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Show PRESIDENT McKINLEY INVITED. IN accordance with a universal desire on the part of the citizens of Utah, that the President of the United States should be specially invited to be present at and participate in the Pioneer Jubilee, a delegation was appointed by the Commission to visit Washington and confer with the Chief Magistrate upon the subject. This delegation consisted of Hon. George Q. Cannon. Justice George W. Bartch, Hon. P. H. Lannan, Senators Frank J. Cannon and Joseph L. Rawlins, and Representative William H. King. The Utah delegation was cordially received by President McKinley, who, after receiving the invitation presented by them, expressed his warm appreciation and gave a conditional promise of acceptance. In presenting the invitation, the chairman of the delegation-Hon. George Q. Cannon-spoke as follows: "Mr. President: "A delegation of six residents of Utah, representing the Semi-centennial of the settlement of our State, has called to invite you and your official family to visit us about the 20th of July at the Semi-centennial of the arrival of the Pioneers in Utah. The event is to be one of great historical interest. It will signalize an occurrence which made practicable the settlement of the entire arid region ot the West. The success of that little band of Pioneers made irrigation possible and blazed the way for far Western development. For that reason all our neighbors will unite with us in celebrating it. I can assure you, Mr President, that if you find that you can be with us, you will assist in making the event one long to be remembered. You will receive a cordial welcome from all our people, where fellowship is now being cultivated as never before, and where all are working for a common end, which is common prosperity. "We believe that your visit would not only assist in securing this end, but it would be pleasant and instructive to yourself. I desire to hand you an official letter from the Governor of the State of Utah." State; of Utah, Executive Mansion, Salt Lake City. To the President: "Sir.-On the twenty-fourth of July, 1847, the Pioneers of Utah first entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake. This land then belonged to Mexico, and was a forbidding desert, inhabited by no white man, but roamed over by Indians and wild beasts. These Pioneers had fought their way through the wilderness more than a thousand miles beyond the western frontier, and one of their first acts upon arriving here was to erect upon a mountain top overlooking this valley the ensign of liberty, the glorious Stars and Stripes. They were therefore more than the founders of Utah -they were the conquerors of arid America, the forerunners of Western civilization, the envoys of the United States in the acquisition of a new and mighty empire. "In fifty years Utah has risen from nothing to an illustrious commonwealth, rich in resources and peopled by more than a quarter of a million of thrifty, happy, patriotic citizens; who, proud of past achievements, grateful for present progress and enlightenment, and confident of future greatness, purpose in this year of jubilee, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the advent of their Pioneers by holding a celebration at Salt Lake City, the capital of the State, from July 20th to 24th. "I have the honor to extend to you, Mr. President, and to your Cabinet, a cordial invitation to be present on that occasion and witness the demonstration in honor of those sturdy Pioneers, and in commemoration of that important epoch in our Nation's history, and I promise you that the welcome we will give to our Chief Magistrate and his associates will be as warm and as honest as a loyal, enterprising and hospitable people can make it. "I have the honor to be, with profound respect, your obedient servant, Heber m. Wells, Governor of Utah." The President read the letter carefully and then said: "I am sure this is a most attractive invitation, and I appreciate all that has been said about the deep significance of the Pioneer Jubilee, and the national |