prominent among whom were: Mayor P. W. Pool, Hon. Daniel Babst, John
G. Barney, Alexander Hall, B. F. Miller, John Whittle, John F. Castle,
C. F. Frank, Dr. W. P. Bennett, L. G. Russell, A. Howorth, G. B.
Thrailkill, E. S. Bagley, D. L. Zink, J. P. Davis, T. P. Kerr, W. R.
Boyd, E. W. Hadley, Samuel Gee, C. C. Hall, D. S. Patterson, and Richard
Youngblood.
Mayor Pool welcomed and introduced the President in a brief address.
General Harrison responded:
_My Fellow-citizens_--Already some seven or eight times this
morning, beginning before breakfast, I have been called upon to talk
briefly to my fellow-citizens who have gathered at the various points
where we made brief stops at their request. The story I must tell
you is the same old story I have been telling them--that I am very
grateful for your friendly expressions and presence; very grateful for
the kindliness which speaks through those who address me, and for the
kindness which appears in all your faces. It is pleasant to know that
as against all enemies of our country we are one, that we have great
pride, just pride in our birthright as American citizens, just pride
in the country of our adoption as to those who have found a home here
with us. It is the people's land more than any other country in the
world. Mr. Lincoln felicitously expressed it to be a "government of
the people, by the people, for the people." [Applause.] They originate
it; they perpetuate it. If it does not miss its purpose it is
administered for their good. [Applause.] And so to you upon whom the
burden of citizenship now rests, you who have the care of these homes
and the responsibilities of womanhood; to these lads who will soon be
citizens, and to these girls who are coming on to womanhood, to all I
express my thanks for your friendly greeting. [Applause.] To every one
of you I wish the most abundant success; that every home represented
here may be a typical American home, in which morality and purity and
love sit as the crowning virtues and are household gods. Our country
is prosperous, though not all have attained this year the measure of
success which they had hoped for. If there was any shortness of crops
anywhere, already the fields are green with the promise of another
year. Let our hearts be hopeful, let us be faithful and true, and the
future of our country and our own comfort are assured. [Cheers.]
MANSFIELD, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.
At Mansfield, the home of Senator Sherman, a large assemblage greeted
the President, prominent among whom was the distinguished Senator, and
Hon. Henry C. Hedges, Frank W. Pierson, J. M. Waugh, Frank K. Tracy,
Maj. Joseph S. Hedges, Hon. W. S. Kerr, J. R. Brown, Nelson Ozier, Capt.
W. S. Bradford, Hon. W. S. Cappeller, Hon. W. M. Hahn, Capt. Joseph
Brown, G. U. Harn, Maj. W. W. Smith, Geo. C. Wise, Judge Jas. E. Lowry,
James McCoy, John Crum, Ried Carpenter, and Wm. C. Hedges, Jr.
Senator Sherman introduced the President, who spoke briefly, saying:
_My Fellow-citizens_--We stop so frequently upon this journey and
our time at each station is so brief, that I cannot hope to say
anything that would be interesting or instructive. I thank you most
sincerely for these friendly manifestations. I am glad to be permitted
to stop at the home of your distinguished Senator and my friend.
[Cheers.] I am sure, however you may differ from him in political
opinion, the people of Mansfield and of Ohio are proud of the eminence
which he has attained in the counsels of the Nation and of the
distinguished service he has been able to render to his country not
only in Congress but in the Treasury Department. [Cheers.] He is twin
in greatness with that military brother who led some of you, as he did
me, in some of the great campaigns of the war, and they have together
rendered conspicuous services to this country, which we, as they, love
with devoted affection. We have so many common interests and so much
genuine friendliness among the American people that except in the very
heat and ardor of a political campaign the people are kind to each
other, and we soon forget the rancor of these political debates. We
ought never to forget that we are American citizens; we ought never to
forget that we are put in charge of American interests, and that it
is our duty to defend them. [Applause.] Thanking you again for your
presence and kindliness, I bid you good-by. [Applause.]
WOOSTER, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.
At Wooster, the seat of the well-known university, the presidential
party received a rousing greeting, especially from the students with
their college cry. At the head of the Committee of Reception was the
venerable Professor Stoddard, formerly professor of chemistry at Miami
University when Benjamin Harrison attended that institute. Among other
prominent townsmen who received the President were: Hon. M. L. Smyser,
Hon. A. S. McClure, Jacob Frick, Col. C. V. Hard, Capt. Harry McClarran,
Dr. John A. Gann, Dr. R. N. Warren, Capt. R. E. Eddy, Lieut. W. H.
Woodland, W. O. Beebe, Dr. J. D. Robison, Wm. Annat, John C. Hall, Enos
Pierson, R. J. Smith, Samuel Metzler, Geo. W. Reed, C. W. McClure, A. G.
Coover, A. M. Parish, Anthony Wright, Abram Plank, J. S. R. Overholt,
Jesse McClellan, David Nice, Andrew Branstetter, Charles Landam, Wm. F.
Kane, Capt. Lemuel Jeffries, Sylvester F. Scovel, D.D., O. A. Hills,
D.D., Jas. M. Quinby, R. W. Funck, and Harry Heuffstot.
Congressman Smyser introduced the President, who said:
_My Fellow-citizens_--If anything could relieve the sense of
weariness which is ordinarily incident to extended railroad travel,
it would be the exceeding kindness with which we have been everywhere
received by our fellow-citizens, and to look upon an audience like
that assembled here, composed in part of venerable men who experienced
the hardships of early life in Ohio, of some of those venerable women
who shared those labors and self-denials of early life in the West,
and in part of their sons, that gallant second generation, who, in the
time of the Nation's peril in 1861, sprang to its defence and brought
the flag home in honor [applause], and in part of these young men here
undergoing that discipline of mind which is to fit them for useful
American citizenship, full of the ambitions of early manhood, and, I
trust, rooted in the principles of morality and loyalty [applause],
and in part of these sweet-faced children, coming from your schools
and homes to brighten with their presence this graver assembly. Where
else in the world could such a gathering be assembled? Where else so
much social order as here? The individual free to aspire and work,
the community its own police officer and guardian.
We are here as American citizens, having, first, duties to our
families, then to our neighborhood--to the institutions and business
with which we are connected--but above all, and through and by all
these duties, to our country and to God, by whose beneficial guidance
our Government was founded, by whose favor and protection it has
been preserved. [Applause.] Friendly to all peoples of the world, we
will not thwart their course or provoke quarrels by unfriendly acts,
neither will we be forgetful of the fact that we are charged here
first with the conservation and promotion of American interests, and
that our Government was founded for its own citizenship. [Applause
and cheers.] But I cannot speak at further length. I must hurry on to
other places, where kind people are impatiently awaiting our coming,
and to duties which will be assumed and undertaken with more courage
since I have so often looked into the kind faces of the people whom
I endeavor to serve. [Applause.] Let me present to you now, and I do
so with great pleasure, one of the gentlemen called by me under the
Constitution to assist in the administration of the Government--one
whom I know you have learned to love and honor as you are now
privileged to know--Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy, the Secretary of the Navy.
[Cheers.]
ORRVILLE, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.
At Orrville, Wayne County, it was not contemplated to stop; but so large
and enthusiastic was the crowd the President held a brief reception.
Among the prominent townsmen who welcomed him were: A. H. Walkey, S.
N. Coe, A. E. Clark, J. W. Hostetter, A. Dennison, N. S. Brice, D. J.
Luikheim, and John Trout.
In response to repeated cries of "speech," the President said:
"Fellow-citizens--The American people are very kind"--at this point the
train started, and the President closed abruptly by saying-"and I feel
sure that they will here excuse my failure to make a speech." There were
loud shouts of laughter at the President's readiness as the train pulled
out.
MASSILLON, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.
At Massillon several thousand people assembled and great enthusiasm
prevailed. The Committee of Reception consisted of Hon. William M. Reed,
Mayor of the city; Prof. E. A. Jones, Hon. J. Walter McClymonds, Hon. S.
A. Conrad, William F. Ricks, Clement Russell, and Joseph Grapevine, Esq.
The Grand Army veterans and school children were present in force. Mayor
Reed made the welcoming address.
President Harrison, responding, said:
_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--The burden of obligation connected
with this visit is put upon me by the enthusiasm and magnitude of this
welcome which you have extended to me. It gives me pleasure to stop
for a brief moment in a city widely celebrated for its industries, and
among a people widely celebrated for their virtues and intelligence.
[Cheers.] It was especially gratifying as we passed in your suburbs,
one of these busy hives of industry, to see upon the bank, waving
with hearty cheers, the operatives in their work-day clothes. It is
of great interest to know that you have these diversified industries
among you. Your lot would be unhappy and not prosperous if you were
all pursuing the same calling, even if it were the calling to which I
belong, the profession of the law. [Laughter.]
It is well that your interchanging industries and pursuits lean upon
and help each other, increasing and making possible indeed the great
prosperity which you enjoy. I hope it is true here that everybody is
getting a fair return for his labor. We cannot afford in America to
have any discontented classes, and if fair wages are paid for fair
work we will have none. [Cheers.] I am not one of those who believe
that cheapness is the highest good. I am not one of those who believe
that it can be to my interest, or to yours, to purchase in the market
anything below the price that pays to the men who make it fair living
wages. [Great cheering.] We should all "live and let live" in this
country. [Cheers.] Our strength, our promise for the future, our
security for social happiness are in the contentment of the great
masses who toil. It is in kindly intercourse and relationship between
capital and labor, each having its appropriate increase, that we
shall find the highest good, the capitalist and employer everywhere
extending to those who work for human rights a kindly consideration
with compensatory wages. [Cheers.]
Now, to these children and Grand Army friends who greet me here, I
say, thank you and God speed you and good-by. [Cheers.]
CANTON, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.
Canton, the home of Hon. William McKinley, Jr., gave the President
a most cordial and clamorous greeting. The G. A. R. and other
organizations were out in full force. Among the leading citizens who
welcomed the Chief Executive were: W. K. Miller, W. L. Alexander, Judge
J. P. Fawcett, J. M. Campbell, Judge J. W. Underhill, Andrew D. Braden,
Col. J. E. Dougherty, Col. J. J. Clark, N. Holloway, and Capt. C. T.
Oldfield.
Major McKinley introduced the President, who addressed the large
assemblage, saying:
_My Fellow-citizens_--The inconvenience which you suffer to-day,
and under which I labor in attempting to speak to you, comes from the
fact that there are more of you here than can come within the range
of my voice, but not more, I assure you, my fellow-citizens, than I
can take and do take most hospitably in my regard. [Cheers.] It gives
me great pleasure to stand here in the prosperous and growing city
of Canton. I am glad to be at the home of one with whom I have been
associated in Congressional duties for a number of years, and who in
all personal relations with me, as I believe in all personal relations
with you, his neighbors, has won my regard, as I am sure he has won
yours [cheers]; and without any regard to what may be thought of the
McKinley bill, I am sure here to-day you are all the good neighbors
and friends of William McKinley. [Cheers.] Kind-hearted and generous
as he seems to me, I am sure he has not failed in these social
relations, whatever judgment you may have of his political opinions,
in making the masses of the people proud of him as their distinguished
friend. [Cheers.]
You have here to-day the representatives of men from the shops,
from the railroads, from the stores, from the offices of your city.
You are living together in those helpful and interchanging relations
which make American life pleasant and which make American cities
prosperous. The foundation of our society is in the motto that every
man shall have such wages as will enable him to live decently and
comfortably, and rear his children as helpful and safe and useful
American citizens. [Cheers.] We all desire, I am sure--every kindly
heart--that all the relations between employers and workmen shall be
friendly and kind. I wish everywhere the associations were closer and
employers more thoughtful of those who work for them. I am sure there
is one thing in which we all agree, whatever our views may be on the
tariff or finance, and that is, there is no prosperity that in the
wide, liberal sense does not embrace within it every deserving and
industrious man and woman in the community. [Cheers.] We are here all
responsible citizens, and we should all be free from anything that
detracts from our liberties and independence, or that retards the
development of our intelligence, morality, and patriotism.
I am glad here to speak to some, too, who were comrades in the great
struggle of the Civil War [cheers]; glad that there are here soldiers
who had part in that great success by which our institutions were
preserved and the control and sovereignty of the Constitution and law
were forever established. [Cheers.] To them, and to all such friends,
I extend to-day a hearty greeting, and would if I could extend a
comrade's hand. [Cheers.] And now, my friends, the heat of this day,
the exhaustion of a dozen speeches, made at intervals as we have come
along, renders it impossible that I should speak to you longer. I beg
to thank you all for your presence. I beg to hope that, as American
citizens, however we differ about particular matters of legislation or
administration, we are all pledged, heart and soul, life and property,
to the preservation of the Union and to the honor of our glorious
flag. [Great cheering.]
ALLIANCE, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.
At Alliance the assembly was very large. A Reception Committee, headed
by Mayor J. M. Stillwell and comprising the following leading citizens,
met the President: Hon. David Fording, H. W. Harris, T. R. Morgan, Wm.
Brinker, Madison Trail, Dr. J. H. Tressel, H. W. Brush, W. H. Morgan,
Thos. Brocklebank, Chas. Ott, Dr. W. P. Preston, E. N. Johnston, J. H.
Focht, W. H. Ramsey, W. W. Webb, E. E. Scranton, Henry Heer, Jr., and
Harper Brosius.
Chairman Fording delivered a welcoming address and introduced President
Harrison, who in response said:
_My Fellow-citizens_--There is nothing in which the American people
are harder upon their public servants than in the insatiable demand
they make for public speech. I began talking before breakfast this
morning, and have been kept almost continuously at it through the
day, with scarcely time for lunch; and yet, as long as the smallest
residuum of strength or voice is left I cannot fail to recognize these
hearty greetings and to say some appreciative word in return. I do
very much thank you, and I do very deeply feel the cordial enthusiasm
with which you have received me. It is very pleasant to know that
as American citizens we love our Government and its institutions,
and are all ready to pay appropriate respect to any public officer
who endeavors in such light as he has to do his public duty. This
homage is not withheld by one's political opponents, and it is
pleasant to know that in all things that affect the integrity and
honor and perpetuity of our Government we rise above party ties and
considerations. The interests of this Government are lodged with you.
There is not much that a President can do to shape its policy. He is
charged under the Constitution with the duty of making suggestions to
Congress, but, after all, legislation originates with the Congress of
the United States, and the policy of our laws is directed by it. The
President may veto, but he cannot frame a bill. Therefore it is of
great interest to you, and to all our people, that you should choose
such men to represent you in the Congress of the United States as
will faithfully promote those policies to which you have given your
intelligent adhesion. This country of ours is secure, and social
order is maintained, because the great masses of our people live in
contentment and some good measure of comfort. God forbid that we
should ever reach the condition which has been reached by some other
countries, where all that is before many of their population is the
question of bare subsistence, where it is simply "how shall I find
bread for to-day?" No hopes of accumulation; no hope of comfort; no
hope of education, or higher things for the children that are to come
after them. God be blessed that that is not our condition in America!
Here is a chance to every man; here fair wages for fair work, with
education for the masses, with no classes or distinctions to keep down
the ambitious young. We have a happy lot. Let us not grumble if now
and then things are not prosperous as they might be. Let us think of
the average, and if this year's crop is not as full as we could wish,
we have already in these green fields the promise of a better one to
come. Let us not doubt that we are now--as I have seen the evidence of
it in a very extended trip through the West--entering upon an up grade
in all departments of business. [Cheers.] Everywhere I went, in the
great city of St. Louis and the smaller manufacturing towns through
which we passed, there was one story to tell--and I have no doubt it
is true in your midst--every wheel is running and every hand is busy.
[Cheers.] I believe the future is bright before us for increasingly
better times for all, and as it comes I hope it may be so generally
diffused that its kindly touch may be felt by every one who hears me,
and that its beneficent help may come into every home. [Prolonged
cheers.]
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, APRIL 14, 1891.
_Letter to Western States Commercial Congress._
The first Western States Commercial Congress met at Kansas City, Mo.,
April 14, 1891. Delegations composed mainly of business men, appointed
by the Governors of the various States and Territories, were present
from the following Western and Southern States and Territories: Alabama,
California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, New
Mexico, and Oklahoma. On motion of Governor Francis, of Missouri, State
Senator H. B. Kelly, of Kansas, was chosen Chairman of the Congress and
Hon. John W. Springer, of Illinois, Secretary. Letters of regret were
read from those who had been specially invited to attend the Congress.
Among the letters was the following from President Harrison:
WASHINGTON, April 7.
HON. H. B. KELLY, _Chairman, Kansas City, Mo._:
DEAR SIR--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of March 24, inviting me to attend the meeting of the commercial
congress of the Western agricultural and mining States, to assemble in
Kansas City, April 14 to 19, for the purpose of considering measures
affecting the general agricultural and business prosperity of the
Mississippi Valley States. I regret that it will not be possible for
me to accept this invitation. If I am not detained here by public
business I shall probably start about that time for the Pacific coast
by the Southern route; and if that purpose should be thwarted it will
be by considerations that will also prevent the acceptance of your
invitation.
A public discussion of the conditions affecting agricultural and
business prosperity cannot but be helpful, if it is conducted on broad
lines and is hospitable to differences of opinion. The extraordinary
development of the productions of agriculture which has taken place
in a recent period in this country by reason of the rapid enlargement
of the area of tillage under the favoring land laws of the United
States, very naturally has called attention to the value, and, indeed,
the necessity of larger markets. I am one of those who believe that
a home market is necessarily the best market for the producer, as
it measurably emancipates him in proportion to its nearness from
the exactions of the transportation companies. If the farmer could
deliver his surplus produce to the consumer out of his farm-wagon
his independence and his profits would be larger and surer. It seems
to me quite possible to attain a largely increased market for our
staple farm products without impairing our home market by opening the
manufacturing trades to a competition in which foreign producers,
paying a lower scale of wages, would have the advantage. A policy that
would reduce the number of our people engaged in mechanical pursuits
or diminish their ability to purchase food products by reducing wages
cannot be helpful to those now engaged in agriculture. The farmers
insist that the prices of farm products have been too low--below the
point of fair living and fair profits. I think so too, but I venture
to remind them that the plea they make involves the concession that
things may be too cheap. A coat may be too cheap as well as corn.
The farmer who claims a good living and profits for his work should
concede the same to every other man and woman who toils.
I look with great confidence to the completion of further reciprocal
trade arrangements, especially with the Central and South American
states, as furnishing new and large markets for meats, breadstuffs,
and an important line of manufactured products. Persistent and earnest
efforts are also being made, and a considerable measure of success has
already been attained, to secure the removal of restrictions which we
have regarded as unjust upon the admission and use of our meats and
live cattle in some of the European countries. I look with confidence
to a successful termination of the pending negotiations, because I
cannot but assume that when the absolutely satisfactory character of
the sanitary inspections now provided by our law is made known to
those foreign states they will promptly relax their discriminating
regulations. No effort and none of the powers vested in the Executive
will be left unused to secure an end which is so desirable.