Eulogies Of The Ex-secretary

Mayor Maybury's Welcome a Warm One--Gov.Pingree's Greeting.

Mayor Maybury, after calling order said: "General Alger, I should despair, sir, of being able to voice the heartiness of this welcome were it not already shown in this vast concourse. It will go forth to the world, sir, that where you are best known, there you are best beloved and best appreciated. It will go forth to the world, sir, a due notice that the standard of high character, built up by patience and perseverance, honesty and uprightness, cannot be thrown down by slander. I welcome you home, sir, to a people who love justice and fair play. This welcome is by your neighbors. They come from all parts of this glorious state, only for the purpose of saying, "God bless you," and "Welcome home."

Governor Pingree, in his speech read in behalf of the state, made some pointed references to incidents leading to Alger's home-coming. Said he: "The facts which led you to submit your resignation to the president are well known. The treatment which you have received has justly aroused the resentment of fair-minded Americans. The people of Michigan look upon the manner in which your withdrawal from the cabinet was forced as an insult to the state. They are here today to rebuke the cupidity of politicians, high and low. They are here to show their contempt for the cowardly attacks of a venal press. A mean-spirited and unscrupulous press has carried on a campaign of deliberate misrepresentation and lies concerning your business management of the war department.

"The people of Michigan will remember the indignity to which the state has been subjected. In time they will come to know who is responsible for it. I think they already see that politics makes cowards of some men, in both high and low position. They will in time despise the official, no matter how exalted his position, who truckled to the newspapers, or who considered money or influence in any form. They will turn away from every official representative of Michigan at Washington who has stood by without protest and permitted a citizen of the state to be as grossly abused and misrepresented as you have been. They will not forget the cowardly conduct of some of the newspapers and public men of the state who have by their silence practically joined in the attacks upon you."

"I have come to believe that the institution most dangerous to our form of government is the newspaper. Its boasted liberty is rather a license. It has no scruple and no conscience. There are, or course, exceptions, but I speak of the press as a whole. * * * I know I voice the sentiment of the people of Michigan when I say to you [Gen. Alger] that we have every faith that history will rebuke the newspapers and politicians of highest and lowest station who have used such vile methods to accomplish their little purposes."

General Alger responding said, after thanking his friends for their warm welcome, that he came home without a grievance, and that during the war last year and this year he had received from the president all the support he could give. In a general way he then defended the administration of the war office during his incumbency.