evening and were the guests of Manager Schonewald, of the famous Hotel
Del Monte. The next morning the distinguished travellers were driven
over to Monterey, the historic old capital of California; they were
met at the outskirts by the City Trustees and a committee of prominent
citizens, among whom were: C. I. Burks, Capt. Thomas Bralee, Francis
Doud, David Rodrick, F. R. Day, Edward Ingram, Job Wood, Thomas Doud,
J. T. Stockdale, Jacob R. Leese, Wm. Kay, A. A. Osio, and H. Whitcomb.
The reception was held on the grounds fronting the old Capitol--now
used as a school-house. After the reception the visitors were taken on
an 18-mile drive through the parks and groves along the Pacific Ocean.
Mayor W. J. Hill, of Salinas, delivered the address of welcome on behalf
of the citizens of Monterey and Salinas, and presented the President
with a silver plate engraved with a fac-simile of the old Custom House
and the words "The Custom House where the American flag was first raised
in California, July 7, 1846. Monterey, April 30, 1891. Greeting to our
President."
In response the President said:
_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--Our whole pathway through the State
of California has been paved with good-will. We have been made to walk
upon flowers. Our hearts have been touched and refreshed at every
point by the voluntary offerings of your hospitable people. Our trip
has been one continued ovation of friendliness. I have had occasion
to say before that no man is entitled to appropriate to himself these
tributes. They witness a peculiar characteristic of the American
people. Unlike many other people less happy, we give our devotion to
a Government, to its Constitution, to its flag, and not to men. We
reverence and obey those who have been placed by our own suffrages
and choice in public stations, but our allegiance, our affection, is
given to our beneficent institutions, and upon this rock our security
is based. We are not subject to those turbulent uprisings that prevail
where the people follow leaders rather than institutions; where they
are caught by the glamour and dash of brilliant men rather than by the
steady law of free institutions.
I rejoice to be for a moment among you this morning. The history
of this city starts a train of reflections in my mind that I cannot
follow out in speech, but the impression of them will remain with me
as long as I live. [Applause.] California and its coast were essential
to the integrity and completeness of the American Union. But who
can tell what may be the result of the establishment here of free
institutions, the setting up by the wisdom and foresight and courage
of the early pioneers in California of a commonwealth that was very
early received into the American Union? We see to-day what has been
wrought. But who can tell what another century will disclose, when
these valleys have become thick with a prosperous and thriving and
happy people? I thank you again for your cordial greeting and bid you
good-morning. [Cheers.]
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, MAY 1.
At 8 o'clock Friday morning the presidential train halted at Santa Cruz,
the City of the Holy Cross, where another floral greeting awaited the
distinguished guests. They were met by Mayor G. Bowman at the head of a
committee of prominent citizens, among whom were: Col. Thomas P. Robb,
W. P. Young, Dr. T. W. Drullard, W. Finkeldey, O. J. Lincoln, W. J.
McCollum, A. L. Weeks, P. R. Hinds, W. H. Galbraith, E. C. Williams,
Duncan McPherson, Wm. T. Jeter, A. A. Taylor, W. D. Storey, F. A.
Hihn, Z. N. Goldsby, Richard Thompson, R. C. Kirby, J. H. Logan, A. J.
Jennings, Judge McCann, J. F. Cunningham, Benj. Knight, Z. Barnet, E. C.
Williams, and J. T. Sullivan. Grand Marshal J. O. Wanzer, with his aids,
U. S. Nichols, M. S. Patterson, H. Fay, W. D. Haslam, R. H. Pringle, W.
C. Hoffman, and George Chittenden, acted as an escort of honor to the
President during the parade. When the Pacific Ocean House was reached
Mayor Bowman made a welcoming address. After the reception the party
visited the grove of big trees near the city.
As the President arose to respond the great audience cheered
enthusiastically. He said:
_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--It seems to me like improvidence
that all this tasteful and magnificent display should be but for a
moment. In all my journeying in California, where every city has
presented some surprise and where each has been characterized by
lavish and generous display, I have not seen anything so suddenly
created and yet so beautiful. I am sure we have not ridden through
any street more attractive than this. I thank you most sincerely for
this cordial welcome. I am sure you are a loyal, and I know you are a
loving and kindly people. [Cheers.] We have been received, strangers
as we were, with affection, and everywhere as I look into the faces of
this people I feel my heart swell with pride that I am an American and
that California is one of the American States. [Cheers.]
LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA, MAY 1.
The first stop after leaving Santa Cruz was at Los Gatos, overlooking
the Santa Clara Valley, where a large assemblage welcomed the party. The
Committee of Reception comprised the Board of Town Trustees and W. H. B.
Trantham, James H. Lyndon, G. A. Dodge, and C. F. Wilcox. E. O. C. Ord
Post, G. A. R., James G. Arthur, Commander, was out in full force.
Chairman J. W. Lyndon made the address of welcome and introduced
President Harrison, who said:
_My Fellow citizens_--If California had lodged a complaint against
the last census I should have been inclined to entertain it and to
order your people to be counted again. [Laughter.] From what I have
seen in these days of pleasant travel through your State I am sure
the census enumerators have not taken you all. We have had another
surprise in coming over these mountains to find that not the valleys
alone of California, but its hill-tops are capable of productive
cultivation. We have been greatly surprised to see vineyards and
orchards at these altitudes, and to know that your fields rival in
productiveness the famous valleys of your State.
I thank you for your cordial greeting. It overpowers me I feel that
these brief stops are but poor recompense for the trouble and care
you have taken. I wish we could tarry longer with you. I wish I could
know more of you individually, but I can only thank you and say that
we will carry away most happy impressions of California, and that in
public and in private life it will give me pleasure always to show my
appreciation of your great State. [Cheers.]
SAN FRANCISCO, MAY 1.
_Chamber of Commerce Reception._
The President returned to San Francisco from his trip to Monterey and
Santa Cruz at noon Friday, May 1. He was met across the bay by W. W.
Montague, Geo. C. Perkins, and Oliver Eldridge, constituting a committee
of escort from the Chamber of Commerce. Arrived at the Chamber of
Commerce the President was met by the following Reception Committee,
trustees of the Chamber, composed of: William L. Merry, A. J. Ralston,
W. T. Y. Schenck, Robert Watt, A. R. Briggs, James Carolan, N. W.
Spaulding, General Dimond, John Rosenfeld, Charles R. Allen, J. J.
McKinnon, C. B. Stone, and Louis Parrott. On the floor of the Merchants'
Exchange the President was greeted by a great and enthusiastic assembly,
composed of members of the following bodies invited to participate in
the reception: Mexican War Veterans, Society of Pioneers, Territorial
Pioneers, Geographical Society, Art Association, Geological Society,
State Board of Trade, Board of Trade of the city, Bar Association,
Bankers' Association, Produce Exchange, San Francisco Stock Exchange,
Merchants' Exchange, Boards of Brokers, Boards of Marine Institute,
Chamber of Commerce, Manufacturers' Association, and California Academy
of Sciences. Colonel Taylor, President of the Chamber of Commerce,
delivered an able address upon the trade of the Pacific coast, and
closed by cordially welcoming President Harrison, Postmaster-General
Wanamaker, and Secretary Rusk.
When the President arose to respond he was greeted with a storm of
applause. His address was punctured throughout with cheers. He said:
_Mr. President and Gentlemen of these Assembled Societies_--I have
been subjected during my stay in California in some respects to
the same treatment the policeman accords to the tramp--I have been
kept moving on. You have substituted flowers and kindness for the
policeman's baton. And yet, notwithstanding all this, we come to you
this morning not exhausted or used up, but a little fatigued. Your
cordial greetings are more exhilarating than your wine, and perhaps
safer for the constitution. [Laughter and applause.]
I am glad to stand in the presence of this assemblage of business
men. I have tried to make this a business Administration. [Applause.]
Of course we cannot wholly separate politics from a national
Administration, but I have felt that every public officer owed his
best service to the people, without distinction of party [cries of
"Good! good!" and applause]; that in administering official trusts
we were in a very strict sense, not merely in a figurative sense,
your servants. It has been my desire that in every branch of the
public service there should be improvement. I have stimulated all the
Secretaries and have received stimulus from them in the endeavor, in
all the departments of the Government that touch your business life,
to give you as perfect a service as possible. This we owe to you; but
if I were pursuing party ends I should feel that I was by such methods
establishing my party in the confidence of the people. [Applause.]
I feel that we have come to a point where American industries,
American commerce, and American influence are to be revived and
extended. The American sentiment and feeling was never more
controlling than now; and I do not use that term in the narrow sense
of native American, but to embrace all loyal citizens, whether
native-born or adopted, who have the love of our flag in their hearts.
[Great cheering.] I shall speak to-night, probably, at the banquet of
business men, and will not enter into any lengthy discussion here.
Indeed, I am so careful not to trespass upon any forbidden topic,
that I may not in the smallest degree offend those who have forgotten
party politics in extending this greeting to us, that I do not know
how far I should talk upon these public questions. But since your
Chairman has alluded to them, I can say I am in hearty sympathy with
the suggestions he has made. I believe there are methods by which
we shall put the American flag upon the sea again. [Applause.] In
speaking the other day I used an illustration which will perhaps be
apt in this company of merchants. You recall, all of you, certainly
those of my age, the time when no merchant sent out travelling men. He
expected the buyer to come to his store. Perhaps that was well enough;
but certain enterprising men sought custom by putting travelling men
with samples on the road. However the conservative merchant regarded
that innovation, he had but one choice--to put travelling men on the
road or go out of business. In this question of shipping we are in a
similar condition. The great commercial governments of the world have
stimulated their shipping interests by direct or indirect subsidies,
while we have been saying: "No, we prefer the old way." We must
advance or--I will not say go out of business, for we have already
gone out. [Applause.] I thank you most cordially for your greeting,
and bid you good-by. [Applause.]
ADDRESS TO THE VETERANS, MAY 1.
From the Chamber of Commerce the President and his party were escorted
to the Mechanics' Pavilion by the Veteran Guard under Captain Knowlton,
preceded and followed by Lincoln, Garfield, Cass, Meade, Liberty, and
Geo. Sykes posts, G. A. R. Fully 10,000 children and citizens were
assembled to witness the May Day festivities under the auspices of
the G. A. R. posts. Escorted by Grand Marshal Saloman, the President
advanced to the stage and was received by Hon. Henry C. Dibble, who
presented him to the throng of veterans and children.
He spoke as follows:
_Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic_--It will not be
possible in so large a hall for me to make myself heard, and yet I
cannot refuse when appealed to to say a word of kindly greeting to
those comrades who have found their homes on the Pacific coast. I have
no doubt that all the loyal States of the Union are represented in
this assembly, and it is pleasant to know that, after the strife and
hardships of those years of battle, you have found among the flowers
and fruits of the earth homes that are full of pleasantness and peace.
It was that these things might continue to be that you went to
battle; it was that these homes might be preserved; it was that the
flag and all that it symbolizes might be perpetuated, that you fought
and many of our comrades died. All this land calls you blessed. The
fruits of division and strife that would have been ours if secession
had succeeded would have been full of bitterness. The end that was
attained by your valor under the providence of God has brought peace
and prosperity to all the States. [Applause.]
It gave me great pleasure in passing through the Southern States
to see how your work had contributed to their prosperity. No man can
look upon any of these States through which we campaigned and fought
without realizing that what seemed to their people a disaster was,
under God, the opening of a great gate of prosperity and happiness.
All those fires of industry which I saw through the South were
lighted at the funeral pyre of slavery. [Cries of "Good! good!" and
applause.] They were impossible under the conditions that existed
previously in those States. We are now a homogeneous people. You in
California, full of pride and satisfaction with the greatness of your
State, will always set above it the greater glory and the greater
citizenship which our flag symbolizes. [Cheers.] You went into the
war for the defence of the Union; you have come out to make your
contribution to the industries and progress of this age of peace. As
in our States of the Northwest the winter covering of snow hides and
warms the vegetation, and with the coming of the spring sun melts and
sinks into the earth to refresh the root, so this great army was a
covering and defence, and when the war was ended, turned into rivulets
of refreshment to all the pursuits of peace. There was nothing greater
in all the world's story than the assembling of this army except its
disbandment. It was an army of citizens; and when the war was over the
soldier was not left at the tavern--he had a fireside toward which
his steps hastened. He ceased to be a soldier and became a citizen.
[Cheers.]
I observe, as I look into your faces, that the youth of the army
must have settled on the Pacific coast. [Laughter and applause.] You
are younger men here than we are in the habit of meeting at our Grand
Army posts in the East. May all prosperity attend you; may you be
able to show yourselves in civil life, as in the war, the steadfast,
unfaltering, devoted friends of this flag you are willing to die for.
[Great cheering.]
PALACE HOTEL BANQUET, MAY 1.
In the evening President Harrison attended a grand banquet given in
his honor by the prominent citizens at the Palace Hotel. Of all the
entertainments extended to the distinguished visitors on their journey
this banquet was beyond question the most notable. Representatives of
the business, professional, political, educational, and society circles
of the city were present in numbers. The brilliant affair was largely
directed by Colonel Andrews, Alfred Bovier, Geo. R. Sanderson, and
Messrs. Le Count, Jackson, and Menzies of the Citizens' Committee.
The President was escorted to the banquet hall by General Barnes and
introduced to the distinguished assembly quite early in the evening.
After the vociferous cheering subsided General Harrison rewarded the
magnificent assemblage with an address that called forth from the press
of the country general commendation, and is only second to his great
speech at Galveston. He said:
_Mr. President and Gentlemen_--When the Queen of Sheba visited the
court of Solomon and saw its splendors she was compelled to testify
that the half had not been told her. Undoubtedly the emissaries of
Solomon's court, who had penetrated to her distant territory, found
themselves in a like situation to that which attends Californians
when they travel East--they are afraid to put too much to test
the credulity of their hearers [laughter and applause], and as a
gentleman of your State said to me, it has resulted in a prevailing
indisposition among Californians to tell the truth out of California.
[Laughter and applause.] Not at all because Californians are
unfriendly to the truth, but solely out of compassion for their
hearers they address themselves to the capacity of those who hear
them. [Laughter.] And taking warning by the fate of the man who told a
sovereign of the Indies that he had seen water so solid that it could
be walked upon, they do not carry their best stories away from home.
[Laughter.]
It has been, much as I have heard of California, a brilliant
disillusion to me and to those who have journeyed with me. The half
had not been told of the productiveness of your valleys, of the
blossoming orchards, of the gardens laden with flowers. We have seen
and been entranced. Our pathway has been strewn with flowers. We have
been surprised, when we were in a region of orchards and roses, to be
suddenly pulled up at a station and asked to address some remarks to a
pyramid of pig tin. [Laughter and applause.]
Products of the mine, rare and exceptional, have been added to the
products of the field, until now the impression has been made upon my
mind that if any want should be developed in the arts, possibly if
any wants should be developed in statesmanship, or any vacancies in
office [great laughter], we have here a safe reservoir that can be
drawn upon _ad libitum_. [Laughter]. But, my friends, sweeter than all
the incense of flowers, richer than all the products of mines, has
been the gracious, unaffected, hearty kindness with which the people
of California have everywhere received us. Without division, without
dissent, a simple yet magnificent and enthusiastic American welcome.
[Great applause.]
It is gratifying that it should be so. We may carry into our
campaigns, to our conventions and congresses, discussions and
divisions, but how grand it is that we are a people who bow reverently
to the decision when it is rendered, and who will follow the flag
always, everywhere, with absolute devotion of heart without asking
what party may have given the leader in whose hands it is placed.
[Enthusiastic cheering.]
I believe that we have come to a new epoch as a Nation. There are
opening portals before us inviting us to enter--opening portals to
trade and influence and prestige such as we have never seen before.
[Great applause.] We will pursue the paths of peace; we are not
a warlike Nation; all our instincts, all our history is in the
lines of peace. Only intolerable aggression, only the peril of our
institutions--of the flag--can thoroughly arouse us. [Great applause.]
With capability for war on land and on sea unexcelled by any nation in
the world, we are smitten with the love of peace. [Applause.] We would
promote the peace of this hemisphere by placing judiciously some large
guns about the Golden Gate [great and enthusiastic cheering]--simply
for saluting purposes [laughter and cheers], and yet they should be of
the best modern type. [Cheers.]
We should have on the sea some good vessels. We don't need as
great a navy as some other people, but we do need a sufficient navy
of first-class ships, simply to make sure that the peace of the
hemisphere is preserved [cheers]; simply that we may not leave the
great distant marts and harbors of commerce and our few citizens who
may be domiciled there to feel lonesome for the sight of the American
flag. [Cheers.]
We are making fine progress in the construction of the navy. The
best English constructors have testified to the completeness and
perfection of some of our latest ships. It is a source of great
gratification to me that here in San Francisco the energy, enterprise,
and courage of some of your citizens have constructed a plant capable
of building the best modern ships. [Cries of "Good! good!" and cheers.]
I saw with delight the magnificent launch of one of these new
vessels. I hope that you may so enlarge your capacities for
construction that it will not be necessary to send any naval vessel
around the Horn. We want merchant ships. [Cheers.] I believe we have
come to a time when we should choose whether we will continue to be
non-participants in the commerce of the world or will now vigorously,
with the push and energy which our people have shown in other lines of
enterprise, claim our share of the world's commerce. [Cheers.]
I will not enter into the discussion of methods of the Postal bill
of the last session of Congress, which marks the beginning. Here in
California, where for so long a time a postal service that did not pay
its own way was maintained by the Government, where for other years
the Government has maintained mail lines into your valleys, reaching
out to every remote community, and paying out yearly a hundred times
the revenue that was derived, it ought not to be difficult to persuade
you that our ocean mail should not longer be the only service for
which we refuse to expend even the revenues derived from it.
It is my belief that, under the operation of the law to which I have
referred, we shall be able to stimulate ship-building, to secure some
new lines of American steamships, and to increase the ports of call of
all those now established. [Enthusiastic cheering.]
It will be my effort to do what may be done under the powers lodged
in me by the law to open and increase trade with the countries of
Central and South America. I hope it may not be long--I know it will
not be long if we but unitedly pursue this great scheme--until one can
take a sail in the bay of San Francisco and see some deep-water ships
come in bearing our own flag. [Enthusiastic and continued cheering.]
During our excursion the other day I saw three great vessels come
in; one carried the Hawaiian and two the English flag. I am a thorough
believer in the construction of the Nicaragua Canal. You have pleased
me so much that I would like a shorter water communication between
my State and yours. [Cheers.] Influences and operations are now
started that will complete, I am sure, this stately enterprise; but,
my fellow-citizens and Mr. President, this is the fifth time this day
that I have talked to gatherings of California friends, and we have so
much taxed the hospitality of San Francisco in making our arrangements
to make this city the centre of a whole week's sight-seeing that I do
not want to add to your other burdens the infliction of longer speech.
[Cries of "Go on!"] Right royally have you welcomed us with all that
is rich and prodigal in provision and display. With all graciousness
and friendliness I leave my heart with you when I go. [Great and
prolonged cheering.]
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, MAY 2.
Early Saturday morning, May 2, the President left San Francisco,
accompanied by Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Dimmick, Secretary Rusk, Marshal
Ransdell, and Major Sanger, to visit the capital city, Sacramento. They
were met at Davisville by a special committee consisting of: Hon. Newton
Booth, Hon. A. P. Catlin, Hon. W. C. Van Fleet, Col. J. B. Wright, Hon.
J. O. Coleman, Maj. Wm. McLaughlin, Col. C. H. Hubbard, Hon. N. Curtis,
Hon. Theo. Reichert, R. B. Harmon, and Hon. W. C. Hendricks.