Part 46

I hope you will allow me again to thank you very sincerely for your most cordial and magnificent welcome, and wish for you and your State all prosperity and for the country of which we are common citizens a career of unchecked glory. [Cheers.]

As the President was about to depart he was met by a committee representing the Nebraska Travelling Men's Association, consisting of President Fred A. Wilson, Secretary R. M. Simons, and Capt. J. S. Agey, who presented him with an address of welcome printed on satin in gold. In accepting the souvenir the President said:

Convey my thanks to the travelling men, for whom I entertain the kindest regard. I remember them in the last campaign, and shall always be thankful for the favors extended. I noticed your body in the parade, and have never seen a finer representation of the fraternity. [Renewed cheering.]

ASHLAND, NEBRASKA, MAY 13.

About 2,000 people greeted the President at Ashland. The school children were assembled at the station under Superintendent Crabtree. Mayor J. C. Railsback, H. H. Shedd, S. G. Bryan, Col. J. K. Clarke, R. E. Butler, C. N. Folsom, M. Newman, W. T. Spere, J. H. Snell, J. H. Oliver, J. W. Moon, and S. B. Hall, Commander of Bob McCook Post, G. A. R., welcomed the President, who made a brief address, as follows:

_My Friends_--I am very much obliged to you for your cordial welcome. We pause but for a moment, and it will not be possible for me to make a speech. You are talking yourselves, and I am sure in very high tones of patriotism, by your display of the national colors in your own hands and in the hands of the school children, and by this welcome to one who for the time is placed at the head of the national Government. I have not accepted what I have seen on this trip as personal; it is too much for any man. I accept it as the expression of our people for the love of our flag and for the institutions which it symbolizes. [Cheers.]

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, MAY 13.

President Harrison arrived at Omaha Wednesday noon and was accorded a reception that in numbers and enthusiasm was scarcely surpassed during the entire trip. He was met at Lincoln by an escort committee consisting of Senator Charles F. Manderson, Senator A. S. Paddock, Hon. J. C. Cowin, ex-Gov. R. B. Furnas, Maj. D. H. Wheeler, Judge J. M. Thurston, G. W. Willard, W. V. Morse, D. J. O'Donohue, B. B. Wood, Dr. G. L. Miller, C. Hartman, Maj. T. S. Clarkson, C. J. Greene, A. J. Poppleton, Hon. J. E. Boyd, J. H. Millard, Thomas Swobe, A. P. Hopkins, Max Meyer, W. F. Bechel, and T. J. Lowry.

Arrived at the station the President and his party were met and welcomed by Mayor R. C. Cushing at the head of the following committee of prominent citizens: Hon. E. S. Dundy, E. Wakely, T. J. Mahoney, Dr. J. E. Summers, L. Berka, W. J. Broatch, Fred Metz, T. L. Kimball, G. M. Hitchcock, J. A. Creighton, J. F. Coad, C. V. Gallagher, Herman Kountze, W. A. Paxton, C. S. Chase, G. W. Lininger, Lee Hartley, Amos Field, H. G. Burt, G. W. Holdrege, J. E. Kinney, Edward Rosewater, M. V. Gannon, W. A. L. Gibbon, Henry Pundt, J. B. Furay, J. T. Clarke, E. A. Cudahy, J. O. Phillippi, F. P. Hanlon, B. S. Baker, John Peters, W. H. Alexander, Brad Slaughter, W. N. Nason, Euclid Martin, Henry Yates, J. L. McCague, J. A. Wakefield, C. L. Chaffee, Julius Meyer, C. E. Burmester, L. R. Rosaker, James Stephenson, J. M. Woolworth, Charles Ogden, J. S. Webster, Col. Dudley Evans, Richard Smith, L. D. Fowler, G. M. Nattinger, J. W. Eller, Simon Bloom, H. H. Benson, Capt. R. S. Wilcox, S. Adamsky, J. A. Cusadore, O. G. Decker, Charles L. Thomas, M. J. Feenan, Frank Moores, General Brooke and staff, and the following city officials: C. S. Goodrich, John Rush, Lee Helsley, W. S. Shoemaker, Silas Cobb, John Groves, Geo. W. Tillson, P. W. Birkhauser, Geo. C. Whitlock, Geo. L. Dennis, A. B. Howatt, Clark Gapan, J. J. Galligan, Wilber S. Seavey, James Flannery, H. L. Rammacciotti, James Gilbert, Thomas J. McLean, J. H. Standeven, Thomas Riley, Thomas Bermingham, Fred Hickstein, Peter A. Welch, and Frank R. Morrisey.

The ladies on the Reception Committee were Mrs. Alvin Saunders, Mrs. General Brooke, Mrs. General Wheaton, Mrs. Judge Dundy, Mrs. Clark Woodman, Mrs. H. W. Yates, Mrs. E. Rosewater, Mrs. S. S. Caldwell, and Mrs. Geo. M. O'Brien.

An imposing procession, conducted by Chief Marshal C. F. Weller, assisted by Jacob Fawcett and Capt. Geo. Porter, escorted the presidential party to the pavilion near the Court House, from whence the President reviewed the column, headed by the Second Regiment U.S. Infantry. General Frederick, Col. M. V. Sheridan, Colonel Turson, General Mulcahy, Captain Morseman, Major Potwin, Colonel Curtis, Colonel Strong, Captain Richardson, Captain Rhodes, Captain Stickle, Major Luddington, Lieutenant Jensen, Lieutenant Korty, and other members of the Loyal Legion, awaited the Commander-in-Chief at the pavilion, around which a vast concourse assembled. Mayor Cushing made the welcoming address.

When the demonstration subsided President Harrison responded as follows:

_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--I can accept without question and with very deep gratitude these cordial words of welcome which you have spoken on behalf of the people of this great city. Twice before it has been my pleasure to spend a brief time in this great commercial metropolis of the great Valley of the Missouri. I have had opportunity, therefore, to witness the rapid development which your city has made. I recollect it as I saw it in 1881, and as I see it to-day I feel that I need to be told where I am. [Applause and cheers.]

These magnificent structures dedicated to commerce, these magnificent churches lifting their spires toward the heavens, these many school-houses consecrated to the training of those who shall presently stand in our places to be responsible for these our public institutions, these great stock-yards, where the meat product of the great meat-producing States of the Missouri Valley is prepared for market, and, above all and crowning all, these thousands of happy, comfortable homes which characterize and constitute your great city are a marvel and tribute to the enterprise and power of development of the American people, unsurpassed, I think, by any city in the United States. [Cheers.]

As I turn my face now toward Washington, as I hasten on to take up public duties partially laid aside during this journey, I rejoice to receive here in Omaha that same kindly greeting with which we were welcomed as we journeyed from Washington through the South to the Pacific. If anything were needed to call for a perfect surrender of all personal thought in an absolute consecration of public duty to the general good of all our people, I have found it in these magnificent demonstrations. [Cheers.] We shall always have parties--it is characteristic of free people--we need to have party divisions, debate, and political contention; but it is pleasant to observe in all this journey we have taken how large a stock of common patriotism we find in all the people. [Cheers.]

You have here in Nebraska a State of magnificent capabilities. I have seen the orange grove, and all those fruits which enrich and characterize the State of California. I have seen Leadville, the summit city, these mining camps upon the peaks where men are delving into the earth to bring out the riches stored there, but I return again to the land of the cornstalk with an affection that I cannot describe. [Cheers.]

I am sure these friends who have delighted us with the visions of loveliness and prosperity will excuse me if my birth and early training in Ohio and Indiana leads me to the conclusion that the States that raise corn are the greatest States in the world. [Cheers.]

We have a surplus production in these great valleys for which we must seek foreign markets. It is pleasant to know that 90 per cent. or more of our agricultural productions are consumed by our own people. I do not know how soon it may be that we shall cease to be dependent upon any foreign market for our farm products. With the rapid development which is being made in manufacturing pursuits, with the limitation which the rapid occupation of our public domain now brings to our minds as to the increase of agriculture, it cannot be a very distant day when the farmer shall realize the ideal condition and find a market out of his own farm wagon for what he produces.

It has been a source of constant thought and zealous effort on the part of the Administration at Washington to secure larger foreign markets for our farm products. I rejoice that in the last two years some of those obstructions which hindered the free access of our meat products to American markets have been removed. I rejoice to know that we have now freer, larger access for our meats to the markets of England and of Europe than we have had in many years. [Applause.] I rejoice to know that this has brought better prices to the stock-raisers of these great western valleys. I believe, under the provision looking to reciprocal trade in the law of the last Congress, that we shall open yet larger and nearer markets for the products of Nebraska farmers. [Cheers.] So distant as you are from the Atlantic seaboard, it may have seemed to you that your interest in the revival of our trade, in the re-establishment of an American merchant marine, was not perceptible or direct.

Not long since an inquiry was made as to the origin of the freight that was carried by one of the Brazilian steamers from the port of New York, and it was found that twenty-five States had made contribution to that cargo, and among those States was the State of Nebraska. [Cheers.] And so by such methods as we can it is our purpose to enlarge our foreign markets for the surplus productions of our great country. And we hope--and we think this hope fills the great West as well as the East--that when this increased traffic and commerce is found upon the sea it shall be carried in American bottoms. [Cheers.]

A few days ago, sailing in the harbor of San Francisco, I saw three great deep-water ships enter the Golden Gate. One carried the flag of Hawaii and two the British flag, and at Portland they took the pains to tow up from the lower harbor and to deck in bunting an American ship that was lying in the harbor. It was a curious sight--one they thought important to exhibit to strangers visiting that city. Why, my countrymen, I hope the day is not far distant when the sight of great American ships flying the Stars and Stripes at the fore will be familiar not only in our own ports, but in every busy mart of commerce the world around. [Cheers.]

This Government of ours cannot do everything for everybody. The theory of our Government is large individual liberty. It is that we shall take out of the way all legislative obstructions to the free and honest pursuit of all human industries; that each individual shall in his own place have the best chance possible to develop the highest prosperity for himself and his family.

Some functions are lodged with our Government. It must provide a currency for the use of our people, for I believe the time has gone by when we will be content to return to the old system of an issue of money by State banks. But I will not discuss such questions. I only desire to say this--which is common ground upon which we can all stand--that whatever money the Government issues, paper or coin, must be good money. [Cheers.]

I have an idea that every dollar we issue should be as good as any dollar we issue, for, my countrymen, whenever we have any money, paper or coin, the first errand that dollar does is to pay some workingman for his daily toil. No one so much as the laboring man and the farmer requires a full value dollar of permanent value the year around. [Cheers.]

But, my countrymen, I had not intended to speak so long. I hope I have not intruded upon any ground of division. I am talking, not as a partisan, but as an American citizen, desiring by every method to enhance the prosperity of all our people; to have this great Government in all that it undertakes touch with beneficence and equal hands the pursuits of the rich and of the poor. [Cheers.] Nothing has been so impressive in all this journey as the magnificent spirit of patriotism which pervades our people. I have seen enough American flags to wrap the world around. [Great applause and cheers.]

The school children have waved it joyously to us, and many a time in some lonesome country home on the bleak sand I have seen a man or woman or a little boy come to the door of a cabin as we hurried by waving the starry banner in greeting to our train. I am sure, as your Mayor has said, that this same magnificent, patriotic, American spirit pervades you all here to-day.

God bless you all; prosper you in every endeavor; give glory and increase to your city, and settle all its institutions upon a secure basis of social order and obedience to the law. [Great cheering.]

_At the High-School Grounds._

On concluding the formal reception the President and his party became the guests of Hon. E. Rosewater, editor and proprietor of the Omaha _Daily Bee_, and after inspecting the editorial rooms the President held a reception in the rotunda of the _Bee_ building. This was followed by a ride over the city, escorted by the Reception Committee. As the _cortége_ passed the High-School grounds 20,000 children and adults gave the President a most patriotic greeting.

Halting in front of the building, the President arose in his carriage and said:

It gives me great pleasure to receive this cordial greeting from the teachers and pupils of the Omaha public schools. The most pleasant features of this journey have been the beautiful and cordial receptions given us by the school children. I am pleased to notice the magnificent system of schools you have here in Omaha--part of a system that had its origin in New England and now extends over this entire country, the mainstay of this great Government. A number of years ago I was standing upon the banks of the headwaters of the Missouri River, where its waters are pure and limpid, but after passing through the bad lands of Dakota the waters of the mighty river become contaminated and impure, as you see it rolling by your beautiful city. Let me hope that none of you, my little friends, will ever become tainted by contact with the bad lands of experience as you journey through life on to manhood and womanhood. God bless you all; good-by.

At the conclusion of these remarks General Harrison was apprised that a mistake had been made in halting at the entrance, as the children were unable to either hear or see him. Upon learning this the President immediately alighted and made his way with some difficulty to the platform, where he addressed the children, saying:

_My Little Friends_--You do not feel half as badly as I do at the thought that I made my speech intended for you to your papas and mammas. I have not the time to attempt to repeat it, but I can't get away without telling you of the affectionate interest I have in all the children of this great country. Bless you--you are the blossoms of our homes. With a good-by and another God bless you I am off. [Great cheering.]

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA, MAY 13.

A short stop was made at Council Bluffs, where several thousand people greeted the party. Owing to the brief time allowed by the schedule no committees were appointed, but the veterans of Abe Lincoln Post, G. A. R., Dr. F. S. Thomas Commander, greeted the party. Hon. Joseph R. Reed made a brief welcoming address.

The President, responding, said:

_My Friends_--It gives me great pleasure to thank you for this cordial greeting as we cross the river. I was not anticipating a meeting here or any call for an address. I see about me some of my old comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and I want to give them a comrade's greeting. I have seen them everywhere; even out on the sands of Arizona I found them gathered together, and it has always been a pleasure to meet them. [Cheers.]

SHENANDOAH, IOWA, MAY 13.

The town of Shenandoah was illuminated in honor of the President's visit. The travellers were welcomed by Mayor H. S. Nichols, Hon. Benjamin Todd, C. M. Conway, W. H. Harrison, R. W. Morse, C. S. Keenan, Capt. C. V. Mount, and the veterans of Burnside Post, G. A. R., commanded by C. P. Coleneous.

The President, responding to cheers from the large crowd, said:

_My Friends_--It gives me great pleasure to see you and to receive from you this hearty greeting. Our schedule is so close that we can tarry only a moment with you, and therefore I can only say thank you and good-by. [Cheers.]

MARYVILLE, MISSOURI, MAY 13.

It was 11 P.M. when the train made its first stop in Missouri, at Maryville, where an unusually large crowd greeted the President. The welcoming committee consisted of Judge Lafayette Dawson, Ira K. Alderman, James Todd, W. C. Pierce, H. E. Robinson, and Lyman Parcher.

When the cheering subsided President Harrison said:

_My Friends_--This multitude is a great surprise. I have already spoken six or seven times to-day, and am very much fatigued, so that I shall not attempt to speak. Indeed, my time is so close that I can tarry but a moment. But I would be untrue to myself if I did not acknowledge this most magnificent demonstration. I thank you most sincerely for your kindness and bid you good-night.

HANNIBAL, MISSOURI, MAY 14.

About the earliest reception on the great journey occurred at Hannibal, which was reached at 5:30 the morning of the 14th. Notwithstanding the hour, 5,000 people gave the President an enthusiastic welcome. Secretary Rusk and Postmaster-General Wanamaker appeared on the platform with General Harrison. The Reception Committee comprised Capt. John E. Catlett, C. P. Heywood, J. J. Kirkland, Smith Alexander, Lewis Jackson, W. H. Dulany, Edward Price, S. J. Miller, James C. Gill, J. H. McVeigh, John T. Leighter, J. H. Pelhem, W. E. Chamberlain, J. H. Boughton, Thomas H. Bacon, G. O. Bishop, S. W. Philips, and W. F. Drescher. The veterans of W. T. Sherman Post, G. A. R., W. H. Davis Commander, and several hundred school children were conspicuous in the reception.

President Harrison spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I have only time to assure you that I appreciate very highly this evidence of your respect. We have extended our journey to the Pacific coast: we have crossed the sandy plain, where for days together the eye saw little to refresh it, where the green of the blue grass that is so restful to the eye was wanting, and yet again and again at some lone station in the desert a few children from a school and some of the enterprising people who had pushed out there to make new homes assembled with this old banner in their hands and gave us a hearty American welcome. I am glad to return to this central body of States in which I was raised; glad to be again in the land of the buckeye, the beech, and the maple. To these dear children I want to say one word of thanks. They have done for us much on this journey to make it pleasant; their bright faces have cheered us; I love to see them. The care the States are taking for their education is wisely bestowed. God bless them all; open to their feet pleasant ways and qualify them better than we have been in our generation to uphold and perpetuate these magnificent civil institutions. Thanking you most sincerely for this kindly demonstration I bid you good-by. [Great cheers.]

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, MAY 14.

_At the Tomb of Lincoln._

Brief stops were made at Barry, Baylis, Griggsville, and Jacksonville, but not long enough for speech-making. Thousands of visitors from neighboring towns helped the people of Springfield welcome the President on his arrival at 9:15 o'clock. The Committee of Reception that met the presidential party and escorted them through the principal streets to the Lincoln Monument in Oak Ridge Cemetery consisted of the Hon. Joseph W. Fifer, Governor of Illinois; Senator Shelby M. Cullum, Senator John M. Palmer, ex-Governor Oglesby, Representatives Henderson and Springer, Lieut.-Gov. L. B. Ray, Secretary of State J. N. Pearson, Auditor of State C. W. Pavey, Treasurer of State E. S. Wilson, Atty.-Gen. George Hunt, Adjt-Gen. J. W. Vance, Hon. Rheuna D. Lawrence, Mayor of Springfield, and Hon. James C. Conkling; also, Hon. John M. Clark and Col. E. D. Swain, of Chicago.

The procession, composed of Illinois National Guards, veterans of the G. A. R., Sons of Veterans, Knights of Pythias, and the City Fire Department, was marshalled by Gen. Jasper N. Reese, assisted by Col. J. H. Barkley. During the exercises at the monument Mayor Lawrence presided. Governor Fifer delivered an eloquent address of welcome, to which the President made the following response:

_Governor Fifer and Fellow-citizens_--During this extended journey, in the course of which we have swept from the Atlantic coast to the Golden Gate, and northward to the limits of our territory, we have stood in many spots of interest and looked upon scenes that were full of historical associations and of national interest and inspiration. The interest of this journey culminates to-day as we stand here for a few moments about the tomb of Lincoln. As I passed through the Southern States and noticed those great centres of busy industry which had been builded since the war, as I saw how the fires of furnaces had been kindled where there was once a solitude, I could not then but think and say that it was the hand that now lies beneath these stones that kindled and inspired all that we beheld; all these fires of industry were lighted at the funeral pyre of slavery. The proclamation of Abraham Lincoln can be read on all those mountain sides where free men are now bending their energies to the development of States that had long been under the paralysis of human slavery.

I come to-day to this consecrated and sacred spot with a heart filled with emotions of gratitude that that God who wisely turned toward our Eastern shores a body of God-fearing and liberty-loving men to found this republic did not fail to find for us in the hour of our extremity one who was competent to lead the hearts and sympathies and hold up the courage of our people in the time of our greatest national peril.

The life of Abraham Lincoln teaches more useful lessons than any other character in American history. Washington stands remote from us. We think of him as dignified and reserved, but we think of Lincoln as one whose tender touch the children, the poor--all classes of our people--felt at their firesides and loved. The love of our people is drawn to him because he had such a great heart--such a human heart. The asperities and hardships of his early life did not dull, but broadened and enlivened, his sympathies. That sense of justice, that love of human liberty which dominated all his life, is another characteristic that our people will always love. You have here in keeping a most precious trust. Toward this spot the feet of the reverent patriots of the years to come will bend their way. As the story of Lincoln's life is read his virtues will mould and inspire many lives.