The National tribune., 1902-10-16
WELCOME TO WASHINGTON
A Cordial Greeting Given the Encamp.
ment by Great Meeting at Conven-
tion Hall. Tuesday, Oct. Z.

Inc FORMAL welcome OF the comrades to
the District of Columbia came on Tues
day night. Oct. Z, when the metaphorical
keys of the City of Washington were
turned over TO them by the Citizens Com.
mittee, headed by Comrade Il. H. War
ner There was no real need of actual
keys, since the latch-string was out every
where, as one CT the speakers said, and.
lanyhow, the whole town was too much
awake to the occasion to make a key worth
while. The welcoming meeting took place
IN Convention Hail. magnificent auditor
ium over one of the big Washington
markets. capable of seating fully 5000
! people. And the affair played to capaci-
ty,' as the theatrical men say-everything
IN town did all week. as q matter of fact
Probably half those present were civil war
veterans, and most of the rest We're their
| families
The Marine Band in full dress occupied
the tier of seats in front of the speakers
stand. In the latter were Comrade War
ner, Gen. and Mrs. Torrance, Commits
sioner Mcfarland, representing the Dis
trict Government; Mrs. G.. r. Jones, Ma
tional President of the Woman's Relief
Corps, with her staff; Mrs. Margaret B.
Dixon, of Detroit, National President of
the Ladies of Naval Veterans. and her
stan; Secretary of War Root, Gen. Jacob
II. Smith, Pension Commissioner L. T..
are. Hon. John w. Foster. Gen James
II. Wilson. Private Dalzell, Mrs. Della A
Il. ray, of New York, National President
of the Army Nurses Association, and Mrs
Z. u. Reynolds, Secretary of the same or
ganIzation; Mrs. Kate Brownlee Sherwood
OF Toledo, Past National President of the
Woman's Relief Corps; Mrs. Ellen S.
Mussey, OF Washington, Chairman of the
Loca! Ladies Committee, and other dis
| tinSulshed womeG and men.
| After a rendition of patriotic songs by
the famous band, Mr.. Warner delivered
the opening speech, picturing the muster
ing out of the mightiest army the world
has seen, over 81 years ago. when ''the
heroes OF 1000 battlefields marched up
pennsylvania Avenue to disband and en-
ter again the fields of civil occupation"
Mr.: Warner also said, in part:
THE Army of the Potomac with 10000
men passed the Presidents stand on the
first day of the Great Review. On the
second day came the great Army of the
West, headed by Gen. Sherman. For four
years they had been engaged in a struggle
aggressive and brilliant
The fields of Belmont, DoneIson,
Shiloh, Eicksburg, Chickamauga, Mission
RidSe, Atlanta and Savannah had thinned
their ranks and taken many of their COM
rades out Of the camp of life. The great
and silent man, the most prominent hero
OF the civil war, Gen. Grant, looked upon
the mightiest host that had ever been
brought together under the command of
any General. Gen. Meade, the hero of
gettysburg and Appomattox; the dashing
Custer, the cyclOnic Sheridan, and a host
OF others marshaled the Army of the Po-
tomac, while from the West came such
men as Howard, Logan, Hazen, Blair and
Slocum.
Il am glad to welcome you tonight to
the hospitality of the Federal City. 1t
belongs to you. A city not of industry or
cOmmprpp hnf pf into
life. We feel that you are our friends. and
our hospitality is only limited by our abili-
ty. We greet you to tie city where the
great men who have framed our laws have
lived through careers of brilliance and eff
ciency-a city full of history into which
has come within the past quarter of
century new element from all sections
of the Union which is daily working for
its development and improvement.
The President and his advisers have
placed more than two hundreds of mil
hons OF property at your disposal. Our
gates are open TO you; enter our hearts
and our homes. You can make more money
elsewhere, but you cannot get more happi-
ness ald diversion in any other quarter
of the globe than you can find in this
Capita. City, of which you are so Justly
proud
Mr.. Warner then read letter from the
President of the United States, regretting
his inability to be present and join person. |
ally in the greeting. Letters of regret
from Admiral Schley, Gen. Fitzhugh Lee,
Gen. Wheeler, and Gen. Alger were also
read.
Mr. Warner then introduced Commis- |
sioner Macfarland, who gave the official |
welcome in the name of the District He |
said in part:
You are already at home in the Capi- |
tai OF the Nation. 1t is your home by the |
purchase OF blood. The grateful Govern
ment of the District of Columbia would |
gladly welcome you if that were needed. |
but you are not like other guests for this |
place, of all places, belongs to YOU. We
cannot even offer you the freedom of the |
city OF Washington, for you took that long |
ago, when you came hurrying from many
States to the defense of Washington. You
were invested then with citizenship in the
National Capital, and it could no more be-
taken from you than the work which you
did in defending it could be ,Indone"
Mr.. Macfarland closed by saying to the
assembled veterans of the Grand Army
that: We may well pray to be strengthen
ed against our greatest enemy-that ma
terialism which our very success fosters,
and to be given power to meet its subtle
attacks with the weapons of the spirit.
Ii we forget the Lord our God and His
commandments; if we turn away from the
high purposes and the true principles of
our forefathers, to the false gods of ma
terialism, we shall be blinded, we shall be
shorn OF our strength, we shall go the way
that leadeth to death. But we believe we
shall not do so. We believe we shall war
Il good warfare in peace, which is so much
more difficult for most of us than to face
a physical foe on the battlefield We be-
lieve that with your example, and that of
all our patriots in peace and in war; and
by the grace of God, we shall live such
lives as shall perpetually save the State
and preserve its noble genius"
Mr.. Warner then introduced the Secre
tary OF War, the Hon. Elihu Root, who
spoke to the same text as Mr.. Macfarland
in the conclusion of his remarks. pointing
'ut to the country the vital need of the
of the noble patriotism
eSinced by her sons in the days that tried
mems souls, far back in the Cos. Mr.
Root said, in part. speaking in the name
If the National Governments:
1T is feeble voice indeed with which
can express or try to express to you the
Welcome of the people of the Republic to
he Grand Army upon your Reunion in
he Capital City of the Nation.
'The Federal Government welcomes
Tor-aye, you are the Federal Govern
nent.
Every year that rolls over us shows in
,learer light and in more majestic propor-
ions the difference that you wrought be- !
ween a double certainty of failure and
he infinite possibility of your success.
Happy men, not only to have done so much
,ut to be able to live in health and
trength, in vigor of intellect with bright !