Lockerby Hall, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
October 29, 1896.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen--I am indeed pleased to meet such a
magnificent audience in this manufacturing city of Grand Rapids, noted
from ocean to ocean for her culture, commerce and progress. Especially
am I pleased to speak in your city in behalf of sound money, protection
and reciprocity, under the auspices of the Young Men's Republican Club.
I bring you greeting from the state of Illinois, and promise you
that she will give a majority of 150,000 on next Tuesday for William
McKinley. I am proud to hail from the grand old state of Illinois--a
state that gave to our common country in the darkest days of our
nation's history, Logan, that matchless civilian general; gave the
unconquerable Grant, the tanner from Galena, and offered up as a
holy sacrifice the "rail-splitter" president from the Sangamon
bottoms--Abraham Lincoln. But to-night I remember that I am in the
state of Michigan--magnificent commonwealth--almost illimitable in her
resources, unconquerable in her courage, phenomenal in her progress,
invincible in her pluck, unswerving in her patriotism, the home of the
gallant Alger, and the former abode of that matchless statesman and
patriot--the gifted Zach Chandler. Fellow citizens, we are in the
closing days of the most momentous political campaign ever witnessed in
our common country. He who would question the sincerity or honesty of
a political opponent's views in this crusade must for the time being
forget the school house on the hill and the high plain of intelligence
of American citizenship.