Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-08-17
Blaine'S Welcome Home--HiS
First Speech.

Blaine'S Welcome HOme--
First Speech.
NEW YORK, Aug. l0-Mr. Bart
lett delivered the following speech of
welcome:
Mr. BLAINE-The Republican
Club of the city of New York aud it's
invited guests tender you, sir, through
me as President of the club, their
warmest greetings and sincerest con
gratulations upon your arrival once
more in health and strength on these
shores When the club first proposed
this reception it was not intended AS
an act having political significance, but
rather as private expression OF love
and regard for one whom we look up
ON as our most illustrious ciGizen
But we found our suggestion stirred
the friendly jealousy of the whole
country, and with one accord it Was
insisted that the event of your arrival
home should be the occasion of
demonstration more general in its
character than was originally con
templated; and as result there were
assembled for several days in the city
of New York tens of thousands OF
your friends from all parts of the
country impatiently waiting to pay
you the generous tribute of their
respect and admiration. The delay
in your arrival has interfered to some
extent with the program Last night
the great parade took place, about
40, 900 strong, lacking but one thing,
your inspiring presence.
We are not assembled. sir, on this
occasion in q spirit of adulation to do
homage to one occupying high official
position, hOr are we seeking to lind
favor with candidate upon whom
the mantle of power is soon to rest;
but we come to greet private citizen
whose name is 80 intimately associa
ted in our history for the past gener
alton that no Office can add lustre To
his fame or increase the esteem and
admiration in which he is held by his
fellow-countrymen. Again, sir, bid
you welcome to your native shores
RESPONSE OF MR. BLAINE.
Mr., Blaine said in reply:
Mr., PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN
OF THE REPUBLICAN CLUB AND Eel
Low CITIzENs-To enable you to ap-
preciate this welcome, each and every
one of YOU should be absent from
home and country for the long period
of fourteen months. | am sure you
can have little conception of the great
qualification OF that instant when
saw the shores of the Great Republic.
l cannot tell you how deeply grateful
[ am to be remembered in this man
ner by you and these assembled gen.
tlemen. 1t is a scene [ shall never
forget. 1t is an occasion which | as
sure you | appreciate from the depths
of my hearts. 1t is shadowed only
by the sad event which greeted Us as
the first piece of American news we
heard-the death of General Sheridan
q man who was above party, and
stood for the union of the States.
Shouts of Good" With that ex
ception my arrival upon my native
shore was unattended by anything
but joy and happiness.
The campaign on which you are
about to enter should be prefaced, if
that were possible, by every voter in
the United States seeing what have
T"Good, good"), and hearing what |
have heard during the last year.
( Applause The progress Of the
campaign in the United States is
viewed from the European standpoint
with an interest as profound as it is
in the United States 1t is the op
portunitv of England. 1t is the long
looked.for occasion upon which the
cheaper labor and cheaper fabrics of
the old world expect to invade the
new and lower wages of Am. ricsn n
workingmen to the European stand
ard Great applause 1t is not u
contest Of capital against capital; it is
not contest of partisan against par
tisan. 1t is much higher than either
of these. 1t transcends all party mo-
tive Applause. Whether the great
mass of American citizens who earn
their bread by the sweat of their
brow shall be seriously reduced in
their emolument from day to day ap.
plsuse that is the whole pith and
moment of this question. Anything
that diverts the question from that
single point is weakening of the
campaign. Applause and cries of
"Good ," 1 say here, as / hope to
say with much more elaboration loud
cheering and cries of THAT'S what
we want"]-I say here that the
wages of the American laborer Can
not be reduced except with the cou-
sent and the votes of the American
laborer himself The appeal lies to
him. 1t comes to his door and asks
him whether, with the great power
of the franchise and the great major
ity be possesses in his own hands, he
il willing for himself and his associ-
ates, his children and his children's
children to take that fatal step at the
bidding of an American Congress and
an American President who are gov
erned by that element which sought |
to destroy this Nation.
But, gentlemen, it is not a time for
political speech. My Eeart is too
full to enter at this time on lengLhen
ed argument. In this moment of
welcome and joy, getting home to old
scenes aud old friends, must be al
lowed to enjoy the pleasant emotions
of the occasion. l can only add my
fervant thanks to each and every
member of the club and to all my
friends for the generous and joyous
welcome they haYe extended to HE
in the harbor of New Y1k.s
An Important Matter.
Il Il L.