Part 29

It is well that your interchanging industries and pursuits lean upon and help each other, increasing and making possible indeed the great prosperity which you enjoy. I hope it is true here that everybody is getting a fair return for his labor. We cannot afford in America to have any discontented classes, and if fair wages are paid for fair work we will have none. [Cheers.] I am not one of those who believe that cheapness is the highest good. I am not one of those who believe that it can be to my interest, or to yours, to purchase in the market anything below the price that pays to the men who make it fair living wages. [Great cheering.] We should all "live and let live" in this country. [Cheers.] Our strength, our promise for the future, our security for social happiness are in the contentment of the great masses who toil. It is in kindly intercourse and relationship between capital and labor, each having its appropriate increase, that we shall find the highest good, the capitalist and employer everywhere extending to those who work for human rights a kindly consideration with compensatory wages. [Cheers.]

Now, to these children and Grand Army friends who greet me here, I say, thank you and God speed you and good-by. [Cheers.]

CANTON, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.

Canton, the home of Hon. William McKinley, Jr., gave the President a most cordial and clamorous greeting. The G. A. R. and other organizations were out in full force. Among the leading citizens who welcomed the Chief Executive were: W. K. Miller, W. L. Alexander, Judge J. P. Fawcett, J. M. Campbell, Judge J. W. Underhill, Andrew D. Braden, Col. J. E. Dougherty, Col. J. J. Clark, N. Holloway, and Capt. C. T. Oldfield.

Major McKinley introduced the President, who addressed the large assemblage, saying:

_My Fellow-citizens_--The inconvenience which you suffer to-day, and under which I labor in attempting to speak to you, comes from the fact that there are more of you here than can come within the range of my voice, but not more, I assure you, my fellow-citizens, than I can take and do take most hospitably in my regard. [Cheers.] It gives me great pleasure to stand here in the prosperous and growing city of Canton. I am glad to be at the home of one with whom I have been associated in Congressional duties for a number of years, and who in all personal relations with me, as I believe in all personal relations with you, his neighbors, has won my regard, as I am sure he has won yours [cheers]; and without any regard to what may be thought of the McKinley bill, I am sure here to-day you are all the good neighbors and friends of William McKinley. [Cheers.] Kind-hearted and generous as he seems to me, I am sure he has not failed in these social relations, whatever judgment you may have of his political opinions, in making the masses of the people proud of him as their distinguished friend. [Cheers.]

You have here to-day the representatives of men from the shops, from the railroads, from the stores, from the offices of your city. You are living together in those helpful and interchanging relations which make American life pleasant and which make American cities prosperous. The foundation of our society is in the motto that every man shall have such wages as will enable him to live decently and comfortably, and rear his children as helpful and safe and useful American citizens. [Cheers.] We all desire, I am sure--every kindly heart--that all the relations between employers and workmen shall be friendly and kind. I wish everywhere the associations were closer and employers more thoughtful of those who work for them. I am sure there is one thing in which we all agree, whatever our views may be on the tariff or finance, and that is, there is no prosperity that in the wide, liberal sense does not embrace within it every deserving and industrious man and woman in the community. [Cheers.] We are here all responsible citizens, and we should all be free from anything that detracts from our liberties and independence, or that retards the development of our intelligence, morality, and patriotism.

I am glad here to speak to some, too, who were comrades in the great struggle of the Civil War [cheers]; glad that there are here soldiers who had part in that great success by which our institutions were preserved and the control and sovereignty of the Constitution and law were forever established. [Cheers.] To them, and to all such friends, I extend to-day a hearty greeting, and would if I could extend a comrade's hand. [Cheers.] And now, my friends, the heat of this day, the exhaustion of a dozen speeches, made at intervals as we have come along, renders it impossible that I should speak to you longer. I beg to thank you all for your presence. I beg to hope that, as American citizens, however we differ about particular matters of legislation or administration, we are all pledged, heart and soul, life and property, to the preservation of the Union and to the honor of our glorious flag. [Great cheering.]

ALLIANCE, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.

At Alliance the assembly was very large. A Reception Committee, headed by Mayor J. M. Stillwell and comprising the following leading citizens, met the President: Hon. David Fording, H. W. Harris, T. R. Morgan, Wm. Brinker, Madison Trail, Dr. J. H. Tressel, H. W. Brush, W. H. Morgan, Thos. Brocklebank, Chas. Ott, Dr. W. P. Preston, E. N. Johnston, J. H. Focht, W. H. Ramsey, W. W. Webb, E. E. Scranton, Henry Heer, Jr., and Harper Brosius.

Chairman Fording delivered a welcoming address and introduced President Harrison, who in response said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--There is nothing in which the American people are harder upon their public servants than in the insatiable demand they make for public speech. I began talking before breakfast this morning, and have been kept almost continuously at it through the day, with scarcely time for lunch; and yet, as long as the smallest residuum of strength or voice is left I cannot fail to recognize these hearty greetings and to say some appreciative word in return. I do very much thank you, and I do very deeply feel the cordial enthusiasm with which you have received me. It is very pleasant to know that as American citizens we love our Government and its institutions, and are all ready to pay appropriate respect to any public officer who endeavors in such light as he has to do his public duty. This homage is not withheld by one's political opponents, and it is pleasant to know that in all things that affect the integrity and honor and perpetuity of our Government we rise above party ties and considerations. The interests of this Government are lodged with you. There is not much that a President can do to shape its policy. He is charged under the Constitution with the duty of making suggestions to Congress, but, after all, legislation originates with the Congress of the United States, and the policy of our laws is directed by it. The President may veto, but he cannot frame a bill. Therefore it is of great interest to you, and to all our people, that you should choose such men to represent you in the Congress of the United States as will faithfully promote those policies to which you have given your intelligent adhesion. This country of ours is secure, and social order is maintained, because the great masses of our people live in contentment and some good measure of comfort. God forbid that we should ever reach the condition which has been reached by some other countries, where all that is before many of their population is the question of bare subsistence, where it is simply "how shall I find bread for to-day?" No hopes of accumulation; no hope of comfort; no hope of education, or higher things for the children that are to come after them. God be blessed that that is not our condition in America! Here is a chance to every man; here fair wages for fair work, with education for the masses, with no classes or distinctions to keep down the ambitious young. We have a happy lot. Let us not grumble if now and then things are not prosperous as they might be. Let us think of the average, and if this year's crop is not as full as we could wish, we have already in these green fields the promise of a better one to come. Let us not doubt that we are now--as I have seen the evidence of it in a very extended trip through the West--entering upon an up grade in all departments of business. [Cheers.] Everywhere I went, in the great city of St. Louis and the smaller manufacturing towns through which we passed, there was one story to tell--and I have no doubt it is true in your midst--every wheel is running and every hand is busy. [Cheers.] I believe the future is bright before us for increasingly better times for all, and as it comes I hope it may be so generally diffused that its kindly touch may be felt by every one who hears me, and that its beneficent help may come into every home. [Prolonged cheers.]

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, APRIL 14, 1891.

_Letter to Western States Commercial Congress._

The first Western States Commercial Congress met at Kansas City, Mo., April 14, 1891. Delegations composed mainly of business men, appointed by the Governors of the various States and Territories, were present from the following Western and Southern States and Territories: Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. On motion of Governor Francis, of Missouri, State Senator H. B. Kelly, of Kansas, was chosen Chairman of the Congress and Hon. John W. Springer, of Illinois, Secretary. Letters of regret were read from those who had been specially invited to attend the Congress. Among the letters was the following from President Harrison:

WASHINGTON, April 7. HON. H. B. KELLY, _Chairman, Kansas City, Mo._:

DEAR SIR--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of March 24, inviting me to attend the meeting of the commercial congress of the Western agricultural and mining States, to assemble in Kansas City, April 14 to 19, for the purpose of considering measures affecting the general agricultural and business prosperity of the Mississippi Valley States. I regret that it will not be possible for me to accept this invitation. If I am not detained here by public business I shall probably start about that time for the Pacific coast by the Southern route; and if that purpose should be thwarted it will be by considerations that will also prevent the acceptance of your invitation.

A public discussion of the conditions affecting agricultural and business prosperity cannot but be helpful, if it is conducted on broad lines and is hospitable to differences of opinion. The extraordinary development of the productions of agriculture which has taken place in a recent period in this country by reason of the rapid enlargement of the area of tillage under the favoring land laws of the United States, very naturally has called attention to the value, and, indeed, the necessity of larger markets. I am one of those who believe that a home market is necessarily the best market for the producer, as it measurably emancipates him in proportion to its nearness from the exactions of the transportation companies. If the farmer could deliver his surplus produce to the consumer out of his farm-wagon his independence and his profits would be larger and surer. It seems to me quite possible to attain a largely increased market for our staple farm products without impairing our home market by opening the manufacturing trades to a competition in which foreign producers, paying a lower scale of wages, would have the advantage. A policy that would reduce the number of our people engaged in mechanical pursuits or diminish their ability to purchase food products by reducing wages cannot be helpful to those now engaged in agriculture. The farmers insist that the prices of farm products have been too low--below the point of fair living and fair profits. I think so too, but I venture to remind them that the plea they make involves the concession that things may be too cheap. A coat may be too cheap as well as corn. The farmer who claims a good living and profits for his work should concede the same to every other man and woman who toils.

I look with great confidence to the completion of further reciprocal trade arrangements, especially with the Central and South American states, as furnishing new and large markets for meats, breadstuffs, and an important line of manufactured products. Persistent and earnest efforts are also being made, and a considerable measure of success has already been attained, to secure the removal of restrictions which we have regarded as unjust upon the admission and use of our meats and live cattle in some of the European countries. I look with confidence to a successful termination of the pending negotiations, because I cannot but assume that when the absolutely satisfactory character of the sanitary inspections now provided by our law is made known to those foreign states they will promptly relax their discriminating regulations. No effort and none of the powers vested in the Executive will be left unused to secure an end which is so desirable.

Your deliberations will probably also embrace consideration of the 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.]