Waterbury Democrat., 1902-09-23
BIG DAY IN DETROIT
President Closes His Visit With Ban

quet.
 DETROIT, MIl Sept 23.-Presi- dent Roosevelt's two days visit to De troit came to a~ end last evening at the conclusion of a banquet rendered him in Light Guard armory by the Spanish War Veterans, the opening of whose third annual reunion he attended in the morning It was brilliant event. Nearly 800 men sat at tables on the floor of the big armory, and the galler- ies were crowded to their utmost ca pacity by brilliantly gowned women and their escorts The armory was dec orated with green and white maple branches, and electric lights were ev- anywhere.
 When the president rose to begin his address, which was the first of the evening, he received an ovation. The men on the floor stood up and cheered again and again, while the clapping of hands from the gallery was like the crackle of musketry
 Tn closing his address the president said:
 T speak in the presence not only of the men who fought in the Spanish war and the Philippine war, which was it's aftermath, but in the presence of the veterans who fought in the great war, and, more than that, I speak here in typical city of the old northwest, of what is now the middle west, in typ ical state of our Union. You men of Michigan have been mighty in war and mighty in peace. You belong to a country mighty in war and mighty in peace country of great past, whose great present is but an earnest of an even greater future The world has never seen more marvellous prosperity than that which we now enjoy, and this prosperity is not ephemeral We shall have our ups and downs. The wave at times wilf recede, but the tide will go steadily higher. This country has never yet been called upon to meet crisis in war or crisis in peace to which it did not eventually prove equal, and decade by decade it's power grows greater, and the Likelihood of it's meet ing successfully any crisis becomes even more assured.
 3'I preach the gospel of hope to you men of the west who in thought and life embody this gospel of hope, this gospel of resoIute and confident belief in your own powers and in the destiny of this mighty republic. I believe in the future, not in spirit which will sit down and look for the future to work itself out, but with determina- tion each of us to do his part in mak- ing the future what it can and shall be made. We are optimists. We spurn the teachings of despair and distrust. We have an abiding faith in the grow ing strength, the growing future, of, the mighty young nation still in the flush of it's youth and yet already with the might of giant which stands on continent and grasps an ocean with eli ther hand. Succeed? Of course we shall succeed. How can success fail to come to race of masterful energy and resolute character which has a conti- nent for the base of it's domain and which feels within it's veins the thrill that comes to generous souls when their strength stirs in them and they know that the future is theirs?
 No great destiny ever yet came to nation whose people were laggards or faint hearted. No great destiny ever yet came to people walking with their eyes on the ground and their faces shrouded in gloom. No great des- tiny ever yet came to a people who feared the future, who feared failure more than they hoped for success. With such as these we have no part. We know there are dangers ahead as we know there are evils to fight and overcome, but we feel to the full that pulse of prosperity which we enjoy. Stout of heart, we see across the dan- gers the great future that lies beyond, and we rejoice as giant refreshed, as a strong man girt for the race, and we go down into the arena where the na- tions strive for mastery, our hearts lifted with the faith that to us and to our children and our children's chil- dren it shall be given to make this re- public the greatest of all the peoples of mankind"
 In the afternoon President Roosevelt participated i'll and afterward reviewed the military parade, which was the greatest demonstration of the sort ever seen in the city, with the exception of the G. A. R. parade during the national encaanpment here eleven years ago. Never were. such crowds seen in the streets and never was man given a greater popular ovation in this city than the president received.
 Escorted by Gilbert Wilkes Naval command 148 of the Spanish War Vet erans, President Roosevelt, in an open barouche, drove over the entire line of march, nearly four miles. The streets were roped off, and the street cars and all traffic were stopped. From the Ho- tel Cadillac, which the president left just before o'clock, to the reviewing stand where he arrived two hours lat CT, the chief executive was given a con tinuQus ovation. People were damned