CHAPTER VIII. SAN FRANCISCO TO WASHINGTON. A banquet was given to the President at the Palace Hotel in the evening by the Citizens' Committee, M. H. de Young presiding. On his right was the President, Governor Pardee, Admiral Bickford, Doctor Rixey, Admiral Kempff and Doctor Butler; and on his left, Secretary Moody, Mayor Schmitz, Senator Perkins, General MacArthur and Doctor Wheeler. One of the features of the decorations was an immense garland of California fruits, swung on the south wall of the room. Stretching from one end of the hall to the other were electric lights, spelling "Land of Sunshine, Fruit and Flowers Welcomes President Roosevelt." The President in his address said: "I rejoice with you in the prosperity of California, and that prosperity is but part of the prosperity of the whole union. Speaking broadly, prosperity must of necessity come to all of us or to none of us. This Golden State has a future of even brighter promise than most of her older sisters; and yet the future is bright for all of us. "California, still in her youth, can look forward to such growth as only a few of her sister states may share. Yet there are immense possibilities of growth for all our states. In this growth, in keeping and increasing our prosperity, the most important factor must be the character of our citizenship. Nothing can take the place of the average quality of energy, thrift, business enterprise and amity in our community as a whole. Unless the average individual in our nation has to a high degree the qualities that command success, we cannot expect to deserve it, or to keep what it brings; and our future is, in my opinion, well assured from the very fact that there is very high quality in the character of the average American citizen. But, in addition, we must have wise legislation and upright and honest enforcement of the laws. "We have attained our present position of economic well-being and of leadership in the international business world under a tariff policy in which I think our people, as a whole, have acquiesced as essentially wise alike from the standpoint of the manufacturer, the merchant, the farmer and the wage-worker. Doubtless, as our needs shift, it will be necessary to reapply in its details this system so as to meet these shifting needs; but it would certainly seem, from the standpoint of our business interests, most unwise to abandon the general policy of the system under which our success has been so signal. "In financial matters, we are to be congratulated upon having definitely determined that our currency system should rest upon a gold basis, for to follow any other course would have meant disaster so widespread that it would be difficult to over estimate it. "There is, however, unquestionably, need of enacting further financial legislation so as to provide for greater elasticity in our currency system. At present there are certain seasons during which the rigidity of our currency system causes a stringency which is unfortunate in its effects. So, in my judgment, the Congress that is to assemble next fall should take up and dispose of the pressing questions relating to banking and currency. I believe that such action will be taken and I am sure that it ought to be taken." The morning of May 13, the President was escorted by a squadron of cavalry through streets lined with people to Native Sons' Hall, where a reception was held. The hall was packed with members of the California Society of Pioneers, the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Native Daughters and Veterans of the Mexican War. Addresses of welcome were made by Ex-Mayor Phelan, Henry B. Russ, General Stewart, H. R. McNoble and Miss Eliza R. Heath, and the President was presented with a souvenir of the occasion, representing a bear hunt, reproduced in gold. The President responded in a happy manner. |