Part 51

You have been particularly fortunate, I think, in your representatives at Washington, as I had occasion to say the other day at Bennington. I am glad to be here at the site of this institution of learning--Middlebury College, which is soon to complete its hundredth year of modest yet efficient service in training the minds of your young men for usefulness in life. These home institutions, in which these able and faithful men assiduously give themselves and their lives to the building up and development of the intelligence--and not only that, but of the moral side of your young men--are bulwarks of strength to your State and to your community. They cannot be too highly esteemed and honored by you; because, my countrymen, kings may rule over an ignorant people, and by their iron control hold them in subjection and in the quietness of tyranny, but a free land rests upon the intelligence of its people, and has no other safety than in well-grounded education and thorough moral training. [Cries of "Good! Good!" and applause.] Again I thank you for this cordial greeting which Vermont gives me this morning, and to these comrades and friends I extend a comrade's greeting and good wishes. [Applause.]

VERGENNES, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

At Vergennes a large and joyful crowd greeted the distinguished traveller. The Reception Committee comprised Hon. J. G. Hindes, Mayor of the city; Hon. J. D. Smith, Herrick Stevens, and J. N. Norton.

Secretary Proctor introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I have had, as you know, some experience in this business of speaking from the end of a railroad train. But it has seemed to me this morning that these Vermont towns are closer together than on any other route I have travelled. [Laughter.] Perhaps it is because your State is not very large, and you have had to put your towns close together in order to get them all in. [Laughter.] I have heard an interesting story of the origin of this city of Vergennes. I suppose it was one of the earliest instances in the history of our country, if not the very first, of a city being constructed upon paper before it was built upon the ground. [Laughter.] That has come to be quite a familiar practice in these late days of speculation, but it is singular that a city charter and the ample corporate limits of one mile square should have been given to Vergennes before this century began. If the expectations of the founder of this city have not been realized fully, you have more than realized all the thoughts of Ethan Allan and his contemporaries in the greatness and prosperity of your State and in the richer glory and higher greatness of the Nation of which you are a part. [Cheers.]

I am glad this morning to look into the contented faces of another audience of New England people. You were greatly disparaged in the estimation of some of our people before the Civil War. There had spread unfortunately over the minds of our Southern brethren the impression that you were so much given to money, to thrift, and to toil that your hands had forgotten how to fight. It was a most wholesome lesson when the whole country learned again in the gallant charges and stubborn resistances of the Vermont Brigade that the old New England spirit still lived; that Paul Revere still rode the highways of New England; and that the men of Concord and Lexington and Bennington still ploughed her fields. [Applause.] I am glad to meet you this bright, joyous morning; and I am sure, in view of the fatigues that have preceded and that are to follow, you will excuse me from further speech, and accept my most heartfelt thanks for your friendliness. [Applause.]

BURLINGTON, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

Burlington gave the President a royal reception Tuesday noon. The Queen City was elaborately decorated, and all business was suspended during the demonstration. The distinguished visitors were welcomed by Senator George F. Edmunds, his honor Mayor Hazelton, Col. Le Grand B. Cannon, Hon. E. J. Phelps, Gen. William Wells, ex-Gov. U. A. Woodbury, Hon. B. B. Smalley, Hon. G. G. Benedict, C. F. Wheeler, ex-Governor Barstow, C. W. Woodhouse, and Elias Lyman, President of the Board of Aldermen. After luncheon at the home of Senator Edmunds, the President was escorted through the Fletcher Library to a platform fronting the park, where 20,000 people greeted him.

Mayor Hazelton delivered the address of welcome and introduced President Harrison, who responded as follows:

_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--I am not a little intimidated as I face so unexpectedly this vast concourse of the citizens of this great State of Vermont. I say great, though your territorial extent does not place you among large States; great in an origin that gave occasion for an early and resolute expression of that love of liberty which has always pervaded your people; great in a population that has never bowed the knee to the arrogance of power or to the blandishments of wealth, and has, through all the history of the State, maintained the inspiration of its early annals for love of personal independence. I rejoice to be present to-day at the home of one of your distinguished public servants, with whom it was my good fortune for a time to be associated in the discharge of public duties. I am glad to see here, at his own home, the respect and honor in which George F. Edmunds is deservedly held by the people of Vermont. [Applause.] Having for six years witnessed the value of his services as a legislator in the Senate of the United States, I share with you the regret that this country is no longer to enjoy those services; though it is a source of gratification to you, as it is to me, to know that in his love and loyalty to the State that he has so highly honored, in his love and loyalty to the Union of States, there will be no call for his wise counsel and help that will not find a ready response from the walks of life which he has chosen to resume. [Applause.]

My fellow-citizens, it is true, as your Mayor has said, happily true, that we not infrequently, and with ease, lift ourselves above all the contentions of party strife and stand in the clear, inspiring and stimulating sunshine as American patriots. [Applause.] We are conspicuously a people who give their allegiance to institutions and not to men. [Applause.] It were a happy thing for others of our sister republics on this hemisphere if they could follow this great example. Our people are not slow to appreciate public services. They are not reluctant to acknowledge transcendent genius, but they give their loyalty as citizens to institutions, and not to parties or to men. [Applause.] This was happily shown in our great rebellion, when party divisions, that seemed to lift barriers between us like these mountain peaks, were obliterated in a moment by that love for the Constitution and the flag which pervaded all our people [applause]--a love that made the people of all these great States one; that sent from Vermont and Massachusetts, as from Indiana, those stalwart and devoted sons who offered--many of them gave--their lives for the perpetuity of the Union and the honor of the flag. Let us pursue our lines of division. It is characteristic of a free people--it is essential--that mental agitation and unrest out of which the highest and best is evolved. But let us never forget that the fundamental thought of our Government is the rule of the majority, lawfully expressed at pure and clean elections, and that, when thus expressed, the laws enacted by those chosen to make our laws are not less of the minority than of the majority. [Applause.] Those who make the laws are our servants, to whom we yield the respect of office and that measure of personal regard to which their lives may entitle them. [Applause.]

We are this year a most favored and happy people. Drouth has blasted the crops of many of the nations of the world. Most of the peoples of Europe are short of food. And God has this year, mercifully to us, mercifully to them, made our store-houses to burst with plenty. We have a great surplus of breadstuffs, and there is not a bushel of wheat, corn, rye or oats that will not find a ready market this year. Happy are we in this great prosperity; happy that again out of your abundance the lack of other peoples may be supplied. Let us be careful that our heads are not turned by too much prosperity. It has been out of hardness, out of struggles, out of self-denials, out of that thrift and economy which was an incident of your soil, that the best things in New England have come. [Applause.] And, while thankful to God for a season that diffuses its blessings as this sweet sunshine is diffused into all our homes, let us remember that it is not, after all, riches that exalt the Nation. It is a pure, clean, high, intellectual, moral, and God-fearing citizenship that is our glory and security as a Nation. [Applause.]

Let me thank you again for the friendliness of your manifestations, for the opportunity to stand for a few moments in this most beautiful city. [Applause.] You have the advantage of many of our municipalities. You have not only the beauties of these groves and gardens and pleasant streets and lovely homes, but from these hilltops you have laid under contribution fifty miles in either direction to beautify Burlington. [Applause.] I thank you, and part with you with regret that my stay cannot be longer and my intercourse with you more personal and informal. [Applause.]

ST. ALBANS, VERMONT, AUGUST 25.

The President and party embarked at Burlington on board Col. W. Seward Webb's yacht _Elfrida_ and greatly enjoyed the sail on Lake Champlain, landing at Maquam in the evening, whence a special train carried them to St. Albans, where they were welcomed by the Committee of Reception, consisting of Hon. A. D. Tenney, George T. Childs, Alfred A. Hall, T. M. Deal, W. Tracy Smith, B. F. Kelley, A. L. Weeks, and A. W. Fuller. After dining at Governor Smith's the President, at 9 P.M., was escorted to the Welden House, fronting St. Albans Park. Twelve thousand people greeted him. The scene was one of unusual beauty; from the branching elms hung 2,000 Chinese lanterns.

When the President appeared on the balcony the enthusiasm was great. He was introduced by Hon. E. C. Smith, and spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I fear that my voice will not permit me suitably to acknowledge this magnificent demonstration. In the tour which I made this spring across the continent I witnessed very many great assemblages and looked upon very many brilliant and entrancing scenes, but I recall none outside the greater cities more beautiful and worthy than this in St. Albans to-night. [Applause.] Most deeply do I feel whatever of personal respect you thus evidence, and yet more highly do I appreciate that love of American institutions, that fealty to the flag, which I am sure is the dominant impulse in this great assembly. [Applause.]

Your situation upon this great water line connecting the St. Lawrence with the Hudson was an early suggestion to the trader as well as to the invader. The Indian canoe, the boat of the fur-trader, ploughed these waters in the early days of our history. At a later time they suggested to the military leaders of Great Britain who commanded the armies sent for the subjection of the colonies that familiar strategy of severing the colonies into two parts by moving and establishing posts upon Champlain and the Hudson. These attempts and the brave resistance which was made by our people, in which Vermont had so conspicuous and creditable a part, have made all the shores of Lake Champlain historic ground. In the address delivered by President Bartlett in 1877 at the observance of the centennial of the battle of Bennington, I noticed that he said, "Trading Manchester sent two regiments to conquer a market," and it recalled to my mind the fact that one of the great motives of resistance on the part of the colonies was the unjust trade restrictions and exactions which were imposed upon them by the mother country in order to secure the American markets for the British manufacturer. You recall how severe and persistent were the measures adopted in order to repress and crush out the establishment of manufacturing industries in the colonies. This battle for a market was never more general or more strenuous than now among all of the nations of the world, though now generally not pushed to bloodshed. [Applause.] All of the countries of the Old World have through colonial extension by the division of Africa, much as a boy might divide a watermelon among his fellows, had reference largely to trade extensions and enlarged markets. In this contest we have ourselves engaged, not by attempting to push our political domain into lands that are not rightfully ours, not by attempting to overthrow or subjugate the weaker but friendly powers of this hemisphere, but by those methods of peaceful and profitable interchange which are good for them as for us, [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.] Secure in the great American market for our manufactures--a market the best per capita of any in the world--we have come now to believe that we may well extend our trade and send our manufactured products to other countries across the seas and in ships carrying the American flag. [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.] We do not need in any degree to break down or injure our own domestic industries. We are consuming, to an enormous extent, of tropical products not produced by our people, and by a fair exchange with the nations sending us sugar, tea, and coffee we propose and have entered successfully upon the enterprise of opening the markets of Central and South America to the manufacturing establishments of New England and the United States. [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.]

I am sure every American will rejoice in the success which has thus far attended these efforts, and will rejoice that with this expanding trade to the southward there opens before us this year a largely increased traffic in agricultural products with the nations of Europe. We have never in the history of our country harvested such a crop as has now been gathered into the granaries of the United States. [Applause.] We shall have an enormously large surplus of breadstuffs for exportation, and it happens that in this period of our abundance crop failures or shortages in India, in Russia, in France, in Germany, and England have opened a market that will require the last bushel of grain we have to sell. [Cries of "Good! good!" and applause.] Rejoicing in the peace that pervades our land, proud of institutions which have for more than a hundred years witnessed their adequacy to give peace and security at home and to preserve our National honor abroad, rejoicing in the great increase of material wealth which is flowing in upon us, may we not on these great lines of enterprise, lifting ourselves now to newer and larger thoughts of what this country may be, enter upon these opening avenues of trade and influence upon which are the beckoning invitations of friendly peoples? [Applause.]

Let me thank you again for this magnificent assemblage of Vermont patriots and of Vermont women, who have shared with her gallant men the sacrifices and suffering that this State has borne that it might be born among the States, and, having been admitted to the sisterhood, might, though small in geographical extent and population, bear a noble and honorable part in the work of holding up the American character and defending the American flag. [Great applause.]

RICHMOND, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

President Harrison passed the night at St. Albans. On his departure, the morning of the 26th, he was accompanied by Secretary Proctor, ex-Governor Smith and wife, Colonel and Mrs. E. C. Smith, Tracy Smith, Hon. H. H. Powers, Henry R. Start, D. Sage McKay, Col. Geo. T. Childs, and Col. M. J. Horton, of Governor Page's staff.

The first stop of the day was at Richmond, where a large audience greeted the party. Among the prominent citizens who received the President were: Judge E. B. Andrews, Hon. U. S. Whitcomb, Capt. G. A. Edwards, Dr. C. W. Jacobs, Hon. H. A. Hodges, C. P. Rhodes and Edgar T. Jacobs. The veterans of Bronson Barber Post, G. A. R., were present in a body.

Congressman Powers introduced the President, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--It is a little early in the morning to begin the daily round of speech-making, and yet I cannot refrain from saying to you how highly I appreciate your morning welcome. There is the tonic of your fine mountain air and the glory of your sunshine in these cordial manifestations of your respect and good-will. I hope no American citizen will ever begrudge the President of the United States the refreshment which comes from these occasional visits through the country, and from that draught of good-will which he receives as he looks into the faces and takes the hands of these good people, who have no other interest in the Government than that it shall be honestly administered for the general good. Washington is not always full of that kind of people; we are more certain, perhaps, to find them in the country. And yet no one should complain of honest criticism, and perhaps fault-finding has its use, for occasionally it must be well grounded and disclose to us errors we might otherwise have failed to discern. But, after all, the bracing of the good-will of the good people of this country is very essential to those who, in the midst of great perplexity and doubt and under staggering responsibility, endeavor as they see the right to do it. No man can do more than this, and I look upon this popular feature of our Government, the readiness of communication, the nearness and familiarity of access which the people have with all public servants, as a great safeguard to those who might otherwise become separated from those impulses which are, after all, the safest and best. [Applause.] I have had great pleasure in passing through your beautiful valley this morning. I can most sincerely commend what I see in these farms and thrifty homes. Vermont is a mountain State, and, I suppose, because your horizon is a little high you are more frequently than we who live on the plains compelled to look up. That may account for a great many of the good things which we discover in the New England character. I thank you for your kindness. [Applause.]

WATERBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST, 26.

Waterbury was reached at 10:30 A.M. Governor Page and Hon. W. W. Grout joined the party here. About 10,000 people were assembled to greet the President, prominent among whom were: G. E. Moody, Esq., Hon. G. W. Rundall, Hon. E. F. Palmer, M. M. Knight, George W. Atkins, John Batchelder, L. H. Haines, Justin W. Moody, C. C. Warren, W. R. Elliott, C. H. Arms, Charles Wells, Dr. Henry Janes, and F. H. Atherton.

Hon. Wm. Paul Dillingham made the welcoming address and introduced the President, who responded as follows:

_My Friends_--It is very pleasant to know that a public officer may travel everywhere through this great land of ours--and only those who have traversed it can understand how great it is--and find always his sure defence and care in the good-will and respect of the people who surround him. If we bar out the irresponsible crank, so far as I can see the President is in no peril, except that he may be killed by the superabundant kindness of the people. [Laughter.] There seems to be an impression that his strength and capacity for speech-making is unfailing [laughter] and that his arm is a hickory limb. But it is very kind of you and all these good, people of Vermont who have met me on this journey to express so pleasantly by your cheers, and much more by your kindly faces, the love and loyalty you have for those in the situation with which the suffrage of the people has for the time connected me. The New England character is one that has been much written about, much discussed, and I think that even those who have found points for the sharpest criticism have, when they adopted the Yankee method of averages, concluded that the influences emanating from Plymouth Rock and diffusing themselves first through the New Hampshire Grants and then the Western Reserve of Ohio, and so scattering and disseminating the seeds of intelligence and love of liberty throughout the whole land, have been good for the whole country. The New England man is a man with his eye open everywhere. I have sometimes thought that the habit of attention, of giving the whole mind to the business in hand, had its very natural origin and development in New England agriculture. The man who holds a plough in a stumpy or stony ground learns the lesson that he had better give his mind to the business in hand. [Laughter.] Otherwise the revenge and punishments for inattention are so prompt and severe that he is quickly called back from any mental wanderings into which he may have fallen. I had occasion to say a moment ago that the fact that the mountain regions of the world had always furnished the bravest champions of liberty and the most strenuous defenders of the faith was possibly owing to the fact that their horizon was so high that if they looked at all they were compelled to look up. [Laughter and applause.]

My countrymen, we have a great and happy land--a people dwelling in happy homes, and that is the origin of government, and there is the essential of a contented citizenship. As long as we can preserve this independence and self-respect, and that degree of comfort in the home that makes it a pleasant abode when the day's toil is ended, and that enables by the most careful thrift the head of the household to lay by for the family and to lighten in some measure the care and labor of the children that are to follow him, there can be no happier land than ours. If we would perpetuate and secure that which we have had handed down to us and which we have so well preserved until this hour, this is the essential thing.

I thank you for this kindly greeting, and beg you to accept my sincerest good-will. I can say nothing of public affairs. Every man called to public office is subject to the infirmities that belong to our nature--the capacity to make mistakes. He can be, if he is true, sure of one thing--that in all that he does he has it in his mind to do the best he can for all the people. [Prolonged cheers.]

MONTPELIER, VERMONT, AUGUST 26.

A great throng greeted the President's arrival at the Vermont capital. He was met by a Reception Committee consisting of 15 prominent citizens: Col. Fred E. Smith, Hon. Charles Dewey, Prof. J. A. DeBoer, J. C. Houghton, M. E. Smilie, L. Bart Cross, G. H. Gurnsey, T. C. Phinney, H. W. Kemp, D. F. Long, C. P. Pitkin, J. W. Brock, George Wing, F. W. Morse, and Thomas Marvin. The First Regiment N. G. V., commanded by Adjutant-General Peck, with the Sons of Veterans, escorted the President and Governor Page to the State House, the former walking the entire distance with uncovered head, surrounded by a guard of honor detailed from George Crook Post, G. A. R. From the Governor's Room they were conducted to the hall of the House of Representatives, where the Legislature of Vermont was assembled in joint session. The members arose and remained standing until the Chief Magistrate was seated between Governor Page and Lieutenant-Governor Fletcher.