_Governor Jones, Mr. Mayor, and Fellow-citizens_--The noise of your industries will not stay itself, I fear, sufficiently to enable me to make myself heard by many in this immense throng that has gathered to welcome us. I judge from what we have seen as we neared your station that we have here at Birmingham the largest and most enthusiastic concourse of people that has met us since we left the national capital. [Great and prolonged cheering.] For all this I am deeply grateful. The rapidity with which we must pursue this journey will not allow us to look with any detail into the great enterprises which cluster about your city; but if we shall only have opportunity to see for a moment these friendly faces and listen to these friendly words, we shall carry away that which will be invaluable, and, I trust, by the friendly exchange of greetings, may leave something to you that is worth cherishing. [Great cheering.] I have read of the marvellous development which, in the last few years, has been stirring the solitude of these southern mountains, and I remember that not many years after the war, when I had resumed my law practice at Indianapolis, I was visited by a gentleman, known, I expect, to all of you, upon some professional business. He came to pursue a collection claim against a citizen of Indiana; but he seemed to be more interested in talking about Birmingham than anything else. [Laughter and cheers.] That man was Colonel Powell, one of the early promoters of your city. [Cheers.] I listened to his story of the marvellous wealth of iron and coal that was stored in this region; of their nearness to each other, and to the limestone necessary for smelting; to his calculations as to the cheapness with which iron could be produced here, and his glowing story of the great city that was to be reared, with a good deal of incredulity. I thought he was a visionary; but I have regretted ever since that I did not ask him to pay me my fee in town lots in Birmingham. [Laughter and cheers.]