I thank you, Mr. President, for your kind welcome and for your generous
expressions, and I thank you for the courteous invitation which led to
this visit on my part. After the great calamity which has befallen your
country, I should have feared to intrude upon the mourning which is in
so many Chilean homes, but I did not feel that I could pass by without
calling upon you--upon the representative of the Chilean people--to
express in person the deep sympathy and sorrow which I, and all my
people, whom I represent, feel for your country and for the stricken and
bereaved ones; and the earnest hope we have for the prompt and cheerful
recovery of spirit and of confidence and of prosperity after the great
misfortune. We know that the spirit and the strength of the people of
Chile are adequate for the recovery, even from so great a disaster. No
one in the world, Mr. President, can feel more deeply the misfortune
that you have suffered than the people of the United States, because you
know that in our country we have recently experienced just such a
calamity. I am sure that nowhere in the world will you find so keen a
sense of sympathy as is there and as I now express. It may sometimes
happen that in adversity stronger friendships arise than in prosperity;
and I hope that although I come to bring to you an expression of the
friendship of the United States of America for the republic of Chile now
while the cloud rests upon you, the effect of the exchange of kind words
and kinder feelings in this time may be greater, more permanent, and
more lasting than they could have been when all were prosperous and
happy.