“‘H. B. Plant, Atlanta, Georgia:
“‘Recognizing in you a friend of Tampa and of Florida, our city congratulates you on this the anniversary of your birthday, and indulges the hope that you may live to celebrate many others and to reap the fruits of your labor and enterprise.
“‘F. A. Salomonson, Mayor.’
“‘Atlanta, Georgia, Oct. 28, 1895.
“‘F. A. Salomonson, Mayor:
“‘I thank you personally, and through you the good people of Tampa and Florida, for your hearty congratulations and well wishes. I shall hope to celebrate many more anniversaries of my birthday, and as each milestone is passed I trust we may all look back and see that I have contributed in a measure to the interests of the good people of your State and city.
“‘H. B. Plant.’
“A REMARKABLE OVATION.
“President H. B. Plant, of the Plant System, was a happy man yesterday when he looked into three thousand smiling faces at the Exposition Auditorium and saw among them about one thousand five hundred of his faithful employees, who were assembled to celebrate his seventy-sixth birthday.
“It was a rare tribute to a great and a good man. Probably no railway president in the world could have commanded such an ovation.