grateful to you for this visit, and for the cordial terms in which
your spokesman has extended to me the congratulations of my friends
of Benton County. We have men who boast that they are cosmopolitans,
citizens of the world. I prefer to say that I am an American
citizen [applause], and I freely confess that American interests
have the first place in my regard. [Applause.] This is not at all
inconsistent with the recognition of that comity between nations
which is necessary to the peace of the world. It is not inconsistent
with that philanthropy which sympathizes with human distress and
oppression the world around. We have been especially favored as an
apart nation, separated from the conflicts, jealousies, and intrigues
of European courts, with a territory embracing every feature of
climate and soil, and resources capable of supplying the wants of our
people, of developing a wholesome and gigantic national growth, and
of spreading abroad, by their full establishment here, the principles
of human liberty and free government. I do not think it inconsistent
with the philanthropy of the broadest teacher of human love that
we should first have regard for that family of which we are a part.
Here in Indiana the drill has just disclosed to us the presence of
inexhaustible quantities, in a large area of our State, of that new
fuel which has the facility of doing its own transportation, even to
the furnace door, and which leaves no residuum to be carried away
when it has done its work. This discovery has added an impulse to our
growth. It has attracted manufacturing industries from other States.
Many of our towns have received, and this city, we may hope, is yet
to receive, a great impulse in the development of their manufacturing
industries by reason of this discovery. It seems to me that when this
fuller development of our manufacturing interests, this building up of
a home market for the products of our farms, which is sure to produce
here that which has been so obvious elsewhere--a great increase in
the value of farms and farm products--is opening to us the pleasant
prospect of a rapid growth in wealth, we should be slow to abandon
that system of protective duties which looks to the promotion and
development of American industry and to the preservation of the
highest possible scale of wages for the American workman. [Applause.]
The development of our country must be on those lines that benefit
all our people. Any development that does not reach and beneficially
affect all our people is not to be desired, and cannot be progressive
or permanent.
Comrades, you still love the flag for which we fought. We are
preserved in God's providence to see the wondrous results of that
struggle in which you were engaged--a reunited country, a Constitution
whose authority is no longer disputed, a flag to which all men bow. It
has won respect at home; it should be respected by all nations of the
earth as an emblem and representative of a people desiring peace with
all men, but resolute in the determination that the rights of all our
citizens the world around shall be faithfully respected. [Applause and
cries of "That's right!"] I thank you again for this visit, and, if it
be your pleasure, and your committee will so arrange, I will be glad
to take you by the hand.
The fourth and largest delegation of the day came from Boone County,
numbering more than two thousand, led by Captain Brown, S. S. Heath, A.
L. Howard, W. H. H. Martin, D. A. Rice, James Williamson, E. G. Darnell,
D. H. Olive, and Captain Arbigas of Lebanon, the last-named veteran
totally blind.
Another contingent was commanded by David O. Mason, J. O. Hurst, J. N.
Harmon, and Mr. Denny, an octogenarian, all of Zionsville. Dr. D. C.
Scull was orator for the visitors. General Harrison said:
_My Friends_--The magnitude of this demonstration puts us at a
disadvantage in our purpose to entertain you hospitably, as we had
designed when notified of your coming. [Cheers.] I regret that you
must stand exposed to the heat of the sun, and that I must be at the
disadvantage of speaking from this high balcony a few words of hearty
thanks. I hope it may be arranged by the committee so that I may yet
have the opportunity of speaking to you informally and individually.
I am glad to notice your quick interest in the campaign. I am sure
that that interest is stimulated by your devotion to the principles of
government which you conceive--rightly, as I believe--to be involved
in this campaign. [Applause.] I am glad to think that some of you,
veterans of a former political campaign to which your chairman has
alluded, and others of you, comrades in the great war for the Union,
come here to express some personal friendship for me. [Cheers.] But
I am sure that this campaign will be waged upon a plan altogether
above personal consideration. You are here as citizens of the State
of Indiana, proud of the great advancement the State has made since
those pioneer days when brave men from the East and South entered our
territory, blazing a pathway into the unbroken forest, upon which
civilization, intelligence, patriotism, and the love of God has walked
until we are conspicuous among the States as a community desirous of
social order, full of patriotic zeal, and pledged to the promotion of
that education which is to qualify the coming generations to discharge
honorably and well their duties to the Government which we will leave
in their hands. [Applause.] You are here also as citizens of the
United States, proud of that arch of strength that binds together
the States of this Union in one great Nation. But citizenship has
its duties as well as its privileges. The first is that we give our
energies and influence to the enactment of just, equal, and beneficent
laws. The second is like unto it--that we loyally reverence and
obey the will of the majority enacted into law, whether we are of a
majority or not [applause]; the law throws the ægis of its protection
over us all. It stands sentinel about your country homes to protect
you from violence; it comes into our more thickly populated community
and speaks its mandate for individual security and public order.
There is an open avenue through the ballot-box for the modification
or repeal of laws which are unjust or oppressive. To the law we bow
with reverence. It is the one king that commands our allegiance. We
will change our king, when his rule is oppressive, by these methods
appointed, and crown his more liberal successor. [Applause.] I thank
you again, most cordially, for this visit, and put myself in the
hands of your committee that I may have the privilege of meeting you
individually.
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 13.
One thousand employees of the various railroads centreing at
Indianapolis, organized as a Harrison and Morton Club--J. C. Finch,
President, and A. D. Shaw, Marshal of the occasion--called on General
Harrison on the night of July 13. Yardmaster Shaw was spokesman. General
Harrison replied:
_Gentlemen_--Your visit is very gratifying to me, and is full
of significance and interest. If I read aright the language of
your lanterns you have signalled the Republican train to go ahead.
[Applause and cries of "And she is going, too!"] You have concluded
that it is freighted with the interests and hopes of the workingmen of
America, and must have the right of way. [Cheers and cries, "That's
true!" and "We don't have to take water on this trip, either!"]
The train has been inspected; you have given it your skilled and
intelligent approval; the track has been cleared and the switches
spiked down. Have I read your signals aright? [Cheers and cries of
"You have!" and "There's no flat wheels under this train!"] You
represent, I understand, every department of railroad labor--the
office, the train, the shop, the yard, and the road. You are the
responsible and intelligent agents of a vast system that, from a
rude and clumsy beginning, has grown to be as fine and well adapted
as the parts of the latest locomotive engine. The necessities and
responsibilities of the business of transportation have demanded a
body of picked men--inventive and skilful, faithful and courageous,
sober and educated--and the call has been answered, as your presence
here to night demonstrates. [Cheers.] Heroism has been found at the
throttle and the brake, as well as on the battle-field, and as well
worthy of song and marble. The trainman crushed between the platforms,
who used his last breath, not for prayer or message of love, but to
say to the panic-stricken who gathered around him, "Put out the red
light for the other train," inscribed his name very high upon the
shaft where the names of the faithful and brave are written. [A voice:
"Give him three cheers for that!" Great and enthusiastic cheering.]
This early and very large gathering of Republican railroad men
suggests to me that you have opinions upon public questions which are
the product of your own observations and study. Some one will say that
the railroad business is a "non-protected industry," because it has
to do with transportation and not with production. But I only suggest
what has already occurred to your own minds when I say that is a very
deceptive statement. You know there is a relation between the wages
of skilled and unskilled labor as truly as between the prices of two
grades of cotton cloth; that if the first is cut down, the other, too,
must come down. [Cries of "That's just so!"] You know, also, that if
labor is thrown out of one line or avenue, by so much the more will
the others be crowded; that any policy that transfers production from
the American to the English or German shop works an injury to all
American workmen. [Great cheering.]
But, if it could be shown that your wages were unaffected by our
system of protective duties, I am sure that your fellowship with your
fellow toilers in other industries would lead you to desire, as I do
and always have, that our legislation may be of that sort that will
secure to them the highest possible prosperity [applause]--wages that
not only supply the necessities of life, but leave a substantial
margin for comfort and for the savings bank. No man's wages should
be so low that he cannot make provision in his days of vigor for the
incapacity of accident or the feebleness of old age. [Great cheering.]
I am glad to be assured to-night that the principles of our party
and all things affecting its candidates can be safely left to the
thoughtful consideration of the American workingmen--they will know
the truth and accept it; they will reject the false and slanderous.
[Applause.]
And now let me say in conclusion that my door will always be open
to any of you who may desire to talk with me about anything that
interests you or that you think will interest me. I regret that Mrs.
Harrison is prevented by a temporary sickness from joining with me in
receiving you this evening. [Great cheering.]
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 14.
A notable visit was that of two hundred and twenty members of the
Lincoln Club, one of the most influential political organizations of
Cincinnati. They were escorted by the First Regiment Band and led
by their President, Hon. A. C. Horton, with Col. James I. Quinton,
Marshal of the day. Among other prominent members in line were Col. Leo
Markbreit, Senator Richardson, Dr. M. M. Eaton, Hon. Fred Pfeister, W.
E. Hutton, Samuel Baily, Jr., Albert Mitchell, H. M. Zeigler, B. O. M.
De Beck, W. T. Porter, Harry Probasco, John Ferinbatch, Geo. B. Fox, J.
E. Strubbe, Dr. S. V. Wiseman, Joseph H. Thornton, C. H. Rockwell, Lewis
Wesner and Col. Moore. Hon. Drusin Wulsin, Vice-President of the club,
was the orator. General Harrison, who had been ill for two days, replied:
_Mr. Wulsin and Gentlemen of the Lincoln Club of Cincinnati_--I
thank you very much for this visit, and I wish I found myself in
condition to talk to you with comfort to-night. I cannot, however,
let the occasion pass, in view of the kind terms in which you have
addressed me through your spokesman, without a word. I feel as if
these Hamilton County Republicans were my neighbors. The associations
of my early life were with that county, and of my student life largely
with the city of Cincinnati. You did not need to state to me that Ohio
supported John Sherman in the convention at Chicago [laughter] simply
to couple with it the suggestion that it was a matter of State pride
for you to do so. I have known him long and intimately. It was my good
fortune for four years to sit beside him in the Senate of the United
States. I learned there to value him as a friend and to honor him as
a statesman. There were reasons altogether wider than the State of
Ohio why you should support John Sherman in the convention. [Applause
and cries of "Good!" "Good!"] His long and faithful service to his
country and to the Republican party, his distinguished ability, his
fidelity as a citizen, all entitled him to your faithful support; and
I beg to assure you, as I have assured him both before and since the
convention, that I did not and would not, upon any consideration, have
made any attempt against him upon the Ohio delegation. [Applause.]
I have known of your club as an organization that early set the
example of perpetuating itself--an example that I rejoice to see is
being largely followed now throughout our country. If these principles
which are being urged by our party in these contests are worthy of our
campaign enthusiasm and ardor, they are worthy to be thought of and
advocated in the period of inter-campaign. They affect the business
interests of our country, and their full adoption and perpetuation,
we believe, will bring prosperity to all our individual and social
and community interests. Therefore, I think it wise that in those
times, when men's minds are more open to conviction and are readier of
access, you should press upon the attention of your neighbors through
your club organizations these principles to which you and I have given
the allegiance of our minds and the devotion of our hearts. I thank
you again for this visit. We are glad that you have come; therefore, I
welcome you, not only as Republicans, but as friends. [Applause.]
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 18.
Howard County sent a delegation of six hundred citizens this day, led
by Major A. N. Grant. The Lincoln League Club of Kokomo was commanded
by its President, John E. Moore. Other prominent citizens in the
delegation were Hon. J. N. Loop, J. A. Kautz, J. E. Vaile, John Ingalls,
W. E. Blackledge, B. B. Johnson, J. B. Landen, Dr. James Wright, H.
E. McMonigal, Edward Klum, Charles Pickett, and A. R. Ellis. Rev.
Father Rayburn, a voter in the campaign of 1840, was spokesman. General
Harrison, in reply, said:
_Father Rayburn and my Howard County Friends_--I think I may accept
this demonstration as evidence that the action of the Republican
convention at Chicago has been accepted with resignation by the
Republicans of Howard County. [Loud cheers.] You are the favored
citizens of a favored county. Your county has been conspicuous among
the counties of this State for its enterprise and intelligence. You
have been favored with a kindly and generous soil, cultivated by an
intelligent and educated class of farmers. Hitherto you have chiefly
drawn your wealth from the soil. You have had in the city of Kokomo
an enterprising and thrifty county town. You have been conspicuous
for your interest and devotion to the cause of education--for your
interest in bringing forward the coming generations well equipped for
the duties of citizenship. I congratulate you to-day that a new era of
prosperity has opened for your county in the discovery of this new and
free fuel to which Mr. Rayburn has alluded. A source of great wealth
has been opened to your people. You have already begun to realize what
it is to your county, though your expectations have hardly grasped
what it will be when the city of Kokomo and your other towns have
reached the full development which will follow this discovery. You
will then all realize--the citizens of that prosperous place as well
as the farmers throughout the county--the advantage of having a home
market for the products of your farms. [Cheers.] You may not notice
this so much in the appreciation of the prices of the staple products
of your farms, but you will notice it in the expansion of the market
for those more perishable products which cannot reach a distant market
and must be consumed near home. Is it not, then, time for you, as
thoughtful citizens, whatever your previous political affiliations
may have been, to consider the question, "What legislation will most
promote the development of the manufacturing interests of your county
and enlarge the home market for the products of your farm?" I shall
not enter upon a discussion of this question; it is enough to state
it, and leave it to your own intelligent consideration. [Cheers.]
Let me thank you again for this kindly visit, and beg you to excuse
any more extended remarks, and to give me now an opportunity of
thanking each of you personally for the kind things your chairman has
said in your behalf.
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 19.
Illinois sent three large delegations this date from Springfield,
Jacksonville and Monticello. Conspicuous in the column was the famous
"Black Eagle" Club of Springfield, led by its President, Sam H. Jones,
and the Lincoln Club, commanded by Capt. John C. Cook.
In the Springfield delegation were twenty-one original Whigs who
voted for Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, among them Jeriah Bonham, who
wrote the first editorial--Nov. 8, 1858--proposing the candidacy of
Abraham Lincoln for President. Others among the prominent visitors
from Springfield were: Col. James T. King, C. A. Vaughan, Major James
A. Connelly, Paul Selby, Hon. David T. Littler, Jacob Wheeler, Gen.
Charles W. Pavey, Robert J. Oglesby, Ira Knight, C. P. Baldwin, James H.
Kellogg, Alexander Smith, Geo. Jameson, Augustus C. Ayers, Jacob Strong,
Dr. F. C. Winslow, Fred Smith, Charles T. Hawks, Hon. Henry Dement, Col.
Theo. Ewert, Jacob Bunn, J. C. Matthews, J. R. Stewart, H. W. Beecher,
Andrew J. Lester, Dr. Gurney, and Howes Yates, brother of the great war
Governor.
The Jacksonville visitors were represented by Hon. Fred H. Rowe,
ex-Mayor Tomlinson, Judge T. B. Orear, J. B. Stevenson, Dr. Goodrich,
Professor Parr of Illinois College, J. W. Davenport, and Thomas Rapp.
Attorney-General Hunt spoke on behalf of all the visitors. General
Harrison's reply was one of his happiest speeches. He said:
_General Hunt and my Illinois Friends_--I thank you for this cordial
expression of your interest in Republican success. I thank you for the
kindly terms in which your spokesman has conveyed to me the assurance,
not only of your political support, but of your personal confidence
and respect.
The States of Indiana and Illinois are neighbors, geographically.
The river that for a portion of its length constitutes the boundary
between our States is not a river of division. Its tendency seems
to be, in these times when so many things are "going dry" [cheers],
rather to obliterate than to enlarge the obstruction between us.
[Cheers.] But I rejoice to know that we are not only geographically
neighbors, but that Indiana and Illinois have been neighborly in the
high sentiments and purposes which have characterized their people.
I rejoice to know that the same high spirit of loyalty and devotion
to the country that characterized the State of Illinois in the time
when the Nation made its appeal to the brave men of all the States to
rescue its flag and its Constitution from the insurrection which had
been raised against them was equally characteristic of Indiana--that
the same great impulse swept over your State that swept over
ours--that Richard Yates of Illinois [cheers] and Oliver P. Morton of
Indiana [prolonged cheers] stood together in the fullest sympathy and
co-operation in the great plans they devised to augment and re-enforce
the Union armies in the field and to suppress and put down treasonable
conspiracies at home.
As Americans and as Republicans we are glad that Illinois has
contributed so many and such conspicuous names to that galaxy of
great Americans and great Republicans whose deeds have been written
on the scroll of eternal fame. I recall that it was on the soil of
Illinois that Lovejoy died--a martyr to free speech. [Cries of "Hear!"
"Hear!"] He was the forerunner of Abraham Lincoln. He died, but his
protest against human slavery lived. Another great epoch in the march
of liberty found on the soil of Illinois the theatre of its most
influential event. I refer to that high debate in the presence of your
people, but before the world, in which Douglas won the senatorship and
Lincoln the presidency and immortal fame. [Loud cheers.]
But Lincoln's argument and Lincoln's proclamation must be made good
upon the battle-field--and again your State was conspicuous. You gave
us Grant and Logan [prolonged cheers] and a multitude of less notable,
but not less faithful, soldiers who underwrote the proclamation with
their swords. [Cheers.] I congratulate you to-day that there has
come out of this early agitation--out of the work of Lovejoy, the
disturber; out of the great debate of 1858, and out of the war for
the Union, a Nation without a slave [cheers]--that not the shackles
of slavery only have been broken, but that the scarcely less cruel
shackles of prejudice which bound every black man in the North have
also been unbound.
We are glad to know that the enlightened sentiment of the South
to-day unites with us in our congratulations that slavery has been
abolished. They have come to realize, and many of their best and
greatest men to publicly express, the thought that the abolition of
slavery has opened a gateway of progress and material development to
the South that was forever closed against her people while domestic
slavery existed.
We send them the assurance that we desire the streams of their
prosperity shall flow bank full. We would lay upon their people no
burdens that we do not willingly bear ourselves. They will not think
it amiss if I say that the burden which rests willingly upon our
shoulders is a faithful obedience to the Constitution and the laws.
A manly assertion by each of his individual rights, and a manly
concession of equal right to every other man, is the boast and the law
of good citizenship.
Let me thank you again and ask you to excuse me from further
public speech. I now ask an opportunity to meet my Illinois friends
personally [Loud and prolonged cheers.]
The second speech of the day was delivered at 9 o'clock at night to an
enthusiastic delegation of fifteen hundred Republicans from Shelbyville,
Shelby County, led by Hon. H. C. Gordon, J. Walter Elliott, C. H.
Campbell, James T. Caughey, C. X. Matthews, J. Richey, E. S. Powell,
E. E. Elliott, L. S. Limpus, Orland Young, and Norris Winterowd. Judge
J. C. Adams was their spokesman. General Harrison touched upon civil
service; he said: