When the President arose to respond he was greeted with a storm of applause. His address was punctured throughout with cheers. He said:
Mr. President and Gentlemen of these Assembled Societies—I have been subjected during my stay in California in some respects to the same treatment the policeman accords to the tramp—I have been kept moving on. You have substituted flowers and kindness for the policeman's baton. And yet, notwithstanding all this, we come to you this morning not exhausted or used up, but a little fatigued. Your cordial greetings are more exhilarating than your wine, and perhaps safer for the constitution. [Laughter and applause.]
I am glad to stand in the presence of this assemblage of business men. I have tried to make this a business Administration. [Applause.] Of course we cannot wholly separate politics from a national Administration, but I have felt that every public officer owed his best service to the people, without distinction of party [cries of "Good! good!" and applause]; that in administering official trusts we were in a very strict sense, not merely in a figurative sense, your servants. It has been my desire that in every branch of the public service there should be improvement. I have stimulated all the Secretaries and have received stimulus from them in the endeavor, in all the departments of the Government that touch your business life, to give you as perfect a service as possible. This we owe to you; but if I were pursuing party ends I should feel that I was by such methods establishing my party in the confidence of the people. [Applause.]
I feel that we have come to a point where American industries, American commerce, and American influence are to be revived and extended. The American sentiment and feeling was never more controlling than now; and I do not use that term in the narrow sense of native American, but to embrace all loyal citizens, whether native-born or adopted, who have the love of our flag in their hearts. [Great cheering.] I shall speak to-night, probably, at the banquet of business men, and will not enter into any lengthy discussion here. Indeed, I am so careful not to trespass upon any forbidden topic, that I may not in the smallest degree offend those who have forgotten party politics in extending this greeting to us, that I do not know how far I should talk upon these public questions. But since your Chairman has alluded to them, I can say I am in hearty sympathy with the suggestions he has made. I believe there are methods by which we shall put the American flag upon the sea again. [Applause.] In speaking the other day I used an illustration which will perhaps be apt in this company of merchants. You recall, all of you, certainly those of my age, the time when no merchant sent out travelling men. He expected the buyer to come to his store. Perhaps that was well enough; but certain enterprising men sought custom by putting travelling men with samples on the road. However the conservative merchant regarded that innovation, he had but one choice—to put travelling men on the road or go out of business. In this question of shipping we are in a similar condition. The great commercial governments of the world have stimulated their shipping interests by direct or indirect subsidies, while we have been saying: "No, we prefer the old way." We must advance or—I will not say go out of business, for we have already gone out. [Applause.] I thank you most cordially for your greeting, and bid you good-by. [Applause.]
[ADDRESS TO THE VETERANS, MAY 1.]
From the Chamber of Commerce the President and his party were escorted to the Mechanics' Pavilion by the Veteran Guard under Captain Knowlton, preceded and followed by Lincoln, Garfield, Cass, Meade, Liberty, and Geo. Sykes posts, G. A. R. Fully 10,000 children and citizens were assembled to witness the May Day festivities under the auspices of the G. A. R. posts. Escorted by Grand Marshal Saloman, the President advanced to the stage and was received by Hon. Henry C. Dibble, who presented him to the throng of veterans and children.
He spoke as follows:
Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic—It will not be possible in so large a hall for me to make myself heard, and yet I cannot refuse when appealed to to say a word of kindly greeting to those comrades who have found their homes on the Pacific coast. I have no doubt that all the loyal States of the Union are represented in this assembly, and it is pleasant to know that, after the strife and hardships of those years of battle, you have found among the flowers and fruits of the earth homes that are full of pleasantness and peace.
It was that these things might continue to be that you went to battle; it was that these homes might be preserved; it was that the flag and all that it symbolizes might be perpetuated, that you fought and many of our comrades died. All this land calls you blessed. The fruits of division and strife that would have been ours if secession had succeeded would have been full of bitterness. The end that was attained by your valor under the providence of God has brought peace and prosperity to all the States. [Applause.]