For a number of minutes
the audience seemed to entirely lose control of itself.
In the general rejoicing throughout the country which followed
the close of the Spanish-American war, peace celebrations were
arranged in several of the large cities. I was asked by President
William R. Harper, of the University of Chicago, who was chairman
of the committee of invitations for the celebration to be held in
the city of Chicago, to deliver one of the addresses at the
celebration there. I accepted the invitation, and delivered two
addresses there during the Jubilee week. The first of these, and
the principal one, was given in the Auditorium, on the evening of
Sunday, October 16. This was the largest audience that I have
ever addressed, in any part of the country; and besides speaking
in the main Auditorium, I also addressed, that same evening, two
overflow audiences in other parts of the city.
It was said that there were sixteen thousand persons in the
Auditorium, and it seemed to me as if there were as many more on
the outside trying to get in. It was impossible for any one to
get near the entrance without the aid of a policeman. President
William McKinley attended this meeting, as did also the members
of his Cabinet, many foreign ministers, and a large number of
army and navy officers, many of whom had distinguished themselves
in the war which had just closed.
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