The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-04-16


coming utterances Of the distingulshe
guest. The Presidential party was me
at Summerville by the special commit
tee, headed by Mayor Smyth, who wer
invited aboard the special train, whicl
in short time reached a station fiv
miles north of Charleston, where trolle,
cars were in waiting to speed the guest
TO Chicora Park, near the site of tb,
naval station soon to be built, wher,
the revenue cutter Algonquin was lyins
at the wharf. The President, the com
mittee and their other guests wen
through the park while salutes were
and then boarded the revenue cutter
for sail down the river and around
the harbor. The day was spent on the
water and the President made visit tc
Fort Sumter, when there was run up
the Ashley, and in returning as the
Algonquin passed the cruiser ClDcin
natl and the training ships, IL salute
was fired in honor of the P, ,sldcnt.
Boyce's wharf was reached 30
o'clock, where carriages were in wait
ing to take the party to the ST. Johns
Hotel.
The banquet rendered to President
Roosevelt at the Charleston hotel was
a fitting close TO day full of incidents,
and served to gather together men
prominent in the affairs Of the State,
having solely in mind a greeting 10 the
President which would prove the sin
cerity and the warmth of feeling ex-
listing for him a, the chief executive of
the nation. The banquet hall was a
bower of roses, pinks and smilax, ar
tlsticaily arranged, while loosely strewn
over the tables were thousands of
violets, whose fragrance could only
but suggest that springlime had arrived.
Over three hundred specially invited
guests were present and the President
was at his best. In few well chosen
remarks Mayor Sny th welcomed Presi-
dent Roosevelt " Charleston, whose
response was listened to with The
closest attention and which wero in-
terrupted by loud and continuous ap-
plause.
The Presidents remarks were as
follows
"Mr. Mayor, and you, my hosts and
my fellow American citizens {: (Great
applause.) should indeed be but
poor American myself if were not
deeply touched and gratified by the
way you have greeted me today, In this
your beautiful city and of course l
feel at home here. (Applause) 1
think that an American who is worth
his salt has the right to feel at home
in every part of the United States
(Applause)
I" Around this table see many men
who took part in the great war. The
war in which the younger among us
here took part was very little one
because 1T didn't have TO be any big
ger. (Applause.) But it had one thor
oughly good effect /; it put the cap on
the structure that had been building
while we were almost unconscious of
it, and it taught us how thoroughly at
one we were. When we got through
that war it did not make bit of diff
erence to us whether it was an admiral
who came from Vermont or lieuten.
ant who came from Alabama Zap
plauseO if the man had done his duty
in such shape as to make us each feel
an even more generous thrill of pride
in our common nationality. The debt
that we owed him had llLtle to do
with the section from which he came.
(Applause.)
And now, a special word TO you of
Charleston anil of South Carolina.
Just IL years ago when first went to
Washington to take part in govern.
mental work was Immediately thrown
into singularly close contact and in
timacy with South Caroliniau. 1t
was my good fortune to work with HIM
for three years and for the nine years
since and for as long as l shall con-
tinue to be in public life, it will be
to me ever spur to try to do decent
duty for the republic, because have
been thrown intimately in contact with
as fearless and as highminded public
servant as this country has ever had,
my old friend, your former Governor,
Hugh Thompson. (Great applause.)
"And from what have known OF
you and of your representatives it was
In no sense surprise, but it was q
keen pleasure 10 be greeted with the
hearty and generous hospitality, the
more than hearty and generous hospl
tality which you have shown me today
(Applause)
8" The welfare of any part of this
country is In q certain sense an index
of the welfare of ali, and / think, gen
tlemen, that on the average as we al
tend to go up, il seems TO be littl,
better to go uniformly rather than at /,
sharper gait, for the time being, ant
then down and then up again and thel
down. South Carolina seems duiin,
the last TWO decades to have definitely
entered upon the path of steady pro
gross in things material as well as il
other things. / was much struck ii
looking over some of the figures of tn
census quite recently published, to Sc
the astonishing progress that has bee
made here in your State. was pre-
pared to see that the values of you
farm products had risen as they have
q little over 25 per cent. / was pr,
pared to see that your farms themselve
had increased in still larger propo
tion that the value of your lands an
buildings had grown up, but did ii,
realize the way in which your manufa
turing enterprises had increased, bo,
as shown in the fact that your mania
turing products had gone up over 1;
per cent; that for instance the numb
of spindles had about quadrupled, fro
less than half million to more th,
two million In the State. I did n
realize that the wages paid out had |
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