Part 32

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.

All is not staked upon the success of a single crop. You do well, therefore, to raise cotton, sugar, and tobacco, and I am glad you are not neglecting cattle, sheep, hogs, corn, and all the cereals. We have been trying to do what we could from Washington to make for you a larger and better market for your enormous meat products. [Cheers.] We have felt that the restrictions imposed by some of the European governments could not be fairly justified upon the ground stated by them. Already the Secretary of Agriculture--himself a farmer, who has with his own hands wrought in all the work of the farm--has succeeded in procuring the removal of some of these injurious restrictions, and has announced to the country that exportation of cattle has increased 100 per cent. in the last year. [Cheers.] I beg to assure you that these interests will have the most careful attention from the Government at Washington and from our representatives at foreign courts. It is believed that we have now by legislation a system of sanitary inspection of our meat products that, when once put in operation and examined by the European governments, will remove the last excuse for the exclusion of our meats from those foreign states.

Our time is so limited that I can scarcely say more than "thank you." We cannot at all repay you for this demonstration of welcome, but let me say that in all your prosperity I shall rejoice. I do desire that all our legislation and all our institutions and the combined energies of all our people shall work together for the common good of all our States and all our population. [Great cheering.] You have great resources of a material sort, and yet above all this I rejoice that the timely forethought of your public men has provided an unexampled school fund for the education of the children.

These things that partake of the life that is spiritual are better after all than the material. Indeed, there can be no true prosperity in any State or community where they are not thoughtfully fostered. Good social order, respect for the law, regard for other men's rights, orderly, peaceful administration are the essential things in any community. [Cheers.]

GALVESTON, TEXAS, APRIL 18.

The President and his party, accompanied by Governor Hogg, arrived at Galveston on the afternoon of Saturday, April 18, and were tendered an ovation by the hospitable residents of the Island City. The distinguished travellers were met at Houston by a committee of escort consisting of Chairman Leo N. Levi, George Sealy, Julius Runge, R. B. Hawley, W. F. Ladd, Col. R. G. Lowe, Maj. C. J. Allen, Aldermen C. M. Mason and T. W. Jackson, D. D. Bryan, J. W. Burson, Mrs. R. L. Fulton, Mrs. R. B. Hawley, Mrs. Aaron Blum, Mrs. W. F. Ladd, and Mrs. C. J. Allen.

On arriving in the city the President was welcomed by the other members of the Reception Committee, headed by Mayor Roger L. Fulton, the Board of Aldermen, and the following prominent citizens: Leon Blum, R. S. Willis, J. C. League, H. A. Landes, J. E. Wallis, Col. J. S. Rogers, P. J. Willis, Robert Bornefeld, C. C. Sweeney, M. F. Mott, Albert Weis, M. Lasker, J. Z. Miller, Fen Cannon, Col. John D. Rogers, J. N. Sawyer, W. H. Sinclair, Joseph Cuney, Geo. Seeligson, Julius Weber, J. D. Skinner, Thos. H. Sweeney, James Montgomery, F. L. Dana, James Moore, W. F. Beers, J. H. Hutchings, Wm. H. Masters, M. W. Shaw, W. B. Denson, H. B. Cullum, C. H. Rickert, W. B. Lockhart, U. Muller, F. Lammers, H. F. Sproule, Judge C. L. Cleveland, Judge Wm. H. Stewart, R. T. Wheeler, N. W. Cuney, Thomas W. Cain, Samuel Penland, R. G. Street, J. Lobit, D. M. Erlich, C. M. Trueheart, L. Fellman, C. R. Reifel, Charles Vidor, George Butler, W. Vowrinckle, Joe Owens, C. E. Angel, Rev. S. M. Bird, Dr. A. W. Fly, Dr. J. T. Y. Paine, Dr. H. P. Cooke, J. R. Gibson, Howard Carnes, Charles Maddox, Bishop Gallagher, Rev. A. T. Spaulding, A. B. Tuller, Dr. J. D. Daviss, Rev. J. E. Edwards, A. B. Homer, Rev. Joseph B. Sears, J. Singer, R. C. Johnson, J. W. Riddell, B. Tiernan, T. A. Gary, John Focke, Joseph Scott, W. E. McDonald, Geo. Schneider, F. O. Becker, Thomas Goggan, J. D. Sherwood, O. H. Cooper, E. O'C. MacInerney, Thos. S. King, Robert Day, Daniel Buckley, J. J. Hanna, F. W. Fickett, Wm. Selkirk, and J. A. Robertson.

Immediately following their arrival the presidential party, escorted by Hon. Wm. H. Crain, Mr. Leon Blum, and other members of the Reception Committee, enjoyed a trip about the harbor aboard one of the Mallory line steamships, enabling them to view the extensive Government works for deepening the channel at the entrance to the harbor. This excursion was followed by a ride across the island amid a shower of flowers.

The parade was participated in by all the military and industrial organizations of the city; also by the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and other orders, and was a most imposing demonstration. The G. A. R. veterans acted as a guard of honor to the President on the march, and the day was just closing when the column arrived at the Beach Hotel, on the very shore of the Gulf of Mexico, where the formal address of welcome was ably delivered by Gen. T. N. Waul.

President Harrison's response was the longest speech of his trip, and attracted wide-spread and favorable comment. He said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--We close to-night a whole week of travel, a whole week of hand-shaking, a whole week of talking. I have before me 10,000 miles of hand-shaking and speaking, and I am not, by reason of what this week has brought me, in voice to contend with the fine but rather strong Gulf breeze which pours in upon us to-night; and yet it comes to me laden with the fragrance of your welcome. [Cheers.] It comes with the softness, refreshment, and grace which have accompanied all my intercourse with the people of Texas. [Great cheering.]