abandoning the policy of protection for that of a revenue tariff,
we are again confronted by the suggestion that the principle of
protection shall be eliminated from our tariff legislation. Have we
not had enough of such experiments? Does not the history of our tariff
legislation tell us that every revenue tariff has been followed by
business and industrial crashes, and that a return to the policy
of protection has stimulated our industries and set our throbbing
workshops again in motion? [Cheers.] And yet, again and again, the
Democratic party comes forward with this pernicious proposition--for
it has been from that party always that the proposition to abandon our
protective policy and to substitute a revenue tariff has come. [Cries
of "That's so!"]
I had placed in my hands yesterday a copy of the London News for
September 13. The editor says in substance that, judging the purposes
of the Democratic party by the executive message of last December,
the English people were justified in believing that party meant free
trade; but if they were to accept the more recent utterances of its
leader, protesting that that was not their purpose, then the editor
thus states the issue presented by the Democratic party. I read but
a single sentence: "It is, at any rate, a contest between protection
and something that is not protection." [Prolonged and wild cheering.]
It is not of the smallest interest to you what that other thing is.
[Continued cheering.] It is enough to know that it is not protection.
[Renewed cheering.] Those who defend the present Democratic policy
declare that our people not only pay the tariff duty upon all imported
goods, but that a corresponding amount is added to the price of every
domestic competing article. That for every dollar that is paid into
the Treasury in the form of a customs duty the people pay several
dollars more in the enhanced cost of the domestic competing article.
Those who honestly hold such doctrines cannot stop short of the
absolute destruction of our protective system. [Cries of "No, no!"]
The man who preaches such doctrines and denies that he is on the road
to free trade is like the man who takes passage on a train scheduled
from here to Cincinnati without a stop, and when the train is speeding
on its way at the rate of forty miles an hour, denies that he is going
to Cincinnati. [Great laughter and cheering.] The impulse of such
logic draws toward free trade as surely and swiftly as that engine
pulls the train to its appointed destination. It inevitably brings us
to the English rule of levying duties only upon such articles as we do
not produce at home, such as tea and coffee. That is purely revenue
tariff, and is practically free trade.
Against this the Republican party proposes that our tariff duty
shall be of an intelligent purpose, be levied chiefly upon competing
articles. [Cheers.] That our American workmen shall have the benefit
of discriminating duties upon the products of their labor. [Cheers.]
The Democratic policy increases importation, and, by so much,
diminishes the work to be done in America. It transfers work from the
shops of South Chicago to Birmingham. [Cries of "Right you are!"]
For, if a certain amount of any manufactured article is necessary for
a year's supply to our people, and we increase the amount that is
brought from abroad, by just so much we diminish the amount that is
made at home, and in just that proportion we throw out of employment
the men that are working here. And not only so, but when this equal
competition is established between our shops and the foreign shops,
there is not a man here who does not know that the only condition
under which the American shop can run at all is that it shall reduce
the wages of its employees to the level of the wages paid in the
competing shops abroad. [Cheers.] This is, briefly, the whole story.
I believe we should look after and protect our American workingmen;
therefore I am a Republican. [Renewed enthusiastic cheering.]
But I will not detain you longer. [Cries of "Go on!"] You must
excuse me; I have been going on for three months. [A voice, "And
you'll go on for four years!"] I am somewhat under restraint in what I
can say, and others here are somewhat under restraint as to what they
can appropriately say in my presence. I beg you therefore to allow me,
after thanking you again for your kindness, to retire that others who
are here may address you. [Great cheering.]
INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 11.
In point of numbers the greatest day of the Indiana campaign was
Thursday, October 11, when over 50,000 visitors arrived from all points
in Indiana and along the border counties of Ohio to participate in the
greeting to the Hon. James G. Blaine, who was the guest of General
Harrison.
From the balcony of the New-Denison Hotel General and Mrs. Harrison,
accompanied by Mr. Blaine, Gen. Adam King, of Baltimore; Col. A. L.
Snowden and Gen. D. H. Hastings, of Pennsylvania; Col. M. J. Murray, of
Massachusetts; Gen. W. C. Plummer, of Dakota; Corporal James Tanner,
of New York; ex-Senator Ferry, of Michigan; Hon. R. W. Thompson,
ex-Governor A. G. Porter, Hon. J. N. Huston, Gen. A. P. Hovey, and Ira
J. Chase, reviewed probably the greatest political parade ever witnessed
in this country outside of the city of New York. Twenty-five thousand
men constituted the marching column, in nine great divisions, commanded
by Col. Charles S. Millard, Chief Marshal, with Gen. James S. Carnahan,
Chief of Staff, and 200 aids. The division commanders and principal aids
were:
First Division, Gen. N. R. Ruckle, of Indianapolis. Chief of Staff,
Charles J. Many, of Indianapolis.
Second Division, Capt. H. M. Caylor, of Noblesville. Chief of Staff,
Major J. M. Watt, of Delphi.
Third Division, John W. Lovett, of Anderson. Chief of Staff, Col. George
Parker.
Fourth Division, Gen. Tom Bennett, of Richmond. Chief of Staff, Capt.
Ira B. Myers, of Peru.
Fifth Division, Col. T. C. Burnside, of Liberty. Chief of Staff, J. W.
Ream, of Muncie.
Sixth Division, Col. J. M. Story, of Franklin. Chief of Staff, Capt.
David Wilson, of Martinsville.
Seventh Division, Col. W. R. McClellen, of Danville. Chief of Staff,
Capt. W. H. Armstrong, of Terre Haute.
Eighth Division, Capt. T. H. B. McCain, of Crawfordsville. Chief of
Staff, Edward Watson, of Brazil.
Ninth Division, Capt. J. O. Pedigo, of Lebanon. Chief of Staff, C. C.
Shirley, of Kokomo.
Mr. Blaine visited the Exposition grounds in the afternoon, where Major
W. H. Calkins introduced him to an audience of about 30,000, to whom he
addressed a few words. At night Mr. Blaine delivered one of his masterly
speeches at Tomlinson Hall to an audience of 6,000. At the close of the
Blaine meeting General Harrison received a delegation from Cincinnati,
consisting of A. B. Horton, H. D. Emerson, Wm. Fredberger, James A.
Graff, H. R. Probasco, Dr. M. T. Carey, Abram Myer, Fred Pryor, and
Walter Hartpense, who called to invite him to attend the Cincinnati
Exposition on "Republican Day." A St. Louis delegation, members of the
Loyal Legion, also paid their respects. Among them were Col. R. C.
Kerens, Col. Nelson Cole, Col. J. S. Butler, Major W. R. Hodges, Captain
Gleason, G. B. Adams, H. L. Morrill, C. H. Sampson, and W. B. Gates.
On October 18 a party of distinguished railroad magnates visited General
Harrison. They were Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, J. D. Layng, H. W. Webb,
Sam'l Barton, Seward C. Webb, and C. F. Cox, of New York; J. De Koven,
of Chicago; S. M. Beach, of Cleveland, and J. Q. Van Winkle, of St.
Louis.
On October 19 General Harrison received informally 150 survivors of
the Eleventh Indiana Regiment, headed by their first colonel, Gen. Lew
Wallace, and General McGinnis.
INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 13.
Two large and influential organizations visited General Harrison
on October 13. From Milwaukee came 400 members of the Young Men's
Republican Club--Paul D. Carpenter, President; George Russell,
Secretary. Among other prominent members were Samuel Chandler,
who organized the pilgrimage, and Walter W. Pollock. President
Carpenter--son of the late Senator Matt Carpenter--and C. S. Otjen, a
wage-worker, were spokesmen for the club.
The second and largest delegation was the Chicago German-American
Republican Club--Franz Amberg, President; F. J. Buswick, Secretary.
Accompanying them was the Excelsior Band and sixteen voices from the
Orpheus Maennerchor Society of Chicago. Among the widely known members
with the club were Hon. Chris. Mamer, Louis Huck, Peter Hand, Edward
Bert, Peter Mahr, Henry Wulf, City Treasurer Plantz, N. F. Plotke, and
Alderman Tiedemann. As General Harrison entered the hall the reception
exercises were opened by the Maennerchor Society with the inspiring
hymn--"This is the Lord's own day." Addresses on behalf of the visitors
were made by Hon. Wm. Vocke, Henry Greenbaum, and Andrew Soehngen; also,
General Fred Knefler for the German Republicans of Indiana, and Hon A.
B. Ward, of Dakota.
General Harrison, responding to both visiting delegations, said:
_My Friends of the German-American Republican Club of Chicago, and
of the Club of Milwaukee, and my Home German Friends_--I am very
grateful for the kind words you have addressed to me. The long journey
most of you have taken upon this inclement day to tender your respects
to me as the candidate of the Republican party is very convincing
evidence that you believe this civil contest to be no mock tournament,
but a very real and a very decisive battle for great principles.
[Cheers]. My German-American friends, you are a home-loving people;
father, mother, wife, child are words that to you have a very full
and a very tender meaning. [Cheers.] The old father and mother never
outlive the veneration and love of the children in a German household.
[Cheers.] You have come from the fatherland in families, and have set
up again here the old hearth-stones. Out of this love of home there
is naturally born a love of country--it is only the widening of the
family circle--and so our fellow-citizens of German birth and descent
did not fail to respond with alacrity and enthusiasm to the call of
their adopted country when armies were mustered for the defence of the
Union. [Cheers.] The people of Indiana will long remember the veteran
Willich and the Thirty-second Regiment of Indiana Volunteers (or First
German), which he took into the field in 1861. The repulse by this
regiment alone of an attacking force under General Hindman of 1,100
infantry, a battalion of Texas Rangers, and four pieces of artillery
at Rowlett's Station, in December, 1861, filled our people with
enthusiasm and pride. Again and again the impetuous Texas horsemen
threw themselves with baffled fury upon that square of brave hearts.
No bayonet point was lowered, no skulker broke the wall of safety that
enclosed the flag. [Cheers.]
Your people are industrious, thrifty, and provident. To lay by
something is one of life's earliest lessons in a German home. These
national traits naturally drew your people to the support of the
Republican party when it declared for freedom and free homes in the
Territories. [Cheers.] They secured your adherence to the cause of the
Union in the Civil War. They gave us your help in the long struggle
for resumption and an honest currency, and I do not doubt that they
will now secure our sympathy and help in this great contest in behalf
of our American homes. Your people are largely wage-earners. They have
prospered under a protective tariff, and will not, I am sure, vote for
such a change in our tariff policy as will cut them off from their
wages that margin which they are now able to lay aside for old age and
for their children.
And now a word to my young friends from Wisconsin. You have come
into the possession of the suffrage at an important, if not critical,
time in our public affairs. The Democratic party out of power was a
party of negations. It did not secure its present lease of power upon
the platform or the policies it now supports and advocates. [Cheers.]
The campaign of 1884 was not made upon the platform of a tariff for
revenue only. Our workingmen were soothed with phrases that implied
some regard to their interests, and Democrats who believed in a
protective tariff were admitted to the party councils and gladly heard
in public debate. [Cheers.] But four years of power have changed all
this. Democrats who thought they could be protectionists and still
maintain their party standing have been silenced or their opinions
coerced. The issue is now distinctly made between "protection and
something that is not protection." [Cheers.] The Republican party
fearlessly accepts the issue and places itself upon the side of the
American home and the American workingman. [Cheers.] We invite these
young men who were too young to share the glory of the struggle for
our political unity to a part in this contest for the preservation of
our commercial independence. [Cheers.]
And now to these friends who are the bearers of gifts, one word of
thanks. I especially value this cane as a token of the confidence and
respect of the workingmen of Bay View. [Cheers.] I accept their gift
with gratitude, and would wish you, sir, to bear in return my most
friendly regards and good wishes to every one of them. I do not need
to lean on this beautiful cane, but I do feel like resting upon the
intelligent confidence of the men who sent it. [Great cheering.] I am
glad to know that they have not stumbled over the simple problem that
is presented for their consideration in this campaign. They know that
an increase of importation means diminished work in American shops.
[Cheers.] To my friend who brings this beautiful specimen of American
workmanship, this commonly accepted token of good luck, I give my
thanks. But we will not trust wholly in this symbol of good luck. The
earnest individual effort of the American people only can make the
result of this contest so decisive, so emphatic, that we shall not for
a generation hear any party contest the principle that our tariff laws
shall adequately protect our own workingmen. [Great cheering.]
INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 17.
Ohio's chief executive, Gov. Joseph B. Foraker, escorted by the Garfield
Club and the Fourteenth Regiment Band of Columbus, made a pilgrimage to
the Republican Mecca on October 17. The widely known Columbus Glee Club
accompanied them. Among the prominent Republicans with the delegation
were Auditor of State Poe, Adjutant-General Axline, Hon. Estes G.
Rathbone, C. L. Kurtz, D. W. Brown, C. E. Prior, L. D. Hogerty, J. W.
Firestone, and Ira H. Crum. Escorted by the Columbia Club, the Buckeyes
marched to the residence of General Harrison and were introduced by
Governor Foraker.
In response to their greeting General Harrison said:
_Gentlemen_--It was very appropriate that these representative
Ohio Republicans should accompany to the State of Indiana your
distinguished Governor, whose presence among us to-day is so welcome
to our people. We know his story as the young Ohio volunteer, the
fearless champion of Republican principles in public debate, and the
resolute, courageous, and sagacious executive of the great State of
Ohio. [Applause.] We welcome him and we welcome you. The fame of
this magnificent glee club has preceded them. We are glad to have an
opportunity to hear you.
To these members of the Garfield Club I return my thanks for this
friendly call. You bear an honored name. I look back with pleasure to
the small contribution I was able to make in Indiana toward securing
the electoral vote of this State to that great son of Ohio, whose
tragic death spread gloom and disappointment over our land. I welcome
you as citizens of my native State--a State I shall always love,
because all of my early associations are with it. In this State, to
which I came in my earliest manhood, the Republicans are as staunch
and true, as valorous and resolute, as can be found in any of the
States. You have no advantage of us except in numbers. We welcome
you all as Republicans. [A voice, "That's what we are!"] We believe
that our party now advocates another great principle that needs to be
established--made fast--put where it shall be beyond assault. It is
a principle which has wrought marvellously in the development of our
country since the war. It has enabled us to handle a great national
debt, which our desponding Democratic friends said would inevitably
sink our country into bankruptcy, so that we are not troubled about
getting the money to pay our maturing bonds, but are getting it
faster than our bonds mature. We need to establish this principle of
protection, the defence of our American workers against the degrading
and unfriendly competition of pauper labor in all other countries
[cheers], so unmistakably that it shall not again be assailed. [A
voice, "Amen!"] Our Democratic friends in previous campaigns have
deceived the people upon this great question by uncertain and evasive
utterances. We are glad to know that now they have drawn the issue
clearly; we accept it. [Applause.] If we shall be able in this
campaign, as I believe we will, to arouse our people to the importance
of maintaining our defences against unfair foreign competition,
we shall administer those who believe in revenue tariffs and in
progressive free trade a wholesome lesson--one that will last them a
lifetime. [Cheers.]
I had resolutely determined when I came upon these steps not to make
a speech. [Laughter and cries of "Go on!"] I am absolutely determined
to stop now. [Laughter.] I shall be glad to meet the members of these
escort clubs personally in my house. [Three cheers.]
Later in the day about 100 survivors of the Seventy-ninth Indiana
Regiment, led by their first colonel, General Fred Knefler, called on
General Harrison, and were presented by their leader in a brief speech,
in response to which General Harrison, speaking from his doorway, said:
_General Knefler and Comrades_--I am always deeply touched when
my comrades visit me and offer their kindly greetings. I have no
higher ambition than to stand well in the estimation of my comrades
of the old Union army. I will not speak of any political topic. These
men who stand before me gave the supreme evidence of their love and
devotion to their country. No man could give more than they offered.
The perpetuity of our institutions, the honor of what General Sherman
so felicitously called the "old glory," demand the country shall
always and in every appropriate way honor and reward the men who kept
it a Nation. Whatever may be said of our great prosperity since the
war, and it can scarcely be exaggerated, if we look for the cause
under God, is it not found in the stout hearts of these men? They
have opened this wide avenue of prosperity and honor in which we are
moving. It will be a shame if our people do not in every way properly
recognize that debt and properly honor the men who gave this supreme
evidence of their devotion to the country and its institutions.
Thanking you again for this visit, I will be glad if you will enter my
house and let me meet you personally.
INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 20.
For the fifth time during the campaign the commercial travellers visited
General Harrison, each time with increased numbers. On Saturday,
October 20, under the supervision of the Commercial Travellers'
Republican Club of Indianapolis--G. C. Webster, President; Ernest
Morris, Secretary--they held one of the largest and most successful
demonstrations of this remarkable campaign. Their gathering partook
of a national character, as large numbers of "drummers" were present
from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan,
Illinois, Missouri, West Virginia, and Vermont, while every important
city in Indiana sent its complement.
The visitors were received by a local committee of travelling men,
consisting of Fred Schmidt, Chairman; C. McPherson, Wm. Faucet, Joseph
Stubbs, Jeff Cook, Ed. Allcott, J. C. Norris, M. P. Green, Geo. White,
O. W. Morman, Chas. D. Pearson, Jeff Taylor, Wm. P. Bone, Henry Ramey,
Albert A. Womack, John A. Wright, James W. Muir, and Frank Brough. It
was estimated that 40,000 spectators witnessed their fine parade, a
conspicuous feature of which was a big bull covered with a white cloth
on which was printed the words--"John Bull rides the Democratic party
and we ride John Bull." On his back rode "Drummer" Dan'l B. Long in an
emerald suit, while L. A. Worch, dressed as Uncle Sam, led the bovine.
The parade was in charge of Chief Marshal J. R. Ross and his aids. As
the column passed their residence it was reviewed by General and Mrs.
Harrison. Later in the day the visitors were received at Tomlinson Hall.
When General Harrison appeared a great demonstration occurred. President
Webster presided; the speakers were: John E. Dowell, of Boston; R. T.
Dow, of Atlanta; C. L. Young and John L. Fennimore, of Columbus, Ohio;
Chas. P. Banks, of Brooklyn; John L. Griffiths and John C. Wingate, of
Indiana.
General Harrison said:
_My Friends_--Four times already, I believe, the commercial
travellers have honored me by calling upon me in large delegations.
You have assembled to-day, not from a single State or locality, but
from many States, upon the invitation of your associates of this
city, to show your intelligent interest in the principles that are
involved in this campaign. [Cheers.] I do not need to repeat what I
have said on former occasions, that I very highly value the respect
and confidence of the commercial travellers of the United States.
[Cheers.] I value it because I believe they give their adherence to
the party whose candidate I am upon an intelligent investigation and
upon an earnest conviction as to what is good for the country of which
they are citizens. [Cheers.] Who should be able, better than you, to
know the commercial and business needs of our country? You, whose hand
is every day upon the business pulse of the people; you, who travel
the country up and down upon all the swift highways of commerce, and
who are brought in contact with the business men of the country, not
only in our great centres of commerce, but in all the hamlets of the
land. I believe I may say for you that, as a result of this personal
knowledge of our business needs, you have concluded that the policy
for America is the policy of a protective tariff. [Great cheering.]
There are doubtless here many representatives of great American
manufacturing establishments; and who should know better than they the
prostrating effects upon the industries they represent of this policy
of a revenue tariff, or the not much differing policy of free trade?
[Cheers.] Who should know better than you that if the discriminating
duties now levied, which enable our American manufacturers to maintain
a fair competition with the manufacturers of other countries, and at
the same time to pay a scale of living wages to the men and women who
work for them, is once broken down, American competition with foreign
production becomes impossible, except by the reduction of the scale
of American wages to the level of the wages paid abroad? [Cheers.]
Certainly you do not need to be told that that shop or mill that
has the smallest pay-roll in proportion to its production will take
the market. [Cheers.] Certainly you do not need to be told that the
wages now enjoyed by our American workmen are greatly larger and the
comforts they enjoy greatly more than those enjoyed by the working
people of any other land. [Cheers.] Certainly you do not need to be
told that if the American Government, instead of patronizing home
industries, buys its blankets for the public service in England there
is just that much less work for American workmen to do. [Cheers.] This
is to me the beginning and the end of the tariff question. Since I
was old enough to have opinions or to utter them, I have held to the
doctrine that the true American policy was that which should maintain
not only a living rate of wages, but one with a margin for savings and
comfort for our workmen. I believe that policy is essential to the
prosperity and possibly to the perpetuity of our Government. [Cheers.]
The two propositions that now stare our working people--and our whole
country--in the face are these: competition with foreign countries,
without adequate discriminating and favoring duties, means lower wages
to our working people; a revenue-only tariff, or progressive free
trade, means larger importations of foreign goods, and that means less
work in America. [Cheers.]