Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States

by Benjamin Harrison

[PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 23.]

It was 8 o'clock in the evening when the presidential train rolled into Pasadena, the home of Governor Markham. The President's reception was notable for its marked enthusiasm. The committee of escort that met the party at Riverside was: Hon. J. A. Buchanan, Mayor T. P. Lukens, ex-Gov. L. A. Sheldon, Col. G. G. Green, Geo. F. Foster, and P. M. Green. A great assemblage greeted the President's arrival, which was celebrated by booming cannon, ringing bells, and bonfires. The Committee of Reception, comprising the following leading citizens, welcomed the President and escorted him to the hotel: Gov. H. H. Markham, Chairman; J. H. Holmes, W. U. Masters, C. M. Simpson, Geo. F. Kernaghan, Col. J. R. Bowler, Delos Arnold, M. M. Parker, W. H. Wiley, W. E. Arthur, J. W. Wood, Dr. W. L. McAllister, C. D. Daggett, Judge H. W. Magee, James Clarke, A. B. Manahan, J. W. Scoville, J. E. Farnum, M. D. Painter, T. Banbury, W. W. Webster, Prof. T. S. C. Lowe, Rev. E. L. Conger, Rev. D. D. Hill, Rev. J. W. Phelps, Hon. A. G. Throop, F. J. Woodbury, G. B. Ocheltree, G. A. Greely, W. L. Wotkyns, C. S. Martin, A. R. Metcalfe, F. C. Bolt, E. R. Hull, Dr. Mohr, John McDonald, Judge A. McCoy, B. M. Wotkyns, A. K. McQuilling, S. Washburn, T. J. Rigg, T. Earley, C. S. Cristy, A. C. Armstrong, A. McNally, J. Brockway, J. E. Howard, J. S. Hodge, C. W. Buchanan, O. S. Picher, Dr. Thomas R. Hayes, M. Fish, J. R. Greer, Jr., A. K. Nash, C. H. Richardson, J. G. Rossiter, W. T. Vore, Rev. C. E. Harris, H. H. Rose, J. Banbury, A. Dodworth, Dr. Frary, Judge M. C. Hester, James H. Campbell, C. C. Brown, A. H. Conger, W. S. Wright, George Bremner, James McLachlan, J. S. Cox, C. T. Hopkins, O. E. Weed, J. H. Baker, L. Blankenhorn, W. S. Monroe, George F. Granger, W. S. Gilmore, Rev. L. P. Crawford, W. E. Channing, A. J. Painter, S. H. Doolittle, Dr. George Rodgers, E. E. Jones, W. D. McGilvray, Webster Wotkyns, Theodore Coleman, R. M. Furlong, J. W. Vandevoort, B. E. Ball, E. T. Howe, H. R. Hertel, Charles Foster, G. R. Thomas, A. F. Mills, Dr. W. B. Rowland, Dr. F. F. Rowland, Dr. Van Slyck, Rev. J. B. Stewart, D. R. McLean, C. M. Phillips, C. E. Tebbetts, William Heiss, H. W. Hines, H. E. Pratt, S. R. Lippincott, J. W. Hugus, W. P. Forsyth, O. Freeman, S. E. Locke, C. F. Holder, Capt. A. C. Drake, Prof. J. D. Yocum, J. H. Woodworth, General McBride, W. T. Clapp, E. H. Royce, Charles Legge, Calvin Hartwell, J. O. Lowe, T. C. Foster, T. L. Hoag, Dr. Ezra F. Carr, E. H. May, Dr. Mansfield, G. D. Patton, Prof. S. C. Clark, H. H. Visscher, F. R. Harris, Capt. A. L. Hamilton, J. S. Mills, H. B. Sherman, R. C. Slaughter, James Smith, S. C. Arnold, I. N. Sears, Chas. A. Smith, Wm. Menner, S. H. Yocum, D. W. Permar, John Permar, I. N. Wood, Emil Kayser, N. W. Bell, Rev. E. E. Scannell, Rev. H. T. Staats, W. R. Staats, F. L. Bushnell, H. C. Allen, Rev. A. W. Bunker, Rev. James Kelso, Judge J. P. Nelson, C. J. Morrison, M. Rosenbaum, E. S. Frost, F. B. Wetherby, W. J. McCaldin, A. J. Brown, Dr. Philbrook, Captain Rogers, Dr. S. P. Swearingen, Fred McNally, J. E. Doty, F. D. Stevens, O. Stewart Taylor, A. F. M. Strong, C. M. Parker, C. E. Langford, G. E. Meharry, Maj. C. M. Skillen, Judge B. F. Hoffman, Henry Washburn, Capt. A. Wakeley, W. S. Nosworthy, J. G. Shoup, Mrs. I. B. Winslow, Geo. W. Sheaff, Mrs. T. H. Kuhns, P. G. Wooster, A. McLean, F. L. Jones, Dr. A. H. Palmer, J. J. Allen, E. C. Webster, Arturo Bandini, Will Forbes, W. W. Mills, Mrs. Dr. Elliott, L. C. Winston, S. S. Vaught, I. N. Stevenson, John Habbick, Thomas Croft, Wm. J. Craig, M. A. De Forest, R. K. Janes, C. W. Mann, John Sedwick, Homer Morris, Perry Bonham, Prof. Kyle, R. W. Lacey, Dr. J. C. Michener, A. A. Choteau, A. O. Bristol, Dr. J. M. Radebaugh, J. F. Mullen, T. M. Livingston, G. W. Stimson, W. E. Cooley, W. S. Arnold, W. H. Housh, E. W. Longley, C. W. Hodson, J. D. Graham, M. E. Wood, F. S. Wallace, Prof. W. P. Hammond, C. S. Howard, Joseph Wallace, Robert Vandevoort, H. K. W. Bent, John Allen, George Goings, Jeans James Coleman, Aug. Mayer, Geo. Taylor, J. D. Requa, Rev. A. M. Merwin, W. B. Mosher, P. F. McGowan, G. A. Gibbs, F. K. Burnham, and C. E. Brooks.

The women's Reception Committee to receive Mrs. Harrison and the other ladies in the party consisted of: Mrs. L. A. Sheldon, Mrs. J. A. Buchanan, Mrs. J. W. Wood, Mrs. C. D. Daggett, Mrs. J. R. Bowler, Mrs. James Clarke, Miss Greenleaf, Mrs. W. E. Arthur, and Mrs. W. U. Masters.

It was 11 o'clock at night when the President and the gentlemen of his party attended an elegant banquet at the Hotel Green, over which the Hon. W. U. Masters presided. Mr. Buchanan proposed the President's health in words of welcome.

President Harrison, responding, said:

Gentlemen—I beg you to accept my thanks for this banquet spread in honor of this community of strangers who have dropped in upon you to-night. We come to you after dark. I am not, therefore, prepared to speak of Pasadena. When the sun shall have lightened your landscape again and our expectant eyes shall have rested upon its glories, I shall be able to give you my impressions of your city, which I am already prepared to believe is one of the gems in the crown of California. [Applause.]

Perhaps no other place in California has by name been more familiar to me than Pasadena, if you except your great commercial city of San Francisco. That comes from the fact that many of your early settlers were Indiana friends. I am glad to meet some of these friends here to-night. It is pleasant to renew these old acquaintances, to find that they have been received with esteem in this new community. I have found a line of Hoosiers all along these railroads we have been traversing.

Everywhere our train has stopped some Hoosier has lifted his hand to me, and often by dozens. As I said the other day, Ohio men identify themselves to me by reason of that State being my birthplace, but it is not a surprise to me to find an Ohio man anywhere. [Laughter.] Ohio people are especially apt to be found in the vicinity of a public office. [Laughter.] I suppose whatever good fortune has come to me in the way of political preferment must be traced to the fact that I am a Buckeye by birth. [Laughter.] And now I thank you most cordially again for your attention and kindness. California has been full of the most affectionate interest to us. I have never looked into the faces of a more happy and intelligent people than those I have seen on the Pacific coast. [Applause.]

You occupy the most important position in the sisterhood of States, stretching for these several hundred miles along the Pacific shore. You have fortunate birth, and your history has been a succession of fortunate surprises. You have wrought out here great achievements in converting these plains that seemed to be so unpromising to the eye into such gardens as cannot be seen anywhere else upon the continent. [Applause.]

And now, when I remind you that bedtime was 1 o'clock last night and the reveille sounded at 6 o'clock this morning on our car, I am sure you will permit me to say good-night. [Applause.]