question of the volume and character of our currency. It will not be
possible and would not be appropriate for me in this letter to enter
upon any elaborate discussion of these questions. One or two things
I will say, and first, I believe that every person who thoughtfully
considers the question will agree with me upon a proposition which is
at the base of all my consideration of the currency question, namely,
that any dollar, paper or coin, that is issued by the United States
must be made and kept in its commercial uses as good as any other
dollar. So long as any paper money issued or authorized by the United
States Government is accepted in commercial use as the equivalent of
the best coined dollar that we issue, and so long as every coined
dollar, whether of silver or gold, is assured of an equivalent value
in commercial use, there need be no fear as to an excess of money. The
more such money the better. But, on the other hand, when any issue of
paper or coined dollars is, in buying and selling, rated at a less
value than other paper or coined dollars, we have passed the limit of
safe experiment in finance. If we have dollars of differing values,
only the poorest will circulate. The farmer and the laborer, who are
not in hourly touch with the ticker of the telegraph, will require,
above all other classes of our community, a dollar of full value.
Fluctuations and depreciations are always at the first cost of these
classes of our community. The banker and the speculator anticipate,
discount, and often profit by such fluctuations. It is very easy,
under the impulse of excitement of the stress of money stringency, to
fall into the slough of a depreciated or irredeemable currency. It is
a very painful and slow business to get out when once in.
I have always believed, and do now more than ever believe, in
bimetallism, and favor the fullest use of silver in connection with
our currency that is compatible with the maintenance of the parity
of the gold and silver dollars in their commercial uses. Nothing, in
my judgment, would so much retard the restoration of the free use of
silver by the commercial nations of the world as legislation adopted
by us that would result in placing this country upon a basis of
silver monometallism. The legislation adopted by the first session
of the Fifty-first Congress I was assured by leading advocates of
free coinage--representatives of the silver States--would promptly
and permanently bring silver to $1.29 per ounce and keep it there.
That anticipation has not been realized. Our larger use of silver has
apparently, and for reasons not yet agreed upon, diminished the demand
for silver in China and India.
In view of the fact that it is impossible in this letter to
elaborate, and that propositions only can be stated, I am aware
that what I have said may be assailed in points where it is easily
defensible, but where I have not attempted to present the argument.
I have not before, excepting in an official way, expressed myself
on these subjects; but feeling the interest, dignity, and importance
of the assemblage in whose behalf you speak, I have ventured, without
bigotry of opinion, without any assumption of infallibility, but as an
American citizen, having a most earnest desire that every individual
and every public act of my life shall conduce to the glory of our
country and the prosperity of all our people, to submit these views
for your consideration.
Very respectfully, BENJAMIN HARRISON.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT, 1891.
President Harrison started on his memorable journey to Texas and
the Pacific Coast States at 12:15 o'clock Tuesday morning, April
14, 1891. The party consisted of the President and Mrs. Harrison,
Postmaster-General John Wanamaker, Secretary of Agriculture J. M. Rusk,
Mr. and Mrs. Russell B. Harrison, Mrs. J. R. McKee, Mrs. Dimmick, Maj.
J. P. Sanger, Military Aid to the President, Marshal Daniel M. Ransdell,
Mr. and Mrs. Geo. W. Boyd, Mr. E. F. Tibbott, stenographer to the
President, and Alfred J. Clark, O. P. Austin, and R. Y. Oulahan, press
representatives. At Chattanooga the party was joined by the President's
younger brother, Mr. Carter B. Harrison, and wife, and at Los Angeles by
Mr. C. L. Saunders.
The train that safely carried the head of the Nation on this great tour
was a marvel of mechanical perfection unrivalled in equipment. Mr. Geo.
W. Boyd, General Assistant Passenger Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
prepared the schedule and had charge of the train throughout.
No predecessor of President Harrison ever attempted the great task of
travelling 10,000 miles, or delivering 140 impromptu addresses within
the limit of 30 days--an achievement remarkable in many respects. His
long-extended itinerary was an almost continuous series of receptions
and responses, and there is no instance where any man in public life,
subjected to the requirements of a similar hospitable ordeal, has
acquitted himself with greater dignity, tact, and good sense both as
to the matter and manner of his utterances. This series of speeches is
in marked contrast with his incisive utterances during the campaign of
1888, and disclose General Harrison's ability to seize the vital topic
of the moment and present it to a mixed audience in such a way that
while consistent with his own record he yet raises no antagonisms.
ROANOKE, VIRGINIA, APRIL 14.
Leaving Washington shortly after midnight, the train passed through
Lynchburg at an early hour and arrived at Roanoke, its first
stopping-point, at 8:50 A.M. Seemingly the entire population of the
enterprising city was out to welcome the President to Old Virginia.
Prominent among those who greeted the party were Mr. and Mrs. Charles G.
Eddy, W. B. Bevill, John A. Pack, Allen Hull, A. S. Asberry, and John D.
Smith.
After shaking hands with several hundred, President Harrison, in
response to repeated calls, spoke as follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--I desire to thank you very sincerely for
this friendly greeting. The State of Virginia is entitled, I think,
to high estimation among the States for its great history--for the
contribution it has made to the great story of our common country.
This fact you discovered, I think, long ago. For personal reasons I
have great affection for Virginia. It is the State of my fathers. I am
glad this morning to congratulate you upon the marvellous development
which has come, and the greater which is coming, to your commonwealth.
You not only have an illustrious story behind you, but before you
prospects of development in wealth and prosperity, in all that makes a
great State, such as never entered into the imagination of those who
laid the foundation of the commonwealth. [Cheers.] You are arousing
now to a realization of the benefits of diversity of industries.
In the olden time Virginia was a plantation State. I hope she may
never cease to have large agricultural interests. It is the foundation
of stable society, but I rejoice with you that she has added to
agriculture the mining of coal and iron, and, bringing these from
their beds, is producing all the products that enter into the uses of
life.
In this is the secret of that great growth illustrating what I see
about me here, and the promise of a future which none of us can fully
realize. In all of these things we have a common interest, and I beg
to assure you that in everything that tends to the social order of
your people and the development and increased prosperity of the State
of Virginia I am in most hearty sympathy with you all. [Cheers.]
BRISTOL, TENNESSEE, APRIL 14.
The town of Radford, Va., acknowledged the honor of the President's
visit in a cordial way. General Harrison shook hands with many of the
inhabitants. At Bristol, Tenn., a crowd of several thousand greeted
the party at the station. The President was met and escorted to a high
bluff overlooking the city by Hon. Harvey C. Wood, at the head of the
following committee of prominent citizens: Col. E. C. Manning, Hon. I.
C. Fowler, Judge M. B. Wood, A. S. McNeil, W. A. Sparger, A. C. Smith,
C. H. Slack, Rockingham Paul, Esq., Capt. J. H. Wood, Judge C. J. St.
John, Col. Nat M. Taylor, and John H. Caldwell.
Judge Wood made the welcoming address and introduced the President, who,
in response, said:
_My Fellow-citizens_--I have found not only pleasure but instruction
in riding to-day through a portion of the State of Virginia that is
feeling in a very striking way the impulse of a new development. It
is extremely gratifying to notice that those hidden sources of wealth
which were so long unobserved and so long unused are now being found,
and that these regions, once so retired, occupied by a pastoral
people, having difficult access to the centres of population, are
now being rapidly transformed into busy manufacturing and commercial
centres.
In the early settlement of this city the emigrants poured over the
Alleghanies and the Blue Ridge like waters over an obstructing ledge,
seeking the fertile and attractive farm regions of the great West.
They passed unobserved these marvellous hidden stores of wealth which
are now being brought into use. Having filled those great basins of
the West, they are now turning back to Virginia and West Virginia and
Tennessee to bring about a development and production for which the
time is ripe, and which will surprise the world. [Cheers.]
It has not been long since every implement of iron, domestic,
agricultural, and mechanical, was made in other States. The iron
point of the wooden mould-board plough with which the early farmers
here turned the soil came from distant States. But now Virginia and
Tennessee are stirring their energies to participate in a large degree
in mechanical productions and in the great awakening of American
influence which will lift the Nation to a place among the nations of
the world never before attained. [Cheers.]
What hinders us, secure in the market of our own great population,
from successful competition in the markets of the world? What hinders
our people, possessing every element of material wealth and endowed
with inventive genius and energy unsurpassed, from having again upon
the seas a merchant marine flying the flag of our country and carrying
its commerce into every sea and every port?
I am glad to stand for this moment among you, glad to express my
sympathy with you in every enterprise that tends to develop your
State and local communities; glad to stand with you upon the one
common platform of respect to the Constitution and the law, differing
in our policies as to what the law should be, but pledged with a
common devotion and obedience to law as the majority shall by their
expressions make it.
I shall carry away from here a new impulse to public duty, a new
inspiration as a citizen with you of a country whose greatness is
only dawning. And may I now express the pleasure I shall have in
every good that comes to you as a community and to each of you as
individuals? May peace, prosperity, and social order dwell in your
communities, and the fear and love of God in every home! [Cheers.]
JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE, APRIL 14. 1891
The President was welcomed at Johnson City by 3,000 people. S. K. N.
Patton Post, G. A. R, with Maj. A. Cantwell, J. M. Erwin, and W. Hodges,
acted as a guard of honor to the Chief Magistrate. The committee to
receive and entertain the President comprised: Mayor Ike T. Jobe, Hon.
W. G. Mathes, President Board of Trade; Hon. T. F. Singiser, Hon. A.
B. Bowman, Hon. B. F. Childress, Thos. E. Matson, Jas. M. Martin, J.
C. Campbell, H. C. Chandler, J. W. Cox, C. W. Marsh, L. W. Wood, J.
A. Mathes, H. W. Hargraves, J. F. Crumley, M. N. Johnson, and W. W.
Kirkpatrick.
Congressman Alfred A. Taylor presented the President, who spoke as
follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--The office of President of the United States
is one of very high honor and is also one of very high responsibility.
No man having conscientiously at heart the good of the whole people,
whose interests are, under the law, in some degree committed to his
care, can fail to feel a most oppressive sense of inadequacy when he
comes to the discharge of these high functions.
Elected under a system of government which gives to the majority
of our people who have expressed their wishes through constitutional
methods the right to choose their public servants, when he has taken
the oath that inducts him into office he becomes the servant of all
the people, and while he may pursue the advocacy of those measures to
which the people have given their approval by his choice, he should
always act and speak with a reserve and a respect for the opinion
of others that shall not alienate from him the good-will of his
fellow-citizens, without regard to political belief.
I shall not speak of what has been done, but I have a supreme regard
for the honor of the Nation, a profound respect for the Constitution,
and a most sincere desire to meet the just expectations of my
fellow-citizens. I am not one of those who believe that the good of
any class can be permanently and largely attained except upon lines
which promote the good of all our people.
I rejoice in the Union of the States. I rejoice to stand here
in East Tennessee among a people who so conspicuously and at such
sacrifice during the hour of the Nation's peril stood by the flag
and adhered to their convictions of public duty [cheers]; and I am
especially glad to be able to say that those who, following other
views of duty, took sides against us in that struggle, without
division in voice or heart to-day praise Almighty God that He
preserved us one Nation. [Cheers.]
There is no man, whatever his views upon the questions that then
divided us, but, in view of the marvellous benefits which are
disseminating themselves over these States, must also bless God to-day
that slavery no longer exists and that the Union of free States is
indissoluble. [Cheers.]
What is it that has stirred the public of this great region, that
has kindled these furnace fires, that has converted these retired and
isolated farms upon which you and your ancestors dwelt into centres
of trade and mechanical pursuits, bringing a market close to the door
of the farmer and bringing prosperity into every home? It is that we
have no line of division between the States; it is that these impulses
of freedom and enterprise, once limited in their operations, are now
common in all the States. We have a common heritage. The Confederate
soldier has a full, honorable, and ungrudged participation in all the
benefits of a great and just Government. [Cheers.]
I do not doubt to-day that these would be among the readiest of our
population to follow the old flag if it should be assailed from any
quarter. [Cheers.]
Now, my fellow-countrymen, I can pause but a moment with you. It
does me good to look into your faces, to receive these evidences of
your good-will. I hope I may have guidance and courage in such time as
remains to me in public life conscientiously to serve the public good
and the common glory of our beloved country. [Great cheering.]
JONESBORO, TENNESSEE, APRIL 14.
At Jonesboro, the oldest city in Tennessee and the ancient capital
of the State of Franklin, the President was the recipient of a most
cordial welcome. All the residents of the town seemed to be present.
Among the prominent citizens who participated in the greeting were:
Mayor I. E. Reeves, Judge Newton Hacker, R. M. May, Col. T. H. Reeves,
A. J. Patterson, S. H. Anderson, Capt. A. S. Deaderick, James H. Epps,
Jacob Leab, S. H. L. Cooper, Judge A. J. Brown, John D. Cox, E. H. West,
J. A. Febuary, T. B. Hacker, R. N. Dosser, Capt. Geo. McPherson, and
Chancellor J. P. Smith.
General Harrison's allusion to John Sevier and his struggle to establish
the State of Franklin elicited hearty applause. He spoke as follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--We tarry but a moment at this ancient and
interesting city, whose story goes back, I think, to the establishment
of the State of Franklin, of which perhaps not all of you, certainly
not these little ones, ever heard, which John Sevier attempted to set
up as an independent commonwealth.
But yet it is not of antiquity that I desire to speak, for ancient
history is not of the greatest interest to you now. The Scripture
speaks, I think--my Postmaster-General is near, and if I fall into
error will correct me [laughter]--of a time when the old things shall
pass away and all things shall become new. Tennessee is realizing that
beatitude; the old things, the old way of doing things, the stiff clay
and steep mountain roads have passed away and the steam-car has come.
The old times of isolation in these valleys, when these pioneers,
some of whom I see, made their frontier homes, have passed away, and
influences from the outside have come; life has been made easier to
men and easier to the toiling women who used to carry the water from
the spring at the bottom of the hill in a piggin, but who now by
modern appliances have it brought into the kitchen.
You have come to know now that not only the surface of the soil
has wealth in it, but that under the surface there are vast sources
of wealth to gladden the homes of your people and to bring with new
industries a thrifty population. But of all these old things that
have passed away and the new ones that have come, I am sure you are
exultantly glad in this region, where there was so much martyrdom for
the flag, so much exile, so much suffering, that the one Union, the
one Constitution, and the one flag might be preserved, to know that
those old strifes have passed away, and that a period of fraternity
has come when all men are for the flag and all for the Constitution,
when it has been forever put out of the minds of all people that
this Union can be dissolved or this Constitution overthrown. [Great
cheering.]
On all these new things I congratulate the citizens of Tennessee.
Turn your faces to the morning, for the sun is lightening the
hill-tops; there is coming to our country a great growth, an
extraordinary development, and you are to be full participants in it
all. While other nations of the world have reached a climax in their
home development, and are struggling to parcel out remote regions of
the earth that their commerce may be extended, we have here prodigious
resources that are yet to be touched by the finger of development, and
we have the power, if we will, to put our flag again on the sea and to
share in the world's commerce. [Cheers.]
GREENVILLE, TENNESSEE, APRIL 14.
The home of President Andrew Johnson--Greenville, Tenn.--gave the
President a cordial greeting through its welcoming committee, consisting
of Mayor John M. Brabson, Aldermen A. N. Shown, J. D. Britton, E. C.
Miller, and W. H. Williams; also Burnside Post, G. A. R., W. T. Mitchell
Commander; A. J. Frazier, and the children of the public schools, in
charge of Principal L. McWhisler.
President Harrison said:
_My Fellow-citizens_--The arrangements for our journey will not
permit me to tarry with you long. I thank you most sincerely for this
cordial demonstration. I rejoice to see in the hands of the children
here that banner of glory which is the symbol of our greatness and the
promise of our security.
I am glad that by the common consent of all our people, without any
regard to past differences, we have once and forever struck hands
upon the proposition that from the lakes to the gulf, from the St.
Lawrence to the Bay of California, there shall be one flag and one
Constitution. [Great cheering.] The story that it brings to us from
the time of its adoption as our national emblem is one in which we may
all find instruction and inspiration. It is the flag of the free.
It symbolizes a government most aptly expressed by the greatest
statesman of the people, Abraham Lincoln, to be "a government of the
people, by the people, and for the people"--a government that spreads
a sky of hope above the head of every child, that has abolished
all class distinctions, and has opened all places of eminence and
usefulness in the state and in commerce to the ambitious and energetic
young man.
This city has given to the country a conspicuous illustration in
your distinguished former fellow-citizen, Andrew Johnson, of what free
institutions may do, and what an aspiring young man may do against all
adverse conditions in life. To every one perfect freedom is guaranteed
within the limits of due respect to the rights of others. Thanking you
again for this presence and friendly greeting, I bid you good-by.
MORRISTOWN, TENNESSEE, APRIL 14.
At Morristown several thousand citizens and residents of Hamblen, Cocke,
Grainger, and Jefferson counties assembled to greet the President. The
Reception Committee was Mayor W. S. Dickson, R. L. Gaut, H. Williams, W.
H. Maze, A. S. Jenkins, and James A. Goddard. At the conclusion of the
President's speech an old grizzled veteran stepped upon the platform,
and reaching out his hand said: "Mr. President, I was in that Atlanta
campaign, on the other side, and helped to keep you back, but now the
war is over I'm proud to take your hand." The President showed great
pleasure at this greeting, and held the old soldier's hand several
minutes, the spectators meanwhile cheering lustily. A large number of
ex-Confederates witnessed this incident.
President Harrison's speech on the occasion was as follows:
_My Fellow citizens_--It will not be possible for me to speak to you
for more than a moment, and yet I cannot refuse, in justice to my own
feelings, to express my deep appreciation of your cordial reception.
I visit to-day for the first time East Tennessee, but it is a region
in which I have always felt a profound interest and for whose people I
have always entertained a most sincere respect.
It seems to be true in the history of man that those who are called
to dwell among mountain peaks, in regions where the convulsions
of nature have lifted the rocks toward the sky, have always been
characterized by a personal independence of character, by a devotion
to liberty, and by courage in defence of their rights and their homes.
The legends that cluster about the mountain peaks of Scotland and the
patriotic devotion that makes memorable the passes of Switzerland have
been repeated in the mountains of East Tennessee.
In those periods of great struggles, when communications were
difficult and often interrupted, the hearts of the people of Indiana
went out to the beleaguered friends of the Union beyond the Cumberland
Gap. I am glad to know that it is no longer difficult to reach you
for succor or for friendly social intercourse, for travel has been
quickened and made easy. Some one mentioned just now that it was only
four hours and a half from Chattanooga to Atlanta. That is not my
recollection [laughter]; I think we spent as many months making that
trip. [Laughter.]
I am glad to know that now, by the consent of all your people,
without regard to the differences that separated you then, your
highways are open to all of us, without prejudice; that your hearts
are true to the Union and the Constitution, and that the high sense
of public duty which then characterized you still abides among your
people. May your valleys be always full of prosperity, your homes the
abode of affection and love, and of all that makes the American home
the best of all homes and the sure nursery of good citizens. [Cheers.]
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, APRIL 14.
On the evening of the first day of the journey Knoxville was reached.
The distinguished travellers were welcomed by a citizens' committee,
composed of William Rule, Chairman; Col. E. J. Sanford, Hon. J. C.
J. Williams, Hon. L. C. Houk, Col. J. Vandeventer, M. L. Ross, John
T. Hearn, Alex. Summers, Wm. M. Baxter, F. A. Moses, John W. Conner,
B. R. Strong, Hon. Peter Kern, Capt. W. P. Chamberlain, Col. J. B.
Minnis, W. H. Simmonds, John L. Hudiburg, Capt. A. J. Albers, Hon. J. W.
Caldwell, and W. P. Smith. After visiting Fort Sanders and viewing the
battle-field by twilight the party returned to the city, where a vast
audience was assembled.
Col. William A. Henderson introduced the President, who spoke as follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--It gives me pleasure to visit this historical
city--a city that has given to the country many men who have been
eminent in its councils and brought to the Nation they served and to
the people who called them into the public service great honor. I am
glad to visit East Tennessee, the scene of that early immigration and
of those early struggles of men who, for vigor of intellect, strength
of heart, and devotion to republican principles, were among the most
conspicuous of the early pioneers of the West and Southwest.
I am glad to know that that deep devotion to the cause of the
Union which manifested itself in the early contributions of
Tennessee to the armies that went to the defence of the homes of the
Northwest abides still in these valleys and crowns with its glory
and lustre every hill-top of the Alleghanies. You are feeling now a
material development that is interesting and pleasing to all your
fellow-citizens of the States.