_Fellow-citizens_--I very much regret that I am able to make so little return to you for this cordial manifestation of your respect and friendship; and yet, even in these few moments which I am able to spend with you, I hope I shall gather and possibly be able to impart some impulse that may be mutually beneficial. I am glad to see with the eye that of which I have kept informed--the great development which is taking place in the mineral regions of the Southern States. I remember, as a boy, resident upon one of the great tributaries of the Mississippi, how the agricultural products of those States, the corn and provisions raised upon the fertile acres of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, were marketed in the South. The old broad-horn took its way down the Mississippi, stopping at the plantations to sell the provisions upon which the people of the South were largely sustained. The South was then essentially a plantation region, producing one or two great staples that found a ready market in the world, but dependent for its implements of industry and domestic utensils upon the States of the North Mississippi Valley. I am glad all this is changed, that you are realizing the benefits of diversified agriculture, and that the production upon your farms of the staples which you once bought elsewhere is largely increasing; and I am glad that to diversified agriculture you have also added these great mechanical pursuits which have brought into your communities artisans and laborers who take from the adjacent farms the surplus of your fertile lands. [Cheers.] There has been received in the South since the war not less than $8,000,000,000 for cotton, and while I rejoice in that, I am glad to know that in this generous region there are near 100,000 acres devoted to raising watermelons. [Laughter.] No farmer, certainly no planter in the old time, would have consented to sell watermelons. You are learning that things which were small and despised have come to be great elements in your commerce. Now your railroads make special provision for the transportation of a crop which brings large wealth to your people. I mention this as a good illustration of the changing conditions into which you are entering. You are realizing the benefits of home markets for what you produce, and I am sure you will unite with me in those efforts which we ought to make, not only to fill our own markets with all that this great Nation of 65,000,000 needs, but to reach out to other markets and enter into competition with the world for them. [Cheers.] This we shall do, and with all this mechanical and commercial development we shall realize largely that condition of unification of heart and interest to which those who have spoken for you have so eloquently alluded. [Cheers.]