haskell, Major S. R. Washer, Capt. J. K. Fisher, Capt. David Baker, Capt. John Seaton, Stanton Park, T. B. Gerow, and H. Claypark. Chief-Justice Albert H. Horton made the welcoming address and introduced President Harrison, who said: