an enormous gathering and formally welcomed by Mayor A. O. Lane at the
head of the following distinguished committee: H. M. Caldwell, Joseph
F. Johnston, B. L. Hibbard, William Youngblood, W. J. Cameron, J. A.
Van Hoose, R. H. Pearson, E. H. Barron, M. M. Williams, J. O. Wright,
James Weatherly, Chappell Cory, Louis Saks, D. D. Smith, J. P. Mudd,
Charles M. Shelley, Paul Giacopazzi, James A. Going, Joe Frank, T. H.
Spencer, P. G. Bowman, J. M. Martin, G. W. Hewitt, T. T. Hillman, E.
Soloman, F. P. O'Brien, Lewis M. Parsons, Robert Jemison, John McQueen,
Geo. L. Morris, B. Steiner, Mack Sloss, J. A. Yeates, J. M. Handley,
Fergus W. McCarthy, E. V. Gregory, F. H. Armstrong, Geo. M. Morrow,
Thomas Seddon, E. W. Rucker, W. H. Graves, Gus Shillinger, M. T. Porter,
Edwin C. Campbell, Eugene F. Enslen, R. L. Thornton, Charles Whelan,
W. S. Brown, John M. Cartin, Wm. M. Bethea, I. R. Hochstadter, John W.
Johnston, Wm. Vaughn, Jas. E. Webb, and Robert Warnock. George A. Custer
Post, G. A. R., commanded by Ass't Adjt.-Gen. W. J. Pender, escorted
the President on the march through the city. The following officers
participated: W. H. Hunter, Department Commander; F. G. Sheppard, Past
Department Commander; William Snyder, Commander; A. A. Tyler, Senior
Vice-Commander; Henry Asa N. Ballard, Surgeon; Edward Birchenough,
Assistant Quartermaster-General; A. W. Fulghum, Past Commander; and John
Mackenzie, Officer of the Day.
Both the Governor and the Mayor delivered eloquent addresses of welcome,
to which President Harrison responded as follows:
_Governor Jones, Mr. Mayor, and Fellow-citizens_--The noise of
your industries will not stay itself, I fear, sufficiently to enable
me to make myself heard by many in this immense throng that has
gathered to welcome us. I judge from what we have seen as we neared
your station that we have here at Birmingham the largest and most
enthusiastic concourse of people that has met us since we left the
national capital. [Great and prolonged cheering.] For all this I am
deeply grateful. The rapidity with which we must pursue this journey
will not allow us to look with any detail into the great enterprises
which cluster about your city; but if we shall only have opportunity
to see for a moment these friendly faces and listen to these friendly
words, we shall carry away that which will be invaluable, and, I
trust, by the friendly exchange of greetings, may leave something
to you that is worth cherishing. [Great cheering.] I have read of
the marvellous development which, in the last few years, has been
stirring the solitude of these southern mountains, and I remember that
not many years after the war, when I had resumed my law practice at
Indianapolis, I was visited by a gentleman, known, I expect, to all of
you, upon some professional business. He came to pursue a collection
claim against a citizen of Indiana; but he seemed to be more
interested in talking about Birmingham than anything else. [Laughter
and cheers.] That man was Colonel Powell, one of the early promoters
of your city. [Cheers.] I listened to his story of the marvellous
wealth of iron and coal that was stored in this region; of their
nearness to each other, and to the limestone necessary for smelting;
to his calculations as to the cheapness with which iron could be
produced here, and his glowing story of the great city that was to be
reared, with a good deal of incredulity. I thought he was a visionary;
but I have regretted ever since that I did not ask him to pay me my
fee in town lots in Birmingham. [Laughter and cheers.]
My countrymen, we thought the war a great calamity, and so it was.
The destruction of life and of property was sad beyond expression;
and yet we can see now that God led us through that Red Sea to a
development in material prosperity and to a fraternity that was
not otherwise possible. [Cheers.] The industries that have called
to your midst so many toiling men are always and everywhere the
concomitants of freedom. Out of all this freedom from the incubus
of slavery the South has found a new industrial birth. Once almost
wholly agricultural, you are now not the less fruitful in crops, but
you have added all this. [Cheers.] You have increased your production
of cotton, and have added an increase in ten years of nearly 300 per
cent. in the production of iron. You have produced three-fourths
of the cotton crop of the world, and it has brought you since the
war about $8,000,000,000 of money to enrich your people. But as
yet you are spinning in the South only 8 per cent, of it. Why not,
with the help we will give you in New England and the North, spin
it all? [Cheers.] Why not establish here cotton mills that shall
send, not the crude agricultural product to other markets, but the
manufactured product? [Cheers.] Why not, while supplying 65,000,000
of people, reach out and take a part we have not had in the commerce
of the world? [Cheers.] I believe we are to see now a renaissance
in American prosperity and in the up-building again of our American
merchant marine. [Cheers.] I believe that these Southern ports that so
favorably look out with invitations to the States of Central and South
America shall yet see our fleets carrying the American flag and the
products of Alabama to the markets of South America. [Great cheering.]
In all this we are united; we may differ as to method, but if
you will permit me I will give an illustration to show how we have
been dealing with this shipping question. I can remember when no
wholesale merchant ever sent a drummer into the field. He said to his
customers, "Come to my store and buy;" but competition increased and
the enterprising merchant started out men to seek customers; and so
his fellow-merchant was put to the choice to put travelling men into
the field or to go out of business. It seems to me, whatever we may
think of the policy of aiding our steamship lines, that since every
other great nation does it, we must do it or stay out of business,
for we have pretty much gone out. [Cheers.] I am glad to reciprocate
with the very fulness of my heart every fraternal expression that has
fallen from the lips of these gentlemen who have addressed me in your
behalf. [Cheers.] I have not been saved from mistakes; probably I
shall not be. I am sure of but one thing--I can declare that I have
simply at heart the glory of the American Nation and the good of all
its people. [Great and prolonged cheering.] I thank these companies
of the State militia, one of whom I recognize as having done me the
honor to attend the inaugural ceremony, for their presence. They are
deserving, sir [to the Governor], of your encouragement and that of
the State of Alabama. They are the reserve army of the United States.
It is our policy not to have a large regular army, but to have a
trained militia that, in any exigency, will step to the defence of the
country; and if that exigency shall ever arise--which God forbid--I
know that you would respond as quickly and readily as any other State.
[Cheers.] [The Governor: "You will find all Alabama at your back,
sir!"] [Continued cheering.]
I am glad to know that in addition to all this business you are
doing you are also attending to education and to those things that
conduce to social order. The American home is the one thing we cannot
afford to lose out of the American life. [Cheers.] As long as we have
pure homes and God-fearing, order-loving fathers and mothers to rear
the children that are given to them, and to make these homes the
abodes of order, cleanliness, piety, and intelligence, the American
society and the American Union are safe [Great cheering.]
After the parade the President's party, the Governor and staff, and the
citizens' Reception Committee sat down to luncheon. On the right of
the President was Mrs. Jones, wife of the Governor; on his left, Mrs.
Lane, wife of the Mayor. Mr. Rufus N. Rhodes proposed the health of the
President of the United States, to which General Harrison responded
briefly, saying:
We have seen something of the marvellous material growth of
Birmingham, and seen evidence of the great richness of your "black
diamonds" and your iron, and now we see something of your home life.
The many beautiful women whom we have had the happiness to meet, and
some of whom are now with us, are the angels of your homes, and right
glad we are to be favored by their presence. After all, it is their
homes which make a people great. We are glad to be here; for, really,
you overwhelm us with kindness. [Long-continued applause.]
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, APRIL 17.
The presidential party arrived at Memphis early on the morning of the
17th and were greeted by 10,000 people. The committee for the reception
and entertainment of President Harrison and his guests comprised the
following prominent citizens: Lucas W. Clapp, president of the taxing
district of Memphis, Chairman; H. M. Neely, M. Cooper, J. P. Jordan,
B. M. Stratton, R. C. Graves, D. P. Hadden, R. P. Patterson, Wm. M.
Randolph, John K. Speed, John R. Godwin, Sam Tate, Jr., N. W. Speers,
Jr., Josiah Patterson, W. J. Crawford, Martin Kelly, John Loague, J.
M. Keating, J. Harvey Mathes, A. B. Pickett, W. J. Smith, Emerson
Etheridge, T. J. Lathan, A. D. Gwynne, R. D. Frayser, J. T. Fargason,
Samuel W. Hawkins, T. J. Graham, B. M. Estes, S. R. Montgomery, W. A.
Collier, A. C. Treadwell, F. M. Norfleet, Alfred G. Tuther, W. D. Beard,
S. H. Haines, R. J. Morgan, Louis Erb, Dr. J. P. Alban, W. A. Gage,
J. N. Snowden, John T. Moss, Thomas F. Tobin, J. S. Robinson, James
Ralston, L. B. Eaton, John W. Dillard, J. M. Semmes, M. T. Williamson,
Andrew J. Harris, R. S. Capers, L. H. Estes, J. J. DuBose, J. B. Clough,
J. E. Bigelow, George Arnold, T. B. Edgington, Luke E. Wright, D. T.
Porter, J. T. Pettit, Napoleon Hill, E. S. Hammond, Wm. R. Moore, G. C.
Matthews, Colton Greene, Isham G. Harris, J. A. Taylor, P. M. Winters,
Holmes Cummins, E. Lowenstein, J. S. Menken, A. Vaccaro, N. M. Jones,
R. B. Snowden, W. M. Farrington, Barney Hughes, J. H. Smith, Noland
Fontaine, J. H. Martin, J. C. Neely, Robert Gates, James W. Brown, G.
E. Dunbar, J. W. Falls, S. C. Toof, W. H. Carroll, S. P. Read, H. G.
Harrington, H. F. Dix, J. S. Galloway, T. W. Brown, H. J. Lynn, J. W.
Person, H. B. Cullen, S. W. Green, P. J. Quigley, T. J. Brogan, M. C.
Gallaway, W. E. McGuire, Ralph Davis, J. J. Williams, T. A. Hamilton,
E. B. McHenry, George B. Peters, John L. Norton, W. H. Bates, M. T.
Garvin, S. H. Dunscomb, F. H. White, and R. D. Jordan.
The following military committee also assisted: Gen. S. F. Carnes,
Chairman; Col. Kellar Anderson, Col. Hugh Pettit, Maj. J. F. Peters,
Col. W. F. Taylor, Col. L. W. Finley, Gen. A. J. Vaughn, Gen. G. W.
Gordon, and Gen. R. F. Patterson.
Chairman Clapp made the address of welcome. President Harrison responded
as follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--The name of the city of Memphis was familiar
to me in my early boyhood. Born and reared upon one of the tributaries
of the great river upon which your city is located, these river marts
of commerce were the familiar trading-posts of the farmers of the Ohio
Valley. I well remember when, on the shores of father's farm, the old
"broad-horn" was loaded from the hay-press and the corn-crib to market
with the plantations along the Lower Mississippi. I remember to have
heard from him and the neighbors who constituted the crew of those
pioneer craft of river navigation of the perils of these great waters;
of the snags and caving banks of the Lower Mississippi. In those times
these States were largely supplied with grain and forage from the
Northwestern States. Here you were giving your attention to one or two
great staple products, for which you found a large foreign market. I
congratulate you that the progress of events has made you not less
agricultural, but has diversified your agriculture so that you are not
now wholly dependent upon these great staples for the income of your
farms.
The benefits of this diversification are very great and the change
symbolizes more than we at first realize. This change means that we
are now coming to understand that meanness cannot be predicated of
any honest industry. I rejoice that you are adding to diversified
agriculture diversified manufacturing pursuits; that you are turning
your thought to compressing and spinning cotton as well as raising it.
I know no reason why these cotton States, that produce 75 per cent. of
the cotton of the world, should not spin the greater portion of it. I
know no reason why they should export it as raw material, rather than
as a manufactured product, holding in their midst the profits of this
transformation of the raw material to the finished product. [Applause.]
I hope it may be so. I see evidence that the people are turning
their attention to new industries, and are bringing into the midst of
these farming communities a large population of artisans and laborers
to consume at your own doors the product of your farms. I am glad that
a liberal Government is making this great waterway to the sea safe and
capable of an uninterrupted use. I am glad that it is here making the
shores of your own city convenient and safe, and that it is opening,
north and south, an uninterrupted and cheap transportation for the
products of these lands that lie along this great system of rivers. I
am glad that it is bringing you in contact with ports of the Gulf that
look out with near and inviting aspect toward a great trade in South
America that we shall soon possess. I am glad to believe that these
great river towns will speedily exchange their burdens with American
ships at the mouth of the Mississippi to be transported to foreign
ports under the flag of our country. [Great cheering.]
This Government of ours is a compact of the people to be governed by
a majority, expressing itself by lawful methods. [Cheers.] Everything
in this country is to be brought to the measure of the law. I propose
no other rule, either as an individual or as a public officer. I
cannot in any degree let down this rule [cries of "No!" and cheers]
without violating my official duty. There must be no other supremacy
than that of lawful majorities. We must all come at last to this
conclusion--that the supremacy of the law is the one supremacy in this
country of ours. [Cheers.]
Now, my fellow citizens, I thank you for this warm and magnificent
demonstration of your respect, accepting cordially the expression of
the chief of your city Government that you are a sincere, earnest,
patriotic, devoted people. I beg to leave with you the suggestion that
each in his place shall do what he can to maintain social order and
public peace; that the lines here and everywhere shall be between the
well-disposed and the ill-disposed.
The effort of speech to this immense throng is too great for me.
I beg to assure you that I carry from the great war no sentiment of
ill-will to any. [Cheers.] I am glad that the Confederate soldier,
confessing that defeat which has brought him blessings that would
have been impossible otherwise, has been taken again into full
participation in the administration of the Government; that no
penalties, limitations, or other inflictions rest upon him. I have
taken and can always take the hand of a brave Confederate soldier with
confidence and respect. [Great cheering.]
I would put him under one yoke only, and that is the yoke that the
victors in that struggle bore when they went home and laid off their
uniforms--the yoke of the law and the obligation always to obey it.
[Cheers.] Upon that platform, without distinction between the victors
and the vanquished, we enter together upon possibilities as a people
that we cannot overestimate. I believe the Nation is lifting itself
to a new life; that this flag shall float on unfamiliar seas, and
that this coming prosperity will be equally shared by all our people.
[Prolonged cheering.]
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, APRIL 17.
As the presidential party crossed the Mississippi they were met on the
Arkansas shore by Gov. James P. Eagle and wife, Judge John A. Williams,
Mayor H. L. Fletcher, James Mitchell, Col. Logan H. Roots, Mrs. Judge
Caldwell, Mrs. C. C. Waters, Mrs. Wm. G. Whipple, Mrs. W. C. Ratcliffe,
Miss Jean Loughborough, and Miss Fannie Mitchell. Arriving at Little
Rock, late in the afternoon, the President was welcomed by Hon. Josiah
H. Shinn, R. A. Edgerton, Chas. C. Waters, B. D. Caldwell, W. A. Clark,
H. F. Roberts, T. H. Jones, and the other members of the Committee of
Reception. McPherson and Ord posts, G. A. R., in charge of Marshal
O. M. Spellman, Lee Clough, and C. Altenberg, acted as escort to the
President, accompanied by the McCarthy Light Guards. The parade was in
charge of Grand Marshal Zeb Ward, Jr., assisted by Col. W. T. Kelley,
Horace G. Allis, and Oscar Davis. The Lincoln Club, commanded by P.
Raleigh and P. C. Dooley, participated in the reception. At the State
House Governor Eagle formally welcomed the distinguished travellers.
President Harrison replied:
_Governor Eagle and Fellow-citizens_--No voice is large enough
to compass this immense throng. But my heart is large enough to
receive all the gladness and joy of your great welcome here to-day.
[Applause.] I thank you one and all for your presence, for the kind
words of greeting which have been spoken by your Governor, and for
these kind faces turned to me. In all this I see a great fraternity;
in all this I feel new impulses to a better discharge of every public
and every private duty. I cannot but feel that in consequence of this
brief contact with you to-day I shall carry away a better knowledge
of your State, its resources, its capabilities, and of the generous
warm-heartedness of its people. We have a country whose greatness this
meeting evidences, for there are here assembled masses of independent
men. The commonwealth rests upon the free suffrage of its citizens
and their devotion to the Constitution, and the flag is the bulwark
of its life. [Cheers.] We have agreed, I am sure, that we will do no
more fighting among ourselves. [Cries of "Good! good!" and cheers.]
I may say to you confidentially that Senator Jones and I agreed
several years ago, after observing together the rifle practice at Fort
Snelling, that shooting had been reduced to such accuracy that war was
too dangerous for either of us to engage in it. [Laughter and cheers.]
But, my friends, I cannot prolong this talk. Once already to-day
in the dampness of this atmosphere I have attempted to speak, and
therefore you will allow me to conclude by wishing for your State, for
its Governor and all its public officers, for all its citizens without
exception, high or humble, the blessing of social order, peace, and
prosperity--the fruits of intelligence and piety. [Great cheering.]
TEXARKANA, ARKANSAS, APRIL 17.
Notwithstanding it was nearly midnight when the presidential train
reached Texarkana, about 2,000 citizens were present. Foremost in the
movement to give a fitting reception to the President were: George H.
Langsdale, Robert Langsdale, Richard Brunazzi, and Edward Donnelly.
Among other well-known citizens present were Lyman S. Roach, Commander
of Dick Yates Post, G. A. R.; Ira A. Church, J. A. Mifflin, Wm.
Rhinders, W. F. Loren, W. W. Shaw, Fred A. Church, J. P. Ashcraft, Wm.
H. Bush, A. B. Matson, W. W. De Prato, T. P. McCalla, J. W. Hatcher,
John McKenna, Peter Gable, John Mayher, Martin Foster, J. K. Langsdale,
and F. L. Schuster.
The President spoke briefly and said:
Having had notice of your request that we stop here for a few
moments, I have remained up in order to thank you for your expressed
interest and for this very large and cordial demonstration. I have
spoken several times during the day, and am sure you will excuse
me from attempting now, at midnight, to make a speech. I hope that
prosperity is here and that it may abide with you. Thanking you again,
I bid you good-night.
PALESTINE, TEXAS, APRIL 18.
The first stop in the Lone Star State was at Palestine, where the
President received a royal welcome, the population of the city turning
out to do him honor. His excellency Gov. James S. Hogg cordially
greeted the President at this point. Hon. John H. Reagan, Hon. Geo. A.
Wright, Mayor of Palestine, and the City Council in a body, constituted
the Committee of Reception, together with the following prominent
residents: Capt. T. T. Gammage, A. H. Bailey, Geo. E. Dilley, N. R.
Royall, W. C. Kendall, A. Teah, J. R. Hearne, J. W. Ozment, P. W. Ezell,
O. B. Sawyers, G. W. Burkitt, W. M. Lacy, Henry Ash, A. C. Green,
A. R. Howard, A. L. Bowers, D. W. Heath, Wm. Broyles, John J. Word,
E. R. Kersh, R. J. Wallace, J. M. Fullinwider, Rev. E. F. Fales and
Mrs. Fales, who welcomed her distinguished brother Postmaster-General
Wanamaker.
Governor Hogg made the formal address of welcome, to which the President
responded as follows:
_Governor Hogg and Fellow-citizens_--It gives me pleasure to come
this fresh morning into this great State--a kingdom without a king,
an empire without an emperor, a State gigantic in proportions and
matchless in resources, with diversified industries and infinite
capacities to sustain a tremendous population and to bring to every
home where industry abides prosperity and comfort. Such homes, I am
sure, are represented here this morning--the American home, where the
father abides in the respect and the mother in the deep love of the
children that sit about the fireside; where all that makes us good
is taught and the first rudiments of obedience to law, of orderly
relations one to another, are put into the young minds. Out of this
comes social order; on this rests the security of our country.
The home is the training-school for American citizenship. There we
learn to defer to others; selfishness is suppressed by the needs of
those about us. There self-sacrifice, love, and willingness to give
ourselves for others are born.
I thank you that so many of you have come here this morning from
such homes, and all of us are thankful together that peace rests upon
our whole country. All of us have pledged ourselves that no sectional
strife shall ever divide us, and that while abiding in peace with all
the world we are, against all aggression, one mighty, united people.
[Cheers.]
I desire to assure you, my countrymen, that in my heart I make no
distinction between our people anywhere. [Cheers.] I have a deep
desire that everywhere in all our States there shall be that profound
respect for the will of the majority, expressed by our voters, that
shall bring constant peace into all our communities. It is very kind
of you to come here this morning before breakfast. Perhaps you are
initiating me into the Texas habit--is it so?--of taking something
before breakfast. [Laughter and cheers.] This exhilarating draught of
good-will you have given me this morning will not, I am sure, disturb
either my digestion or comfort during this day. [Cheers.]
HOUSTON, TEXAS, APRIL 18.
The presidential party reached Houston at noon on April 18 and were
greeted by an enthusiastic assemblage estimated at 20,000. The welcoming
committee, headed by Mayor Scherffius, comprised the following-named
prominent citizens: Hon. Charles Stewart, Geo. A. Race, J. W. Temby,
Maj. R. B. Baer, A. K. Taylor, Col. John T. Brady, W. D. Cleveland,
D. C. Smith, C. Lombardi, Dr. E. F. Schmidt, Capt. J. C. Hutcheson,
T. W. House, S. K. Dick, W. B. Chew, James F. Dumble, R. B. Morris,
James A. Patton, Jr., A. P. Root, W. V. R. Watson, G. W. Kidd, G.
C. Felton, H. W. Garrow, Geo. E. Dickey, F. Halff, John F. Dickson,
E. W. Cave, Charles Dillingham, A. C. Herndon, J. W. Jones, D. M.
Angle, Geo. L. Porter, Rufus Cage, F. A. Rice, Dr. D. F. Stuart, and
President Mitchell, of the Commercial Club. Many prominent ladies of
the city participated in receiving and entertaining the ladies in the
presidential party.
Congressman Stewart introduced the President, who spoke as follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--Your faces all respond to the words of welcome
which have been spoken in your behalf. We have been not only pleased
but touched by the delicate and kindly expressions of regard which we
have received since entering the State of Texas. I remained up last
night until after midnight that I might not unconsciously pass into
this great State, and I was called very early from my bed this morning
to receive a draught of welcome, before I had breakfasted, from
another Texas audience. You have a State whose greatness I think you
have discovered.
A stranger can hardly hope to point out to you that which you
have not already known. Perhaps Virginia and Kentucky have been
heard to say more about their respective States than Texas; but I
think their voices are likely soon to be drowned by the enthusiastic
and affectionate claims which you will present to the country for
your great commonwealth. [Cheers.] You have the resources in some
measure--in a great measure--of all the States gathered within your
borders; a soil adapted to the production of all the cereals and
grasses; and to this you add cotton, sugar, and tobacco. You are very
rightly diversifying your crops, because the history of intelligent
farming shows that as the crops are diversified the people prosper.