is gone. It was in the spring-time of our lives that we heard our
country's call. Full of vigor and youth and patriotism, we responded
to it. The exhaustion of march and camp and battle, and the civil
strife of the years that have passed since the close of the war,
have left their marks upon us, and, as we gather from year to year,
we notice the signs of advancing age, and the roster of our dead is
lengthened. We are reminded by the minutes of our last meeting, that
have been read, of the presence at our last reunion of that faithful
and beloved officer who went out from this county, Major Reagan.
With a prophetic instinct of what was before him, he told us then
that it was probably the last time that he should gather with us.
God has verified the thought that was in his mind, and that simple,
true-hearted, brave comrade has been enrolled with the larger company.
We are glad to-day to be together, yet our gladness is sobered. As I
look into those familiar faces I notice a deep sense of satisfaction,
but I have not failed to observe that there are tears in many eyes.
We are not moved to tears by any sense of regret that we gave some
service to our country and to its flag, but only by the sense that we
are not all here to-day, and that all who are here will never gather
again in a meeting like this. We rejoice that we were permitted to
make some contribution to the glory and credit and perpetuity of the
Nation we love. [Applause.]
Comrades who served under other regimental flags and who have
gathered here with us to-day, we do not boast of higher motives or
greater service than yours. We welcome you to a participation in
our reunion. We fully acknowledge that you had a full--possibly a
fuller--share than we in the great achievements of the war. We claim
only this for the Seventieth Indiana--that we went into the service
with the full purpose to respond to every order [cries of "That's
so!"], and that we never evaded a fight or turned our backs to the
enemy. [Applause.] We are not here to exalt ourselves, but I cannot
omit to say that a purer, truer self-consecration to the flag and
country was never offered than by you and your dead comrades who, in
1862, mustered for the defence of the Union. [Applause.]
It was not in the heyday of success, it was not under the impression
that sixty days would end the war, that you were mustered. It was when
the clouds hung low and disasters were thick. Buell was returning
from the Tennessee, Kirby Smith coming through Cumberland Gap, and
McClellan had been defeated on the Peninsula. It seemed as if the
frown of God was on our cause. It was then, in that hour of stress,
that you pledged your hearts and lives to the country [applause], in
the sober realization that the war was a desperate one, in which
thousands were to die. We are glad that God has spared us to see the
magnificent development and increase in strength and honor which has
come to us as a Nation, and in the glory that has been woven into the
flag we love. [Great applause.] We are glad that with most of us the
struggle in life has not left us defeat, if it has not crowned us with
the highest successes. We are veterans and yet citizens, pledged, each
according to his own conscience and thought, to do that which will
best promote the glory of our country and best conserve and set in
our public measures those patriotic thoughts and purposes that took
us into the war. [Applause.] It is my wish to-day that every relation
I occupy to the public or to a political party might be absolutely
forgotten [cries of "Good! good!"], and that I might for this day,
among these comrades, be thought of only as a comrade--your old
Colonel. [Great applause.]
Nothing has given me more pleasure on this occasion than to notice,
as I passed through your streets, so beautifully and so tastefully
decorated, that the poles that have been reared by the great parties
were intertwined [applause]--and now I remind myself that I am not
the orator of this occasion [cries of "Go on!"], but its presiding
officer. The right discharge of that duty forbids much talking.
Comrades of the Seventieth Indiana, comrades of all these associated
regiments, I am glad to meet you. Nothing shall sever that bond, I
hope. Nothing that I shall ever say, nothing that I shall ever do,
will weaken it. And now, if you will permit me again to acknowledge
the generous hospitality of this community, and in your behalf to
return them our most sincere thanks, I will close these remarks and
proceed with the programme which has been provided.
General Harrison was unanimously re-elected President of the
Association, Colonel Samuel Merrill Vice-President, M. G. McLean
Secretary, Major James L. Mitchell Treasurer.
When the motion was put by one of the veterans on the adoption of
the report re-electing General Harrison to the presidency of the
Association, the veterans answered with a "Yea" that brought cheer upon
cheer from the crowd.
General Harrison, visibly affected, simply said: "I feel myself crowned
again to-day by this evidence of comradeship of the old soldiers of the
Seventieth Indiana." [Cheers.]
On his return from Clayton, General Harrison was visited at his
residence by fifty veterans of Potter Post, G. A. R., Sycamore, Ill.,
_en route_ home from the Columbus encampment. They were introduced by
General E. F. Dutton, colonel of the One Hundred and Fifth Illinois
Infantry, and commander of the Second Brigade, Third Division of the
Twentieth Army Corps.
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 14.
All trains arriving from the East this day brought large delegations of
homeward-bound veterans from the Columbus, Ohio, encampment. The first
to arrive was one hundred veterans of Ransom Post, St. Louis--General
Sherman's Post--who were introduced by Col. Murphy. General Harrison,
responding to their greeting, said:
_Comrades_--I esteem it a pleasure to be able to associate with you
by the use of that form of address. I know of no human organization
that can give a better reason for its existence than the Grand Army of
the Republic. [Cries of "Good!"] It needs no argument to justify it;
it stands unassailable, and admits of no criticism from any quarter.
Its members have rendered that service to their country in war, and
they maintain now, in peace, that honorable, courageous citizenship
that entitles them to every patriot's respect. I thank you for this
visit, and will be glad if you will now allow me to welcome you to my
home.
In the afternoon the streets of Indianapolis were overflowing with
marching veterans from Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and
Kansas, headed by the National Drum Corps of Minneapolis, and commanded
by Department Commander Col. James A. Sexton, of Chicago, and a
brilliant staff. The great column passed through the city out to the
Harrison residence. Conspicuous at the head of the line marched the
distinguished Governor of Wisconsin, General Jere M. Rusk, surrounded
by his staff of seventeen crippled veterans, among whom were Capt. E.
G. Fimme, Secretary of State of Wisconsin; Col. H. B. Harshaw, State
Treasurer; C. E. Estabrook, Attorney-General; Philip Cheek, Insurance
Commissioner; Col. H. P. Fischer, Maj. J. R. Curran, Maj. F. L.
Phillips, Maj. F. H. Conse; Captains W. W. Jones, H. W. Lovejoy, and W.
H. McFarland. Eighty members of the Woman's Relief Corps accompanied
the veterans, and were given positions of honor at the reception.
When General Harrison appeared he was tendered an ovation. Governor
Rusk said: "Comrades--I consider it both an honor and a pleasure in
introducing to you the President of the United States for the next eight
years--General Benjamin Harrison." [Cheers.]
General Harrison responded as follows:
_Governor Rusk, Comrades of the Grand Army, and Ladies_--I did not
suppose that the Constitution of our country would be subjected to
so serious a fracture by the executive of one of our great States.
[Laughter.] Four years is the constitutional term of the President.
[Laughter.] I am glad to see you; I return your friendly greetings
most heartily. Your association is a most worthy one. As I said to
some comrades who visited me this morning, it has the best reason for
its existence of any human organization that I know of. [Applause.] I
am glad to know that your recent encampment at Columbus was so largely
attended, and was in all its circumstances so magnificent a success.
The National Encampment of the G. A. R. is an honor to any city. The
proudest may well array itself in its best attire to welcome the
Union veterans of the late war. In these magnificent gatherings, so
impressive in numbers and so much more impressive in the associations
they revive, there is a great teaching force. If it is worth while
to build monuments to heroism and patriotic sacrifice that may stand
as dumb yet eloquent instructors of the generation that is to come,
so it is worth while that these survivors of the war assemble in
their national encampments and march once more, unarmed, through the
streets of our cities, whose peace and prosperity they have secured.
[Applause.]
Every man and every woman should do them honor. We have a body of
citizen soldiers instructed in tactics and strategy and accustomed to
the points of war that make this Nation very strong and formidable.
I well remember that even in the second year of the war instructors
in tactics were rare in our own camps. They are very numerous now.
[Laughter.] Yet, while this Nation was never so strong in a great
instructed, trained body of veteran soldiers, I think it was never
more strongly smitten with the love of peace. The man that would
rather fight than eat has not survived the last war. [Laughter.] He
was laid away in an early grave or enrolled on the list of deserters.
But he would be mistaken who supposes that all the hardships of the
war--its cruel, hard memories--would begin to frighten those veterans
from the front if the flag was again assailed or the national security
or dignity imperilled. [Applause and cries of "You are right!"] The
war was also an educator in political economy.
These veterans, who saw how the poverty of the South in the
development of her manufacturing interests paralyzed the skill of
her soldiers and the generalship of her captains, have learned to
esteem and value our diversified manufacturing interests. [Applause.]
You know that woollen mills and flocks would have been more valuable
to the Confederacy than battalions; that foundries and arsenals and
skilled mechanical labor was the great lack of the Confederacy. You
have learned that lesson so well that you will not wish our rescued
country, by any fatal free-trade policy, to be brought to a like
condition. [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] And now, gentlemen, I
had a stipulation that I was not to speak at all. [Laughter.] You will
surely allow me now to stop this formal address, and to welcome my
comrades to our home. [Applause.]
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 15.
General Harrison held three receptions this date. The first was tendered
the Scott Rifles of Kansas City, all members of the G. A. R., _en route_
home from the Columbus encampment. They wore the regulation blue uniform
and carried muskets. Captain Brant introduced his company, stating that
in bringing their arms with them "they did not intend to do General
Harrison any violence." The General responded:
_Captain and Comrades_--I did not need to be assured that comrades
of the Grand Army, whether bearing arms or not, brought me no peril.
No loyal and orderly citizen will mistrust their friendliness. The
people of Indiana will not ask that you procure any permit or give
bond to keep the peace before passing through this loyal State with
arms in your hands.
I am especially complimented by the visit of this organized company
of the Missouri militia, composed wholly of Union veterans. It gives
evidence that those who served in the Civil War are still watchful of
the honor and safety of our country and its flag; that our Government
may rest with security upon the defence which our citizen-soldiers
offer.
And now, without alluding at all to any topic of partisan interest,
I bid you welcome, and will be pleased to have a personal introduction
to each of you, if that is your pleasure.
The second reception was extended to a delegation of twelve hundred
workingmen from New Albany, Floyd County, organized into political
clubs, among whose leaders were Walter B. Godfrey, M. Y. Mallory,
Geo. B. Cardwell, M. M. Hurley, W. A. Maynor, Andrew Fite, Chas. R.
Clarke, J. W. Edmonson, L. L. Pierce, Horace Brown, N. D. Morris, T. W.
Armstrong, D. C. Anthony, John Hahn, R. E. Burke, Albert Hopkins, F.
D. Connor, Frank Norton, M. McDonald, M. H. Sparks, W. H. Russell, J.
N. Peyton, Daniel Prosser, Geo. Roberts, and G. H. Pennington. A band
of G. A. R. veterans from far-off Texas happened to be present at the
reception, among them Col. J. C. De Gress, Wm. Long, John Herman, S. C.
Slade, W. H. Nye, W. H. Tuttle, Geo. A. Knight, and Dr. S. McKay. James
A. Atkinson, a glassblower of the De Pauw works at New Albany, delivered
an able address on behalf of the visitors. General Harrison responded as
follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--There is something very distinctive, very
interesting, and very instructive in this large delegation of
workingmen from the city of New Albany. Your fellow-workman and
spokesman has so eloquently presented that particular issue upon which
you have the greatest interest that I can add nothing to the force
or conclusiveness of his argument. He has said that the interests
of the workingmen were especially involved in the pending political
contest. I think that is conceded even by our political opponents.
I do not think there is a man so dull or so unfair as to deny that
the reduction of our tariff rates so as to destroy the principle of
protection now embodied in our laws will have an influence on your
wages and on the production of your mills and factories. If this be
true, then your interest in the question is apparent. You will want to
know whether the influence of the proposed reduction of rates is to
be beneficial or hurtful; whether the effect will be to stimulate or
diminish production; whether it will be to maintain or increase the
rate of wages you are now receiving, or to reduce them. As you shall
settle these questions, so will you vote in November. [Applause.]
No man can doubt that a reduction of duties will stimulate the
importation of foreign merchandise. None of these plate-glass workers
can doubt that a reduction of the duty upon plate-glass will increase
the importation of French plate-glass.
None of these workers in your woollen mills can doubt that the
reduction of the duty upon the product of their mills will increase
the importation of foreign woollen goods.
And, if that is true, is it not also clear that this increased
importation of foreign-made goods means some idle workingmen in your
mills? The party that favors such discriminating duties as will
develop American production and secure the largest amount of work
for our American shops is the party whose policy will promote your
interests. [Applause and cries of "Hit him again!"] I have heard it
said by some leaders of Democratic thought that the reduction proposed
by the Mills bill, and the further reduction which some of them are
candid enough to admit they contemplate, will stimulate American
production by opening foreign markets and that the interests of our
Indiana manufacturing establishments would thus be promoted. But those
who advance this argument also say that it will not do to progress
too rapidly in the direction of free trade--that we must go slowly,
because our protected industries cannot stand too rapid an advance;
it would not be safe. [Laughter.] Now, my countrymen, if this plan of
revenue reform is to be promotive of our manufacturing interests, why
go slowly? Why not open the gates wide and let us have the promised
good all at once? [Laughter and applause.]
Is it that these philosophers think the cup of prosperity will
be so sweet and full that our laboring people cannot be allowed to
drink it at one draught? [Applause and cries of "Good! good!"] No,
my countrymen, this statement implies what these gentlemen know to
be true--that the effect of the proposed legislation is diminished
production and diminished wages, and they desire that you shall have
an opportunity to get used to it. [Applause.] But I cannot press
this discussion further. I want to thank you for the cordial things
you have said to me by him who has spoken for you. I trust, and have
always trusted, the intelligence and conscience of our working people.
[Applause.]
They will inevitably find out the truth, and when they find it they
will justify it. Therefore, there are many things that have been said
to which I have not and shall not allude while this contest is on.
They are with you: the truth is accessible to you, and you will find
it. Now, thanking you most heartily for the personal respect you have
evidenced, and congratulating you upon your intelligent devotion to
that great American system which has spread a sky of hope above you
and your children, I bid you good-by. [Cheers.]
The crowning event of the day was the reception of several hundred
members of the Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County and
Chicago. The visitors were met by the Home Irish-American Protection
Club, Patrick A. Ward, President, assisted by the Columbia Club and
several thousand citizens. Their demonstration was one of the most
notable of the campaign. This club was the first political organization
in the country to congratulate General Harrison on his nomination. The
evening of June 25 the club met and adopted the following, which was
telegraphed the General:
The Irish-American Republican Club of Cook County, Illinois,
congratulate you and the country upon your nomination. We greet
the gallant soldier and true American, and rejoice with our
fellow-citizens of every nationality in the glad assurance your
nomination gives that the industries of our country will be protected
and the honor of the Nation maintained with the same courage and
devotion that distinguished you on the bloody field of Resaca. We
salute the next President of the Republic.
NATHAN P. BRADY, _President_.
Leaders of the delegation were Hon. John F. Finerty, F. J. Gleason,
Dennis Ward, Richard Powers, and Messrs. Russell and O'Morey. Thomas
F. Byron, of Lowell, Mass., founder of the Land League in America,
accompanied the club. In the absence of President Brady their spokesman
was Mr. John F. Beggs. General Harrison delivered one of his happiest
responses. He said:
_Mr. Beggs and my Friends of the Irish-American Republican
Club of Cook County, Ill._--You were Irishmen, you are Americans
[cheers]--Irish-Americans [continued cheering], and though you have
given the consecrated loyalty of your honest hearts to the starry flag
and your adopted country, you have not and you ought not to forget
to love and venerate the land of your nativity. [Great applause.] If
you could forget Ireland, if you could be unmoved by her minstrelsy,
untouched by the appeals of her splendid oratory, unsympathetic with
her heroes and martyrs, I should fear that the bonds of your new
citizenship would have no power over hearts so cold and consciences so
dead. [Cheers.]
What if a sprig of green were found upon the bloody jacket of a
Union soldier who lay dead on Missionary Ridge? The flag he died for
was his flag and the green was only a memory and an inspiration.
We, native or Irish born, join with the Republican convention in
the hope that the cause of Irish home rule, progressing under the
leadership of Gladstone and Parnell [cheers] upon peaceful and lawful
lines, may yet secure for Ireland that which as Americans we so much
value--local home rule. [Cheering.] I am sure that you who have,
in your own persons or in your worthy representatives, given such
convincing evidence of your devotion to the American Constitution
and flag and to American institutions will not falter in this great
civil contest which your spokesman has so fittingly described. Who,
if not Irish-Americans versed in the sad story of the commercial
ruin of the island they love, should be instructed in the beneficent
influence of a protective tariff? [Continuous cheering.] Who, if not
Irish-Americans should be able to appreciate the friendly influences
of the protective system upon their individual and upon their home
life? Which of you has not realized that not the lot of man only, but
the lot of woman, has been made softer and easier under its influence?
[Applause and "Hear! hear!"] Contrast the American mother and wife,
burdened only with the cares of motherhood and of the household, with
the condition of women in many of the countries of the Old World,
where she is loaded also with the drudgery of toil in the field.
[Applause.]
I know that none more than Irishmen, who are so characterized by
their deference for women, and whose women have so fitly illustrated
that which is pure in female character, will value this illustration
of the good effects of our American system upon the home life.
[Continued applause.]
There are nations across the sea who are hungry for the American
market. They are waiting with eager expectation for the adoption of
a free-trade policy by the United States. [Cries of "That will never
happen!"] The English manufacturer is persuaded that an increased
market for English goods in America is good for him, but I think it
will be impossible to persuade the American producer and the American
workman that it is good for them. [Applause and cries of "That's
right!"] I believe that social order, that national prosperity, are
bound up in the preservation of our existing policy. [Loud cheering
and cries of "You are right!"] I do not believe that a republic can
live and prosper whose wage-earners do not receive enough to make life
comfortable, who do not have some upward avenues of hope open before
them. When the wage-earners of the land lose hope, when the star goes
out, social order is impossible, and after that anarchy or the Czar.
[Cheering.]
I gratefully acknowledge the compliment of your call, and
exceedingly regret that the storm without made it impossible for me
to receive you at my house. [Applause and cries of "Thanks! thanks!"]
I will now be glad to take each member of your club by the hand.
[Continued cheering.]
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 18.
General Harrison's callers to-day numbered about five thousand, over
half of whom came from Vermilion County, Illinois, led by a company of
young ladies, in uniform, from the town of Sidell. Hon. Samuel Stansbury
of Danville was Marshal of the delegation, aided by E. C. Boudinot, D.
G. Moore, Chas. A. Allen, J. G. Thompson, and W. C. Cowan. Col. W. R.
Jewell, editor Danville _Daily News_, was spokesman. General Harrison,
in response, said:
_My Illinois Friends_--The people of your State were very early
in giving evidence to our people and to me that they are deeply and
generally interested in this campaign. I welcome you and accept
your coming as evidence that the early interest you manifested has
suffered no abatement. It was not an impulse that stirred you, but
a deep conviction that matters of great and lasting consequence to
your country are involved in this campaign. Your representative in
Congress, Hon. Joseph Cannon, is well known in Indiana. [Applause.]
I have known him for many years; have observed his conduct in the
National Congress, and always with admiration. He is a fearless,
aggressive, honest Republican leader. [Applause and cries of "Good!
good!"] He is worthy of the favor and confidence you have shown him.
If some one were to ask to-day, "What is the matter with the United
States?" [laughter and cries of "She's all right!"] I am sure we would
hear some Democratic friend respond, "Its people are oppressed and
impoverished by tariff taxation." [Laughter.] Ordinarily our people
can be trusted to know when they are taxed; but this Democratic friend
will tell us that the tariff tax is so insidious that our people pay
it without knowing it. That is a very unhappy condition, indeed. But
his difficulties are not all surmounted when he has convinced his
hearers that a customs duty is a tax, for history does not run well
with his statement that our people have been impoverished by our
tariff system. Another answer to your question will be perhaps that
there is now a great surplus in the Treasury--he will probably not
state the figures, for there seems to be a painful uncertainty about
that. I have sometimes thought that this surplus was held chiefly to
be talked about. The laws provide a use for it that would speedily
place it in circulation. If a business man finds an accumulated
surplus that he does not need in his business, that stands as a bank
balance and draws no interest, and if he has notes outside to mature
in the future he will make a ready choice between leaving his balance
in the bank and using it to take up his obligations. [Applause.]
But in our national finances the other choice has been made, and
this surplus remains in the national bank without interest, while
our bonds, which, under the law, might be retired by the use of it,
continue to draw interest.