After the review of the procession Governor Ferry, in the presence of many thousands, formally welcomed President Harrison to the State of Washington. The distinguished veteran General Sprague made the address on behalf of the citizens of Tacoma.
The President responded as follows:
My Fellow-citizens—I feel that it would be cruel to prolong this exposure which you are enduring in the inclement weather of the day. I visited your city and the region of Puget Sound six years ago. I found this country then enveloped in smoke, so that these grand mountain-tops, of which mention has been made in the address of welcome, were hidden from our view. I come again and the smoke is replaced by fog, and we are still, I suppose, to take the existence of these snow-clad peaks on faith. [Laughter and applause.] I don't know but there is a benevolent provision for your comfort in the fact that this magnificent scenery, this unmatched body of water are frequently hidden from the eye of the traveller. If every one who journeys hither could see it all everybody would want to live here, and there wouldn't be room. [Laughter and cheers.] I congratulate you, citizens of Tacoma, upon the magnificent, almost magical, transformation which has been wrought here in these six years since I first saw your city. It has been amazing: it is a tribute to the energy and the enterprise and courage of your people that will endure and increase and attract in a yet higher degree the attention of the whole country.
A harbor like this, so safe and commodious and deep, upon Puget Sound, should be made to bear a commerce that is but yet in its infancy. I would like to see the prows of some of these great steamship lines entering your ports and carrying the American flag at the masthead. [Cheers.] I believe we have come to the time in our development as a people when we must step forward with bold progress, or we will lose the advantage we have already attained. We have within ourselves the resources, and a market of which the world is envious. We have been content, in the years gone by, to allow other nations to do the carrying trade of the world. We have been content to see the markets of these American republics lying south of us mastered and controlled by European nations. I think the period of discontent with these things has now come to our people, and I believe the time is auspicious for the enlargement of our commerce with these friendly republics lying to the south of us. I believe the time is propitious for re-establishing upon the sea the American merchant marine, that shall do its share of the carrying trade of the world. [Applause.]
My friends, I desire to again express to you my regret that to give us this magnificent welcome, under circumstances so inauspicious, you have been exposed to so much wet. I especially regretted, as I passed those long lines of dear school children, that they should have been exposed in order to do us honor. I will not detain you longer. For your city, for this magnificent young State that we have received into the great sisterhood of the Union, of which you are a glorious part, we give our aspirations, our prayers, and our best endeavors. [Applause.]
On Steamer "City of Seattle," Puget Sound.
At 11:30 A.M. the President and his party left Tacoma, embarking on the steamer City of Seattle for the Queen City of the Northwest. There was a great outpouring at Tacoma to witness the departure, and the presidential convoy was escorted down the sound by all the steamers in the bay. As the President came aboard he was met by Mayor and Mrs. Harry White at the head of the following committee of prominent citizens of Seattle: Jacob Furth, John H. McGraw, A. W. Bash, Postmaster Griffith Davies, A. M. Brookes, A. A. Denny, L. S. J. Hunt, W. E. Bailey, F. J. Grant, President and Mrs. G. W. Hall, President and Mrs. R. W. Jones, Maj. J. R. Hayden, Mr. and Mrs. E. Brainerd, Mrs. George H. Heilbron, Mrs. J. C. Haines, Mrs. R. C. Washburn, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Holman, Mrs. E. L. Terry, Mrs. J. F. McNaught, Mrs. A. B. Stewart, Mrs. James A. Panting, Mrs. H. F. Jackson and daughter, Mrs. Charles F. Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Bentley, Miss Ina Jameson, Miss Annie Longfellow, Miss Millie Longfellow, Walter F. Cushing, Col. G. G. Lyon, Dr. Young, D. B. Ward, Colonel Langley, J. T. Ronald, John Wiley, C. M. Ogden, Colonel Street, Judge Roger S. Greene, Mr. John Collins, Capt. W. A. Snyder, ex-Atty.-Gen. J. B. Metcalfe, Lieut. A. B. Wyckoff, and Dr. Whyte Fredrick.
When the convoy and her noisy consorts had passed out of Commencement Bay and entered Puget Sound the Reception Committee assembled on deck, and Mayor White in an address cordially welcomed the President, who, in response, said:
Mr. Mayor—I accept with great gratification these words of welcome on behalf of the citizens of Seattle. It will give me great pleasure to contrast my observations of your State in 1885 with what I shall see to-day. I have not lost track of the progress of Seattle, but have, through friends, been advised of the marvellous development which you have made, and how you have repeated in the substantial character of your edifices the story of the Chicago fire, coming as you have out of what seemed a disaster with increased magnificence, and finding in it really an advantage. I will defer until I am in the presence of your people any further acknowledgment of your courtesies, and will now only thank you, as you are repeating here what we have observed on our whole trip, namely, the unification of all our people and the absolute oneness of sentiment in devotion to our institutions and the flag.