not planned by me, and yet I do not regret that I have yielded to
the urgent solicitation of your representatives and have consented
to stand for a few moments in the presence of this magnificent
and instructive audience. [Applause.] I say instructive, for that
public man is dull indeed who does not gather both instruction and
inspiration from such meetings as this. [Applause.] I thank you for
any measure of personal respect and interest which your coming here
to-night may witness, but I do not see in this immense gathering any
testimony that is personal to me. I prefer to regard it as another
witness added to the long number I have seen before of the deep-seated
and earnest interest of our people in the public questions that are
to be settled in November. [Applause.] I choose rather to regard it
as a pledge that this interest you manifest in me to-night will not
stop here, but is the pledge of continued and earnest personal work
by each one of you for those principles which have won the consent of
your minds and the love of your hearts. [Applause.] I cannot enter
in any detail into the discussion of public questions; I would not
at all put myself between you and these great, important issues. I
would, in all I may say, put them to the front. We are here citizens
of a great, prosperous, magnificent Nation. We have common interests.
We are here charged with the common duties to perpetuate, if we can,
the prosperity and to maintain the honor of this great Republic.
[Applause.] We are here to-night in the enjoyment of free government.
We are here in the individual possession of better opportunities of
development, of a larger prosperity, and of more individual comfort
than are possessed by any other people in the world. [Applause.] The
great economic question as to what shall be our future legislative
policy is stated with a distinctness in this campaign that it has
never had before, and I believe the verdict and decision will have an
emphasis and finality that it has never had before. [Applause.] If
there is any one here present to-night that knows of any land that
spreads a more promising sky of hope above the heads of the poor and
the laboring man than this, I would be glad if he would name it. The
one fact that I do not need to stop to demonstrate by statistics,
the one fact that I could call out of this vast audience hundreds of
witnesses to support by their personal testimony, is that the scale of
American wages is higher than that of any other country in the world.
[Applause.] If this were not true, why is it that the workingmen and
the working-women of the older lands turn their faces hitherward? If
there is a better country, one that offers better wages, fuller hopes
than this, why is it that those who are in quest of such better things
have not found it out and turned their faces thitherward? Now, if that
is true, then why is it true, and how is it to be continued--this
condition of our country? It is because, and only because, we have for
years, by our protective tariff, discriminated in favor of American
manufacturers and American workingmen. [Applause.] Strike down this
protective system, bring our workingmen and working-women in equal
competition in the products of their toil with those who labor abroad,
and nothing is clearer than that these mills and factories must reduce
wages here to the level with wages abroad, or they must shut down. You
have the choice to make; you, the free citizens of this country, whose
ballots sway its destiny, will settle these questions in November.
[Applause.] I ask you how? Don't be deceived by the suggestion that
this is any contest over a seven per cent. reduction in the tariff
schedule. We are allowed now to say, I think, that all those who
are entitled to speak for the Democratic party have declared that
it is opposed to protection. That being so, the issue is clearly,
distinctly, strongly drawn. I beg you all--not in my interest, but
in your own; in the interest of your families and the country you
love--to ponder this question; to think upon it with that seriousness
its importance demands, and when you have thought it out, settle it,
settle it in November, so that we shall be free for years to come from
this agitation in behalf of free trade. [Great applause.]
I thank you again for this kindly demonstration. I beg you to accept
these brief suggestions as the only but inadequate return that I can
make you for this kindness. [Applause.]
PUT-IN-BAY, OHIO, AUGUST 31.
The residents of Put-in-Bay Island, about five hundred in number,
tendered General Harrison a reception on the thirty-first of August. The
steamboats from Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo, and Sandusky brought several
thousand excursionists. General Harrison and his party on their arrival
from Middle Bass Island were met at the pier by all the residents of
Put-in-Bay Island, headed by their most distinguished citizen John
Brown, Jr., son of the celebrated "Ossawatomie" Brown, of Harper's Ferry
fame.
From a pavilion in the adjacent grove John Brown introduced Hon. Charles
Foster, who said:
_Fellow-citizens_--General Harrison came to Middle Bass for the
purpose of rest and quiet. At the solicitation of a number of people
of this section of country--a great number, I might say--he has kindly
consented to give a reception here to-day, upon one condition--that
he was not to make a speech. Now, fellow-citizens, I have the very
great pleasure of presenting to you General Benjamin Harrison, the
Republican candidate for the presidency. [Applause.]
As Governor Foster concluded, General Harrison arose midst a shout of
welcome and spoke as follows:
_My Friends_--I have found Governor Foster to be a very agreeable
and thoughtful host, and I find him to-day to be the most agreeable
master of ceremonies who has ever attended me at a public reception. I
like his announcement of the condition under which I appear before you
to-day.
I never enjoy a banquet when my name is on the programme for a
toast. I do not, therefore, intend to speak to you about any of those
questions that are engaging your minds as citizens of this prosperous
and mighty and happy Nation. We are here to-day as Americans, proud
of the flag that symbolizes this great Union of States; proud of the
story that has been written by our fathers in council and in war,
in the formation and defence and perpetuation of our magnificent
institutions, We are here in the immediate neighborhood of one of
those great historic events that was among the most potential
agencies in settling our title to the great Northwest. If we had stood
where we stand to-day we could have heard the guns of Perry's fleet.
If we had stood where we stand to-day we could have welcomed him as he
came a victor into Put-in-Bay.
These institutions of ours are in our own keeping now, and not
only our fundamental institutions, but the fame that has been won
by those who have gone before. I may therefore properly say to-day
that a campaign like this demands the thoughtful consideration of
every American voter. We are prosperous. [Cheers.] The story of our
prosperity, of our development in wealth, of our achievements in
finance as a Nation, since and during the war, is almost as notable
and almost as admirable as that of our achievements in arms.
The assembling of our revenue was even more difficult than the
assembling of armies, and yet we were able to maintain those armies in
the field, and have been able since not only to bear up the great load
of debt, but to pay it off, until that which was once thought to be
a burden that would crush our industries has come to be in our hands
but as the ball the boy tosses in play [cheers]; and we are to-day
confronted with the question, not how we shall get money, but how we
shall wisely stop some of those avenues by which wealth is pouring
into our public treasury.
It is an easier problem than that which confronted the great war
Secretary, in whose name you so delight--how to raise revenue to
prosecute the war successfully. It will be wisely solved. And may I
note also the fact that, notwithstanding this complaint of excessive
revenue, there are some who suggest that they are not able adequately
to arouse the popular indignation against excessive taxation because
they cannot disclose to the people when or how they are paying the
taxes? [Applause.] It is taken, they say, so indirectly and so subtly
that these--our plain people--don't know that they are paying them at
all. [Applause.] But I must not cross this line of party discussion.
I have had a pleasant stay in this most delightful neighborhood, and
I cannot let this public opportunity pass without expressing, for
myself and for Mrs. Harrison, our grateful appreciation of the kind
and thoughtful hospitality which has been shown to us by the people of
these islands. [Prolonged applause.]
FORT WAYNE, IND., SEPTEMBER 4, 1888.
General Harrison and party, _en route_ home from Middle Bass Island,
arrived at Toledo on the evening of Sept. 3, and were again the guests
of Wm. Cummings. At night they were tendered a reception by Mr. and Mrs.
John Berdan, at their residence.
On the morning of Sept. 4 the party started homeward. The first stop was
at Fort Wayne, where several thousand Hoosiers welcomed their leader.
Supt. Wall, of the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne Railroad, introduced the
general, who spoke as follows:
_My Friends_--I desire to thank you for this cordial demonstration.
I thank you not so much for myself as for the party to which most of
us have given the consent of our minds. I am glad to know that the
people are moved to a thoughtful consideration of those questions
which are this year presented for their determination. Under a popular
government like ours it is of the first importance that every man
who votes should have some reason for his vote; that every man who
attaches himself to this or that political party should intelligently
understand both the creed and the purposes of the party to which he
belongs. I think it is universally conceded by Democrats as well
as by Republicans that the questions involved in this campaign do
have a very direct bearing upon the national prosperity, and upon
the prosperity and welfare of the individual citizen. I think it is
conceded that the result of this election will affect beneficently
or injuriously our great manufacturing interests, and will affect
for weal or for woe the workingmen and working-women who fill these
busy hives of industry. [Applause.] This much is conceded. I do not
intend to-day to argue the question in any detail. I want to call
your attention to a few general facts and principles, and the first
one--the one I never tire of mentioning; the one I deem so important
that I do not shun the charge that I am repeating myself--is this:
that the condition of the wage-workers of America is better than that
of the wage-workers of any other country in the world. [Applause.]
Now, if that be true, it is important that you should each find out
why it is so; that each one of you should determine for himself what
effect a protective tariff has had and is likely to have upon his
wages and his prosperity. Does it need to be demonstrated that if
we reduce our tariff to a revenue level, if we abolish from it every
consideration of protection, more goods will come in from abroad than
come in now? And what is the necessary effect? It is the transfer to
foreign shops of work that you need here; it is to diminish American
production and increase English production.
That is to be the effect of it. It is, not worth while to stand
upon nice definitions as to free trade. Some think it enough to say
that they are not free-traders because they are not in favor of
abolishing all customs duties. Let me remind such that the free-trade
countries of Europe, recognized to be such, have not abolished
all customs duties. A better distinction is this: The free-trader
believes in levying customs duties without any regard to the effect
of those duties upon the wages of our working people, or upon the
production of our own shops. This, then, is the issue. Take it to
your homes. There are many confusing and contradictory statements
made in the public press and by public speakers. Ask any of those
who assail our protective system whether they do not believe that if
their policy is adopted a larger amount of foreign-made goods will
come into this country. It is their purpose to increase importation
in order to cheapen prices. I think I may safely ask you to consider
the question whether this cheapening of prices, which they seem to
regard as the highest attainment of statesmanship, is consistent with
the rate of wages that our working people enjoy now, whether it will
not involve--if we are to have foreign competition without favoring
duties--a reduction of American wages to the standard of the wages
paid abroad. [Applause.] Do you believe for one moment that two
factories making the same product can be maintained in competition
when one pays thirty-three per cent. more to its workingmen than
the other? Is it not certain that wages must be equalized in those
competing establishments or the one paying the higher wages must
shut down? [Applause and cries, "That's the thing!"] Here in this
city of Fort Wayne, so important and so prosperous, we have a fine
illustration of the accruing advantages of a large factory and shop
population. It has made your city prosperous as well as populous, and
it has made these outlying Allen County farms vastly more valuable
than they otherwise would have been. These interests harmonize. But
I only want to ask you to think upon these questions; settle them in
your own minds, for it is agreed by all that, as they shall be settled
one way or the other, your interests and those of your families and
of this community, and of every other like community in this country,
are to be affected, favorably or unfavorably. May I not appeal to you
to review these questions, to throw off the shackles of preconceived
notions and of party prejudices, and consider them anew in the light
of all the information that is accessible to you? If you shall do
that I do not doubt that the working people of this country will this
November forever settle the question that American customs duties
shall by intention, by forethought, have regard to the wages of our
working people. [Applause.]
And now, if you will pardon further speech, I shall be glad to avail
myself of the arrangements which the committee have provided to greet
personally any of you who may desire to greet me. [Prolonged applause
and cheers.]
HUNTINGTON, IND., SEPTEMBER 4.
The next stop was at Huntington, where two thousand people were
congregated.
In response to repeated calls General Harrison said:
_My Friends_--Our stop here is altogether too brief for me to
attempt to speak; yet I cannot refrain from expressing to you, my
friends of Huntington County, my sincere and grateful appreciation for
the evidence of your kindness in welcoming me so cordially to my home
after a brief absence. I have not travelled very far this time, but
I have seen nothing either on this visit, or any more extended visit
that I have heretofore made, to win away my interests and affection
from the great State of Indiana. [Great applause.] It is great in the
capabilities, both of its soil and its citizenship [applause]; great
in its achievements during the war. When our country was imperilled
no State more nobly or magnificently responded to the demands which
were made by the general Government for men to fight and to die for
the flag. [Applause.] I am glad to greet in this audience to-day my
comrades of the war, and all who have gathered here. I beg to thank
you again for your kindness.
PERU, IND., SEPTEMBER 4.
At Peru a committee, headed by Hon. A. C. Bearss and Giles W. Smith,
waited upon General Harrison, who addressed an audience of over two
thousand as follows:
_My Friends_--I am very much obliged to you for that kindness of
feeling which your gathering here to-day evinces. I have had a brief
visit for rest, and I am come back to my home with very kind feelings
toward my friends in Indiana, who have, not only during this important
campaign, but always, when I have appealed to them, treated me with
the utmost consideration. I have not time to-day to discuss the issues
of this campaign. They are extremely important, and they will have
a direct bearing upon the prosperity of our country. I can only ask
you to think of them, and not to mistake the issue. It is very plain.
It is the question of whether our tariff laws shall be a protection
to American workingmen and a protection to American manufacturing
establishments. Those who advocate tariff for revenue only do not take
any thought of our wage-workers, but let their interests take care
of themselves. On the other hand the Republican party believes that
high regard should be paid to the question what the effect will be
upon wages and upon the protection of our American shops. Those who
believe the doctrine agree with us; and those who assail it, and say
it is unconstitutional, as has recently been said by a distinguished
citizen, would destroy our protective system if they could. We must
believe so, because we must impute to them sincerity in what they
say. I believe this campaign will settle for many years to come the
question of whether legislation shall be intelligently directed in
favor of the doctrine that we will, so far as may be, see that our
farmers may find home consumers for their home product, and that these
populous manufacturing centres may give a larger value to the farms
that lie about them. You have these questions to settle. They affect
your interests as citizens. I am sure that everything that regards
them, as well as everything that regards the candidate, may be safely
left in the kind hands of these intelligent citizens of Indiana and of
the United States. [Great cheering.]
KOKOMO, IND., SEPTEMBER 4.
The city of Kokomo welcomed the party in the evening with a brilliant
illumination by natural gas. Three thousand people were present. General
Harrison said:
_My Friends_--I very much appreciate this spontaneous evidence of
your friendliness. That so many of you should have gathered here this
evening to greet us on our return home after a brief absence from the
State is very gratifying to me. Kokomo has been for many years a very
prosperous place. It has been the happy home of a very intelligent and
very thrifty people. You are now, however, realizing a development
more rapid and much greater than the most sanguine among you could
have anticipated three years ago. The large increase in the number
and business of your manufacturing establishments, the coming here
from other parts of the country of enterprising men with their capital
to set up manufacturing plants, has excited your interest and has
promoted your development. There is not a resident of Kokomo, there
is not a resident of Howard County, who does not rejoice in this
great prosperity. I am sure there is not a man or woman in this city
who does not realize that this new condition of things gives to your
boys, who are growing up, new avenues of useful thrift. It opens to
those who might otherwise have pursued common labor access to skilled
trades and higher compensation. There is not a merchant in Kokomo who
does not appreciate the added trade which comes to his store. There
is not a farmer in Howard County who has not realized the benefits
of a home market for his crops [applause and cries of "Good!"], and
especially for those perishable products of the farm which do not bear
distant transportation. Now I submit to your consideration, in the
light of these new facts, whether you have not a very deep interest in
the protection of our domestic industries and the maintenance of the
American standard of wages. There can be no mistaking the issue this
year. In previous campaigns it has been observed by evasive platform
declarations. It is now so clear that all men can understand it. I
would leave this thought with you: Will the prosperity that is now
realized by you, and that greater prosperity which you anticipate, be
better advanced by the continuance of the protective policy or by its
destruction?
TIPTON, IND., SEPTEMBER 4.
At Tipton Junction, where several hundred people had congregated,
General Harrison said:
_My Friends_--There is no time this evening for me to say more than
that I thank you very sincerely for this cordial evidence of your
kindly feeling. I will not have time to discuss any public questions.
You will consider them for yourselves, and can have ready access to
all necessary information.
NOBLESVILLE, IND., SEPTEMBER 4.
At Noblesville the train was met by a special from Indianapolis, bearing
the Columbia Club, a uniformed organization of three hundred prominent
young men, who had come to escort General Harrison to his home.
To the assembled citizens of Noblesville the general said:
_My Friends_--You are very kind, and I am grateful for this
manifestation of your kindness. I cannot speak to you at any length
to-night. You are in the "gas belt" of Indiana. The result of the
discovery of this new fuel has been the rapid development of your
towns. You have shown your enterprise by hospitably opening the way
for the coming of new industrial enterprises. You have felt it worth
while not only to invite them, but to offer pecuniary inducements for
them to come. If it has been worth while to do so much in the hope
of developing your town and to add value to your farms by making a
home market for your farm product, is it not also worth your while
so to vote this fall as to save and enlarge these new industrial
enterprises? [Applause.] Let me acknowledge a new debt of gratitude
to my friends of Hamilton County, who have often before made me their
debtor, and bid you good-night.
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 4.
The home-coming of General Harrison was a veritable ovation. Fifteen
thousand people greeted and accompanied him to his residence, led by
the Columbia Club, the Veterans' Regiment, and the Railroad Men's Club.
Escorted by Gen. Foster, Daniel M. Ransdell, and W. N. Harding, General
Harrison--standing in his own door--facing the great assembly, said:
_My Friends_--Two weeks ago to-day I left Indianapolis quietly
for a brief season of rest. We met in Ohio very considerate and
hospitable friends, who allowed nothing to be lacking to the enjoyment
and comfort of our brief vacation. But, notwithstanding all the
attractions of that island home in Lake Erie, we are to-night very
happy to be again at home. The enthusiastic welcome you have extended
to us has added grace and joy. I think I may conclude that nothing has
happened since I have been gone that has disturbed your confidence
or diminished your respect. [Great applause and cries of "No! no!"]
At the outset of this campaign I said I would confidently commit all
that was personal to myself to the keeping of the intelligent and
fair-minded citizens of Indiana. [Applause.] We will go on our way in
this campaign upon that high and dignified plane upon which it has
been pitched, so far as it lay in our power, commending the principles
of our party to the intelligent interest of our fellow-citizens,
and trusting to truth and right for the victory. [Applause.] Most
gratefully I acknowledge the affectionate interest which has been
shown to-night by my old comrades of the war. [Applause.] I am glad
to know that in this veteran organization there are many who have
heretofore differed with me in political opinion, but who are drawn
in this campaign, by a sense of our common interests, to cast in
their influence with us. I desire also to thank the Railroad Club
for their kind greetings. There has been a special significance in
their friendly organization, and I am grateful, also, to the members
of the Columbia Club for their part in this demonstration. Now, with
an overwhelming sense of inability to respond fittingly to your
cordiality and kindness, I can only thank you once more and bid you
good-night. [Applause.]
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 6.
On the night of Sept. 6 General Harrison, in company with General A.
P. Hovey, Ex-Gov. A. G. Porter, Hon. James N. Huston, Hon. R. B. F.
Pierce, Judge Walker, and other friends, reviewed from the balcony of
the New-Denison Hotel ten thousand marching Republicans.
It was one of the most brilliant and successful demonstrations of the
campaign. The great line was composed of eighty-two Republican clubs and
associations of the city of Indianapolis, commanded by Chief Marshal
Hon. Geo. W. Spahr, assisted by the following mounted aids: Major Geo.
Herriott, Moses G. McLain, Dan'l M. Ransdell, Thomas F. Ryan, W. H.
H. Miller, John B. Elam, Dr. Austin Morris, Col. I. N. Walker, Wm.
L. Taylor, W. A. Pattison, Capt. O. H. Hibben, Charles Murray, Ed.
Thompson, Charles Wright, S. D. Pray, J. E. Haskell, Wm. Thomas, W.
H. Tucker, Joseph Forbes, Ed. Harmon, Lou Wade, John W. Bowlus, M. L.
Johnson, Miles Reynolds, W. E. Tousey, R. H. Rees, and W. D. Wiles.
The column was divided into four divisions, commanded by Col. N. R.
Ruckle, Col. James B. Black, Horace McKay, and Hon. Stanton J. Peelle. A
great mass-meeting followed the parade, and the issues of the campaign
were presented by General Hovey, Gov. Porter and Hon. John M. Butler.
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 8.
General Harrison on this date received perhaps the most unique
delegation of the campaign: a band of one hundred girls and misses, aged
from seven to fifteen years, organized by Mrs. Mattie McCorkle. At their
head rode Master Charles Pettijohn, six years old, mounted upon a pony,
followed by a drum corps of eight young boys. The girls marched four
abreast, dressed in uniforms of red, white and blue, carrying mounted
Japanese lanterns. They were commanded by Miss Florence Schilling. After
singing "Marching through Georgia," Master Pettijohn, on behalf of the
young ladies, presented the general a handsome bouquet and made an
address. General Harrison honored the young orator and the club with a
speech, and said:
When some one asked this afternoon, over the telephone, if I would
receive some children who wanted to pay me a visit, I gave a very
cheerful consent, because I thought I saw a chance to have a good
time. That you little ones would demand a speech from me never entered
my mind, nor did I expect to see a company so prettily uniformed and
so well drilled, both in marching and in song.
Children have always been attractive to me. I have found not only
entertainment but instruction in their companionship. Little ones
often say wise things. In the presence of such a company as this, one
who has any aspirations for the things that are good and pure cannot
fail to have them strengthened. The kind words you have addressed to
me in song come, I am sure, from sincere and loving hearts, and I am
very grateful for them and for your visit. Some of the best friends I
have are under ten years of age, and after to-night I am sure I shall
have many more, for all your names will be added.
And now I hope you will all come in where we can see you and show
you whatever there is in our home to interest you. I would like you
all to feel that we will be glad if you will come to see us often.
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 10.