Читать книгу Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States - Benjamin Harrison - Страница 31

Table of Contents

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.]