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President Theodore Roosevelt Visits Wheeling
On September 6, 1902, President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt arrived in Wheeling gave a speech to thousands of onlookers from the balcony of the McLure Hotel.
- photos from Harper's Weekly, September 20, 1902, Special Collections, Ohio County Public Library Archives (center photo shows Wheeling mayor Andrew T. Sweeney [January 1899-January 1905] in carriage with President Roosevelt).
- article from the Wheeling Sunday Register, September 7, 1902
Rousing Cheers Met Nation’s Chief
Special Train Arrived Five Minutes Behind Time to the Music of “Hail to the Chief” by Bands.
A Great Ovation – Reception Committee Became Seperated – Messrs Laughlin and Hill Were First at Executive’s Side.
Pleased With City
AT eight o’clock quite a crowd had assembled at the B. & O. depot in anticipation of seeing the President. Chief Ritz and his squad arrived a few minutes later and cleared the inner portion of the station with the exception of the committee. B. & O. detectives wearing rough rider hats were also in evidence.
A fine open brougham awaited off the South street exit for the President. The vehicle was drawn by four handsome bays, and was profusely decorated with flowers of variegated colors, while stretched across the rear seat was an American ensign. The Opera House Band arrived a few minutes before the scheduled time of the arrival of the train. The committee on reception composed of Mayor Andrew Sweeney, George A. Laughlin, President of the Board of Trade, John M. Birch, Secretary of the Board of Trade, James K. Hall, Postmaster, and John Waterhouse, councilman, reached the station about the same time.
President Was Delighted.
At 6:35 the train from Washington containing the President and party, was sighted down the long stretch of track on Water street, and the reception committee immediately started down the platform. In some way, Messrs. Hall, Waterhouse and Mayor Sweeney became separated from Messrs. Laughlin and Birch and the latter were the first to greet the President. The party alighted from the train below the B. & O. bridge and its members were compelled to walk over the rails and cross-ties before reaching the platform.
Senator Scott assisting the President headed the procession, and when met by Messrs. Laughlin and Birch introduced them.
“Gentlemen,” said the President, in a most gracious manner, “I am delighted to meet you.”
Despite his badly discolored face, President Roosevelt seemed to be in perfect health. The right side of his face was swollen and very much discolored. The left eye was also badly contused but not swollen. The party proceeded up the platform to the depot where the carriages awaited them.
“Hail to the Chief.”
As the party neared the carriages Messrs. Waterhouse, Hall and Mayor Sweeney came running up from behind where Senator Scott introduced them to the President.
As he came out and entered his carriage the band struck up “Hail to the Chief,” and the crowd burst out in one mighty cheer.
The President, Senator Scott and Mayor Sweeney entered the four horsed brougham. The second carriage contained Secretary Cartelyou, Messrs. Waterhouse and Laughlin. The third carriage contained Assistant Secretary Barnes, Messrs. Hall and Birch. Then followed carriages containing the other members of the party, as follows:
Personnel of the Party.
Dr. Geo. A. Lung, Mr. M. C. Latta, stenographer; Mr. S. B. Hoge, general agent passenger department Baltimore and Ohio railroad; Mr. H. A. Colman, Associated Press; Mr. Lindsay Dennison, New York Sun Association; Mr. G. J. Karger, Scrippes-McRae Press Association, Mr. James Y. Hare, Collier’s Weekly; Mr. George B. Lucky, Leslie’s Weekly; Mr. Peter A. Juley, Harper’s Weekly; Mr. Ernest G. Walker, Washington Post; Mr. John K. Stauffer, Washington Times; Mr. H. A. Strohmeyer, Mr. R. L. Dunn, photographers; Mr. E. P. Griffith, Western Union Telegraph Company; Mr. J. P. Gooch, Post Telegraph Cable Company; Col. L. S. Brown, general agent Southern Railway, and two messengers.
Streets Were Packed.
The procession, headed by the Opera House Band, then started up South street to Main and from thence to Fourteenth to Market, and drew up at the Twelfth street entrance to the McLure. All along the route the streets were packed with people who gave the Executive a rousing cheer at second intervals. The President, who was sitting in the rear of the brougham, facing in the direction in which the procession was heading, removed his hat to each outburst.
At the entrance to the McLure House, special police were stationed and kept the way clear. This also prevailed in the corridors of the hotel, through which the President was to pass.
Streets Packed Along Route Of Drive.
Ovation Greeted President From Thousands of Throats as He Passed Through Thoroughfares.
IMMEDIATELY upon the conclusion of the address the President retired from the balcony to the parlor, where he chatted for a few minutes with various persons while his carriage was being gotten in readiness, and then he was escorted to it, taking a seat with Mayor Sweeney and Senator Scott. Mr. E. B. Franzheim, who had general control of the arrangements, assigned the other gentlemen to the long line of vehicles, the band played, the police escort, mounted and on foot, fell into place, and the tour of the central portion of the city and across the bridges began. It was impossible to secure a complete list of the occupants of the various carriages, and the original arrangement was somewhat deviated from, but the following is a fairly complete list:
No. 1 – President Roosevelt, Mayor Sweeney, Senator N. B. Scott.
No. 2 – Secretary Courtelyou, President George A. Laughlin of the Board of Trade; Councilman John Waterhouse.
No. 3 – Assistant Secretary Barnes, Postmaster James K. Hall, Dr. Lang, Secretary of the Board of Trade John M. Birch.
No. 4 – Two visitors, Congressman B. B. Dovener, Charles H. Taney.
No. 5 – Two visitors, Rev. Dr. D. A. Cunningham, W. P. Hubbard.
No. 6 – Two visitors, Rt. Rev. P. J. Donahue and H. C. Ogden.
No. 7 – Two visitors, J. C. Brady and P. O. Reymann.
No. 8 – Two visitors, Hullihen Quarrier and H. C. Franzheim.
No. 9 – Two visitors, W. L. Glessner and J. J. Holloway.
No. 10 – Two visitors, George E. House and Clark Hamilton.
No. 11 – Two visitors, Joseph Speidel and W. Alfred Wilson.
No. 12 – Two visitors, Alexander Glass and G. D. Elsworth.
No. 13 – H. W. McLure, Geo. W. Lutz, D. Gutman and S. M. Rice.
No. 14 – R. W. Hazlett and H. P. McGregor.
No. 15 – Two visitors and B. W. Peterson.
No. 16 – Two visitors, Randolph Stalnaker and George E. Stifel.
No. 17 – Two visitors, L. E. Sands and W. E. Stone.
No. 18 – Col. Craighill, Col. Williams and Capt. Stockle.
DRIVE TAKEN WAS SHORT.
As has been said this list was necessarily somewhat deviated from owing to the absence of some gentlemen and the impossibility of finding others in their regular order, but all were accommodated, and the drive, although short, was a very pleasant one. Thousands of people lined the streets and were stationed upon the bridges, and there was applause at frequent intervals.
Returning to the city from the Island the presidential party was driven as rapidly as possible to the special train at Ford’s crossing, where, after a brief wait, the departure for the west and south was made at about schedule time.
Every detail of the visit was carried out without a hitch, and after the departure and last evening the local committees pardonably congratulated themselves upon the smoothness with which the arrangements had been carried out. Everything was done with tact and discretion, and the President proved himself to be a very agreeable guest, both socially and as a public officer. He met every one to whom he was presented with great cordiality, and had a kind word and a smile for all. The day was the first anniversary of his succession to the Presidency, but the fact was not suggested to him so far as is known.
President Tells How We Must Combat The Trust Problem – Courage, Determination, And Patience, Will Win.
“This problem is a problem which affects the life of the nation as a whole.
“The stupendous corporation of the present day certainly should be under governmental supervision and regulation.
“I don’t think you can accomplish much among the forty-six sovereigns of the states. I think it will have to be through the national government. You can control and regulate them and see that they do no harm.
“There should be one sovereign to which the big corporations should be responsible, a sovereign in whose courts a corporation could be held accountable for any failure to comply with the law. Some of my ultra conservative friends have professed to be greatly shocked at my advocating this now. I would explain to those gentlemen, once for all, that they err when they think that I advocate on the stump anything that I will not try to put into effect after election.
“I think that by legislation additional power in the way of regulation of at least a number of these great corporations can be curbed. But, gentlemen, I firmly believe that in the end power must be given – probably through a Constitutional amendment to the national government, to exercise in full supervision and regulation of these great enterprises.”
Deals Trusts 30 Body Blows In 30 Minutes
The National Government Should be Given Power to Control Corporations and Guide Course, He Says
New Legislation Must Be Enacted Centralizing Control of Menace. In One Sovereign Power.
Strikes At Root
Promptly at 9 o’clock the President appeared upon the balcony of the McLure.
Senator Scott stepped to the railing and addressing immense audience, said:
“It is a great pleasure to me to introduce to you the President of the United States,” (Applause.)
As the President appeared at the railing he was greeted with hearty applause. Following is a verbatim copy of his address.
The President Said:
My Friends and Fellow Citizens: -It is a pleasure to come to your city. I wish to thank the mayor, and through the mayor all of your citizens for the way in which, upon your behalf, he has greeted me. And I wish to state that it is a special pleasure to be introduced by my friend. Senator Scott (Applause.) because I have known the Senator for some time and I like him because when he gives you his word you don’t have to think about it again. (Applause.)
I am glad to have the chance of saying a few words here in this great industrial centre, in one of those cities, one of those regions which has felt to a notable degree the offsets of the great period of prosperity through which we are now passing. Probably never before in our history has the country been more prosperous than it is at this moment, and it is a prosperity which has come alike to the tillers of the soil and to those connected with our great industrial enterprises.
Gets After the Trusts.
Now, gentlemen, every period has its own troubles and difficulties. A period of adversity, of course, troubles us all, but there are troubles in connection with a period of prosperity also. When things flourish, just exactly as the things we do not like to flourish, and a period of great national material well being is inevitably one in which men’s minds are turned to the way in which those interested in management of the gigantic capitalistic corporations, whose growth has been so notably apparent for the past half century, flourish – the corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as “trusts,”. Accepting the word in its usual and common significance as a big corporation, usually doing business in several states at least besides the state in which it is incorporated, and often with some element of monopoly in it-often-not always.
Two Classes to Convert.
It seems to me that in dealing with this problem of the trusts, or, what, perhaps, it would be more accurate to call the growth of problems which come into our minds when we think of the trusts – when dealing with that growth of problems we have two classes of our fellow citizens whom we have to convert or convince. One is composed of those men who refuse to admit that there is any action necessary at all. The other is composed of those men who advocate some action so extreme, so foolish, that it would either be entirely non-effective, or, if effective, would be effective only by destroying everything, good and bad, connected with our industrial development.
In every governmental project the aim that a people capable of self-government should steadfastly keep in mind is to proceed by evolution rather than by revolution. (Applause.)
And, on the other hand, every people fit for self-government must be aware of that fossilization of mind which refuses to allow any change as conditions change.
Likens Question to Mississippi
Now, in dealing with the whole problem of the change in our great industrial civilization, in dealing with the tendencies which have been accentuated to such an extraordinary a degree by steam and electricity and of the tremendous up building of industrial centres which steam and electricity have been the main factors in bringing about-in dealing with these problems I think we must set before ourselves the desire not to accept less than the possible, and at the same time not to bring ourselves to a complete stand still by demanding the impossible. It is a good deal of a job as it is in taking care, through engineering, of the lower Mississippi river. No one can dam the Mississippi. If you tried it, if the nation tried it, it would waste its times and throw away its own means, but it would incidentally damage the population along the banks.
You Cannot Reverse Tendencies of Age
You can’t dam the current. You can build levies to keep the current within bound and to shape its direction. Now I think that is exactly what we can do in connection with these great corporations known as “trusts.” We cannot reverse the industrial tendencies of the age. If you succeed in doing it, then all cities like Wheeling will have to go out of business. Remember that you cannot put a stop to or reverse the industrial tendencies of the age. But you can control and regulate them and see that they do no harm. (Applause.)
A flood goes down the Mississippi. You can’t stop it. Try to build a dam across it, and it would check the flood, but it would not benefit you. You can guide it between levees so as to prevent its doing injury – so as to ensure its doing good.
Another thing you don’t build those levees in a day or a month. A man who told you that he had a patent device by which in sixty days he would solve the whole question of floods along the lower Mississippi would not be a wide man, but he would be a perfect miracle of wisdom compared to the man who tells you that by any one patent remedy he can bring the millennium in our industrial and social affairs. (Applause.)
A Great Deal Can be Done.
We can do something: I believe we can do a good deal, but our doing that, our accomplishing what I except to see accomplished, is conditioned upon our setting to work in a spirit as far removed as possible from hysterics – a spirit of sober, steadfast, kindly, - I want to emphasize that – kindly determination not to submit to wrong ourselves and not to wrong others not to interfere with the great business development of the country, and at the same time so to shape our legislation and administration as to minimize, if we cannot eradicate, the unpleasant and vicious features connect ed with that industrial development.
Now, I have said that there can be no patent remedy offered. There isn’t any one thing which can be done to remove all of the existing evils. There are a great many things which, if we do them all, will. I believe, make a very great appreciable betterment in the existing conditions.
Pledges Promises Will Be Kept.
Now, to do that is not to make a promise that will evoke will enthusiasm, but it is a promise that will evoke will enthusiasm, but it is a promise that is to be kept, and in the long run it is much more comfortable only to make promises that can be kept instead of making promises which are sure of an immense reception when made, but which entail intolerable humiliation when it is attempted to carry them out. (Applause.)
I am sufficiently fortunate to advocating now as President precisely the remedies that I advocated two years ago, advocating them not in any partisan spirit, because, gentlemen; this problem is a problem which affects the life of the nation as a whole – of all of use – advocating them simply as the American citizen who for the time being stands as the Chief Executive, and therefore as the chief representative of his fellow American citizens of all politics. (Applause.)
Growth of Corporations.
A century and a quarter ago there had been no development of industries such as to make it a matter of the least importance whether the nation or the States took charge of the great corporations and to supervise the great business and industrial organizations. A century and a quarter ago here at Wheeling commerce was carried on by hack, by wagon, by boat. That was the way it was carried on throughout the whole civilized world – oars and sails – wheeled vehicles – beasts of burden. Those were the means of carrying on commerce at the end of the eighteenth century when this country became a nation. There had been no radical change in the means – no essential change in the means of carrying on commerce from the days when the Venetian galleys plowed the waiters of the Mediterranean for four or five thousand years – perhaps for longer. The great civilized nation, dating back into the immemorial past, when Babylon and Ninevah stood in Mesopotamia – when Thebes and Memphis were mighty in the valley of the Nile – from that time on to the supremacy of Greece, of Rome, through the up building of the great cities like Venice, like the cities of the Rhine and of the Netherlands in Northern Europe – on through the period of the great expansion of the civilization which followed the voyages of Columbus and the De Gamo – right down to the time when this nation became a nation – the means of commercial intercourse remained substantially unchanged.
Great Changes Took Place.
These means, therefore, limited narrowly what could be done by any corporation – the growth that could take place in any community. Suddenly during our life time as a nation – a life time trivial in duration compared to the period of recorded history – suddenly during that period there came a revolution in the means of intercourse which revolutionized - which made a change in commerce, and in all that springs from commerce in industrial development greater than all the changes of the preceding thousands of years. A greater change has taken place since Wheeling was founded – since the first settlers built their log huts in the great forests on the banks of this river – a greater change in the means of intercourse of mankind has taken place than in all the previous period during which man had led an existence that can be called civilized. The railway, the electric telegraph all the other developments due to steam and electricity worked a complete revolution. This has meant, of course that entirely new problems have sprung up.
New Legislation Necessary.
You have right in this immediate neighborhood a much larger population – a very much larger population than any similar region in the United States held when the Continental Congress began to sit, and the change in industrial conditions has been literally immeasurable.
Those changed conditions need a corresponding change in the governmental agencies, necessary for their regulation and supervision. Such agencies were not provided for and could not have been provided in default of a knowledge of prophesy by the men who founded the republic. In those days each State could take care perfectly well of any corporations with its limits. All it had to do was to try and encourage their up-building. Now, the corporations, although nominally creature of the State, usually do their business the big corporations – in other States, and in a very large number of cases the wide variety of State laws on the subject of corporations has brought about the fact that the corporation is made in one State, but does almost all its work in entirely different States.
Uniformity of Laws a Necessity.
It has proved utterly impossible to get anything like uniformity of legislation among the States. Some States have passed laws about the corporations, which, if they had been in effect would have totally prevented any corporate work being done within their States – I mean any important corporate work being done within their States. Other States have such lax laws that there is no effective effort made to control any of the abuses. As a result we the nation has something to say, but it is a little difficult to know exactly how much; and where the different States have each something to say, but where there is no supreme power that can speak with authority. It is, of course, a mere truism to say that every corporation, the smallest and largest, is the creature of the State.
Government Supervision the Remedy.
Where the corporation is small there is very little need of exercising much supervision over them, but the stupendous corporations of the present certainly should be under governmental supervision and regulation. (Applause.) And the first effort to make is to give to somebody the power to exercise that supervision – that regulation. We have already laws on the statute books. Those laws will be enforced, and are being enforced, with all the power of the national government, and wholly of the national government, and wholly without regard to persons. (Applause.)
But the power is very limited. Now, I think – and I want you to take my words at their exact value – I think, I cannot say I am sure, because it has often happened in the past that Congress has passed a law with a given purpose in view and when that law has been judicially interpreted t has proved that the purpose was not achieved - but I think that by legislation additional power in the way of regulation of at least a number of these great corporations can be conferred.
Power Must be Centralized.
But, gentlemen, I firmly believe that in the end power must be given – probably through a Constitutional amendment to the national government – to exercise in full supervision and regulation of these great enterprises. (Applause.)
Now, that is not a new doctrine for me that I am advocating. That is the doctrine I advocated on the stump two years ago. (Applause.) Some of my ultra conservative friends have professed to be greatly shocked at my advocating it now. I would explain to those gentlemen, once, for all, that they err when they think that I advocate anything that I will not try to put into effect after election. (Applause.)
True, the objection is made that working along these lines will take time. So it will. Let me come back to my illustration of the Mississippi river. It took some time to complete the levees. But you built them, and if we have the proper intelligence – the proper resolution and the proper self-restraints we can work out the solution along these lines that I have indicated.
The First Thing Is the Power.
The first thing is to give the national government the power. What power is given I can assure you will be used in a spirit as free as possible from rancor of any kind, but with the firmest determination to make big men and little men alike obey the law. (Applause.) Then what we need first, is power. Having gotten the power, gentlemen, remember that he work won’t be ended. It will only be fairly begun. But remember, let me say again and again, and again, that you won’t get the millennium. Not a bit. The millennium is some way off yet, but you will be in position to make long strides in advance –tend to stop many of evils and it will show that some alleged evils are imaginary, and finally in making evident the remaining evils. Those that are not imaginary and that are not cured by the simple light of day – in making those clear – it will give us an intelligent appreciation of the methods to take in getting at them. We should have under such circumstances, one sovereign to which the big corporations would be responsible – a sovereign in whose course a corporation could be held accountable for any failure in the direction of securing a juster, fairer, a more wise and more honest management of these corporations but as regards the general public and as regards their relationship among themselves and to the investing powers. When you have the power I most earnestly hope and should most earnestly advocate that it be used with the greatest wisdom and self-restraint.
Publicity Must Be Had.
The first thing to do would be to find out the facts. For that purpose I am absolutely clear that we need publicity – that we need publicity not as a matter of favor from any one corporation but as a matter of right, secured through the agents of the government from all the corporations concerned. The mere fact of the publicity itself will tend to stop many of the evils and it will show that some alleged evils are imaginary, and finally in making evident the remaining evils. Those that are not imaginary and that are not cured by the simple light of day – in making those clear – it will give us an intelligent appreciation of the methods to take in getting at them. We should have, under such circumstances, one sovereign to which the big corporations should be responsible – a sovereign in whose courts a corporation could be held accountable for any failure to comply with the law of the Legislature of that sovereign.
National Government the Power.
I don’t think you can accomplish that among the forty-six sovereigns of the States. I think it will have to be through the central government – through the national government.
Now, I want to draw one lesson from the experience of some of you whom I see in the audience who fought in the Civil war. You recollect, and you can recollect well, whether you wore the blue or the gray, how the people who sat at home were “dead-sure” that you ought to do everything quick. Take you – my friend there- who wears the button that shows you fought in the grand army, if you remember the days just before Bull Run, that all of the excellent people who were at home said that it was you duty to go down to Richmond – on to Richmond – you remember that. (Laughter.) They demanded that it be done and they wanted it done then – within two weeks.
Moved the Other Way.
Then Bull Run came along and the movement was the other way. (Laughter.) And then the same men who had been demanding at the tops of their voices that you should instantly go on to Richmond said that the war was over – it was done – nothing more to be accomplished. You and those like you do not think so. The men, north and south, were built of different stuff. This war went on for four years, and you would not have got to Richmond at all if you had demanded that you only get there by a patent device. It was not the way you got there. You got there by setting your feet and making up your mind that you were to see that fight through – that you would fact defeat, come up again and try it again, and if defeated try it again, until out of defeat you wrested triumph. You made up your minds that you would win by the same qualities which have made good soldiers win from the time the world was young.
The Spirit Remains Here.
The men in blue and the men in gray both fought in the great Civil war – they had different weapons and were drilled in different tactics from the soldiers who followed Washington and Green[e] and Mad Anthony Wayne – who fought under Marion – who fought at Bunker Hill, who fought at Kings Mountain. You had different uniforms, different weapons, different tactics, but the soul that drove you forward was the same – the spirit that drove you forward was the same. (Applause.) If ever this country should be called, as I most earnestly hope it never will be called, to face a serious foreign foe, the men that fight will have high-power, small-calibre, smokeless rifles. They will fight in open order instead of with the old elbow-to-elbow touch. They will fight under entirely new tactics – under entirely different conditions. But if they win they will win because they have in them the same stuff their fathers had in the Civil war and that their great grandfathers had in the Revolution. (Applause.) The weapon changes – the gun changes – but the qualities of the man behind the gun have got to remain the same as ever.
Conditions Call for Change.
It is just so in dealing with these problems of citizenship. The changed conditions means that there must be changes in the law – changes from time to time in the fundamental underlying law of the land which we call the constitution. The law now and then has to be changed, but in the long run it is the man behind the law that counts. We need good laws; we need the very best laws – we need to amend it so as to keep it what it is – the best constitution. But no constitution – no law – will supply the place in the average individual of those qualities which enter into the make-up of good citizenship – it is just as it is in battle. I hate – and if any National Guardsman is here he will appreciate what I mean – to have to see our National Guard army with a black powder musket. I would about as soon see them armed with a cross-bow. I believe that any man wearing a uniform of his Uncle Sam’s, that may be Uncle Sam’s in an emergency, that for him the best weapon is none too good. (Applause). But if you give a man the best weapon in the world and he himself is a pretty poor sort of creature, he will be beaten by a good man with a club. (Laughter.)
Courage Needed for Action
It is just so in the field of civic life. If our average citizenship is low, no laws will save us. There are other countries with almost exactly our constitution, with very much similar laws to ours, where, nevertheless, the experiment of free government has been almost a failure because the men were not the same, because they did not have the same stuff for citizenship.
In the last resort it must be the high average standard of citizenship upon which we will have to rely in this reform. Something can be done by law, something can be done by honest and fearless administration of the law, but most of all we must depend upon having the right kind of men, the right kind of women in the country. We need intellect, but we need more than intellect; we need character – character, which counts most; that is what counts more than anything else. Character which counts for the individual in private life, which counts in the life of the citizen, character which we see in our public men when they tackle the problem of the trusts or of anything else, character which is composed of many elements, but which must contain these three; Honesty first.
What Roosevelt Did In Two Hours
All Classes Joined in Honor to the Democrats – Republican President.
The President arrived and departed yesterday under the most pleasant auspices, and his address was delivered under ideal conditions and to an audience numbering several thousand people.
The hour was necessarily an early one, not well calculated for a popular assemblage – it was cold, foggy and dark in the early hours, and yet, although the audience at the hotel and the crowd at the depot was slow in assembling, it was there on time, and while there was no applause at the Baltimore & Ohio station, every word uttered at the McLure House was listened to with the closest attention, and there were frequent manifestations of approval.
The theme of the address was the trusts and combinations of capital, and incidentally of the rapid changes which have lately taken place in our business and economic conditions, and this led to a consideration of the remedies to be applied to rectify apparent evils, with the caution accompanying the suggestions that the people must bear in mind that corrective legislation could not be devised, enacted nor applied in a day, but it might take much time to achieve desired results along equitable lines. This Presidential impression was illustrated in several ways, as will be apparent from a reading of the speech, a stenographic report of which is herewith submitted to our readers.
After the address, the programme of a carriage ride was carried out, and at the appointed time the party returned to the special train and departed for the South in fulfillment of the schedule previously announced. Chattanooga being the objective point.
The McLure House has seldom contained a more distinguished or representative aggregation of citizens than yesterday morning. All parties all religions, and all conditions and businesses were represented, and there was a very agreeable social session both before and after the address. The subsequent carriage ride was a pleasant one, and was greatly enjoyed by the President, after his prolonged confinement on the cars.
Four Thousand In Reach Of His Voice.
Bruised Cheek and Black Eye Showed Trace of Accident – The President at the McLure House.
THE Presidential party was scheduled to reach the city at half-past 8 in the morning and the train came promptly on time.
At the McLure, at a quarter of 8 o’clock, there were probably fifty people lined up along the adjacent sidewalks, with a few gentlemen of the committee inside the hotel. Fifteen minutes later the outside crowd had increased to seventy-five or eighty, and at half-past 8 it numbered 150. Ten minutes later there were 400, and then the expectant audience increased by leaps and bounds of hundreds, apparently, every moment, until at the time of the arrival of the party in carriages and the appearance of the President on the hotel balcony there were from three to four thousand ladies and gentlemen within hearing distance of the corner of Main and Twelfth street.
The Party on the Balcony.
The reception committee was present bright and early. About the first noticeable arrival was Rev. D. A. Cunningham, who, by the way, stood close to the President during his address and listened attentively to his remarks. Then in order came W. P. Hubbard, in a closely buttoned-up overcoat; L. E. Sands, Clark Hamilton, Harry McLure, W. E. Stone, Captain B. B. Dovener, “Bert” Hazlett, S. M. Rice, Joseph Speidel, Secretary John M. Birch, of the Board of Trade; Hullihen Quarrier, B. W. Peterson, Colonel Craighill, U. S. A.; H. P. McGregor, Treasury Department Agent C. D. Ellsworth, George W. Lutz, Senator N. B. Scott, J. C. Brady, Captain Pritchard, C. H. Taney, Right Rev. P. J. Donahue, H. C. Ogden, George House and others entitled to the privileges of the parlor floor.
Here Came the President.
These gentlemen chatted cordially and whiled away the time until the strains of the band announced the arrival of the distinguished party, the President being greeted with applause as he alighted from his closely police-escorted carriage and entered the hotel. He was at once greeted by the members of the committee and took the elevator to the parlor floor, passing, after a few friendly greetings, into the parlor, where he was introduced to a score or more of gentlemen.
The President showed a decided trace of his recent accident in a marked discoloration on the right side of his face and a black eye, but otherwise he appeared to be in perfect physical condition and in the best of humor. For possibly six or seven minutes he chatted with those presented to him and then was escorted to the balcony, where Senator Scott presented him to the audience.
His Voice Often Broke.
It was noticeable that during his speech, the President’s voice often broke, running up to a high note at the close of a sentence. Another peculiarity was his pronunciation of certain words, such as “war,” which reached his hearers as “wah.” At times he was singularly happy in the construction of his sentences, as, for instance: ‘It is the man behind the law that count,’ and “No law can supply the qualities which go to make up good citizenship;” “Give the national government power;” “What is given will be used in a spirit as far as possible from rancor of any kind, but with the firmest determination to make big men and little men alike obey the law;” “To do that we must have publicity.” These and many other similar expressions were heartily applauded.
The Police Were Handled Perfectly.
Chief Ritz and all the members of the police force have good reason to congratulate themselves on the splendid manner in which their part in the reception of President Roosevelt was carried out. There was not a break or a slip at any point of their performance of their delicate and arduous duties. At the depot, on the line of march, and at the McLure House every man did the right thing at the right time. It is known by but few that on the day preceding the President’s coming there were four members of the United States secret service in the city. One of these asked Chief Ritz for his outlined program or plan for the day, and when it had been stated to him, complimented the chief by saying that he could suggest no improvements in it. This official did not remain in the city yesterday, having, after his interview with Chief Ritz, gone at once to Chattanooga to see that necessary arrangements had been made there for the President’s visit.
The uniformed men in immediate command of Lieutenants Frohme and Larnhart marched and did their work with the exactness of regulars. The mounted escort with the President’s carriage kept themselves in such positions as not to obstruct the President’s view of the people or the people’s view of him, a very commendable action, on their part.
The plain clothes detectives, O’Leary, MacDonald, Humes and Monroe, were silent but active and alert, and the result shows how well every member of the force performed their very important duties.
Incidents And Notes Of President’s Visit.
Just after President Roosevelt had boarded the train at Ford’s Crossing, a friend of Squire Schultz requested one of the party to convey to the President that one of the oldest Republicans in the city would like to shake hands with him. The President promptly came to the platform, reached down and gave the Squire a cordial grip and conversed with him for a moment.
As the President and party were proceeding through the corridor on the second floor of the McLure House to meet the delegation of citizens, Dr. Lung, the President’s physician, approached Harry McLure, who was standing near the door: “Are you the head bell boy?” he asked. Mr. McLure nodded in the affirmative. “Well, here is a quarter, go get me a sedlitz powder.” The hotel proprietor carried out the joke to perfection. He procured the powder and with the twenty cents change waited for the physician to come in off the balcony. When the President concluded his speech, Mr. McLure, with a long, serious face, presented the sedlitz powder to Dr. Lung with the change. The doctor took the powder but handed back the two dimes with a “That’s for you,” and gave Mr. McLure a push by. It will be a standing joke at the McLure House for a long time.
Both the police on foot and those mounted presented a fine appearance. Chief Ritz rode to the right of the rear of the President’s carriage and looked like a soldier. The officers experienced no difficulty in clearing the way till the procession was on its way down Main street after visiting the Island. Here the street was a perfect jam, but the patrol, which was only a short distance in advance of the carriages, cleared the way in a very dexterous manner before the head of the procession arrived.
Another incident at Ford’s crossing of the pleasant nature, occurred just after the President boarded the train. The crowd clamored loudly for him to make his appearance, but there was nothing doing. At last a happy thought entered the mind of one of the crowd, who knowing that little Lola Virginia Devine’s father, Hon. Joseph M. Devine, ex-governor of South Dakota, was a friend of President Roosevelt, lifted the little girl to the platform, and asked one of the secret service men to call the President. Sure enough Teddy was out in a jiffy, and grasping the child’s hands said, “I am so glad to see you; I remember your father well,”
Among the visiting newspaper men in town were: “Jack” H. Andrews, of the Steubenville Herald-Star; Joe B. Harris, of the Toronto Tribune; C. McD. Hamilton, of the Pittsburg Dispatch; Robert Sample, of the Pittsburg Dispatch; W. L. Ross, of the Pittsburg Gazette, and Wilbur T. Holtz, of the Pittsburg Post.
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