Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-20
SOLDIER BOYS AND VETERANS.
I Continued From Seventh Page.

| The President will speak to you as q COM
| the business interests affecting the welfare
| OF the whole people, In behalf OF trade ana
| commerce, of the husbandman and artisan,
OF the employer and the employed, in be-
half of all men and women from every sec
tiOn who love the Union.
bid you welcome in behalf of the Presi-
dent and his Cabinet advisers. in behalf of
the Congress OF the United States and the
National Judiciary administering collect
lively the Government you have secured
and IN behalf of a whole people, made illus
trious by your heroism and that OF your
adversaries now your friends, greet you in
behalf of a stalwart North and loyal South,
of a sun-illumined East and commanding
West, under the shadows OF the Capitol,
you have preserved in this beautiful city.
founded by Washington and made sacred
by the services and sacrifices of Lincoln,
and in full view of Virginia, the birthplace
or Presidents and the burial place of heroes.
Your march to-day and tomorrow will re-
call to you, as 1t will to US, the great review
when Grant ranged himself by the side of
the President of the United States; when
Meade saluted for the veterans of the East
and sherman for those of the West, and
when the light that fell upon the dome OF
the Capitol was flashed back from the sword
of Sheridan. They are brilliant illustrations
of your prowess, still leading your ranks, or
among them. and l wish that could sum-
mon them all: but the glories of the battle
names recall them with vivid personality.
In the order OF time this may or may not be
your last grand review, but l express the
hope OF q grateful people tlat heaven VII!
bounteously lengthen out your lives before
you are called to the other shore to rejoin
the ranks of your compantons: And now
my countrymen. in behalf of the whole
American people, 1 dedicate this "Grand
Army Place" and the commemorative
memorials which it is believed will be here
after erected upon it, to the everlasting
glories of the Grand Army of the Republic.
God bless you all and those who to-day unite
with you in strengthening the great Re-
public.
The President Sends Regrets.
General Palmer at the conclusion of the
address read the following from the Presi-
dent regretting his inability to be present:
LOON LAKE, N. Y. Sept. ls.
To General John Palmer, Commander in Chief
G. A. II.
had looked forward with much interest
to the great rehearsal in Washington next
Tuesday OF the vfctors march OF 1865. l
would have estimated it one of the highest
honors of my public life to have welcomed
to the National Capital. and to have re-
sentative assembly of the men who not only
saved the city from threatened destructien,
but made it the worthy political capital OF
an unbroken Union. 1t would also have
been one of the most favored and tender in
cidents of my private life to have taken
these comrades again by the hand, but all
this has been denied to me by the interven-
tion of a sad and imperative duty, and can
only ask you to give to all my cordial greet
ings and good wishes. Accept my sincere
thanks for your very kind and sympathetic
message.
[Signed1 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
The Commander in Chief announced that
the President directed that the White
House and grounds be kept open to them at
all hours. Immediately on the conclusion
of the Vice Presidents speech, Shipmate
Baker, who manned one of the guns of the
Kearsarge on the occasion when that vessel
sunk the rebel terror Alabama, pulled
guy rope and the large United States flag,
whose folds had been lying half unfurled
against the pole surmounting the Grand
Army Place, spread its surface to the breeze
and Grand Army Place was thing of fact,
formally, officially and forever.
The final programme of exercises closed
with the playing of the "Star Spangled
Banner" by the Marine Band but there
were some vety brief informal speeches by
Secretary Noble, Attorney General Miller,
Acting Secretary of War Grant, General
Schofeld and General j. w. keifer, before
the crowd dispersed and the services could
be said to be actually at an end.