I welcome you here, my fellow-Americans; for among the many strains that go to make up our composite race stock in this country, no strain has given us better Americans than those who are of German birth or blood. It is our peculiar pride as a nation that in this Republic we have measurably realized the ideal under which good citizens know no discrimination as between creed and creed, birthplace and birthplace, provided only that whatever the man’s parentage may have been, whatever the way in which he worships his Creator, he strives in good faith to do his duty by himself and by his fellow-men and to show his unflinching loyalty to our common country. In addition to thus greeting you, my fellow-Americans of German birth, I wish also to greet the German citizens present, the members of the German army, belonging to the reserve of that army, and to welcome them here; especially Mr. Ambassador, as they are brought here by you, yourself an old soldier, who have endeared yourself to the American people by your hearty friendship for this country.

The reverence a man preserves for his native land, so far from standing in the way of his loving and doing his full duty by the land of his adoption, should help him toward this love and the performance of this duty. If a man is a good son he is apt to make a good husband; and the quality that makes a man reverence the country of his birth is apt to be the quality that makes him a good citizen in the country of his adoption.

The ties that unite Germany and the United States are many and close, and it must be a prime object of our statesmanship to knit the two nations ever closer together. In no country is there a warmer admiration for Germany and for Germany’s exalted ruler, Emperor William, than here in America.

It is not out of place in closing for me to say a word of congratulation both to the German people and the German Emperor upon the work that has been accomplished in the Algeciras convention which has just closed, a conference held chiefly because of the initiative of Germany. It was not a conference in which we Americans as a nation had much concern, save that it is always our concern to see justice obtained everywhere, and, so far as we properly can, to work for the cause of international peace and good-will. In its outcome this conference has added to the likelihood of the betterment of conditions in Morocco itself, has secured equitable dealing as among the foreign Powers who have commercial relations with Morocco, and has diminished the chance of friction between these Powers. In particular it may not be out of place for me to say that I hope and believe that the conference has resulted and will result in rendering continually more friendly the relations between the mighty Empire of Germany and the mighty Republic of France; for it is my hope and wish, as it must be the hope and wish of every sincere well wisher of humankind, that these friendly relations may not only continue unbroken but may ever grow in strength.