The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-10-28
AMERICA
I lHKED
20. l!I'!..i KING
Al I 4 Belgium Speaks Be-
fore Congress of the United
States To-
day.
IN HOUSE AND SENATE
On Both Sides of Atlantic Same Ideal
of Universal Democracy
Inspires Two
Nations.

United Press Leased Wire Service. ]
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2S.--The
American congress today welcomed
King Albert of Belgium. aF
The senate and then the house halt
ed proceedings and heard the Belgian
ruler, who, with Queen Elizabeth and
Prince Leopold, is finishing a tour
that took him across the American
continent and back. urge in his slow
precise English tightening of the
bonds between his country and the
United States through the Interchange
OF ideas and commercial relations.
Senator Cummins, made the address
Iof welcome in the senate.
At the first direct reference to the
king in Cummins' address, applause
spread over the chamber. Prince Leo
pold entered the chamber walking be-
side Senator Hitchcock.
Greeting King Albert as the most
welcome man in the world, Senator
Cummins, Iowa, lauded the royal guest
as friend, defender and ally.
King Albert's address to the senate
follows:
at Is indeed a great honor for me
to address this illustrious assembly.
II salute not only the eminen
men who receive me here today, but !
salute the memory Of your great
predecessors who, during one hundred
end thirty years have sat in this place
and given the whole world the exam
pie of the highest civic virtues. Fron
the bottom of my heart, thank your
president for the beautiful and far too
l. Ja nrJe hat ho aIFraSSah
to me. This welcome of the senate
seals that reception so warm and SO
spontaneous l have received every
where during my journey across this
magnificent country.
81 am deeply moved by the express
sions Of sympathy that the name OF
Relsium evokes from this noble Amer1-
can people.
Nothing could better characterize
the reign of universal democracy than
that friendship which unites the great
republic with its one hundred and ten
million citizens and the realm Of which
l am the constitutional head with its
seven million and half inhabitants.
If there Is no equality or power ana
riches between them, there Is equality
in the love of liberty and in aspfra-
tions towards social progress. On both
sides OF the Atlantic the same ideal IN
spires us. The exchange Of ideas, the
commercial relations. the visits to Bel
gium and eminent American citizens
of whom many sit in this assembly
are means of tightening the bonds be-
tween the two nations.
"I hope with all my heart that
these relations which go back as far
as memory which have been fortified
during the war as well as by the ad.
mirable assistance which you rem
dered Belgium by feeding her peo'
pie and by the fraternity in arms, will
never cease to develop for the great
good of our two peoples"
King Albert's address to the house
follows:
81 am profoundly grateful to Mr.
Speaker Of the house for his eloquent
words of welcome.
Il am happy to be able to bear te
this chamber, which embodies the liv
greetings of Belgium, a democratic and
parliamentarian state created by the
vote OF the popular assembly of 1896
which proclaimed the independence OF
our provinces. It IS a pleasure to re
call that many Of the provisions of our
constitution were taken from your
fundamental law so that at the outset
Of her career, Belgium was indebted to
you.
"Our two peoples have fought and
triumphed together. The Intervention
Of the American army was the decisive
factor in determining the victory.
pay my respectful and sincere homage
to the officers, the soldiers and sailors
who fell for a great cause on the battle