thus far attended these efforts, and will rejoice that with this
expanding trade to the southward there opens before us this year a
largely increased traffic in agricultural products with the nations
of Europe. We have never in the history of our country harvested such
a crop as has now been gathered into the granaries of the United
States. [Applause.] We shall have an enormously large surplus of
breadstuffs for exportation, and it happens that in this period of
our abundance crop failures or shortages in India, in Russia, in
France, in Germany, and England have opened a market that will require
the last bushel of grain we have to sell. [Cries of "Good! good!"
and applause.] Rejoicing in the peace that pervades our land, proud
of institutions which have for more than a hundred years witnessed
their adequacy to give peace and security at home and to preserve our
National honor abroad, rejoicing in the great increase of material
wealth which is flowing in upon us, may we not on these great lines
of enterprise, lifting ourselves now to newer and larger thoughts of
what this country may be, enter upon these opening avenues of trade
and influence upon which are the beckoning invitations of friendly
peoples? [Applause.]
Let me thank you again for this magnificent assemblage of Vermont
patriots and of Vermont women, who have shared with her gallant men
the sacrifices and suffering that this State has borne that it might
be born among the States, and, having been admitted to the sisterhood,
might, though small in geographical extent and population, bear a
noble and honorable part in the work of holding up the American
character and defending the American flag. [Great applause.]
RICHMOND, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.
President Harrison passed the night at St. Albans. On his departure,
the morning of the 26th, he was accompanied by Secretary Proctor,
ex-Governor Smith and wife, Colonel and Mrs. E. C. Smith, Tracy Smith,
Hon. H. H. Powers, Henry R. Start, D. Sage McKay, Col. Geo. T. Childs,
and Col. M. J. Horton, of Governor Page's staff.
The first stop of the day was at Richmond, where a large audience
greeted the party. Among the prominent citizens who received the
President were: Judge E. B. Andrews, Hon. U. S. Whitcomb, Capt. G. A.
Edwards, Dr. C. W. Jacobs, Hon. H. A. Hodges, C. P. Rhodes and Edgar T.
Jacobs. The veterans of Bronson Barber Post, G. A. R., were present in a
body.
Congressman Powers introduced the President, who said:
_My Fellow-citizens_--It is a little early in the morning to begin
the daily round of speech-making, and yet I cannot refrain from saying
to you how highly I appreciate your morning welcome. There is the
tonic of your fine mountain air and the glory of your sunshine in
these cordial manifestations of your respect and good-will. I hope
no American citizen will ever begrudge the President of the United
States the refreshment which comes from these occasional visits
through the country, and from that draught of good-will which he
receives as he looks into the faces and takes the hands of these
good people, who have no other interest in the Government than that
it shall be honestly administered for the general good. Washington
is not always full of that kind of people; we are more certain,
perhaps, to find them in the country. And yet no one should complain
of honest criticism, and perhaps fault-finding has its use, for
occasionally it must be well grounded and disclose to us errors we
might otherwise have failed to discern. But, after all, the bracing
of the good-will of the good people of this country is very essential
to those who, in the midst of great perplexity and doubt and under
staggering responsibility, endeavor as they see the right to do it.
No man can do more than this, and I look upon this popular feature
of our Government, the readiness of communication, the nearness
and familiarity of access which the people have with all public
servants, as a great safeguard to those who might otherwise become
separated from those impulses which are, after all, the safest and
best. [Applause.] I have had great pleasure in passing through your
beautiful valley this morning. I can most sincerely commend what I see
in these farms and thrifty homes. Vermont is a mountain State, and, I
suppose, because your horizon is a little high you are more frequently
than we who live on the plains compelled to look up. That may account
for a great many of the good things which we discover in the New
England character. I thank you for your kindness. [Applause.]
WATERBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST, 26.
Waterbury was reached at 10:30 A.M. Governor Page and Hon. W. W. Grout
joined the party here. About 10,000 people were assembled to greet
the President, prominent among whom were: G. E. Moody, Esq., Hon. G.
W. Rundall, Hon. E. F. Palmer, M. M. Knight, George W. Atkins, John
Batchelder, L. H. Haines, Justin W. Moody, C. C. Warren, W. R. Elliott,
C. H. Arms, Charles Wells, Dr. Henry Janes, and F. H. Atherton.
Hon. Wm. Paul Dillingham made the welcoming address and introduced the
President, who responded as follows:
_My Friends_--It is very pleasant to know that a public officer may
travel everywhere through this great land of ours--and only those who
have traversed it can understand how great it is--and find always
his sure defence and care in the good-will and respect of the people
who surround him. If we bar out the irresponsible crank, so far as I
can see the President is in no peril, except that he may be killed
by the superabundant kindness of the people. [Laughter.] There seems
to be an impression that his strength and capacity for speech-making
is unfailing [laughter] and that his arm is a hickory limb. But it
is very kind of you and all these good, people of Vermont who have
met me on this journey to express so pleasantly by your cheers, and
much more by your kindly faces, the love and loyalty you have for
those in the situation with which the suffrage of the people has for
the time connected me. The New England character is one that has
been much written about, much discussed, and I think that even those
who have found points for the sharpest criticism have, when they
adopted the Yankee method of averages, concluded that the influences
emanating from Plymouth Rock and diffusing themselves first through
the New Hampshire Grants and then the Western Reserve of Ohio, and
so scattering and disseminating the seeds of intelligence and love
of liberty throughout the whole land, have been good for the whole
country. The New England man is a man with his eye open everywhere.
I have sometimes thought that the habit of attention, of giving the
whole mind to the business in hand, had its very natural origin and
development in New England agriculture. The man who holds a plough in
a stumpy or stony ground learns the lesson that he had better give
his mind to the business in hand. [Laughter.] Otherwise the revenge
and punishments for inattention are so prompt and severe that he is
quickly called back from any mental wanderings into which he may
have fallen. I had occasion to say a moment ago that the fact that
the mountain regions of the world had always furnished the bravest
champions of liberty and the most strenuous defenders of the faith was
possibly owing to the fact that their horizon was so high that if they
looked at all they were compelled to look up. [Laughter and applause.]
My countrymen, we have a great and happy land--a people dwelling in
happy homes, and that is the origin of government, and there is the
essential of a contented citizenship. As long as we can preserve this
independence and self-respect, and that degree of comfort in the home
that makes it a pleasant abode when the day's toil is ended, and that
enables by the most careful thrift the head of the household to lay by
for the family and to lighten in some measure the care and labor of
the children that are to follow him, there can be no happier land than
ours. If we would perpetuate and secure that which we have had handed
down to us and which we have so well preserved until this hour, this
is the essential thing.
I thank you for this kindly greeting, and beg you to accept my
sincerest good-will. I can say nothing of public affairs. Every man
called to public office is subject to the infirmities that belong to
our nature--the capacity to make mistakes. He can be, if he is true,
sure of one thing--that in all that he does he has it in his mind to
do the best he can for all the people. [Prolonged cheers.]
MONTPELIER, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.
A great throng greeted the President's arrival at the Vermont capital.
He was met by a Reception Committee consisting of 15 prominent citizens:
Col. Fred E. Smith, Hon. Charles Dewey, Prof. J. A. DeBoer, J. C.
Houghton, M. E. Smilie, L. Bart Cross, G. H. Gurnsey, T. C. Phinney,
H. W. Kemp, D. F. Long, C. P. Pitkin, J. W. Brock, George Wing, F.
W. Morse, and Thomas Marvin. The First Regiment N. G. V., commanded
by Adjutant-General Peck, with the Sons of Veterans, escorted the
President and Governor Page to the State House, the former walking the
entire distance with uncovered head, surrounded by a guard of honor
detailed from George Crook Post, G. A. R. From the Governor's Room they
were conducted to the hall of the House of Representatives, where the
Legislature of Vermont was assembled in joint session. The members arose
and remained standing until the Chief Magistrate was seated between
Governor Page and Lieutenant-Governor Fletcher.
After the applause subsided the Lieutenant-Governor introduced President
Harrison, who addressed the legislators as follows:
_Mr. President and Gentlemen, the Legislature of the State of
Vermont_--I am grateful to you for this cordial reception, which
crowns a series of friendly demonstrations which began with my entry
into this good State and have continued to this interesting and
important occasion. I am glad to meet the chosen representatives of
the towns of Vermont, appointed to the discharge of functions of
legislating for the general good. The wisdom of our fathers devised
that system of governmental division for the general Government which
has found adoption or adaptation in all the States--the division of
the powers of the Government into three great co-ordinate departments,
each independent, and yet having close and important relations one
with the other, and each adapted in the highest degree to secure the
liberty of the individual, the welfare of our community, and the
national honor and prosperity. [Applause.] It has been fortunate for
us as a people that no serious clash has occurred to these great
departments. The constitutional balance and counterbalance have
preserved with marvellous exactness, with the perfection of the most
perfect machinery, the relations of these several departments, each
doing its appropriate work and producing the great result which had
been intended. Surely there is no other country where the springs
of government are higher than here. The impulses of our people are
drawn from springs that lie high in the hills of duty and loyalty.
They respect and obey the law, because it is the orderly expression
of their own will. The compact of our Government is a rule by the
majority.
The sanction of all law is that it is the expression by popular
election of the will of a majority of our people. Law has no other
sanction than that with us; and happy are we, and happy are those
communities where the election methods are so honestly and faithfully
prescribed and observed that no doubt is thrown upon the popular
expression and no question of the integrity of the ballot is ever
raised. [Applause.] If we shall ever or anywhere allow a doubt to
settle into the minds of our people whether the results of our
elections are honestly attained, whether the laws made are framed by
those who have been properly chosen by the majority, then all sanction
is withdrawn from law and all respect from the rulers who by a false
ballot are placed in public office. [Applause.]
I am glad to congratulate you upon your constituencies, intelligent,
devoted and patriotic. I am glad to congratulate you that the State
of Vermont, from its earliest aspirations and efforts for liberty
and self-government, which developed into your Constitution in 1777,
down through all the story of toil and the struggles which have beset
you as a State, and the vicissitudes which have beset the country of
which you are an honored part, that the State of Vermont and her sons
in the councils of the Nation and on the blood-stained battle-fields
of the great war have borne themselves worthily. [Applause.] Will you
permit me now to thank you again for this demonstration and for the
opportunity to stand for a moment in your presence? I am sure that we
may each, from this occasion, in the discharge of public duty, draw
some impulse to a more perfect exercise of our powers for the public
good. [Applause.]
_The Public Reception._
The speech-making within doors being over, President Harrison entered
a side room, where he received the Tippecanoe Club, shaking hands
cordially with all. He was then conducted to the Governor's Room,
where he received the members of the Legislature. Meanwhile a great
crowd massed on the beautiful grounds and waited impatiently for the
reappearance of the President. Finally he made his way from the interior
to the front of the Capitol. Governor Page introduced him. The President
spoke as follows:
_Governor Page and Fellow-citizens_--This sunshine is as warm as a
Vermont welcome. [Applause.] It is of the highest quality. It has life
in it. But too much of it is prostrating. [Laughter.] I have felt, in
endeavoring to respond to these calls, that I was possibly overtaxing
my own strength, and perhaps overcrowding the Press Association.
[Laughter.] I am not naturally a gossip, I think I had some reputation
as a taciturn man, but it is gone. [Laughter.] I have not given it up
willingly. I have struggled to retain it, but it has been forcefully
taken from me by kindness of my fellow-citizens, whom I have met so
frequently within the last year. Perhaps, however, if I preserve other
virtues I can let this go. [Laughter.] It is a great thing to be a
citizen of the United States. I would not have you abate at all the
love and loyalty you have for Vermont. But I am glad to know that
always in your history as a State and a people you have felt that the
higher honor, the more glorious estate, was to be a citizen of the
United States of America. [Applause.] This association of States is a
geographical necessity. We can never consent that hostile boundaries
shall be introduced with all that such divisions imply. We must be one
from Maine to California, one from the Lakes to the Gulf [applause],
and everywhere in all that domain we must insist that the behests
of the Federal Constitution and of the laws written in the Federal
statute-book shall be loyally obeyed. [Applause.] A statesman of one
of the Southern States said to me, with tears in his eyes, shortly
after my inauguration: "Mr. President, I hope you intend to give the
poor people of my State a chance." I said in reply: "A chance to do
what? If you mean, sir, that they shall have a chance to nullify
any law, and that I shall wink at the nullification of it, you ask
that which you ought not to ask and that which I cannot consider.
[Applause.] If you mean that obeying every public law and giving to
every other man his full rights under the law and the Constitution,
they shall abide in my respect and in the security and peace of our
institutions. Then they shall have, so far as in my power lies, an
equal chance with all our people." [Applause.] We may not choose
what laws we will obey; the choice is made for us. When a majority
have, by lawful methods, placed a law upon the statute-book, we may
endeavor to repeal it, we may challenge its wisdom, but while it is
the law it challenges our obedience. [Applause.]
I thank you for the kindliness of this greeting in this capital of
Vermont. I wish for you and your gallant State and for all your people
in all their good, God-fearing homes continuance of that personal
liberty, that material prosperity, that love of the truth which has
always characterized them. [Applause.]
PLAINFIELD, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.
At Montpelier the President's party was joined by Hon. F. A. Dwinnel,
Gen. F. E. Alfred, Gen. W. H. Gilmore, V. R. Sartwell, W. A. Stowell,
Col. H. E. Folsom, Fletcher D. Proctor, Frank C. Partridge; also, E. W.
Smith and John Bailey, of Newbury.
The first stop in the afternoon was at Plainfield, where 1,000 people
gave the President a cordial greeting. Among the leading citizens
participating in the reception were: Joseph Lane, George D. Kidder,
Leroy F. Fortney, E. J. Bartlett, H. E. Cutler, Henry Q. Perry, D. B.
Smith, H. G. Moore, John A. Fass, Ira F. Page, Nelson Shorey, H. W.
Batchelder, and W. B. Page. W. E. Martin Post, G. A. R., H. H. Hollister
Commander, occupied a conspicuous position.
President Harrison was introduced by Senator Dwinnel, and said:
_My Fellow-citizens and Comrades_--For I see here, as everywhere,
some of those who wore the blue and carried the flag in the great
Civil War gathered to greet me. It gives me pleasure to stop for a
moment and to thank you for the friendliness which has brought you
from your homes to make this journey bright with your presence and
cordial welcome. I have been talking so much to-day that I will not
attempt to make a speech. I have already said a great deal about
Vermont, have expressed my esteem for it and for its people, and all
that. I have been very sincere, for I think that your State does hold
a very high place among the States. Your sons, who have gone out to
represent you and to take part in those stirring enterprises which
have laid the foundations of new States, have already borne themselves
with honor and with true New England thrift, obtaining in the long
run the full share of all the good things that were going. I met some
of them in California. They are scattered this broad land over, and I
think they carry with them everywhere the love of the flag, respect
for law and order, love of liberty and of education, and interest in
all those things that make the communities where they abide prosperous
and happy. I think I owe a special debt to this neighborhood for a
pair of good Vermont horses that Secretary Proctor selected for me,
and in the driving of which I have had great relaxation and pleasure.
Your Vermont horses are well trained. The Morgan horse has the good
habit of entering into consultation with the driver whenever there is
any trouble. [Laughter and applause.]
ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.
Brief stops were made at Wells River, McIndoes, and Barnet, and the
President cordially thanked the people at each place. St. Johnsbury,
where great preparations were made to welcome the distinguished guest,
was reached at 4:30 P.M.
The President's party headed a procession which moved through the
principal streets over a distance of two miles. The guard of honor
consisted of 300 mounted veterans with drawn swords. The following
prominent citizens met the President: Col. Franklin Fairbanks, Hon.
Jonathan Ross, Chief Justice of Vermont, and Mrs. Ross; Rev. Dr. C. M.
Lamson, L. D. Hazen, A. H. McLeod, Charles T. Walter, Hon. H. H. Powers,
Col. Frederick Fletcher, H. H. Carr, C. H. Stevens, E. H. Blossom, S. H.
Brackett, Lucius K. Hazen, Osborne Chase, George H. Cross, N. P. Bowman,
Albert Worcester, H. I. Woods, Dr. G. B. Bullard, A. F. Walker, C. P.
Carpenter, N. R. Switser, F. A. Carter, L. W. Fisher, J. B. Gage, C.
H. Horton, L. N. Smythe, and Wm. H. Sargent. An incident of the parade
was the reception by the school children. The President's carriage
halted and several hundred of the children, led by H. H. May, rendered
"America," at the conclusion of which six pretty little girls--Misses
May Masten, Lala McNeil, Marian Moore, Lottie Holder, Beatrice May,
and Emma May--stepped forward and presented a beautiful floral key,
thus tendering the freedom of the city to the illustrious guest. The
President reviewed the procession from "Undercliffe," the stately
residence of Colonel and Mrs. Fairbanks, whose guest he was.
At night the town was brilliantly illuminated, and 10,000 residents
gathered in the public park. Colonel Fairbanks made the welcoming
address and introduced the President, who received an ovation and spoke
as follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--I could wish that I were in better voice and
in full strength, that I might better respond to this most magnificent
demonstration. I have rarely looked upon a scene more calculated
to inspire a patriot than this upon which my eye rests to-night. I
do most profoundly thank you for this great welcome. The taste and
beauty and elaboration of these preparations exceed anything that I
have looked upon in this journey. [Applause.] I am sure you are here
to-night after making all this preparation to give witness by your
presence of your love to the flag of our country [applause] and to
those institutions of civil government and of liberty which that flag
represents. [Applause.] It gives me great pleasure to see that the
flag is everywhere. I journeyed across this continent, and, except
when darkness shut in the landscape, I was never out of sight of the
American flag. [Applause.] On those wide plains of the West, once
called the Great American Desert, now and again, in the home of some
adventurous settler, the flag appeared and was waved in greeting as
our train sped on its way. I rejoiced to see it everywhere in the
sight of school children. On that great demonstration in New York in
observance of the centennial of the inauguration of Washington, as I
moved from the Battery up through those streets dedicated to commerce,
I saw every front covered with flags, hiding for the time those
invitations to trade which covered their walls. The thought occurred
to me, What will be done with these flags when this celebration is
over? And it occurred to me to suggest at the centennial banquet
that the flags should be taken into our school-houses. [Applause.]
I rejoice to know that everywhere throughout the land, in all our
patriotic towns and villages, movements are being inaugurated to
display the American flag over our institutions of learning.
I have several times been brought in contact with incidents showing
this love of the flag. I remember that when Hood was investing
Nashville, and when that gallant, sturdy, unostentatious, but always
faithful and victorious leader, Gen. George H. Thomas, was gathering
the remnants of an army that he might confront his adversary in
battle, it was assigned to me to intrench through the beautiful
grounds of a resident in the suburbs of Nashville. The proprietor was
a Tennessee Unionist. While I was digging and tearing the sod of his
beautiful lawn, he was removing his library and other valuables from
his mansion, for it was within easy range of the rebel fire. Happening
into his library while he was thus engaged, he opened a closet below
the book-shelf, and, taking out a handsome bunting, asked me whether I
had a garrison flag. I told him no. "Well," he said, "take this. Sir,
I have never been without the American flag in my house." [Applause.]
I would be glad if that could be said by every one of our people.
There is inspiration in it. It has a story wrought into its every fold
until every thread has some lesson to tell of sacrifice and heroism.
It is the promise of all that we hope for. It is to it and about it
that we must gather and hold the affections of our people if these
institutions are to be preserved. I have it in my mind as I saw it one
night in Newport harbor. Going out of that harbor upon a Government
vessel about midnight, when the heavens were darkened clouds, I saw
a sight that lives fresh in my memory. The officers of the torpedo
station had run up the Starry Banner upon the staff, and turned upon
it as we moved out of the harbor two great electric search-lights. It
revealed the banner, while the staff and buildings below it were all
hidden in the blackness. I could see it as if it had been hung out
of the battlements of heaven, lifting its folds in the darkness of
night, a glorified emblem of the hope of a free people. [Applause.]
Let us keep it thus in our hearts; let no other flag be borne in our
marching processions. We have no place for the red flag of anarchy.
[Applause.] This emblem typifies a free people, who have voluntarily
placed themselves under the restraints of the law, who have consented
that individual liberty shall cease where it infringes upon the right
or property of another. This is our contract. This is the liberty
which we offer those who cast in their lot with us, not a liberty to
destroy, but a liberty to conserve and perpetuate. [Cheers.]