Part 40

_Mr. Simon and Gentlemen of the Committee_--I esteem it an honor that the Legislature of the State of Oregon has taken this notice of my visit, and I receive with pleasure this welcome you have extended to me. I am very glad to greet you, and it will give me pleasure to see you further before leaving the State.

The President then appeared on the platform, and was presented to the citizens by the Mayor, and spoke briefly, saying:

_My Friends_--This cordial welcome, under the infelicitous circumstances, is very gratifying to us as we enter the great State of Oregon. In the State of California we had sunshine, and it was perhaps to be expected that the favorable weather conditions should draw about our platform a large concourse of people, but you have evidenced your interest in the Government and the flag and your friendly interest in us by turning out on this inclement night to bid us welcome to your State. I thank you most sincerely, and wish for you and yours all good, and for your State a continued career of development and prosperity.

MEDFORD, OREGON, MAY 4.

The President's visit to Medford at 10 P.M. was acknowledged by a general illumination. The veterans of Chester A. Arthur Post, G. A. R., J. R. Erford, Commander, and J. H. Faris, Adjutant, were out _en masse_. Mayor G. W. Howard made a brief address and introduced the President, who said:

_Comrades and Fellow-citizens_--It gives me great pleasure to see you to-night, especially these old comrades, to whom I am glad to give a comrade's greeting. I would have you think of me as a comrade. I recall those army scenes which are fresh in your minds as well as mine, the scenes of privation, suffering, and battle, and I am glad to see that the old flag you took to the field and brought home in honor is still held in honor among you. It is a beautiful emblem of a great Government. We ought to teach our children to love it and to regard it as a sacred thing, a thing for which men have died and for which men will die. It symbolizes the government of the States under one Constitution, for while you are all Oregonians as I am an Indianian, and each has his pride in State institutions and all that properly pertains to our State Government, we have a larger and greater pride in the fact that we are citizens of a Nation, of a Union of States, having a common Constitution. [Cheers.]

It is this flag that represents us on the sea and in foreign countries, it is under this flag that our navies sail and our armies march. I thank you for this cordial greeting. I hope you have found in this State comfortable homes, and that in the years that remain to you God will follow you with those blessings which your courage and patriotism and sacrifices have so well merited. [Cheers.]

ALBANY, OREGON, MAY 5.

The presidential party arrived at the thriving city of Albany, in the Willamette Valley, at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 5th, and were received by 5,000 people. Mayor J. L. Cowan headed the Committee of Reception, consisting of J. W. Cusick, Judge L. Flinn, W. C. Tweedale, J. R. Whitney, L. E. Blain, M. Sternberg, G. F. Simpson, Dr. D. M. Jones, A. Hackleman, and Thomas Monteith. McPherson Post, G. A. R., J. F. Whiting, Commander, and Company F, O. N. G., Capt. Geo. E. Chamberlain, together with 200 students from the State Agricultural College at Corvallis, under Prof. J. D. Letcher, participated in the reception. Mayor Cowan delivered the address of welcome.

President Harrison, in response, said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--It gives me great pleasure to see you, and to have the testimony of your presence here this wet morning to the interest you take in this little party of strangers who are pausing only for a moment with you. We do not need any assurance, as we look over an American audience like this, that upon some things, at least, we are of one mind. One of these things is that we have a Union indissoluble; that we have a flag we all honor, and that shall suffer no dishonor from any quarter. While I regret the inclemency of the morning, I have been thinking that after all there was a sort of instructive moral force in the uncertainty of the weather, which our friends in Southern California do not enjoy. How can a boy or young woman be well trained in self-denial and resignation who does not know what it is to have a picnic or picnic dress spoiled by a shower, or some fishing excursion by a storm? I thank you for this welcome. [Cheers.]

SALEM, OREGON, MAY 5.

Salem, the capital of Oregon, was reached at 9 A.M. The local militia and several thousand citizens assembled to greet the President, including Governor Pennoyer, Mayor P. H. D'Arcy, Charles Morris, E. M. Waite, A. N. Gilbert, William Brown, and other prominent citizens; also, the Legislative Reception Committee, headed by Hon. Joseph Simon, President of the Senate, and Hon. T. T. Geer, Speaker of the House. _En route_ from the depot to the State House thousands of people lined the sidewalks and several hundred school children, bearing flags, waved a cordial greeting. Arriving at the Assembly Chamber, Mayor D'Arcy presided and welcomed the President in the name of the city; he was followed by Governor Pennoyer, who extended "a generous, heartfelt welcome on behalf of the people of Oregon."

With marked earnestness President Harrison responded as follows:

_Governor Pennoyer, Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--It is very pleasant to be assured by these kindly words which have been spoken by the Governor of this State and by the chief officer of this municipality that we are welcome to the State of Oregon and to the city of Salem. I find here, as I found elsewhere, that these cordial words of welcome are repeated with increased emphasis by the kindly faces of those who assemble to greet us. I am glad that here as elsewhere we look into the faces of happy, prosperous, contented, liberty-loving, patriotic American citizens. Our birthright, the wise anticipation of those who framed our Government, our national and constitutional organization, which has repeated itself in all the States of the Union, this wholesome and just division of power between the three great independent, co-ordinate branches of the Government--the executive, the legislative, and the judicial--has already demonstrated that what seems to the nations of Europe to be a complicated and jangling system produces in fact the most perfect harmony, and the most complete and satisfactory organization for social order and for national strength.

We stand here to-day in one of these halls set apart to the law-making body of your State. Those who assemble here are chosen by your suffrages. They come here as representatives to enact into laws those views of public questions which have met the sanction of the majority of your people, expressed in an orderly and honest way at the ballot-box. I hope it may be always found to be true of Oregon that your legislative body is a representative body; that coming from the people, its service is consecrated to the people, and the purpose of its creation is attained by giving to the well-ordered and well-disposed the largest liberty, by curbing, by wholesome laws, the ill-disposed and the lawless, and providing by economical methods for the public needs. The judiciary, that comes next in our system, to interpret and apply the public statutes, has been in our country a safe refuge for all who are oppressed. It is greatly to our credit as a Nation that with rare exceptions those who have worn the judicial ermine in the highest tribunals of the country, and notably in the Supreme Court of the United States, have continued to retain the confidence of the people of the whole country. The duty of the Executive is to administer the law; the military power is lodged with him under constitutional limitations. He does not frame statutes, though in most States, and under our national Government, a veto power is lodged in him with a view to secure reconsideration of any particular measure.

But a public executive officer has one plain duty: it is to enforce the law with kindness and forbearance, but with promptness and inexorable decision. He may not choose what laws he will enforce any more than the citizen may choose what laws he will obey. We have here but one king: it is the law, passed by those constitutional methods which are necessary to make it binding upon the people, and to that king all men must bow. It is my great pleasure to find so generally everywhere a disposition to obey the law. I have but one message for the North and for the South, for the East and the West, as I journey through this land. It is to hold up the law, and to say everywhere that every man owes allegiance to it, and that all law-breakers must be left to the deliberate and safe judgment of an established tribunal. You are justly proud of your great State. Its capabilities are enormous; its adaptation to comfortable life is peculiar and fine. The years will bring you increased population and increased wealth. I hope they will bring with it, marching in this stately progress of material things, those finer things--piety, pure homes, and orderly communities. But above all this State pride, over all our rejoicings in the advantages which are about us in our respective States, we look with greater pride to that great arch of government that unites these States and makes of them all one great Union. But, my fellow-citizens, the difficulties that I see interposed between us and the train which is scheduled to depart very soon warn me to bring these remarks to a speedy close. I beg again, most profoundly, to thank you for this evidence of your respect, this evidence of your love for the institutions of our common country. [Cheers.]

CHEMAWA, OREGON, MAY 5.

At Chemawa, the seat of an Indian training-school, the President reviewed the pupils and, in response to calls for a speech, addressed them as follows:

_My Young Friends_--It gives me great pleasure to stop for a moment to see these evidences of the good work the Government is doing for you and the good work you are doing for yourselves. All the purposes of the Government toward you and your people are benevolent and friendly. It is our wish that you may become such people as your neighbors are--industrious, kindly, peaceful, and self-respecting. Everything that I can do to promote this end will be gladly done. I hope your instructors and all those who are brought close to you will in every way express and carry out the benevolent and kindly intentions of the Government.

OREGON CITY, OREGON, MAY 5.

A cordial greeting was accorded the President at Oregon City by the pioneers and army veterans. The Committee of Reception was Hon. J. T. Apperson, Hon. H. E. Cross, Hon. T. W. Sullivan, and T. Rands. From beneath a triumphal floral arch near the station the Mayor delivered a welcoming address, closing with three cheers.

The President, in response, said:

_Fellow-citizens_--This is a very pleasant morning reception. The heartiness and genuineness of your greeting is unmistakable, and I beg to assure you that we most heartily appreciate and return your kindly thoughts. You have here a most important State, one of those bordering on the Pacific, completing the autonomy of our great country, and giving us a seaboard on the Pacific as well as upon the Atlantic which was essential to our completeness and separateness as a people. The interesting story of the early settlement of Oregon, of the international contest which for some time threatened international war, is fresh in the minds of these pioneers, and I am sure is taught to these children of your public schools. The work of those who set up the American flag here, and who secured to us this fertile region, is worthy of mention and of honorable commemoration by this generation, which is entering into their labors. Your State has added another to that succession of kindly greetings which began when we left the national capital. We have come out of the land of irrigation and roses into this land where the Lord takes care of the crops; and this dependence upon the seasons is not without its instructive and moral influences. Nature seems to have made a fresh, white toilet for us as we have come down the banks of this beautiful river. To the pioneers, to those who have entered in with less labor to the inheritance left to them, to these children and to these comrades of the Grand Army, I give my most hearty greeting.

PORTLAND, OREGON, MAY 5.

Tuesday, at noon, found the President and his party at Portland, where they received an enthusiastic greeting. Ten thousand people were present, notwithstanding the rainy weather. The President was welcomed at the station by Mayor Van B. De Lashmutt and wife, Chief-Justice R. S. Strahan, Supreme Judges W. P. Lord and R. S. Bean, Federal Judge M. P. Deady, Hon. Joseph Simon, President of the Senate; Hon. T. T. Geer, Speaker of the House; ex-Atty.-Gen. Geo. H. Williams, Hon. T. F. Osborn, President Chamber of Commerce; Hon. E. B. McElroy, Gen. O. Summers, Gen. Wm. Kapus, Hon. M. C. George, Hon. Henry Failing, Hon. C. A. Dolph, Hon. P. L. Willis, Hon. F. V. Drake, Hon. G. L. Story, Hon. J. C. Moreland, Hon. J. C. Fullerton, Hon. H. B. Miller, Philip Metschan, and Mrs. Rosa F. Burrell; also W. F. Matlock, J. H. McClung, and S. B. Eakin, Jr., of Eugene City.

The parade was a brilliant affair. The veterans of the several G. A. R. posts acted as the guard of honor. The great column was directed by Col. T. M. Anderson, U. S. A., aided by O. F. Paxton, Chief of Staff; C. M. Idleman, D. S. Tuthill, Dr. Henry E. Jones, J. G. Woodworth, R. W. Mitchell, F. K. Arnold, L. A. Lewis, E. C. Michenor, C. R. Holcomb, Charles E. Dodd, J. C. Courtney, J. A. Sladden, John Gwilt, G. A. Harding, Gen. C. S. Wright, Gen. C. P. Holloway, Col. R. S. Greenleaf, Col. D. H. Turner, N. S. Pierce, G. E. Caukin, A. E. Borthwick, Col. H. H. Northup, Col. R. T. Chamberlain, G. H. Durham, H. C. Allen, E. A. Weed, M. J. Morse, Geo. C. Sears, F. R. Neal, Dr. W. H. Saylor, Capt. J. E. Lombard, C. E. Dubois, H. P. Wilson, and M. G. Steffen.

Conspicuous in the procession were the following staff officers of the Department of the Columbia: Maj. C. A. Wikoff, Maj. W. H. Nash, Maj. J. C. Muhlenberg, Maj. J. G. C. Lee, and Captains C. McClure and C. H. Ingalls; also Hon. R. P. Earhart, Geo. A. Steel, F. P. Mays, E. T. Hatch, J. T. Stewart, Mayor of East Portland; D. M. McLauchlin, Mayor of Albina; A. M. Crawford, of Roseburg, and the French, Russian, and Danish vice-consuls.

In the evening five companies of the First Regiment, O. N. G., commanded by Col. Charles F. Beebe, escorted the President, Secretary Rusk, and Postmaster-General Wanamaker to the Exposition Building, where an audience of 15,000 greeted them. Mayor De Lashmutt delivered an eloquent address of welcome.

President Harrison was tendered an ovation as he arose to respond. He said:

_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--No more brilliant or inspiring scene than this has been presented to our eyes in this wonderful series of receptions which have been extended to us on our journey. You have been filled with regret to-day that your weeping skies did not present to us the fair spectacle which you had hoped; and yet this very discouragement has but added to the glory of this magnificent reception. [Cheers.] To stand in the bright sunshine of a genial day and to wave a welcome is not so strong a proof of the affectionate interest of a people as you have given to-day standing in this down-pouring rain [Cheers.] In the presence of a multitude like this, in a scene made brilliant by these decorations, I stand inadequate to any suitable expression of the gratitude that fills my heart. [Cheers.]

I was quite inclined to stand by the Superintendent of the Census in the count which he made of the States; but I am afraid if I had witnessed this scene, pending your application for a recount, that it would have been granted. [Laughter and great cheering.] I am sorry that it could not have been made as the people turned out to give us this welcome; I am sure no one would have been missed. [Laughter and cheers.]

This State is interesting in its history. The establishment of the authority of the United States over this region was an important event in our national history. The possession of the Columbia and of Puget Sound was essential to the completeness and the roundness of our empire. We have here in this belt of States, reaching from the Gulf of California to the Straits of Fuca, a magnificent possession which we could not have dispensed with at all. [Cheers.] The remoteness of Oregon from the older settled States, the peril and privation which attended the steps of the pioneer as he came hither, delayed the development of this great country. You are now but beginning to realize the advantage of closer and easier communications. You are but now beginning to receive from an impartial and beneficent Government that attention which you well deserve. [Cheers.]

That this river of yours should be made safe and deep, so that waiting commerce may come without obstruction to your wharf, is to be desired. [Cheers.] It should receive those appropriations which are necessary to make the work accomplish the purpose in view. [Cheers.] I believe that you may anticipate a largely increased commerce. Looking out as you do toward the regions across the Pacific, it would be but natural that this important centre should draw from them and exchange with them a great and increasing commerce. [Cheers.] I am in entire sympathy with the suggestion of the Mayor that it is important that this commerce should be carried in American ships. [Cheers.] A few days ago, when I sailed in the harbor of San Francisco, I saw three great deep water ships come into that port. One carried the flag of Hawaii and two the English flag. None bore at the masthead the Stars and Stripes. I believe it is the duty of the national Government to take such steps as will restore the American merchant marine. [Cheers.] Why shall we not have our share in the great commerce of the world? I cannot but believe--and such inspiring presences as this but kindle and confirm my belief--that we are come to a time when this Nation should look to the future and step forward bravely and courageously in new lines of enterprise. [Cheers.]

The Nicaragua Canal should be completed. [Cheers.] Our harbors should have adequate defence. [Cheers.] We should have upon the sea a navy of first-class ships. [Cheers.] We are here in the most kindly relations to these South American and Central American countries. We have been content that Europe should do the commerce of these nations. We have not availed ourselves of the advantages of neighborhood and of friendly kindred republican institutions to develop our commerce with those people. We have, fortunately, as a result of the great conference of American nations, set on foot measures that I confidently hope will bring to us speedily our just share of this great commerce. [Cheers.]

I am glad to know that we are here to-night as American citizens, lovers of the one flag and the one Constitution. [Enthusiastic cheering.] Proud of Oregon! Yes, you may well be proud of Oregon. But, my countrymen, above all, crowning all, greater than all, is our American citizenship. [Great cheering.] What would one of these States be without the other? What is it that gives us prestige abroad and power at home? It is that we have formed a government of the people, that we have one flag and speak with one voice to all the nations of the earth. [Enthusiastic cheering.] I hope that narrow sentiment that regards the authority of the United States or its officers as alien or strange has once and forever been extinguished in this land of ours. [Great cheering.] My countrymen, I am profoundly grateful for this magnificent demonstration. I accept it as a tribute to your institutions and to your country. No man is worthy of it; he can only return for it a fresh consecration of himself to the duties of public office and private citizenship. [Great cheering.] Again I assure you that you have given us to-day what is to my mind, under the conditions, taking into account the population of your city, the most splendid demonstration we have seen on the whole journey. [Prolonged and enthusiastic cheering.]

At the conclusion of the President's address the great assemblage began calling for Postmaster-General Wanamaker. After a few moments' hesitation the distinguished Philadelphian came forward and was the recipient of an ovation. He said:

_Fellow-countrymen_--I am proud to be present at this magnificent demonstration. I am especially pleased at the address the President has delivered. Instead of having it printed for Congress he has reserved it for the people of Oregon, and personally brought you his message. [Cheers.] What you have done to-day has certainly touched his heart; and no man would be human who did not feel moved at this wonderful welcome that you have prepared for your President. I think you had him in mind all the time, and wanted to show that your loyalty and affection would wash. [Laughter and cheers.]

I am proud to be an American citizen, and to see how the people rally round the flag and the chief standard-bearer, the President of the United States. [Cheers.] From the day he started from home his pathway has been strewn with garlands, and many times our way has lain through a path knee-deep with flowers. They have been scattered all the way from Virginia to Oregon; but above all is the hearty, loving, loyal welcome that has been extended to us at every stop we have made. On the boundary of your State, at the little town of Salem [laughter], I think, a welcome was spoken most beautifully and heartily by your Governor. [Tremendous cheering.] But you have about 60,000 majority over Salem. [Cheers.]

How can any one thank you for it except to go back to Washington and do the very best in his power for your good and the good of the whole people? Some of us Eastern people are doing now what Columbus did 400 years ago--we are discovering America. [Cheers.] If what you have done for us here to-night and what you have done to-day is a true index to your energy and determination, what is there you will not grasp and do when you get at it? [Cheers.] I am sure you will find one opportunity in aiding in the postal telegraph. We are going to have penny postage all the country over. [Cheers.] But before that time comes let us go out into the new States as the villages and hamlets build up and let us give them the mail with the freest intercourse and the fullest facility. I will now make way for the next man, for the largest Secretary of all is still to come. [Cheers and laughter.]

Secretary Rusk also received a hearty welcome. His remarks about the Weather Bureau had a peculiar zest because of the presence of Gen. A. W. Greely, chief signal officer. He said: