Speech of Senator Harry S. Truman for Washington Township Celebration

WASHINGT COF Notember ox 13, 1937 CENVBRATION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: It is with sincere regret that I find that my duties in Washington will detain me so that I cannot arrive at home in time for this celebration. You postponed it so I could be present, and the Interstate Commerce Committee of the Senate so extended its business that I will not be able to leave Washington until Friday night, which will make it impossible to arrive for your meeting. This neighborhood is my home. My mother and father were both born and raised within a short distance of where you are meeting. When they were children, Indians roaned the prairies, and to the west buffalo covered the plains. My grandfather ran a wagon train from New Santa Fe to Salt Lake City and Sen Francisco. It required three months to make the trip to Salt Lake City and six months to go to San Francisco, with OX teams for power and wagons for cars. On one occasion my grandfather was gone for two years, and my mother and her younger sister didn't know him when he returned. That was in 1854, eighty-three years ago. Now we can go to San Francisco in less than ten hours and to Salt Lake City in about five hours, without touching the ground. The Indien is no more, and shorthorn and whitefaced cattle have taken the place of the buffalo. Westport Landing has grown into one of the country's greatest cities, and this great suburban district is no longer a wild prairie. You are KRUMAN NARA