Part 44

_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--This rare, pure atmosphere, this bright sunshine, the national colors, this multitude of lifted, smiling faces to greet us is a scene that should raise the dullest heart to emotions of thankfulness and pride--pride wholly separated from personal considerations, a pride in which everything personal is swallowed up by the contemplation that all this is the outcome, the manifestation, the culmination of free American institutions. [Cheers.] We stand here on this mountain-top and see what I think is the highest evidence of American pluck to be found in the United States. [Laughter and applause.] I have addressed my fellow-citizens on many thousands of occasions, but never before stood so near the dome. [Cheers.] It is a wonderful testimony to the energy and adaptation of the American that he should have pushed his way to this high altitude, above the snow-line, and erected here these magnificent and extensive industries and these beautiful and happy homes. I rejoice with you in all that has been accomplished here.

I bring thanks to you for that great contribution you have made to the wealth of a country we all love. [Cheers.] I bring to you the assurance that as an individual citizen and as a public officer my interest, my affection, and my duty embrace all the people of this land. [Cries of "Good!" and cheers.]

I am glad to know we have in the past history of our country found that happy unity of interest which has acted beneficially upon all our institutions and all our people. With due regard to all local interests, we should seek that general legislation which touches with kindly fingers the humblest homes in our land. I do most sincerely thank you for this token of the product of your mines. It is a precious metal, but much more precious to me is the kindly thought and the generous welcome which you have given us in Leadville. [Cheers.]

My lungs are unaccustomed to this rare and stimulating atmosphere, and you will permit me to close by giving you all, to the men who, deep down in these mines, are toilsomely working out the precious metal, to those who welcome you in your homes when you return from your toil, the wives and children who add grace and sweetness to our lives, to these children who have gathered to greet us, a most cordial salutation and a regretful good-by. [Cheers.]

BUENA VISTA, COLORADO, MAY 11.

Buena Vista gave the President a cordial greeting. The Committee of Reception included Mayor Mason, Hon. A. R. Kenedy, Capt. A. V. P. Day, A. H. Wade, Col. Henry Logan, J. C. Stuart, and A. C. Bottorff. Phil. Sheridan Post, G. A. R., Col. G. D. Childs Commander, participated in the reception. Dr. Struthers and W. W. Fay presented the President with three fine trout caught in Thompson's Lake, and weighing six pounds each.

President Harrison said:

_My Friends_--I am very glad to see your bright and kind faces this morning, and to tarry for a few moments, just long enough to say "How do you do?" and "Good-by." It is very pleasant to find everywhere and at every station the same friendly looks and the same kindly greeting. I am glad to have an opportunity that I have not previously had of seeing the State of Colorado, great in her present condition and having a greater future development than perhaps you yourselves realize. This combination of agricultural and mining industries can work but good for the high development of Colorado. Your cattle and your sheep and your mines and your agriculture in your valleys all produce that ideal condition of things in which you find a nearer market for what you raise. I hope the time will come when in addition to smelting furnaces in your mines you will learn to weave the wool from your sheep in place of sending it abroad to be made into clothing. The more you can develop these things and do your own work the more prosperous will be your condition. These dear children have cheered me heartily all the way on this journey. The public schools are worthy of your most thoughtful care. It is there that the children meet on a common ground. It is there class distinctions are wiped out. It is the great American institution. You have well named your little hamlet Buena Vista. [Cheers.]

SALIDA, COLORADO, MAY 11.

Three thousand people from the surrounding district welcomed the President at Salida. The Reception Committee consisted of Mayor John G. Hollenbeck, J. H. Stead, S. M. Jackson, W. W. Roller, J. A. Israel, E. B. Jones, and W. P. Harbottle. Stanton Post, G. A. R., W. G. Westfall Commander, and the children of the public schools were present. Miss Clara Ayers, on behalf of the public schools, presented Mrs. Harrison with a handsome portfolio of Colorado wild flowers prepared by Mrs. E. P. Chester. Dr. Durbin, on behalf of the citizens of Villa Grove, presented a fine collection of mineral specimens.

President Harrison spoke as follows:

I have looked with great interest, in passing through these mountain gorges, at the enterprise of the people who have constructed intersecting lines of railroad upon these difficult grades and through threatening cañons. It has not been many days since such feats of engineering would have been regarded as impossible, and yet now railroads have touched the highest points, have gone above the snow line, have reached elevated mines, and brought isolated valleys into rapid and easy communication with the more settled parts of the country. It has given me great pleasure to look upon the beautiful valley in which the town of Salida is situated, and which will undoubtedly be capable of large agricultural production when a system of irrigation is completed. It might be desirable to the people of Indiana and Illinois and other agricultural States if Colorado had to buy her wheat and corn from them, but our larger interest makes it desirable that every community should supply its own wants. I anticipate with pleasure the day when these mountain States will not be content with mining, but shall add agricultural pursuits and manufacturing, and when the wool which is sheared from the flocks will be woven at home. [Cheers.]

It is a pleasant condition of things when all classes are prosperous, when the workingman has fair wages that leave him some margin above his daily necessities. I should lose hope for our institutions when there should be despairing classes among us. An American citizen could not be a good citizen who did not have hope in his heart. Every boy, however humble, can pass through our public schools and climb to any position of usefulness and honor he has the ability to attain. There have been marvellous instances of what courage and pluck and intelligence may do in this way.

To the children I give a cordial greeting. They have been a happy feature of almost every gathering in the journey. I hope they may all receive that attention which will make them men and women of intelligence, and capable of taking a full share in all these good things in the community and in the State, for which they are to be responsible. [Cheers.]

CAÑON CITY, COLORADO, MAY 11.

Leaving Salida the route lay through a stretch of country unsurpassed in grandeur. The train made a short stop on the hanging bridge over the Arkansas River in the Grand Cañon. Emerging through the Royal Gorge the party reached Cañon City at 2 P.M. amid the cheers of its entire population, including 400 school children. Mayor J. M. Bradbury, T. M. Harding, A. D. Cooper, and Warden W. A. Smith were among the prominent residents who welcomed the President; also, Greenwood Post, G. A. R., Dr. J. L. Prentiss, Commander.

President Harrison spoke as follows:

_Comrades and Fellow-citizens_--It gives me great pleasure to see you and accept with a thankful heart those cordial greetings with which you have met us. I have been talking so much since I left Washington that I really am almost talked out; and yet, until I shall have altogether lost my voice, of which there does not seem to be any prospect, I cannot refrain from saying thank you to those friends who greet us with such affectionate interest. We do appreciate it very highly. But I do not at all assume it is merely your interest in me. It is, I am sure, your interest in the country, in its Constitution, and in its flag--the flag for which these comrades fought, which they carried through the stress of battle and brought home in honor. It is our free institutions, our free ballot, our representative Government, that you all honor in coming here to-day. It is very surprising and very pleasant to drop down out of these snow-clad summits and to have passed into our hands in the valley, branches of peach and pear and bouquets of flowers, the first fruits of spring--a spring more genial here than it seemed at Leadville this morning. [Applause.] I am very glad to have revealed to me the possibilities of this country, and to see how, under the system of irrigation, that which seemed to be a waste--accursed of God--comes to be a very garden of Eden in beauty and productiveness. I hope you have not only the fruits and flowers of paradise, but that you have in your homes that state of peace and blessedness which prevailed before our first mother took the apple. [Applause.] To these comrades I want to give a comrade's greeting. I know of no higher honor in this world than to be called "comrade" by the survivors of those who saved the Union, [Applause.]

FLORENCE, COLORADO, MAY 11.

The next stop was at Florence, in the oil district, whose citizens gave the President a most cordial greeting. The Reception Committee comprised Mayor Isaac Canfield, Senator J. A. McCandless, J. F. Collins, J. H. McDaniel, Thomas Robinson, Thomas E. Spencer, Richard McDonald, W. J. Daniels, and Joseph Patterson. An enthusiastic citizen proposed three cheers "for the first President who has thought enough of us to come and see us." They were given with a will, and the President responded as follows:

_My Fellow citizens_--I am very much obliged to you for this greeting. I expect there have been other Presidents who thought of you, though they have not visited you. This has been a very pleasant and instructive journey to me. I thought I had kept myself reasonably well informed of the capabilities of this country and of its productions, but I am amazed to find how things are put together. We come out of the snow where everything is barren and where labor is under ground, where the precious metals are being extracted, and there is nothing pleasant in the landscape except the snow covered mountains, and presently we are into a land of fruit, and have handed up to us great branches laden with well-set peach and pear, and are showered again, as we were in California, with the flowers of the early spring, and now, to my surprise, we seem to be in the oil region of Pennsylvania. These numerous derricks and oil lodes remind us of things about Oil City. Until I saw them I was not aware that you had here in Colorado oil production. It shows us how impartial, after all, the great Creator has been. He has given us everywhere possibilities which, if well improved, will make comfortable, happy homes. You have the metals, precious and common, and the coal that is needed for the smelter; oil to light your homes and lubricate your machinery, and these orchards and beautiful valleys, all in the right proximity. No man could have improved upon it. [Applause.] Our Government intends to have a careful and impartial consideration of all its people. We do not recognize classes or distinctions. We want everybody to be prosperous and happy, especially the working people. [Cheers.]

I do not know how our institutions could endure unless we so conduct our public affairs and society that every man who is sober and industrious shall be able to make a good, comfortable living and lay something aside for old age or for evil days; to have hope in his heart and better prospects for his children. That is the strength of American institutions. Whatever promotes that I want to favor. Whatever tends to pauperize our people or impair the earning power of the laboring class I do not favor. [Cheers.]

PUEBLO, COLORADO, MAY 11.

An artillery salute welcomed the party to Pueblo at 3:30 P.M. Mayor W. B. Hamilton, Col. M. H. Fitch, D. W. Barkley, Hon. I. W. Stanton, A. McClelland, and O. H. P. Baxter comprised the committee that escorted the President from Glenwood Springs. Arrived at the station the Chief Executive was conveyed to the Court House Square by the following Committee of Reception: E. C. Lyman, Paul Wilson, Benjamin Guggenheim, D. L. Holden, E. R. Chew, Fred Betts, N. O. McClees, W. A. Moses, F. E. Baldwin, A. S. Dwight, J. R. Flickenger, R. M. Stevenson, W. B. McKinney, John Lockin, E. C. Billings, A. F. Ely, W. B. Palmer, J. S. Johnston, N. E. Guyot, M. Studzinski, G. T. Nash, J. W. Purdy, P. F. Sharp, S. A. Abbey, E. H. Martin, N. S. Walpole, T. J. Cribbs, J. G. Keller, and C. C. Gaines. Upton Post, G. A. R., C. J. Long Commander, and many other organizations participated in the parade.

At the Court House Square 6,000 children greeted the President, who was introduced by Dr. William A. Olmsted and said:

_Children of the Public Schools and Others_--I am glad to meet such an immense number here, and I can't allow this opportunity to pass without expressing to you my thanks for this whole-souled reception. It moves my heart to say that from your appearances you are well taught, not only in manners but in your intellectual pursuits; your bright, ruddy faces show health, and as you are living in this healthful place it speaks marvels for Pueblo. The country need fear no attack from foreign foes when such an army as you'll some day make would be called into action. You have your destiny all before you, and no one can tell but that some of these boys may be a President and these beautiful girls advise those who are born to fill high places in the Government. Children, I am pleased to see you, and will hold in dear remembrance this, my first visit to Pueblo--a city full of American genius and enterprise, which will hold its own and keep on apace with that progress characteristic of Americans. God bless you all. [Cheers.]

As Mrs. Harrison's carriage drew up the school children presented her with a handsome painting--the "Colorado Columbine." The President then visited the Colorado Mineral Palace, where President L. S. McLain and Secretary Livezey of the Exposition presented him with specimens of rich ore.

Colonel Stanton made the welcoming address and introduced President Harrison to the great assemblage, who responded as follows:

_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--The brief time which we are able in this hasty journey to allot to the city of Pueblo has now almost expired. It has given me pleasure to drive through the streets of this prosperous and enterprising municipality and to see that you are concentrating great business interests which must in the future make you a very important centre in this great State. You have in this State a variety of resources unexcelled, I think, by any other State. Your attention was very naturally first directed toward the precious metals, to the mining of gold and silver. The commoner ores were neglected. Your cities were mining camps. Nowhere in all our history has the American capacity for civil organization been so perfectly demonstrated as in the mining camps of the West. Coming here entirely beyond the range of civil institutions, where courts, sheriffs, and police officers could not give a hand to suppress the unruly at a time when our mining laws were unframed, these pioneer miners of California, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, and Idaho wrought out for themselves in their mining camps a system of government and mining laws that have received the approval of the State. [Cheers.] It was quite natural that interest should have been first directed toward the precious metals. You are coming to realize that the baser metals, as we call them, with which your great hills are stored are of great and more lasting value. [Cheers.] We passed this morning through a region where I was surprised to see orchards that reminded me of California. Now for all these things, for the beneficent influence under which you live, for that good law that has distributed this public domain freely to every man who desires to make a home for himself and family, for this free Government that extends its protection over the humblest as well as the mighty, for all these resources of sky and air and earth, the people of Colorado should be joyously thankful. [Cheers.] I am glad to hail you as fellow-citizens. I am glad for a moment to stand in the midst of you, to see your great capabilities, and to assure you that my best wishes are with you in the development of them all. [Cheers] I am glad to know that Colorado, this young Centennial State, has established a system of free public schools unexcelled by any State in the Union [Cheers.] But, my friends, as I said once before, I am in slavery to a railroad schedule, and time is up Good-by. [Cheers.]

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, MAY 11.

The presidential party arrived at Colorado Springs at 6 o'clock in the evening and received the heartiest kind of a welcome. They were met at the station by the Hon. Ira G. Sprague, Mayor of the city, at the head of a large Committee of Reception, comprising the following prominent citizens: Judge John Campbell, J. F. Seldomridge, J. H. Barlow, Irving Howbert, J. W. Stillman, W. S. Jackson, B. F. Crowell, Col. Geo. De La Vergne, Hon. W. F. Slocum, J. A. Hayes, Jr., E. Barnett, Geo. H. Stewart, G. S. Barnes, W. A. Conant, W. L. Weed, H. C. McCreery, E. W. Davis, D. Heron, W. R. Roby, C. H. White, C. E. Noble, B. W. Steele, L. H. Gowdy, J. H. B. McFerran, D. M. Holden, W. S. Nichols, Dr. T. G. Horn, Dr. W. A. Campbell, Thomas Hughes, J. P. Barnes, W. A. Roby, Dr. B. P. Anderson, Judge J. B. Severy, T. A. McMorris, F. L. Martin, J. M. Sellers, H. H. Stevens, J. A. Weir, Geo. W. Thorne, J. J. Hagerman, H. C. Lowe, L. R. Ehrich, J. F. Pebbles, Charles Thurlow, A. Van Vechten, E. S. Wooley, J. M. Ellison, C. C. Hoyt, Dr. W. M. Strickler, Dr. J. P. Grannis, Dr. S. E. Solly, Judge William Harrison, W. H. Reed, Geo. F. Whitney, E. A. Colburn, W. R. Barnes, Charles W. Collins, N. O. Johnson, E. W. Giddings, P. C. Helm, C. E. Durkee, W. C. Stark, Matt Wilbur, C. E. Stubbs, H. C. Fursman, J. H. Sinclair, L. P. Lowe, J. C. Woodbury, W. H. Tilton, L. A. Pease, Thomas Barber, David McShane, H. A. Fuller, W. A. Perkins, Fred Robinson, Geo. B. Perry, Count James Pourtales, W. B. Faunce, E. M. Stedman, M. W. Everleth, Dr. O. Gillette, A. A. McGooney, E. J. Eaton, Matt France, Henry L. B. Wills, H. S. Ervay, C. J. Reynolds, Frank White, W. F. Anderson, Thomas Parrish, P. A. McCurdy, C. B. Crowell, W. A. Otis, J. N. Bolton, H. A. Ferugson, H. Collbran, Geo. P. Riplet, H. G. Lunt, T. H. Edsall, A. L. Lawton, W. H. D. Merrill, K. H. Field, Dr. H. T. Cooper, A. J. Denton, H. I. Reid, C. W. Howbert, W. H. Hoagland, J. W. D. Stovell, S. H. Kingsley, F. A. Mangold, Dr. T. C. Kirkwood, Godfrey Kissell, Thomas Gough, V. Z. Reed, H. S. Van Petten, T. S. Brigham, O. P. Hopkins, D. C. Dudley, E. R. Stark, A. S. Holbrook, Milo Rowell, Charles Walker, Prof. J. E. Ray, W. S. Nichols, Thomas Shideler, Leonard Jackson, L. C. Dana, L. E. Sherman, Samuel Bradford, William Clark, F. E. Dow, Geo. P. Vaux, I. J. Woodworth, A. A. Williams, W. D. Belden, W. H. Goshen, D. A. Russell, C. L. Gillingham, C. E. Aiken, Dr. G. W. Lawrence, Geo. H. Parsons, Jehu Fields, Edward Ferris, E. F. Clark, A. Sutton, Phil Strubel, F. A. Sperry, P. K. Pattison, L. H. Gilbert, Prof. Wm. Strieby, Theo. Harrison, F. H. Morley, E. T. Ensign, Wm. Lennox, W. H. McIntyre, J. E. Newton, John Hundley, Dr. F. Hale, John Lennox, Wm. Bischoff, N. J. Davis, J. L. Clinton, J. D. O'Haire, Dr. B. St. G. Tucker, E. S. Josleyn, Seth Baker, Joseph Dozier, O. Roberts, J. E. Ray, J. Plumb, H. Hall, Dr. M. S. Smith, W. H. Sanford, Lawrence Myers, S. N. Nye, John Potter, C. H. Burgess, L. G. Goodspeed, J. Sumner, E. F. Rudy, Maj. O. Remick, E. S. Bumstead, G. C. Hemenway, John Simmons, H. Halthusen, William Banning, Reuben Berrey, A. H. Corman, F. D. Pastorious, J. L. Armit, Judson Bent, Rev. James B. Gregg, Rev. A. R. Kieffer, Rev. R. Montague, Rev. H. H. Bell, Rev. J. P. Lucas, Rev. M. D. Ormes, Rev. H. E. Warner, and Rev. M. Carrington.

The G. A. R. veterans comprised the presidential guard of honor during the parade through the city. Civic organizations from Manitou, Colorado City, Colfax, and Koener participated in the demonstration, which was very fine and received the special commendation of President Harrison.

After the parade the Garfield School was visited, and the President addressed the scholars as follows:

You have very appropriately named this school in which you have gathered a portion of the children of Colorado Springs for instruction--Garfield. I understand another of your public schools is named after Abraham Lincoln. That, too, is a most appropriate designation; for where, in all the story of our country, among its men who have been illustrious in civil pursuits or in war, can two names be found which furnish more inspiration and hope to the youth of the land than the names of Lincoln and Garfield? [Applause.] Both men came of parentage so poor that no advantages attended their early years, and yet each by his own indomitable will, by the persevering improvement of the meagre opportunities they enjoyed, reached the highest place in our land, and are to-day embalmed in the affectionate recollection of their countrymen. I bid you all to read the lessons of these great lives, and to ponder them well, for while not all may achieve all they achieved, useful and honorable position may be achieved by you all. Wishing you every prosperity and success, I bid you good-by. [Cheers.]

At night the city was brilliantly illuminated. A public reception was held at the Hotel Antlers. The President and his party were assisted by Governor and Mrs. Routt and the Citizens' Committee. The welcoming ceremonies took place before a great assemblage; Mayor Sprague made the address.

The President, responding, said:

_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--I am sure you will crown the kindness which you have shown me to-day by permitting me to make my response to these words of welcome exceedingly brief. I have spoken four or five times to-day, and the chill of the evening will not allow me to exercise my voice with the accustomed immunity, but I cannot refrain from saying to you how much we have been pleased by the hasty glimpse we have been permitted to get of this beautiful city. The fame of Colorado Springs has spread throughout the entire East. I heard much of the beauty of its location, the grandeur and sublimity of these mountains that stand about bulwarked, as it is, like Jerusalem of old; of the health-giving atmosphere that fills this valley, of the marvellous springs, refreshing and life giving, which break out from your mountain sides; of these marvellous and weird products of time that stand in the Garden of the Gods--of all this I had heard. But, my countrymen, no spring that ever broke from mountain side, no bracing air that ever filled these valleys, was more refreshing and invigorating to the invalid or to the weary than your hearty greeting has been to us. [Cheers.]