The Baltimore County union., 1886-11-06
THE PREsIDENTt to VIRGINIA FARMERS

President Cleveland, accompanied by several
members of his Cabinet, visited the Virginia State
Fair at Richmond, on Thursday, October 2lst.-
Replying to an address Of welcome by Governor
Lee, the President said - s --t
FeHo,o- tizens OF Virginia While 1 thank
you most sincerely for your kind reception, and
recognize in its heartness the hospitality for
which the people of Virginia have always been
distinguished, 1 am fully aware that your demon
stration of welcome is rendered not to an indi
vidual, but to an incumbent of an office which
crowns the government of the United States. The
State of Virginia, the mother of Presidents, seven
of whose sons have filed that high office, to-day
greets President who, for the first time, meets
Virginians upon Virginia soil.
congratulate my self that my first introduction
ta tha- poor ia-ef Vi.ei-ia-- time when
they are surrounded by the exhibits of the pro-
ductiveness and prosperity of their State. What
ever there may be in honor in her history and
however much of pride there may be in her tradi-
tons, her true greatness is here exemplifed. In
our sisterhood of states the leading and most com
manding place must be gained and kept by that
commonwealth which by the labor and nteli-
gence of her citizens can produce the most of
those things which meet the necessities and de-
sires of mankind. But the full advantage of that
which may be yielded to state by the toll an
ingenuity of her people is not measured alone by
the money value of the products. The efforts and
the struggles of her farmers and her artisans not
only create new values in the field of agriculture
and in the arts and manufactures, but they at the
same time produce, rugged, self reliant and indie
pendent men and cultivate that product which,
more than all others, ennobes state-a patriotic,
earnest American citizenship. This will flourish
in every part of the American domain. Neither
drouth nor rain can njure it, for it takes root in
true hearts enriched by love of country. There
are no new varieties in this production; it must
be the same wherever seen. And its quality is
neither sound nor genuine unless it grows to deck
and beautify an entire and united nation, nor
less it supports and su tains the institutions and
the government founded to protect American lib
erty and happiness. The present administration
of the government is pledged to return for such
husbandry not only promises, but actual tenders
of fairness and justice, with equal protection and
a full participation in national achievements. If,
in the past, we have been estranged, and the cul-
tivation of American citizenship has been inter
rupted, your enthusiastic welcome to-day demon
strates that there is end to such estrangement.
and that the time of suspicion and fear is succeed
ed by an of faith and confidence. In such a
kindly atmosphere and beneath such cheering
skies greet the people of Virginia as colaborers
in the field where grows the love of our united
country. God grant that in the years to come
idents, she who looked ON the nation at its birth
may not only increase her trophies of growth in
agriculture and manufactures, but that she may
be among the first of all the states in the cutiva
ton of true American citizenship.