The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-24
HIS CORDIAL. RECEPTION.
President Warmly Welcomed Mt
Hoosier Capital and His Speech
Cheercd to Echo.

president Warmly Welcomed MT
Hoosier Capital and His Speech
Cheercd to Echo.
indianapolis, Sept. 23.-President
Roosevelt was accorded a reception by
the people of Indianapolis to-day that
was sincere, enthusiastic and entirely
lacking in partisan bias. Men of all
political faiths united with one accord
in doing honor to the nations chief
executive.
President Roosevelt was met at the
station by Gov. Durbin, Mayor Book
walter, Senator Fairbanks and others,
and escorted by detachments of local
militia was driven through crowded
streets to Tomlinson Hall. A few mo-
ments before the President arrived,
Commander Richmond P Hobson of
Merrimac fame was escorted to the
stage and was recognized by the vast
assemblage. At once there were cries
of "Hobson, Hobson!" The naval Off
Ger arose and gracefully bowed. But
the crowd was not satisfied. Again
and again his name was shouted. IN
able longer to ignore the repeated calls
for a speech, he arose and thanked
chose who had named him..
"When the eagle scars" he said, re-
ferring to the approach of the Presi-
dent, owls and bats must seek their
holes. When the COMMUNICATIVE chief of
the army and navy is on deck, captains
and lieutenants must go below"
The President was received with
deafening cheers.
Women in the galleries stood up and
waved their handkerchiefs. Veterans.
young and old, yelled Justify.
The President said our geographical
position made a large standing army
unnecessary, and that dependence must
be placed upon volunteer forces in time
of war, but that it was impossible to
create in an emergency such a special
lied service as that of the navy. He
then said:
IF we are not prepared to back up
words by deeds, it is far better to omit
the words. 1 believe in the Monroe
doctrine with all my heart. I believe
in asserting it because | believe the
American people are willing to back it
up But it never can be backed up
with words alone. If it became the in
terest of some great Power to violate
it, most assuredly that great Power
would do so if it was thought that we
would only buster and threaten, or if
it was believed that our force was too
weak to be formidable in a fight. A
good navy is absolutely essential if we
intend to treat the Monroe doctrine as
we should treat it, that is, as
the cardinal feature of our for
eign policy The fleet is in
a peculiar sense the property of the
nation as a whole. Every American,
whether inland or on the seacoast, If
he is both far-sighted and patriotic.
should be peculiarly jealous about the
efficiency of the navy. 1t would be
the right arm of this country in the
event of foreign trouble. Disaster to
it would send a. thrill of moral an
guish through the heart of every good
citizen; and the triumphs won by 1t,
would in the future, as they have in
the past, make every American hold
his head higher in pride and. joy. The
navy must be built up and 1t must
be continually exercised and trained,
so that the officers and men may at
tain the highest degrees of excellence
in handling the great war engines en-
trusted to their care"
The Presidents speech dealt with
tariff revision. He said that no nation
can stand radical readjustnents of
tariff schedules at short intervals. Con-
tinual sweeping changes cannot be but
disastrous, but where the industrial
needs shift as rapidly as they do here,
where we often live in one year what
Europe does in ten. we need the re-
application of established principles to
changed conditions. We must readjust
without resorting to violent surgical
operation, the dread of which alone
would paralyze the business of the
country. We must solve this problem
with partisanship as a secondary con-
sideration. He said his own personal
No q
mission.
At the conclusion of his speech. the
President went to the Columbian Club,
where, after luncheon, he addressed a
great crowd from the gallery. His
speech was mainly eulogistic of the
Spanish-American war veterans.