Part 9

_Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention_--When I received your invitation to appear for a moment before you I felt that what you asked could not involve any indelicacy, and as it offered me the only opportunity which I shall have to look into the faces of my Indiana Republican friends here assembled, I could not find it in my heart to deny myself the pleasure of spending a moment in your presence. [Applause.] This enthusiastic and kindly reception crowns a long series of friendly acts on the part of my Republican friends of Indiana. To have your confidence is very grateful to me, to be worthy of your confidence is the highest ambition I can set before me. [Applause.] Whatever may befall me, I feel that my fellow-citizens of Indiana have crowned me and made me forever their debtor. [Applause.] But I must not detain you from the business which has brought you here. [Cries of "Go on!"] Such an assemblage as this is characteristic of America. What you shall do to-day will influence the prosperity and welfare of the State. Such a meeting is a notable historical event. We have to-day transpiring in this country two other events that are attracting wide interest. At the chief seaport of our country that great Republican, and that great American, James G. Blaine, returns to his home. [Applause.] We shall not be disappointed, I hope, in hearing his powerful voice in Indiana before the campaign is old. [Applause.] Another scene attracts our solemn and even tearful interest, for while you are transacting your business here to-day a draped train is bearing from the place of his sojourn by the sea to the place of his interment at Washington the mortal part of Philip H. Sheridan. From the convention at Chicago we sent him our greetings and our earnest prayers for his restoration. To-day we mourn our hero dead. You called him then a favorite child of victory, and such he was. He was one of those great commanders who, upon the field of battle, towered a very god of war. [Applause.] He was one of those earnest fighters for his country who did not at the end of his first day's fight contemplate rest and recuperation for his own command. He rested and refreshed his command with the wine of victory, and found recuperation in the dispersion of the enemy that confronted him. [Great applause.] This gallant son of Ireland and America [great applause] has written a chapter in the art of war that will not fail to instruct and to develop, when the exigencies may come again, others who shall repeat in defence of our flag his glorious achievements. [Great applause.]

And now, Mr. President, and gentlemen, I am sure the heat of this hall and the labors that are before you suggest to you, as they do to me, that I shall close these remarks and bid you good-by. [Great applause.]

INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 14.

Godfrey Commandery, Knights Templars, of Chicago, colored men, _en route_ to the Grand Conclave at Louisville, paid their respects to General Harrison on the 13th, and were individually presented by Eminent Commander H. S. Cooper. On August 14 the visitors aggregated 6,000.

The first delegation came from Hamilton County, Indiana, headed by eighty veterans of the Tippecanoe Club, Charles Swain, President. There were nine Lincoln League organizations in line. Among the leaders were J. K. Bush, J. E. Walker, F. B. Pfaff, J. R. Christian, Benj. Goldsmith, Ike Hiatt, and C. R. Davis, of Noblesville, and Captain Carl, of Arcadia. Hon. J. R. Gray was their spokesman.

General Harrison, in reply, said:

_Colonel Gray and my Hamilton County Friends_--The demonstration which you have made this morning is worthy of Hamilton County; it is worthy of the great party to which you have given the consent of your minds and the love of your hearts; it is altogether more than worthy of him whom you have come to greet. You come from a county that, as your spokesman has said, is greatly favored, a county rich in its agricultural capacity; but, as I look into your faces this morning I turn from the contemplation of material wealth to the thought of those things that are higher and better. [Applause and cries of "Good! Good!"] Not long ago a distinguished Englishman and jurist visited our country. On the eve of his return, in a public address, he alluded to the fact that wherever he went he was asked whether he was not amazed at the great size of our country. This student of law and government very kindly, but very decidedly, rebuked this too prevalent pride of bulk, and called our attention to the finer and higher things that he had observed in our American civilization.

So to-day, as I look into these intelligent faces, my thoughts are turned away from those things that are scheduled, that have their places in our census returns, to those things which belong to the higher man--his spiritual and moral nature. [Applause.] I congratulate you, not so much upon the rich farm lands of your county as upon your virtuous and happy homes. [Applause.] The home is the best, as it is the first, school of good citizenship. It is the great conservative and assimilating force. I should despair for my country if American citizens were to be trained only in our schools, valuable as their instruction is. It is in the home that we first learn obedience and respect for law. Parental authority is the type of beneficent government. It is in the home that we learn to love, in the mother that bore us, that which is virtuous, consecrated, and pure. [Applause.] I take more pride in the fact that the Republican party has always been the friend and protector of the American home than in aught else. [Applause.] By the beneficent homestead law it created more than half a million of homes; by the Emancipation Proclamation it converted a million cattle-pens into homes. [Applause] And it is still true to those principles that will preserve contentment and prosperity in our homes. I greet you as men who have been nurtured in such homes, and call your thought to the fact that the Republican party has always been, and can be trusted to be, friendly to all that will promote virtue, intelligence and morality in the homes of our people.

Now, in view of the fact that I must greet other delegations to-day [cries of "Don't stop!"], I am sure you will be content with these brief remarks, though they are altogether an inadequate return for your cordial demonstration.

The other delegations of the day came from Macon and Douglas counties, Illinois, numbering 3,000. A notable feature of the Douglas County display was the tattered old battle-flag of the Twenty-first Illinois Regiment--General Grant's original regiment--borne by seven survivors.

Capt. T. D. Minturn, of Tuscola, was spokesman. At the head of the Macon County column marched 300 uniformed members of the Young Men's Republican Club of Decatur, led by Captain Wm. M. Strange and Wm. Frazier; Prof. L. A. Estes, of Westfield, headed a company from that town. Andrew H. Mills, of Decatur, spoke for the Macon County people.

General Harrison said:

_My Republican Friends_--I feel myself unable to respond suitably to this magnificent demonstration and to those kindly words which you have addressed to me. Public duties involve grave responsibilities. The conscientious man will not contemplate them without seriousness. But the man who sincerely desires to know and to do his duty may rely upon the favoring help of God and the friendly judgment of his fellow-citizens. [Great applause.]

Your coming from another State and from distant homes testifies to the observing interest which you feel in those questions which are to be settled by the ballot in November. [Cries of "We will settle them!"]

The confessed free-traders are very few in this country. But English statesmen and English newspapers confidently declare that in fact we have a great many. [Applause.]

We are told that it is only an average reduction of seven per cent. that is contemplated. [Laughter.] Well, if that were true, and not a very deceptive statement, as it really is, you might fairly ask whether this average reduction does not sacrifice some American industry or the wages of our workingmen and working-women. You may also fairly ask to see the free list, which does not figure in this "average." [Applause, and cries of "That's it!"] We would have more confidence in the protest of these reformers that they are not "free-traders" if we could occasionally hear one of them say that he was a protectionist [applause], or admit that our customs duties should adequately favor our domestic industries. But they seem to be content with a negative statement.

Those who would, if they could, eliminate the protective principle from our tariff laws have, in former moments of candor, described themselves as "progressive free-traders," and it is an apt designation. The protective system is a barrier against the flood of foreign importations and the competition of underpaid labor in Europe. [Applause.] Those who want to lower the dike owe it to those who live behind it to make a plain statement of their purposes. Do they want to invite the flood, or do they believe in the dike, but think it will afford adequate protection at a lower level? [Great and enthusiastic applause.]

What I say is only suggestive. I cannot in this brief talk go into details, or even properly limit the illustrations I have used. But this is an appropriate and timely inquiry: With what motive, what ultimate design, what disposition toward the principle of protection is it that our present tariff schedule is attacked? It may be that reductions should be made; it may be that some duties should be increased; but we want to know whether those who propose the revision believe in taking thought of our American workingmen in fixing the rates, or will leave them to the chance effects of a purely revenue tariff. [Applause.]

Now, having spoken once already to-day, you will accept this inadequate acknowledgment of this magnificent demonstration.

I thank you, my Illinois friends, not only on my own behalf, but on behalf of the Republicans of Indiana, for the great interest you have manifested. [Applause.]

INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 15.

Rush, Decatur, and Delaware counties, Indiana, contributed fully five thousand visitors on the 15th of August. Rush County sent twenty Republican clubs, mainly township organizations, led by one hundred veterans of 1836 and '40. The prominent Republicans of the delegation were Hon. John K. Gowdy, John M. Stevens, A. L. Riggs, W. J. Henley, John F. Moses, T. M. Green, J. C. Kiplinger, J. W. Study, and G. W. Looney, of Rushville; R. R. Spencer and J. A. Shannon, of Richland. Judge W. A. Cullen was their spokesman.

General Harrison, responding, said:

_Judge Cullen and my Rush County Friends_--I am glad to see you here--glad to be assured by him who has spoken in your behalf that your coming here in some measure is intended as an evidence of your personal respect for me. The respect of one's fellow-citizens, who have opportunities to know him, is of priceless value.

I cannot in these daily addresses enter much into public questions.

You are Indianians, some of you by birth; some of you, like me, by choice. You are Republicans; you have opposed always the doctrine of State's rights; you have believed and gloried in the great citizenship that embraces all the people of all the States. You believe that this Government is not a confederation to be dissolved at the will of any member of it, but a Nation having the inherent right, by arms, if need be, to perpetuate its beneficent existence. [Great applause.] Many of you who are here to-day have aided in vindicating that principle upon the battle-field [cries of "Plenty of us!"], and yet these views are not inconsistent with a just State pride. We are proud to be Indianians, proud of the story of her progress in material development, proud of her educational and benevolent institutions, proud of her Christian homes, proud of her part in the Civil War. If there has been any just cause of reproach against our State we will all desire that it may be removed. We may fairly appeal to all Indianians, without distinction of party, to co-operate in promoting such public measures as are calculated to lift up the dignity and honor and estimation of Indiana among the States of the Union. [Great applause.]

I will call your attention to one such subject that seems to me to be worthy of your thought. It is the reform of our election laws. [Applause and cries of "That's it!"] A constitutional amendment, to which a great majority of our people gave their sanction, has removed the impediments which stood in the way of progressive legislation in the protection of an honest ballot in Indiana. Formerly we could not require a definite period of residence in the voting precinct. Now we may and have. The same amendment authorized our Legislature to enact a just and strict registry law, which will enable the inspectors properly to verify the claims of those who offer a ballot. Every safeguard of law should be thrown around the ballot-box until fraud in voting and frauds in counting shall receive the sure penalties of law as well as the reprobation of all good men. [Great applause.] The Republican party has always stood for election reforms. No measure tending to secure the ballot-box against fraud has ever been opposed by its representatives. I am not here to make imputations; I submit this general suggestion: Find me the party that sets the gate of election frauds open, or holds it open, and I will show you the party that expects to drive cattle that way. [Applause.] Let us as citizens, irrespective of party, unite to exalt the name of Indiana by making her election laws models of justice and severity, and her elections free from the taint of suspicion. [Great applause.] And now, as I must presently speak to other delegations, I am sure my Rush County friends will allow me to close these remarks. [Applause and cheers.]

The visitors from Decatur and Delaware counties were received together. The Decatur delegation numbered fifteen hundred, led by B. F. Bennett, John F. Goddard, V. P. Harris, J. J. Hazelrigg, Geo. Anderson, Edward Speer, A. G. Fisher, F. M. Sherwood, and A. S. Creath, of Greensburg. Their spokesman was the Hon. Will Cumback. Delaware County sent twelve organizations, conspicuous among which were the Tippecanoe Club, the Veterans Regiment, and Lincoln Colored Club. Among the leaders of the delegation were ex-Senator M. C. Smith, A. F. Collins, Hon. James N. Templer, Major J. F. Wildman, Rev. T. S. Guthrie, J. D. Hoyt, Geo. F. McCulloch, W. W. Orr, Joseph G. Lefler, Lee Coffeen, C. F. W. Neely, Ed. R. Templer, W. H. Murray, W. H. Stokes, John S. Aldredge, J. R. Shoemaker, Jacob Stiffler, Web S. Richey, T. H. Johnson and others, of Muncie. Rev. N. L. Bray spoke on behalf of the Lincoln Club, but R. S. Gregory delivered the address for the delegation as a whole.

In reply to these several addresses General Harrison said:

_My Friends_--The man who does not believe that the issues of this campaign have taken a very deep hold upon the minds and upon the hearts of the American people would do well to come and stand with me and look into the faces of the masses who gather here. I know nothing of the human face if I do not read again in your faces and eyes the lesson I have read here from day to day, and it is this: That the thinking, intelligent, God-fearing and self-respecting citizens of this country believe there are issues at stake that demand their earnest effort. [Applause.] A campaign that is one simply of party management, a campaign by committees and public speakers, may fail; but a campaign to which the men and women of the country give their unselfish and earnest efforts can never fail. [Great applause.]

It is no personal interest in the candidate that stirs these emotions in your hearts; it is the belief that questions are involved affecting your prosperity and the prosperity of your neighbors; affecting the dignity of the nation; affecting the generation to which you will presently leave the government which our fathers built and you have saved. [Applause.]

One subject is never omitted by those who speak for these visiting delegations, viz.: the protective tariff. The purpose not to permit American wages to be brought below the level of comfortable living, and competence, and hope, by competition with the pauper labor of Europe, has taken a very strong hold upon our people. [Applause.] And of kin to this suggestion and purpose is this other: that we will not permit this country to be made the dumping-ground of foreign pauperism and crime. [Great applause.] There are some who profess to be eager to exclude paupers and Chinese laborers, and at the same time advocate a policy that brings the American workman into competition with the product of cheap foreign labor. [Applause and cries of "That's it!"] The disastrous effects upon our workingmen and working-women of competition with cheap, underpaid labor are not obviated by keeping the cheap worker over the sea if the product of his cheap labor is allowed free competition in our market. We should protect our people against competition with the products of underpaid labor abroad as well as against the coming to our shores of paupers, laborers under contract, and the Chinese labor. [Enthusiastic applause.] These two thoughts are twin thoughts; the same logic supports both; and the Republican party holds them as the dual conclusion of one great argument.

Now, gentlemen, to the first voters, who come with the high impulse of recruits into this strife; to these old men, seasoned veterans of many a contest, and to these colored friends, whose fidelity has been conspicuous, I give my thanks and hearty greetings. [Applause.] There has been a desire expressed that the reception of these delegations should be individualized; that Delaware should be received by itself, and Decatur separately; but that is not possible. You are one in thought and purpose; and if I am not able to individualize your reception by counties, I will, so far as I can, now make it absolutely individual by greeting each one of you.

INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 17.

Delegations from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, aggregating between nine and ten thousand visitors, paid their respects to the Republican nominee on the seventeenth of August.

The Ohio delegation came from Bellefontaine, Logan County, led by Judge William Lawrence. They carried a beautiful old silk banner that had been presented to a Logan County club at the hands of Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison in 1840.

Ford County, Illinois, sent a large delegation, headed by Judge A. Sample and Col. C. Bogardus, of Paxton. The Young Men's Club--Wm. Ramsey, President, and the Paxton League--T. T. Thompson, President, were conspicuous in this delegation.

The Kankakee County (Illinois) delegation, headed by the Republican club of the City of Kankakee in campaign uniforms, was led by Judge T. S. Sawyer, D. H. Paddock, F. S. Hatch, W. F. Kenoga, H. L. Richardson, J. F. Leonard, R. D. Sherman, Geo. R. Letourneau, and Judge J. N. Orr.

Morgan County, Illinois, contributed the largest delegation of the day, over two thousand, with three drum corps, one, the Jacksonville Juvenile Drum Corps, led by Thomas Barbour, aged 81. Prominent in the Morgan delegation were C. G. Rutledge, President Young Men's Republican Club, B. F. Hilligass, D. M. Simmons, Dr. P. G. Gillett, Sam'l W. Nichols, Judge M. T. Layman, J. G. Loomis, A. P. and J. M. Smith, veterans of '40, and Henry Yates, son of Illinois' war Governor--all of Jacksonville.

The Indiana visitors came from three counties--Bartholomew, Johnson, and Vermilion.

The Bartholomew contingent was composed largely of veterans of the late war, who were led by a company of their daughters in uniform. Among their representative members were John C. Orr, W. W. Lambert, John H. Taylor, John F. Ott, J. W. Morgan, John Sharp, T. B. Prother, Andrew Perkinson, and H. Rost, of Columbus.

The Johnson County delegation numbered two thousand, led by W. T. Pritchard, D. W. Barnett, Jessie Overstreet, J. H. Vannuys, I. M. Thompson, Jacob Hazlett, and John Brown, of Franklin.

Vermilion County sent fifteen hundred enthusiastic visitors, commanded by A. J. Ralph, Marshal of the delegation. Other leaders were Hon. R. B. Sears, W. L. Porter, Rob't A. Parrett, S. B. Davis, R. H. Nixon, Geo. H. Fisher, and Andrew Curtis, of Newport.

The speakers on behalf of these several delegations were: Hon. William Lawrence, of Ohio; Hon. Frank L. Cook, Paxton, Ill.; Judge C. R. Starr, Kankakee County, Ill.; Prof. Wm. D. Saunders, Jacksonville, Ill.; Major W. T. Strickland, Bartholomew County, Ind.; Col. Sam'l P. Oyler, Johnson County, Ind.; Hon. H. H. Connelly, Vermilion County, Ind. To these addresses General Harrison responded as follows: