Part 5

General Harrison received four delegations this day. The first was a committee of veterans from John A. Logan Post, No. 99, G. A. R., of North Manchester, Wabash County, who came to invite the General to attend a soldiers' reunion for Northern Indiana. The committee comprised Shelby Sexton, Senior Vice-Commander Indiana G. A. R.; John Elwood, Geo. Lawrence, J. A. Brown, W. E. Thomas, I. D. Springdon, J. C. Hubbard, J. M. Jennings, E. A. Ebbinghous, L. J. Noftzger, and S. V. Hopkins. Rev. R. J. Parrott delivered the address of invitation. General Harrison responded:

_Comrades and Gentlemen_--Your request is one that appeals to me very strongly, and if it were single I should very promptly accede to it, but, without being told, you will readily understand that invitations of a kindred nature are coming to me every day, presented by individual comrades and committees, but more frequently by written communications.

I have felt that if I opened a door in this direction it would be a very wide one, and I would either subject myself to the criticism of having favored particular localities or particular organizations, to the neglect of others having equal claims upon me, or that I should be compelled to give to this pleasant duty--as it would be if other duties did not crowd me--too much of my time. I am, therefore, compelled to say to you that it will be impossible for me to accept your invitation. But in doing this, I want to thank you for the interest you have shown in my presence with you, and I want especially to thank you for the spirit of comradeship which brings you here. I am glad to know--and I have many manifestations of it--that the peculiar position in which I am placed as a candidate of a political party does not separate me from the cordial friendship and comradeship of those who differ with me politically. I should greatly regret it if it should be so. We held our opinions and fought for them when the war was on, and we will hold them now in affectionate comradeship and mutual respect. I thank you for your visit.

The second delegation also came from Wabash County and was under the leadership of William Hazen, Warren Bigler, James P. Ross, James E. Still, Robert Weesner, John Rodgers, Job Ridgway, and Joseph Ridgway, aged 83, of Wabash City. Their spokesman was Mr. Cowgill. General Harrison, responding, said:

_Mr. Cowgill and my Wabash County Friends_--In 1860 I was first a candidate before a convention for nomination to a public office. Possibly some of those who are here to-day were in that convention. Wabash County presented in the person of my friend, and afterwards my comrade, Col. Charles Parrish, a candidate for the office which I also sought, that of Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana. We had a friendly yet earnest contest before the convention, in which I succeeded. A little later in the campaign, as I was attempting to render to my party the services which my nomination seemed to imply, I visited your good county and received at your hands a welcome so demonstrative and cordial that I have always had a warm place in my heart for your people. I was then almost a boy in years, and altogether a boy in public life. Since then, in campaigns in which I have had a personal interest, and in very many more wherein I had only the general interest that you all had, it has been my pleasure to visit your county, and I can testify to the earnest, intelligent and devoted republicanism of Wabash County. You have never faltered in any of the great struggles in which the party has engaged; and I believe you have followed your party from a high conviction that the purposes it set before us involved the best interests of the country that you love, and to which you owe the duty of citizens. I know how generously you contributed to the army when your sons were called to defend it; and I know how, since the war, you have endeavored to preserve and to conserve those results which you fought for, and which made us again one people, acknowledging, and I hope loving, one flag and one Constitution. [Applause.] I want to thank you personally for this visit, and I wish now, if it is your pleasure, to meet you individually.

Benton County, Indiana, contributed the third delegation of the day, led by H. S. Travis, Clark Cook, B. Johnson, Henry Taylor, Frank Knapp, and Robert L. Cox of Fowler. They were presented by Col. A. D. Streight. General Harrison said:

_Colonel Streight, Fellow-citizens, and Comrades_--I am very grateful to you for this visit, and for the cordial terms in which your spokesman has extended to me the congratulations of my friends of Benton County. We have men who boast that they are cosmopolitans, citizens of the world. I prefer to say that I am an American citizen [applause], and I freely confess that American interests have the first place in my regard. [Applause.] This is not at all inconsistent with the recognition of that comity between nations which is necessary to the peace of the world. It is not inconsistent with that philanthropy which sympathizes with human distress and oppression the world around. We have been especially favored as an apart nation, separated from the conflicts, jealousies, and intrigues of European courts, with a territory embracing every feature of climate and soil, and resources capable of supplying the wants of our people, of developing a wholesome and gigantic national growth, and of spreading abroad, by their full establishment here, the principles of human liberty and free government. I do not think it inconsistent with the philanthropy of the broadest teacher of human love that we should first have regard for that family of which we are a part. Here in Indiana the drill has just disclosed to us the presence of inexhaustible quantities, in a large area of our State, of that new fuel which has the facility of doing its own transportation, even to the furnace door, and which leaves no residuum to be carried away when it has done its work. This discovery has added an impulse to our growth. It has attracted manufacturing industries from other States. Many of our towns have received, and this city, we may hope, is yet to receive, a great impulse in the development of their manufacturing industries by reason of this discovery. It seems to me that when this fuller development of our manufacturing interests, this building up of a home market for the products of our farms, which is sure to produce here that which has been so obvious elsewhere--a great increase in the value of farms and farm products--is opening to us the pleasant prospect of a rapid growth in wealth, we should be slow to abandon that system of protective duties which looks to the promotion and development of American industry and to the preservation of the highest possible scale of wages for the American workman. [Applause.] The development of our country must be on those lines that benefit all our people. Any development that does not reach and beneficially affect all our people is not to be desired, and cannot be progressive or permanent.

Comrades, you still love the flag for which we fought. We are preserved in God's providence to see the wondrous results of that struggle in which you were engaged--a reunited country, a Constitution whose authority is no longer disputed, a flag to which all men bow. It has won respect at home; it should be respected by all nations of the earth as an emblem and representative of a people desiring peace with all men, but resolute in the determination that the rights of all our citizens the world around shall be faithfully respected. [Applause and cries of "That's right!"] I thank you again for this visit, and, if it be your pleasure, and your committee will so arrange, I will be glad to take you by the hand.

The fourth and largest delegation of the day came from Boone County, numbering more than two thousand, led by Captain Brown, S. S. Heath, A. L. Howard, W. H. H. Martin, D. A. Rice, James Williamson, E. G. Darnell, D. H. Olive, and Captain Arbigas of Lebanon, the last-named veteran totally blind.

Another contingent was commanded by David O. Mason, J. O. Hurst, J. N. Harmon, and Mr. Denny, an octogenarian, all of Zionsville. Dr. D. C. Scull was orator for the visitors. General Harrison said:

_My Friends_--The magnitude of this demonstration puts us at a disadvantage in our purpose to entertain you hospitably, as we had designed when notified of your coming. [Cheers.] I regret that you must stand exposed to the heat of the sun, and that I must be at the disadvantage of speaking from this high balcony a few words of hearty thanks. I hope it may be arranged by the committee so that I may yet have the opportunity of speaking to you informally and individually. I am glad to notice your quick interest in the campaign. I am sure that that interest is stimulated by your devotion to the principles of government which you conceive--rightly, as I believe--to be involved in this campaign. [Applause.] I am glad to think that some of you, veterans of a former political campaign to which your chairman has alluded, and others of you, comrades in the great war for the Union, come here to express some personal friendship for me. [Cheers.] But I am sure that this campaign will be waged upon a plan altogether above personal consideration. You are here as citizens of the State of Indiana, proud of the great advancement the State has made since those pioneer days when brave men from the East and South entered our territory, blazing a pathway into the unbroken forest, upon which civilization, intelligence, patriotism, and the love of God has walked until we are conspicuous among the States as a community desirous of social order, full of patriotic zeal, and pledged to the promotion of that education which is to qualify the coming generations to discharge honorably and well their duties to the Government which we will leave in their hands. [Applause.] You are here also as citizens of the United States, proud of that arch of strength that binds together the States of this Union in one great Nation. But citizenship has its duties as well as its privileges. The first is that we give our energies and influence to the enactment of just, equal, and beneficent laws. The second is like unto it--that we loyally reverence and obey the will of the majority enacted into law, whether we are of a majority or not [applause]; the law throws the ægis of its protection over us all. It stands sentinel about your country homes to protect you from violence; it comes into our more thickly populated community and speaks its mandate for individual security and public order. There is an open avenue through the ballot-box for the modification or repeal of laws which are unjust or oppressive. To the law we bow with reverence. It is the one king that commands our allegiance. We will change our king, when his rule is oppressive, by these methods appointed, and crown his more liberal successor. [Applause.] I thank you again, most cordially, for this visit, and put myself in the hands of your committee that I may have the privilege of meeting you individually.

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 13.

One thousand employees of the various railroads centreing at Indianapolis, organized as a Harrison and Morton Club--J. C. Finch, President, and A. D. Shaw, Marshal of the occasion--called on General Harrison on the night of July 13. Yardmaster Shaw was spokesman. General Harrison replied:

_Gentlemen_--Your visit is very gratifying to me, and is full of significance and interest. If I read aright the language of your lanterns you have signalled the Republican train to go ahead. [Applause and cries of "And she is going, too!"] You have concluded that it is freighted with the interests and hopes of the workingmen of America, and must have the right of way. [Cheers and cries, "That's true!" and "We don't have to take water on this trip, either!"] The train has been inspected; you have given it your skilled and intelligent approval; the track has been cleared and the switches spiked down. Have I read your signals aright? [Cheers and cries of "You have!" and "There's no flat wheels under this train!"] You represent, I understand, every department of railroad labor--the office, the train, the shop, the yard, and the road. You are the responsible and intelligent agents of a vast system that, from a rude and clumsy beginning, has grown to be as fine and well adapted as the parts of the latest locomotive engine. The necessities and responsibilities of the business of transportation have demanded a body of picked men--inventive and skilful, faithful and courageous, sober and educated--and the call has been answered, as your presence here to night demonstrates. [Cheers.] Heroism has been found at the throttle and the brake, as well as on the battle-field, and as well worthy of song and marble. The trainman crushed between the platforms, who used his last breath, not for prayer or message of love, but to say to the panic-stricken who gathered around him, "Put out the red light for the other train," inscribed his name very high upon the shaft where the names of the faithful and brave are written. [A voice: "Give him three cheers for that!" Great and enthusiastic cheering.]

This early and very large gathering of Republican railroad men suggests to me that you have opinions upon public questions which are the product of your own observations and study. Some one will say that the railroad business is a "non-protected industry," because it has to do with transportation and not with production. But I only suggest what has already occurred to your own minds when I say that is a very deceptive statement. You know there is a relation between the wages of skilled and unskilled labor as truly as between the prices of two grades of cotton cloth; that if the first is cut down, the other, too, must come down. [Cries of "That's just so!"] You know, also, that if labor is thrown out of one line or avenue, by so much the more will the others be crowded; that any policy that transfers production from the American to the English or German shop works an injury to all American workmen. [Great cheering.]

But, if it could be shown that your wages were unaffected by our system of protective duties, I am sure that your fellowship with your fellow toilers in other industries would lead you to desire, as I do and always have, that our legislation may be of that sort that will secure to them the highest possible prosperity [applause]--wages that not only supply the necessities of life, but leave a substantial margin for comfort and for the savings bank. No man's wages should be so low that he cannot make provision in his days of vigor for the incapacity of accident or the feebleness of old age. [Great cheering.]

I am glad to be assured to-night that the principles of our party and all things affecting its candidates can be safely left to the thoughtful consideration of the American workingmen--they will know the truth and accept it; they will reject the false and slanderous. [Applause.]

And now let me say in conclusion that my door will always be open to any of you who may desire to talk with me about anything that interests you or that you think will interest me. I regret that Mrs. Harrison is prevented by a temporary sickness from joining with me in receiving you this evening. [Great cheering.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 14.

A notable visit was that of two hundred and twenty members of the Lincoln Club, one of the most influential political organizations of Cincinnati. They were escorted by the First Regiment Band and led by their President, Hon. A. C. Horton, with Col. James I. Quinton, Marshal of the day. Among other prominent members in line were Col. Leo Markbreit, Senator Richardson, Dr. M. M. Eaton, Hon. Fred Pfeister, W. E. Hutton, Samuel Baily, Jr., Albert Mitchell, H. M. Zeigler, B. O. M. De Beck, W. T. Porter, Harry Probasco, John Ferinbatch, Geo. B. Fox, J. E. Strubbe, Dr. S. V. Wiseman, Joseph H. Thornton, C. H. Rockwell, Lewis Wesner and Col. Moore. Hon. Drusin Wulsin, Vice-President of the club, was the orator. General Harrison, who had been ill for two days, replied:

_Mr. Wulsin and Gentlemen of the Lincoln Club of Cincinnati_--I thank you very much for this visit, and I wish I found myself in condition to talk to you with comfort to-night. I cannot, however, let the occasion pass, in view of the kind terms in which you have addressed me through your spokesman, without a word. I feel as if these Hamilton County Republicans were my neighbors. The associations of my early life were with that county, and of my student life largely with the city of Cincinnati. You did not need to state to me that Ohio supported John Sherman in the convention at Chicago [laughter] simply to couple with it the suggestion that it was a matter of State pride for you to do so. I have known him long and intimately. It was my good fortune for four years to sit beside him in the Senate of the United States. I learned there to value him as a friend and to honor him as a statesman. There were reasons altogether wider than the State of Ohio why you should support John Sherman in the convention. [Applause and cries of "Good!" "Good!"] His long and faithful service to his country and to the Republican party, his distinguished ability, his fidelity as a citizen, all entitled him to your faithful support; and I beg to assure you, as I have assured him both before and since the convention, that I did not and would not, upon any consideration, have made any attempt against him upon the Ohio delegation. [Applause.] I have known of your club as an organization that early set the example of perpetuating itself--an example that I rejoice to see is being largely followed now throughout our country. If these principles which are being urged by our party in these contests are worthy of our campaign enthusiasm and ardor, they are worthy to be thought of and advocated in the period of inter-campaign. They affect the business interests of our country, and their full adoption and perpetuation, we believe, will bring prosperity to all our individual and social and community interests. Therefore, I think it wise that in those times, when men's minds are more open to conviction and are readier of access, you should press upon the attention of your neighbors through your club organizations these principles to which you and I have given the allegiance of our minds and the devotion of our hearts. I thank you again for this visit. We are glad that you have come; therefore, I welcome you, not only as Republicans, but as friends. [Applause.]

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 18.

Howard County sent a delegation of six hundred citizens this day, led by Major A. N. Grant. The Lincoln League Club of Kokomo was commanded by its President, John E. Moore. Other prominent citizens in the delegation were Hon. J. N. Loop, J. A. Kautz, J. E. Vaile, John Ingalls, W. E. Blackledge, B. B. Johnson, J. B. Landen, Dr. James Wright, H. E. McMonigal, Edward Klum, Charles Pickett, and A. R. Ellis. Rev. Father Rayburn, a voter in the campaign of 1840, was spokesman. General Harrison, in reply, said:

_Father Rayburn and my Howard County Friends_--I think I may accept this demonstration as evidence that the action of the Republican convention at Chicago has been accepted with resignation by the Republicans of Howard County. [Loud cheers.] You are the favored citizens of a favored county. Your county has been conspicuous among the counties of this State for its enterprise and intelligence. You have been favored with a kindly and generous soil, cultivated by an intelligent and educated class of farmers. Hitherto you have chiefly drawn your wealth from the soil. You have had in the city of Kokomo an enterprising and thrifty county town. You have been conspicuous for your interest and devotion to the cause of education--for your interest in bringing forward the coming generations well equipped for the duties of citizenship. I congratulate you to-day that a new era of prosperity has opened for your county in the discovery of this new and free fuel to which Mr. Rayburn has alluded. A source of great wealth has been opened to your people. You have already begun to realize what it is to your county, though your expectations have hardly grasped what it will be when the city of Kokomo and your other towns have reached the full development which will follow this discovery. You will then all realize--the citizens of that prosperous place as well as the farmers throughout the county--the advantage of having a home market for the products of your farms. [Cheers.] You may not notice this so much in the appreciation of the prices of the staple products of your farms, but you will notice it in the expansion of the market for those more perishable products which cannot reach a distant market and must be consumed near home. Is it not, then, time for you, as thoughtful citizens, whatever your previous political affiliations may have been, to consider the question, "What legislation will most promote the development of the manufacturing interests of your county and enlarge the home market for the products of your farm?" I shall not enter upon a discussion of this question; it is enough to state it, and leave it to your own intelligent consideration. [Cheers.]

Let me thank you again for this kindly visit, and beg you to excuse any more extended remarks, and to give me now an opportunity of thanking each of you personally for the kind things your chairman has said in your behalf.

INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 19.

Illinois sent three large delegations this date from Springfield, Jacksonville and Monticello. Conspicuous in the column was the famous "Black Eagle" Club of Springfield, led by its President, Sam H. Jones, and the Lincoln Club, commanded by Capt. John C. Cook.

In the Springfield delegation were twenty-one original Whigs who voted for Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, among them Jeriah Bonham, who wrote the first editorial--Nov. 8, 1858--proposing the candidacy of Abraham Lincoln for President. Others among the prominent visitors from Springfield were: Col. James T. King, C. A. Vaughan, Major James A. Connelly, Paul Selby, Hon. David T. Littler, Jacob Wheeler, Gen. Charles W. Pavey, Robert J. Oglesby, Ira Knight, C. P. Baldwin, James H. Kellogg, Alexander Smith, Geo. Jameson, Augustus C. Ayers, Jacob Strong, Dr. F. C. Winslow, Fred Smith, Charles T. Hawks, Hon. Henry Dement, Col. Theo. Ewert, Jacob Bunn, J. C. Matthews, J. R. Stewart, H. W. Beecher, Andrew J. Lester, Dr. Gurney, and Howes Yates, brother of the great war Governor.

The Jacksonville visitors were represented by Hon. Fred H. Rowe, ex-Mayor Tomlinson, Judge T. B. Orear, J. B. Stevenson, Dr. Goodrich, Professor Parr of Illinois College, J. W. Davenport, and Thomas Rapp.

Attorney-General Hunt spoke on behalf of all the visitors. General Harrison's reply was one of his happiest speeches. He said:

_General Hunt and my Illinois Friends_--I thank you for this cordial expression of your interest in Republican success. I thank you for the kindly terms in which your spokesman has conveyed to me the assurance, not only of your political support, but of your personal confidence and respect.