Part 48

Ohio has always maintained a magnificently conspicuous place in the sisterhood of the States--peopled, as she was, by the great patriots of the Revolutionary period; receiving, as she did, in this great basin, that overspill of patriotism that moved toward the West after the Revolutionary struggle was ended. She has given to the Government, in army life and in the civil service, a magnificent galaxy of great men. [Cheers.] In the hope that this journey, which has been full of toil, may not prove unprofitable to the people, as it certainly has not been unprofitable to me, I leave you to take up my public duties with new encouragement and new resolves to do the best I can for all the people. [Cheers.]

XENIA, OHIO, MAY 14.

It was nearly 10 o'clock when the city of Xenia was reached, but a large crowd greeted the tired travellers. A reception committee, consisting of Hon. Charles F. Howard, Mayor; Hon. John Little, Hon. N. A. Fulton, Hon. George Good, Charles L. Spencer, and F. E. James escorted the party from Dayton.

Judge Little introduced President Harrison, who said:

_My Friends_--I began my day's work at 5 o'clock and have already made ten speeches, but I feel that a few spoken words are but small return to those who have gathered to express their friendly regard. No man is worthy to hold office in this Republic who does not sincerely covet the good-will and respect of the people. The people may not agree in their views on public questions, but while they have a great many points of difference they have more of agreement, and I believe we are all pursuing the same great end--the glory of our country, the permanency of our institutions, and the general good of our people. The springs of all good government--the most important things after all--are in the local communities. In the townships, school districts, and municipalities, there the utmost care should be taken. If their affairs are wisely and economically administered, those of the State and the Nation are sure to be. Upon these foundation stones the safety of the Nation rests, and I am glad to know that so much careful thought is being given to these questions by public men and the people generally. Thanking you for your attendance and cordial greeting. I bid you good-night. [Cheers.]

COLUMBUS, OHIO, MAY 14.

It lacked but fifteen minutes of midnight when the train rolled into the Union Depot at Columbus. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour a fair-sized and enthusiastic crowd was present, including a number of G. A. R. veterans.

In response to repeated calls the President appeared, accompanied by Secretary Rusk, and said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I left Hannibal, Mo., this morning at 6 o'clock, and have made twelve speeches to-day. You have been very thoughtful to meet us here, and I know you will excuse me if I say nothing more than I thank you. Good-night. [Applause.]

ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA, MAY 15.

The last day of the long journey began with a speech at Altoona at 10 o'clock. Superintendent and Mrs. Theodore N. Eby joined the party here. The assemblage was a large one and the President shook hands with many until the crowd began calling for a speech.

Postmaster-General Wanamaker introduced the distinguished traveller, saying: "Outside of Indiana I think the President could not be more at home than he is in Pennsylvania, and he requires no introduction."

The President spoke as follows:

_My Friends_--The book has been closed. I have been talking so much while on this trip that I am sure you will excuse me this morning. It has been a delightful journey, yet we experienced, perhaps, that which is the crowning joy of all trips--getting back home; that is the place for us. [Cheers.] I am glad to have this greeting from my Pennsylvania friends this morning. Mr. Wanamaker was not far wrong when he said that after Indiana Pennsylvania was pretty close to me. It was in one of these valleys, not very distant from your political Capitol, that my mother was born and reared, and of course this State and this section of Pennsylvania has always had a very dear interest for me. [Cheers and great noise from steam being blown off at shops.] Of the applause that we have enjoyed on this journey our reception here has been the most original of all. [Prolonged cheering.]

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, MAY 15.

The arrival at Harrisburg at 1:15 P.M. was heralded by a presidential salute, and 10,000 cheers went up as the President emerged on the rear platform, accompanied by Secretary Rusk and Postmaster-General Wanamaker.

Among the prominent citizens who pressed forward to greet the travellers was his excellency Governor Pattison, Speaker Thompson, of the House of Representatives, Secretary of the Commonwealth Harrity, Adjutant-General McClelland, Hon. B. F. Meyers, Private Secretary Tate, and many members of the Legislature. The Governor's Troop, commanded by Lieutenant Ott, presented arms and Bugler Bierbower sounded the President's march as the Chief Magistrate appeared. Governor Pattison cordially welcomed the President and presented him to the great assemblage.

President Harrison closed his long series of brilliant and interesting addresses in the following words:

_Governor Pattison and Fellow citizens_--I thank you for the courtesy of this reception at the political centre of the great State of Pennsylvania. I was informed, a little while ago, by the stenographer who had accompanied me on this trip, that I had made 138 speeches, and when I saw the magnitude of my offence against the American people I was in hopes I should be permitted to pass through Harrisburg without adding anything to it. I will only express my thanks and appreciation. No one needs to tell you anything about Pennsylvania or its resources; indeed, my work was very much lightened on this journey, because I found that all the people clear out to Puget Sound had already found out more about their country than I could possibly tell them. [Cheers.]

It is a pleasant thing that we appreciate our surroundings. We love our own home, our own neighborhood, our own State. It would be a sad thing if it were not so. There is only just enough discontent to keep our people moving a little. Now and then some boy gets restless in the homestead and pushes out to the West; the result is a thorough mingling of the people. I do not know what would have become of Pennsylvania if some people from other States had not come in and some of your people gone out. It is this that makes the perfect unity of our country. It was delightful on our trip to meet old faces from home. Though they had apparently been discontented with Indiana and left it, they were willing to recall the fact, as I came near to them, that they were Hoosiers. It was very pleasant, also, to see people as they met the Postmaster-General put up their hands and say, "I am from the old Keystone State." General Rusk was never out of sight of a Wisconsin man, and of course the Ohio man was always there. [Laughter and applause.] Our journey has been accompanied with the labor of travel, but out of it all I think I have a higher sense of the perfect unity of our people and of their enduring, all-pervading patriotism. [Cheers.]

THE RETURN TO WASHINGTON.

There was no demonstration at Baltimore. As the train neared Washington--on the homestretch of its great run of 9,232 miles--the President gathered all the members of his party about him in the observation car, including the train employees and servants, and made a short speech, in which he thanked all who accompanied him for their courtesy and attention. He referred to the long journey--without accident of any kind and without a minute's variance from the prearranged schedule--as a most remarkable achievement, and paid a high compliment to Mr. George W. Boyd, the General Assistant Passenger Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad for his successful management of the trip, adding that it was a superb exhibition of what energy and training could do for a man. He then returned his thanks individually to the engineer, conductor, and every employee.

The train reached Washington at 5:30 o'clock, exactly on time to a fraction of a minute. General Harrison was the first to alight to meet his young grandson, Master Benjamin McKee, and the latter's little sister. There was no unusual demonstration or speech-making. The President was met by Secretaries Foster and Proctor, Attorney-General Miller, Ass't Atty.-Gen. James N. Tyner, Assistant Secretary Nettleton, Assistant Secretary Willetts, Major Pruden, and Captain Dinsmore.

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 30.

On Decoration Day, 1891, President Harrison, accompanied by Postmaster-General Wanamaker, Secretary Proctor, Secretary Tracy, and Private Secretary Halford, visited Philadelphia as the guests of George G. Meade Post, No. 1, G. A. R., to participate in their memorial ceremonies. They were met at the station by a committee from the post, comprising the following veterans: Post Commander Louis P. Langer, Senior Vice-Commander Alexander M. Appel, Junior Vice-Commander James Thompson, Adjutant A. C. Johnston, Officer of the Day Robert M. Green, Guard Charles Harris, Chaplain Rev. I. Newton Ritner, and Past Post Commanders Henry H. Bingham, Joseph R. C. Ward, George W. Devinny, L. D. C. Tyler, Alfred J. Sellers, William J. Simpson, James C. Wray, John A. Stevenson, Alexander Reed, Lewis W. Moore, John W. Wiedersheim, Isaiah Price, W. Wayne Vogdes, G. Harry Davis, Charles L. Sherman, Henry C. Harper, Penn Righter, and Isaac R. Oakford. Department Commander George Boyer and Asst. Adjt.-Gen. Samuel Town were also present to welcome the Commander-in-Chief. The historic City Troop of cavalry--who, from the day that General Washington entered Philadelphia to take his second inaugural oath, have acted as an escort to every President who has been a guest of the city--escorted the President and the committee to Independence Hall, where in a brief speech Mayor Stuart, in behalf of the city, welcomed the Chief Magistrate.

The President, replying to the address of welcome, said:

_Mr. Mayor, Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and Fellow-citizens_--I esteem it a great pleasure to stand in this historic edifice in this historic city and to take part to-day as a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic in these most interesting and instructive exercises, which commemorate events which have been most deeply sunk in our hearts. I think it eminently appropriate that we should stand for a little time before going to the graves of our fallen comrades in this edifice, where the foundations of independence were laid and put into development to make this great Nation to-day. In my recent extensive trip through the country I was able to see the effects of planting these seeds of freedom, in the flourishing plants that have grown. [Applause.]

We are here in a community that was instituted on principles of peace and good will among men. But you gave a conspicuous illustration of the facts that the fruits of peace need to be protected.

You did not all depart from the great lessons taught when you united with the comrades from all the other States to hold up the banner of the Union and to maintain peace and to perpetuate it at all times. You went out to maintain peace, and you have established in the affections of all of us the flag of our faith, and the question of submission to the Constitution and the law in all States has been settled to the contentment of all.

I appreciate most highly this welcome, and I take part in these exercises with a sense of their fitness and a sense of the greatness of the event which they commemorate.

I have never been able to think that this day is one for mourning, but think that instead of the flag being at half mast it should be at the peak. I feel that the comrades whose graves we honor to-day would rejoice if they could see where their valor has placed us. I feel that the glory of their dying and the glory of their achievement covers all grief and has put them on an imperishable roll of honor.

_At General Meade's Grave._

At the conclusion of the public reception at Independence Hall the President and his party were escorted to Laurel Hill Cemetery, where they took part in the ceremonies over the grave of Gen. George G. Meade, the hero of Gettysburg.

Along the entire line of march to the stand were immense crowds, who greeted the President with silent demonstrations of respect.

The usual Memorial Day exercises were held, and at their conclusion Commander Langer said: "I wish to introduce to you the honored guest of the day, Comrade Harrison, the Chief Magistrate of the Nation."

As the President stepped forward he was heartily cheered. He said:

_Commander, Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and Fellow-citizens_--I have neither the strength nor the voice adequate to any extended speech to-day. I come to you as a comrade to take part in the interesting exercises of this Memorial Day. It gives me special pleasure to combine with that tribute which I have usually been able to pay since this day was instituted to the dead of all our armies a special mark of respect to that great soldier who won Gettysburg. It is impossible to separate some impressions of sorrow from these exercises, for they bring to memory comrades who have gone from us. How vividly there comes to my memory many battle scenes; not the impetuous rush of conflict, but the hour of sadness that followed victory. Then it was our sad duty to gather from the field the bodies of those who had given the last pledge of loyalty.

There is open to my vision more than one yawning trench in which we laid the dead of the old brigade. We laid them, elbow touching elbow, in the order in which they had stood in the line of battle. We left them in the hasty sepulchre and marched on. Now we rejoice that a grateful Government has gathered together the scattered dust of all these comrades and placed them in beautiful and safe places of honor and repose. I cannot but feel that if they could speak to us to-day they would say put the flag at the top of the mast.

I have recently returned from an extended tour of the States, and nothing so impressed and refreshed me as the universal display of this banner of beauty and glory. It waved over every school-house, it was in the hands of the school children. As we sped across the sandy wastes at some solitary house a man, a woman, a child would come to the door and wave it in loyal greeting. Two years ago I saw a sight that has ever been present in my memory. As we were going out of the harbor of Newport about midnight on a dark night some of the officers of the torpedo station had prepared for us a beautiful surprise. The flag at the top of the station was unseen in the darkness of the night, when suddenly electric search-lights were turned on it, bathing it in a flood of light.

All below the flag was hidden, and it seemed to have no touch with earth, but to hang from the battlements of heaven. It was as if Heaven was approving the human liberty and human equality typified by that flag.

Let us take on this occasion a new draught of courage, make new vows of consecration, for, my countrymen, it was not because it was inconvenient that the rebel States should go, not that it spoiled the autonomy of the country, but because it was unlawful that all this sacrifice had to be made, to bring them back to their allegiance. Let us not forget that as good citizens and good patriots it is our duty always to obey the law and to give it our loyal support and insist that every one else shall do so. There is no more mischievous suggestion made than that the soldiers of the Union Army desire to lay any yoke on those who fought against us other than the yoke of the law. We cannot ask less than that in all relations they shall obey the law, and that they shall yield to every other man his full rights under the law.

I thank you for the pleasure of participating in these exercises with you to-day, and give you a comrade's best wishes and a comrade's good-by.

THE BENNINGTON TRIP, AUGUST, 1891.

On Tuesday, August 18, President Harrison left Cape May Point on a journey to Bennington, to participate in the dedication of Bennington Battle Monument. He was accompanied by Private Secretary Halford, Russell B. Harrison, Mr. Howard Cale, of Indianapolis, and George W. Boyd, of the Pennsylvania Company. The trip through New Jersey was uneventful. At Vineland, Glassboro, Camden, Trenton, and Burlington crowds greeted the President, but as it was raining there was no speech-making. At Jersey City the party was joined by John A. Sleicher, W. J. Arkell, and E. F. Tibbott, the President's stenographer.

Leaving New York at noon the first stop was at Cornwall, where the President was heartily welcomed by a large crowd and bowed his acknowledgments.

NEWBURGH, NEW YORK, AUGUST 18.

The weather cleared as the party reached historic Newburgh, where 3,000 people gave the Chief Executive a rousing welcome. Hon. M. Doyle, Mayor of Newburgh, and the following representative citizens received the President: Ex-Mayor B. B. Odell, Hon. A. S. Cassedy, Hon. B. B. Odell, Jr., William G. Taggart, Daniel S. Waring, William Chambers, Charles H. Hasbrouck, J. M. Dickey, Henry B. Lawson, James G. Graham, Thomas R. Spier, A. E. Layman, George Hasting, Maj. E. C. Boynton, A. Woolsey, John F. Tucker, William Lynn, George Brown, Dr. D. L. Kidd, H. C. Smith, Augustus Denniston, E. M. Murtfeldt, and John J. Nutt.

Colonel Sleicher introduced President Harrison, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I am very much obliged to you for this friendly greeting. It is pleasant to run out of the rain and mist that have hung about our train for an hour or two into this bright sunshine and into the gladness of the pleasant welcome which you have extended to us. You are situated here in a region full of historic interest. Every child learns early here the story of the sacrifice and courage of those who laid the foundation of this Government, which has grown beyond the conception of even the wisest of our fathers. I am sure that in these things you must all find inspiration to good citizenship, and it is pleasant to know that you rejoice that it has left its impress upon the hearts of all our people; that upon the Sacramento as well as upon the Hudson men love the old memories and the old flag. [Applause.]

I am glad to pause with you a moment in passing to the observance in Vermont of one of those great battle events which led to the independence of our country. We have great common interests as a people, and, while we divide as to the method by which we would promote the national prosperity, I am sure we are all devoted in heart to the country and the institutions that have done so much for us. In the interest of good government we are one; we all believe that the Government should be so administered that all the people shall share equally in its benefits; that there shall be no favored class. I thank you again, and bid you good-by. [Applause.]

KINGSTON, NEW YORK, AUGUST 18.

At Kingston fully 2,000 people were assembled. Prominent among those who welcomed the President were Hon. James G. Linsley, Hon. Geo. M. Brink, H. W. Baldwin, William D. Brinnier, D. C. Overbaugh, S. B. Sharpe, B. J. Winnie, Charles B. Safford, George B. Merritt, O. P. Carpenter, James E. Phinney, and Noah Wolven.

After shaking hands for several minutes, Hon. William H. Turner introduced President Harrison, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--Perhaps I had better spend the moment or two that remains in saying a word to all of you than in shaking hands with the few that can gather about the car. You ask for a speech. It is not very easy to know what one can talk about on such an occasion as this. Those topics that are most familiar to me, because I am brought in daily contact with them, namely, public affairs, are in some measure prohibited to me, and I must speak therefore only of those things upon which we agree; for I have no doubt, if we were closely interrogated, some differences would develop in the views of those assembled here. That is one of the things we are proud of and that tend to the perpetuity and purity of our institutions--that we are permitted to differ in our views, to be independent in our opinions, and to be answerable to our consciences and to God only for the convictions we entertain. I am sure, however, we all rejoice in the evidences of prosperity which are spread over this good land of ours. We rejoice in the freedom and happiness and contentment that are in our communities and in our homes. We rejoice to know that no cloud is over our horizon; that we are at peace with the world and at peace among ourselves. I think the world has come to understand that it is well to be at peace with us [applause], and I am sure we have come to understand that it is very well to be at peace among our selves. [Applause.]

Our situation is one of great favor. We are pretty widely separated from those who would hurt us, if there are any such. We are secure in our great isolation, and we are secure, too, in our great and patriotic people. [Applause.] We do not maintain armies; we do not need to extend the conscription list until it takes old age and youth. We maintain only the merest skeleton of an army, but we have already seen how speedily it may develop into gigantic proportions, and how, in a few months, it may take on the discipline that makes it the equal of any of the great armies of the world. [Applause.] We have this year a season of unusual productiveness. The orchards are laden with fruit, the gardens yield their abundant supplies to the table, and the fields have produced crops that are too great for our storehouses.

God has greatly blessed us, and it happens that this season of our abundance is not only good for us, but for the world; for again, as many times before, the nations of Europe, by reason of crop failures, must look to us to feed their people. We have a great surplus and an assorted market for it. Our riches must be greatly increased as the result of two magnificent harvests. Their good effects will be felt in every home, contentment upon the farm, and well-paid labor in all our cities and centres of manufacture. Thus it should be. Thus, I am sure, we all rejoice that it is, because these institutions of ours can have no danger except in a discontented citizenship. As long as men have a free and equal chance, as long as the labor of their hands may bring the needed supplies into the household, as long as there are open avenues of hope and advancement to the children they love, men are contented--they are good, loyal, American citizens. [Applause.] And now I thank you again for your kindness. [Cheers.]

ALBANY, NEW YORK, AUGUST 18.

It was 6 o'clock in the afternoon when the President arrived at Albany, during a heavy rain. In anticipation of this visit from the head of the Nation, the following telegraphic correspondence had passed between the courteous Governor of New York and President Harrison:

ALBANY, August 12. HON. BENJAMIN HARRISON, _Cape May, N. J._: