Address of welcome, to the Select Knights, A. O. U. W., at Topeka, October 13, 1885.

Gentlemen: When requested by the local committee, some weeks ago, to welcome to Kansas the Select Knights of the A. O. U. W., I very willingly assented. For, although not a member of your organization, I knew enough of its purposes, and of the principles on which it is founded, to assure me not only that it was worthy of the respect of all good citizens, but that it worthily represented, in its membership, the best citizenship of the United States and Canada.

The ceremonial addresses of this occasion are, however, only the outward manifestation of the cordial welcome with which the people of Kansas will greet you. The real welcome will be extended in the outstretched hands, in the open doors, in the generous hearts of your friends and brothers throughout this Commonwealth.

Human nature demands society and friendship. The impulses which lead men to band themselves together in associations, are far deeper than any tendencies to individualism and isolation. Out of this craving for fellowship has grown your Order, and all other societies of similar structure. It is not a very “Ancient” organization, unless, as I have heard it said, this country of ours has lived a full century during the past twenty-five years. But it has grown and prospered until its lodges are scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and its membership is over 150,000. This is the best possible evidence that the Order of United Workmen deserves to live. The American people, fond as they are of organized fellowship and society, are intelligent, discriminating and practical, and no organization having unworthy aims or ideas, can long survive among them.

I congratulate you, heartily, upon the prosperous condition of your Order. I congratulate you on the harmony and enthusiasm prevailing in your ranks, and on the manifest interest and pride that is felt, by all of your members, in the preservation and growth of your organization. And I welcome you, sincerely and cordially, to Kansas.

A quarter of a century ago William H. Seward said that in the future “men will go up to Kansas as they go up to Jerusalem.” Whether you came here in this spirit or not, you feel something of its inspiration before you go away from our borders. I warn you, here and now, that there is irresistible fascination in the atmosphere of Kansas. The history, the growth, the prosperity of this State are all exceptional. Not yet twenty-five years of age, Kansas has outstripped, in population, wealth and all the elements of an advanced civilization, more than half the States of the Union. This State has carried off the first prizes at the International Expositions at Philadelphia and New Orleans. It leads the procession in the reports of the National Agricultural Department. It has built nearly five thousand miles of railway to carry to market the largest crops ever grown on American soil. It has assailed ignorance with seven thousand school-houses. Of its 270,000 voters, at least 110,000 were soldiers during the civil war. The map of the Continent was disfigured by a desert—these people touched it with the magic wand of industry and enterprise, and lo! a garden blossoms in its stead. To populate a county thirty miles square within six months, and round out the half-year with a fight over the county seat between six towns, or to build a fair-sized city within a twelvemonth—these achievements may seem like a fiction, but they have been realities in Kansas. Beware, I say to you again, lest you catch the contagious enthusiasm of Kansas, and, telegraphing for your wives and children to come by the next train, return to your old homes no more. I don’t want to break up the A. O. U. W. in other States, by transferring you at once to Kansas, and so I give you this friendly warning.

But whether you come as visitors, to enjoy, for a brief time, our hospitality, or as immigrants to become permanent citizens, I bid you welcome, thrice welcome to Kansas. I know you will like Kansas, and I am equally certain that Kansas will like you. We are all glad that you came here to hold your biennial conclave, and, speaking not only for your special hosts, the United Workmen of Topeka, but for the large-hearted people of Kansas, I can say: