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The commercial travelling men, and their friends, from the cities of Peoria, Bloomington, Terre Haute, and Lafayette, about a thousand in number, paid their respects to General Harrison on the afternoon of the 18th of August. The Bloomington delegation was led by J. H. Sprague and Dan Van Elsler, the Peoria Club by J. G. Jones. Each delegation was escorted by a splendid band.

They were met and escorted to the Harrison residence by a committee from the Indianapolis Commercial Travellers' Association, comprising G. C. Webster, C. H. McPherson, John V. Parker, W. H. Schmidt, D. W. Coffin, Harry Gates, R. K. Syfers, W. F. Winchester, Wm. Sisson, T. P. Swain, C. L. Schmidt, Ed. Finney, O. W. Moorman, Charles Lefler, M. P. Green, J. L. Barnhardt, Berg. Applegate, G. R. Rhoads, Hon. J. H. Rowell, of Bloomington; and Hon. J. S. Starr of Peoria spoke on behalf of the visitors. General Harrison said:

Gentlemen of the Commercial Travellers' Association of Peoria, Bloomington, Lafayette, and Terre Haute—I thank you for this most cordial and beautiful demonstration. The respect of such a body of men is a valuable acquisition. But I am particularly glad that a class so large and so influential, and one that touches so many communities, is loyally and earnestly devoted to the principles of the Republican party. I have travelled somewhat in the wake of the commercial men, and have observed that they have the habit of getting the best of everything wherever they go. [Applause and laughter. A voice: "That's the reason we are here!"] I am therefore quite ready to credit the statement of the gentleman who has just spoken in your behalf when he tells me that the commercial travellers are all Republicans. [Applause and cries of "He was right!"] I should expect they would get the best politics that were to be found. [Laughter and applause.]

Your calling is an active one—you are always on the move. You are quick to discover the wants of local trade. You are persuasive in speech and address; you are honest for the love of integrity, and do not forget that you must again face your customer after the goods are delivered. [Laughter and applause.] The men who employed you have chosen you, picked you out, and they subject you to the weekly test of success. You have been proved and not found wanting. The wide intercourse you have with your fellow-men and the wide view you get of our country must tend to make you liberal and patriotic.

The provincialism that once existed in this country has largely disappeared, and the commercial travellers have been an important agency in bringing this about. This going to and fro has given you a fuller comprehension, not only of the extent of this country, but of the greatness and unity of its people. [Cheers.] I have thought that the prophet Daniel must have had a vision of the commercial travellers when he said that in the last days many should run to and fro and knowledge should be increased. [Laughter and applause.]

You will not expect me to enter upon the discussion of any of the topics which have been suggested by those who have spoken for you. Most of them I have already alluded to in public speech since my nomination, and upon some of them I have spoken more fully before. Let me suggest but this one thought: Do not allow any one to persuade you that this great contest as to our tariff policy is one between schedules. It is not a question of a seven per cent. reduction. [Applause.] It is a question between wide-apart principles. [Cries of "That's right!"]

The principle of protection, the intelligent recognition in the framing of our tariff laws of the duty to protect our American industries and maintain the American scale of wages by adequate discriminating duties [cries of "That's right!" "That's it!"] on the one hand, and on the other a denial of the constitutional right to make our customs duties protective, or the assertion of the doctrine that free competition with foreign products is the ideal condition to which all our legislation should tend. [Applause.]

Let me now, in behalf not only of myself, but of my family, thank you for your visit and ask you to enter our home. [Applause.]