MR. CHAIRMAN: When I received the invitation to attend this meeting I did not not think of “the day we celebrate,” nor of what might occur here, nor of what I could say to you if I came. The invitation to address an assemblage of Scandinavian people broke down the barriers of time and place, and awakened recollections of a body of men, born on the Scandinavian Peninsula, who, nearly a quarter of a century ago, were endeared to me by the strong ties of common hardships, privations and dangers. For nearly three years the Kansas regiment I had the honor to command, tented, marched and fought by the side of a regiment of Scandinavians. And when the brave but unfortunate commander of that regiment, Col. Hans C. Heg, was mortally wounded at the battle of Chicamauga, I succeeded him in command of the Brigade. I speak from personal knowledge, therefore, when I say that the Scandinavian people who have immigrated to this country, and sworn allegiance to its Constitution and its laws, are thorough Americans. I have seen their loyalty and devotion tested in the fiery furnace of battle, and by the most arduous and trying campaigns. I know, also, something of the work the Scandinavian people have done in developing the resources of this fair young State. Our census returns and our agricultural reports, in telling the story of the wonderful growth and prosperity of those sections of Kansas in which the Scandinavian settlers are located, tell, also, the story of their industry, their enterprise, and their thrift. And so, when I received your kind invitation to attend this meeting, my inclination to accept it, as I wrote Professor Swensson, was very strong. I wanted to avail myself of such an opportunity to acknowledge two important facts concerning Scandinavian Americans—first, the sturdy courage and splendid patriotism I had seen illustrated, by them, during our late civil war; and, second, that as citizens of Kansas they had done their full share in making this a great, prosperous, law-respecting commonwealth. This duty I gladly discharge. With reverent gratitude I recall the services of the men from the Scandinavian Peninsula who mustered under the flag of the Fifteenth Wisconsin, and with admiring wonder I look around me and see the substantial evidences of your industry, energy and enterprise.