My Friends—This cordial welcome, under the infelicitous circumstances, is very gratifying to us as we enter the great State of Oregon. In the State of California we had sunshine, and it was perhaps to be expected that the favorable weather conditions should draw about our platform a large concourse of people, but you have evidenced your interest in the Government and the flag and your friendly interest in us by turning out on this inclement night to bid us welcome to your State. I thank you most sincerely, and wish for you and yours all good, and for your State a continued career of development and prosperity.
[MEDFORD, OREGON, MAY 4.]
The President's visit to Medford at 10 P.M. was acknowledged by a general illumination. The veterans of Chester A. Arthur Post, G. A. R., J. R. Erford, Commander, and J. H. Faris, Adjutant, were out en masse. Mayor G. W. Howard made a brief address and introduced the President, who said:
Comrades and Fellow-citizens—It gives me great pleasure to see you to-night, especially these old comrades, to whom I am glad to give a comrade's greeting. I would have you think of me as a comrade. I recall those army scenes which are fresh in your minds as well as mine, the scenes of privation, suffering, and battle, and I am glad to see that the old flag you took to the field and brought home in honor is still held in honor among you. It is a beautiful emblem of a great Government. We ought to teach our children to love it and to regard it as a sacred thing, a thing for which men have died and for which men will die. It symbolizes the government of the States under one Constitution, for while you are all Oregonians as I am an Indianian, and each has his pride in State institutions and all that properly pertains to our State Government, we have a larger and greater pride in the fact that we are citizens of a Nation, of a Union of States, having a common Constitution. [Cheers.]
It is this flag that represents us on the sea and in foreign countries, it is under this flag that our navies sail and our armies march. I thank you for this cordial greeting. I hope you have found in this State comfortable homes, and that in the years that remain to you God will follow you with those blessings which your courage and patriotism and sacrifices have so well merited. [Cheers.]
[ALBANY, OREGON, MAY 5.]
The presidential party arrived at the thriving city of Albany, in the Willamette Valley, at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 5th, and were received by 5,000 people. Mayor J. L. Cowan headed the Committee of Reception, consisting of J. W. Cusick, Judge L. Flinn, W. C. Tweedale, J. R. Whitney, L. E. Blain, M. Sternberg, G. F. Simpson, Dr. D. M. Jones, A. Hackleman, and Thomas Monteith. McPherson Post, G. A. R., J. F. Whiting, Commander, and Company F, O. N. G., Capt. Geo. E. Chamberlain, together with 200 students from the State Agricultural College at Corvallis, under Prof. J. D. Letcher, participated in the reception. Mayor Cowan delivered the address of welcome.
President Harrison, in response, said: