The age-herald., 1902-04-09
Roosevelt Expresses Pleasure at
 Being in the South
GOV. M'SWEENEY RESPONDS.
Both Speakers Refer to the Reunited Country and Say When Honor Is at Stake Sectional Lines
 Are Oblitcrated.

Charleston, S C.. April s.-The banquet
 rendered to President Roosevelt tonight
 at the Charleston hotel was fitting
 close to day full of incidents and serv-
 ed to gather together men prominent in
 the affairs of the state having solely in
 mind a greeting to the President, which
 would prove the sincerity and the warmth
 of feeling existing for him as the chief
 executive of the nation. The banquet hall was a bower of roses, pinks and smi-
 lax, artisticaly arranged while loosely
 strewn over the tables were thousands of
 violets, whose fragrance could only but
 suggest that spring time had arrived.
 Something more than 300 specially invited
 guests were present and the President at
 his best. Tn few wei lchosen remarks
 Mayor Smyth welcomed President Roose-,
 welt to Charleston, whose response was
 listened to with the closest attention and
 which were interrupted by loud and con-
 tinuous applause.
 The Presidents remarks were as fol-
 lows: MT. Mayor and you. my hosts
 and my fellow American citizens: Great
 applause) I should indeed be but a poor
 American myself if I were not deeply
 touched and gratihed by the way you
 have greeted me today in this your beau
 tiful city; and of course, feel at home
 here. (Applause). I think that an Ameri-
 can who is worth his salt has the right to feel at home in every part of the Uni- | ted States. tApplause).
 Sees Old Soldiers.
 | "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 a very little one, because it did
 not have to be any bigger. Applause). Il But 1t had one thoroughly good effect I it put the capital on the structure thai
 had been building while we were almost
 unconscious of 1t and 1t taught us how thoroughly we were. When we got
 through that war it did not make bii
 of difference to us whethet it was an
 admiral who came from Vermont or a | lieutenant who came from Alabama. l (Applause). If the man had done his duty l in such shape as to make us feel an even
 more generous thrill of pride in our com- | mon nationality. The debt that we owed him had little to do with the section from 1 which he came (Applause). South Carolina seems during the last | two decades to have definitely entered | upon the path of steady progress in l things material as well as fin other things. | I was much struck in looking over some l of the figures of the census quite recent | ly published to see the astonishing pro- gross that has been made here in your state. I was prepared to see that the values of your farm products had risen as they have little over 25 per cent. was prepared to see that your farms themselves had increased in a still larg- CT proportion; that the value of your lands and buildings had grown up, but lt.- tw, rlxt. manufacturing enterprises had increased both as shown in the fact that your man. ufacturing products had gone up over 13 per cent; that for instance the num- Der of spindles has about quadrupled from less than half a million to more
 than two million in the state. I did not realize that the wages paid out had in-
 creased 75 per cent. Gentlemen, you talk
 of progress of the far West, but l think South Carolina can give points to some of the states (Applause) l think that with such a record for the previous de- | cade you were we'll warranted upon in- | sisting on holding your exposition here. | (Applause).
 Refers to Islands.
 l "And, gentlemen, was very glad that | in arranging for your exposition you not | only took in the Southern states, but | that you specially included the islands tlying south of the United States, those islands with which the events of tho 1 last few years have made 1t evident
 that we are bound in the future to have
 closer relations. (Great applause). Closer
 relations for our advantage, and our ad- | vantage can only be secured by making
 it for their advantage so-Qoud applause) | and about all hat have said applies to | the greatest an richest of those islands. | the island with which we have been
 brought into the most peculiar intimacy | and reationshp-the island of Cuba. Ap- | plause) And I ask that in our trade re- | iations with Cuba we give her marked | and substantial advantage, not merely l because 1t will rebound to our interest to do so, although that also Is true, that 1t will rebound to our own interest to do so,
 but ask 1t especially because the events
 have so shaped themselves that it IS
 our duty, as a great and mighty nation. to help Cuba, and I hope to see us do
 our duty. Cheers and applause). I shall not try to make you any speech tonight, because for your sins you will have to
 listen to me make one tomorrow. daugh- ter) I shall merely thank you again with all my heart and say to you that l want you to appreciate that l mean
 every word I say and mean it deeply when I tell you I have been touched.
 more than pleased, touched and stirred by the warmth and heartiness with which you have made me feel today that I am
 one of you" Loud and continued ap- plause).
 Governor McSweeny Replies. The President was followed by Cover
 nor McSweeny. who prefaced his pre-
 pared speech by a few words. in which he
 assured the President that he was as safe from bodily harm in South Carolina as he was in Washington. Continuing, he said:
 ''The Anglo-Saxon is entering the new century With the imperial crown of the ages on his brow and the scepter of the infinite in his hand.
 The old South fought against the stars in their courscs-the resisting tide of the rising consciousness of nationality and (continued on Fourth Page.)