Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-05-08
PRESIDENT HARRISON
AT A BANQUET IN SAN FRANCISCO.
An Americans Speech to American Cit
1ens.


grand banquet given in his honor last Fri
day night at the Palace Hotel in San
Francisco The guests numbered $50,
seated at seven long tables The large
banquet hall was a mass of flowers. On
the table occupied by the President was a
bank of roses - feet long and three feet
wide. The other tables bore immense
baskets of roses, and $50 dozen La France
roses were disposed about the hall in cut
glass vases. The principal speech of the
evening was made by the President, who
spoke as follows:
"Mr. President and Gentlemen: When
the Queen of Sheba visited the court of
Solomon and saw its splendors, she was
compelled to testify that half had not been
told her. Undoubtedly the emissaries of
SOlomon's court who had penetrated to her
distant territory found themselves in like
situation to that which attends Californians
when they travel East: they are afraid too
much to put to test the credulity of their
hearers, and, as gentlemen of your state
said to me- it has resulted in the prevailing
indisposition among Californians to tell the
truth out of California daughter and APP
plause). not at all because Calfornians are
unfriendly to the truth. but solely out of
compassion to their hearers. Naughter)
They address themselves to the capacity of
those who hear them, and, taking warning
by the fate of a man who told the sovereign
of the Indies that he had seen the water so
solid that it could be walked upon, they do
not carry their best stories away from home.
Laughter.) ut has been. much as have
heard of California, brilliant disilluSiOn
to me and to those who have iOurneved
with me. Half had not been told of the
productivencss of your valleys of blossom
ing orchards, of gardens laden with flowers.
We have seen. and been entranced. our
pathway has been strewn with flowers
We have been surprised when We were in
the region of the orchards and roses to be
suddenly pulled up at the station and asked
to address some remarks To a pyramid of
pg-tin. daughter and applauSe.) Pro
ducts Of the mine, rare and exceptional.
have been added to the products Of the field.
until the impression has been made upon
my mind that if any new want should be-
developed in craftsmanship or any vacancies
in office (great laughter). we have safe
reservoir that can be- drawn upon adj libi-
tum. daughter and applause.)
But. my friends, swecter than all the
incense of flowers. richer than all the pro-
duets of the mine, has been the gracious.
unaffected. hearty kindness with which the
people of California have everywhere re-
ceived us. Without division. without dis
sent, simple and yet magnificent American
welcome. Ii is gratifying that ii should be
so. We may carry into our campaigns. To
our conventions and Congresses. discus
siOns and divisions but how grand il is
that we are people who bow reverently to
decision when it is rendered. and who will
follow the flag always. everywhere. with
absolute devotion of heart. without asking
what party may have given the leader in
whose hands II is placed Enthusiastic
cheering) | believe that We have come To
a new epoch as nation. There are open
ing portals before us inviting us to enter:
opening portals to trade and influence and
prestige. such as we have never seen be-
fore. (Great applause.) We will pursue
| the paths of peace: we are not warlikc
nation. all our instincts, all our history is
in the lines of peace. Only intolerable az
gression. only the peril OF our institutions
or the flag can thoroughly arouse us. With
capabilities for war on land and sea, uneX-
celed by any nation in the world, we are
smitten with love of peace. We would
| promote the peace of this hemisphere by
! placing judicously some large guns about
| the Golden Gate, simply for Saluting pur-
! poses daughter and cheers), and yet they
| should be of the best modern type.
| (Cheers.) We should have on sea some
| good vessels; We don need as great a navy
as some other people. but we do need sutii-
cient navy of tirSt-class ships, simply to
make sure that peace of the hemisphere is
preserved, simply that we may not leave
| great distant marts and harbors of com
merce and our few citizens who may be
! domciled there to feel lonesome for the
sight of the American flag. (Cheers.)
I'VE are making fine progress in the con-
struction of "A navy. The best English con-
structors have testified to the completeness
and perfection of some of our latest ships
1t is source of great qualification to me
that here, in San Francisco, the energy,
enterprise, and courage of some of your
citizens have constructed plant capable
of building the best modern ships. | saw
with great delight the magnificent launch
of one of these new vessels. | hope that
you may so enlarge your capacities for con-
structon that it will not be necessary to
send any naval vessels around the Horn.
| We want merchant ships. ! believe we
have come to a time when we should
choose whether we will continue to be non
participants in the commerce of the world,
or will now vigorously, with the push and
energy which our people have shown in
other lines of enterprise, claim our share of
the world commerce.
II will not enter into the discussion OF
the methods of which the postal bill of the
last session of Congress marks the begin
ming Here in California, where for so long
a time "A postal service that did not pay its
own way was maintained by the govern
ment; where for years the government has
maintained mail lines into your valleys,
reaching out to every remote community,
and paying out yearly hundred times the
revenue that was derived from it it ought
not to be difficult to persuade that Oul
ocean mail should not longer be the only
service for which we refuse to eXpend even
the revenues derived 1t is my belief that
under the operation of the law to which
have referred, we shall be able To stimulate
ship-building; to secure some new lines OF
American steamships and to increase the
ports of call of those now established
Enthusiastic cheering)
sit will be my effort to do what may be
done under the powers lodged in me by law
to open and increase trade with the coun-
tries of Central and South America.
hope it may not be long-I know it will
not be long, if we but unitedly pursue this
great scheme-until one can take a sail in
the Bay of San Francisco and see some
deep-water ship come i'm bearing our own
flag. Enthusiastic and continued cheer
ing) During our excursion the other day