I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, and with the address of your constituents, in the declaration that workingmen are the basis of all governments.  That remark is due to them more than to any other class, for the reason that there are more of them than of any other class.  And as your address is presented to me not only on behalf of workingmen, but especially of Germans, I may say a word as to classes.  I hold that the value of life is to improve one’s condition.  Whatever is calculated to advance the condition of the honest, struggling laboring man, so far as my judgment will enable me to judge of a correct thing, I am for that thing.

An allusion has been made to the Homestead Law.  I think it worthy of consideration, and that the wild lands of the country should be distributed so that every man should have the means and opportunity of benefiting his condition. [Cheers.] I have said that I do not desire to enter into details, nor will I.

In regard to Germans and foreigners, I esteem foreigners no better than other people—­nor any worse. [Laughter and cheers.] They are all of the great family of men, and if there is one shackle upon any of them it would be far better to lift the load from them than to pile additional loads upon them. [Cheers.] And inasmuch as the continent of America is comparatively a new country, and the other countries of the world are old countries, there is more room here, comparatively speaking, than there is elsewhere; and if they can better their condition by leaving their old homes, there is nothing in my heart to forbid them coming, and I bid them all God speed. [Cheers.] Again, gentlemen, thanking you for your address, I bid you good night.

“If anyone,” says Mr. Smith, “had expected to trap Mr. Lincoln into imprudent utterances, or the indulgence of the rhetoric of a demagogue, this admirable reply showed how completely they were disappointed.  The preservation of this speech is due to my accidental presence.  The visitation of the Germans was not on the programme, and none of the representatives of the press charged with the duty of reporting the events of the day were present.  Observing this, I took short-hand notes on the envelope of an old letter loaned me for the occasion, and afterwards wrote them out.  The words of Mr. Lincoln, exactly as spoken, are given above.”

At Cleveland the party remained over for a day, and Lincoln was greeted with the usual friendly enthusiasm.  An immense crowd met him at the depot, and he was escorted to the Weddell House, where a reception was given him in the evening.  Hon. A.G.  Riddle, then a resident of Cleveland, and a newly elected member of the Congress which was to share with Lincoln the burdens and responsibilities of the Civil War,