Chapter XII: Part 12

At the Coal Palace the President and Secretary Tracy were met by Gov. Horace Boies and his staff, headed by Adjt.-Gen Greene; also Senator Wm. B. Allison, Senator James F. Wilson, ex-Senator Harlan, Hon. John F. Lacey, and the following Committee of Reception, representing the city of Ottumwa: T. J. Devin, W. T. Harper, J. E. Hawkins, W. B. Smith, Henry Phillips, Sam'l A. Flager, J. C. Manchester, A. W. Johnson, W. T. Fenton, J. G. Meek, Calvin Manning, Geo. Withall, J. W. Garner, J. J. Smith, W. W. Epps, H. B. Hendershott, J. H. Merrill, W. B. Bonnifield, A. H. Hamilton, C. F. Blake, John C. Fisher, Hon. John N. Irwin, J. T. Hackworth, W. C. Wyman, John C. Jordan, A. G. Harrow, Allen Johnston, T. D. Foster, J. W. Edgerly, A. W. Lee, William Daggett, G. H. Sheffer, W. D. Elliott, Charles Bachman, H. A. Zangs, R. H. Moore, Capt. S. B. Evans, Capt. S. H. Harper, H. W. Merrill, J. R. Burgess, J. B. Mowrey, A. C. Leighton, W. S. Cripps, R. L. Tilton, Dr. L. J. Baker, D. A. Emery, Samuel Mahon, W. S. Coen, O. C. Graves, Thomas Swords, and John F. Henry. Other cities in Iowa were represented on the Reception Committee by the following prominent citizens: Hon. John Craig, of Keokuk; Judge Traverse and Senator Taylor, of Bloomfield; Gen. W. W. Wright and Gen. F. M. Drake, Centerville; Gen. B. M. McFall, Oskaloosa; T. B. Perry and J. H. Drake, Albia; Geo. D. Woodin and Hon. F. E. White, Sigourney; Hon. Chas. D. Leggett and Chas. D. Fullen, Fairfield; Hon. Edwin Manning and Capt. W. A. Duckworth, Keosauqua; F. R. Crocker and E. A. Temple, Chariton; O. P. Wright, Knoxville; E. B. Woodruff, Marion Co.; Col. Al. Swalm, Oskaloosa; Hon. W. P. Smith, Hon. Josiah Given, Hon. Fred Lehman, G. W. Wright, Des Moines; Hon. John H. Gear, Hon. John J. Seely, Burlington; Hon. F. C. Hormel, Capt. M. P. Mills, Cedar Rapids; Hon. Geo. H. Spahr, Hon. W. I. Babb, Mt. Pleasant; Hon. J. B. Grinnell, of Grinnell; Dr. Engle, Newton; Frank Letts and J. S. McFarland, Marshalltown; Hon. J. B. Harsh and M. A. Robb, Creston; ex-Governor Kirkwood and Ezekiel Clark, Iowa City.

The President and Governor Boies reviewed the parade from a stand in the park. The column was led by the veterans of the famous Third Iowa Cavalry. Three thousand school children participated in the demonstration, which was witnessed by fully 40,000 spectators. The public reception took place in the afternoon at the Coal Palace; the great building was overflowing. Hon. P. G. Ballingall, President of the Coal Palace Exposition, introduced Governor Boies, who welcomed the President in behalf of the people of Iowa.

President Harrison responded as follows:

_Governor Boies and Fellow-citizens_--I accept in the same cordial
and friendly spirit in which they have been offered these words of
welcome spoken on behalf of the good people of the great State of
Iowa. It gives me pleasure in this hasty journey to pause for a
little time in the city of Ottumwa. I have had especial pleasure in
looking upon this structure and the exhibits which it contains. It is
itself a proof of the enterprise, skill, and artistic taste of the
people of this city of which they may justly be very proud. I look
about it and see that its adornment has been wrought with materials
that are familiar and common, and that these have assumed, under the
deft fingers and artistic thoughts of your people, shapes of beauty
that are marvellously attractive. If I should attempt to interpret
the lesson of this structure, I should say it was an illustration of
how much that is artistic and graceful is to be found in the common
things of life; and if I should make an application of the lesson, it
would be to suggest that we might profitably carry into all our homes
and into all neighborly intercourse the same transforming spirit.
The common things of this life, touched by a loving spirit, may be
made to glow and glisten. The common intercourse of life, touched by
friendliness and love, may be made to fill every home and neighborhood
with a brightness that jewels cannot shed. And it is pleasant to think
that in our American home-life we have reached this ideal in a degree
unexcelled elsewhere.

I believe that in the American home, whether in the city or on
the farm, the American father and the American mother, in their
relations to the children, are kinder, more helpful, and benignant
than any others. [Cries of "Good! Good!" and cheers.] In these homes
is the strength of our institutions. Let these be corrupted and
the Government itself has lost the stone of strength upon which it
securely rests.

(Here, by some accident of arrangement, the water of an artificial waterfall immediately behind the President was turned on, and the rush and roar of the water drowned his voice almost completely.)

I have contended with a brass band while attempting to address a
popular audience, but I have never before been asked to speak in the
rush and roar of Niagara. [Laughter and cheers.] I think if I were to
leave it to this audience whether they would rather see that beautiful
display and hear the rippling of these waters [pointing] than to hear
me, they would vote for the waterfall. [Cries of "No, no!" and "Shut
off the water!"]

(At this point the management succeeded in finally turning off the water so that the deafening noise ceased.)

I had supposed that there were limitations upon the freedom of this
meeting this afternoon, both as to the Governor and myself, and that
no political suggestion of any sort was to be introduced into this
friendly concourse of American citizens; and I think both of us have
good cause for grievances against the prohibitionists for interrupting
us with this argument for cold water. [Great laughter and applause.]

It is quite difficult, called upon as I am every day, and
sometimes three or four times a day, to make short addresses with
the limitations that are upon me as to the subjects upon which I may
speak, to know what to say when I meet my fellow-citizens. I was
glad to hear the Governor say that Iowa is prosperous. We have here
a witness that it is so. It offers also, I think, a solution of the
origin of that prosperity, and suggests how it may be increased and
developed. We have in this structure a display of all the products of
the farm, and side by side with it a display of the mechanic arts. I
think in this combination, in this diversity of interest and pursuit,
in this mutual and helpful relation between the toilers of the soil
and the workers in our shops, each contributing to the commonwealth
and each giving to the other that which he needs, we have that which
has brought about the prosperity you now enjoy, and which is to
increase under the labors of your children to a degree that we have
not realized. The progress in the mechanical arts that men not older
than I have witnessed, the application of new agencies to the use of
men within the years of my own notice and recollection, read like a
fairy tale. Let us not think that we have reached the limits of this
development. There are yet uses of the agencies already known to be
developed and applied. There are yet agencies perhaps in the great
storehouse of nature that have not been harnessed for the use of
man. The telegraph, the telephone, and the phonograph have all come
within the memory of many who stand about me to-day. The application
of steam to ocean travel is within the memory of many here. The
development of our railroad system has all come within your memory
and mine. The railroad was but a feeble agency in commerce when
my early recollection begins; and now this great State is covered
with railroads like a network. Every farm is within easy reach of a
shipping station, and every man can speak to his neighbor any day of
the week, though that neighbor live on the opposite side of the globe.
Out of all this what is yet to come? Who can tell? You are favored
here in having not only a surface soil that yields richly to the labor
of the farmer, but in also having hidden beneath that surface rich
mines of coal which are to be converted into power to propel the mills
that will supply the wants of your people.

Now, my friends, thanking you for the kindness with which you have
listened to me, expressing again my appreciation of the taste and
beauty of this great structure in which we stand, and wishing for Iowa
and all its citizens the largest increase of prosperity in material
wealth, the most secure social order in all their communities, and the
crowning blessing of home happiness, I bid you good-by. [Prolonged
cheering.]

ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI, OCTOBER 10.

The first reception in the State of Missouri took place at St. Joseph at 6:30 the morning of October 10. Many thousands greeted the President at the Union Depot. Conspicuous in the assemblage were the veterans of Custer Post, G. A. R., who escorted the party to the neighboring hotel. The Committee of Reception consisted of Col. A. C. Dawes, Chairman; Mayor Wm. Shepard, Hon. John L. Bittinger, Capt Chas. F. Ernst, Capt. F. M. Posegate, Col. N. P. Ogden, August Nunning, Wm. M. Wyeth, Major T. J. Chew, Hon. Geo. J. Englehart, Hon. O. M. Spencer, Dr. J. D. Smith, James McCord, ex-Gov. Silas Woodson, John M. Frazier, Frank M. Atkinson, Rev. H. L. Foote, and Major Joseph Hansen.

Colonel Dawes made a brief welcoming address and presented the President, who spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--If you are glad to see me at this hour in the
morning, if you are so kind and demonstrative before breakfast, how
great would have been your welcome if I had come a little later in the
day? [Applause.]

I beg to thank you, who at an inconvenient and early hour, have
turned out to speak these words of welcome to us as we pass through
your beautiful city. Many years ago I read of St. Joseph. I know
something of its history, when, instead of being a large city, it was
a place for outfitting those slow and toilsome trains that bore the
early pioneers toward California and the far West. Those days are not
to be forgotten. Those means of communication were slow, but they
bore men and women, full of courage and patriotism, to do for us on
the Pacific and in the great West the work of peaceful conquest that
has added greatly to the glory and prosperity of our country. And yet
we congratulate ourselves that the swifter means of communication
have taken the place of the old; we congratulate ourselves that these
conveniences, both of business and social life, have come to crown
our day. And yet in the midst of them, enjoying the luxuries which
modern civilization brings to our doors, let us not lose from our
households those plain and sturdy virtues which are essential to
true American citizenship; let us remember always that above all
surroundings, above all that is external, there is to be prized those
solid and essential virtues that make home happy and that make our
country great, and that enable us in every time of trial and necessity
to call out from among the people some who are fit to lead our armies
or to meet every emergency in the history of the State. We are here
as American citizens, not as partisans; we are here as comrades of
the late war, or, if there are here those who under the other banner
fought for what seemed to them to be right, we are here to say one
and all that God knew what was best for this country when he cast
the issue in favor of the Union and the Constitution. [Applause and
cheers.]

Now, again united under its ample guarantee of personal liberty and
public security, united again under one flag, we have started forward,
if we are true to our obligations, upon a career of prosperity that
would not otherwise have been possible. Let us therefore, in all
kindliness and faithfulness, in devotion to the right, as God shall
give us light to see it, go forward in the discharge of our duties,
setting above everything else the flag and the Constitution on which
all our rights and securities are based. Now, my comrades of the Grand
Army of the Republic and fellow-citizens of Missouri, again I thank
you and bid you good-by. [Cheers.]

ATCHISON, KANSAS, OCTOBER 10.

Entering Kansas the President was the recipient of a unique welcome at Atchison, where 1,000 school children and several thousand citizens greeted him. Little Edna Elizabeth Downs was the orator on behalf of the children, and delivered a beautiful address, at the conclusion of which the children showered the President with flowers.

The Mayor of Atchison, Hon. B. P. Waggener, and the following prominent citizens welcomed the Chief Executive: Hon. John J. Ingalls, Hon. Edward K. Blair, Hon. Clem Rohr, Hon. S. C. King, Hon. S. H. Kelsey, Hon. John C. Tomlinson, Hon. A. J. Harwi, Hon. Henry Elleston, Hon. S. R. Stevenson, Hon. C. W. Benning, Judge Rob't M. Eaton, ex-Gov. Geo. W. Glick, Hon. H. C. Solomon, Judge A. G. Otis, Judge David Martin, L. C. Challiss, E. W. Howe, David Auld, B. T. Davis, Chas. E. Faulkner, Major W. H. Haskell, Major S. R. Washer, Capt. J. K. Fisher, Capt. David Baker, Capt. John Seaton, Stanton Park, T. B. Gerow, and H. Claypark. Chief-Justice Albert H. Horton made the welcoming address and introduced President Harrison, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I stand to-day for the first time upon the
soil of Kansas. I am glad to have been permitted to enter it by the
vestibule of this attractive city, the home of one of your most
brilliant statesmen. I cannot refrain from saying, God be thanked
that freedom won its early battle in Kansas. [Applause.] All this
would have been otherwise impossible. You have a soil christened with
the blood of men who died for liberty, and you have well maintained
the lessons they taught, living and dying. It was appropriate that
the survivors of the late war, men who came home crowned with the
consummating victory of liberty, should make the State of Kansas
pre-eminently the soldier State of the Union. Now, after telling you
that I am very grateful for your friendly greeting this morning, you
will, I am sure, excuse me, in this tumult, from attempting further
speech. May every good attend you in your homes; may the career of
this great State be one of unceasing prosperity in things material,
and may your citizenship never forget that the spiritual things that
take hold of liberty and human rights are higher and better than all
material things. [Prolonged cheering.] Allow me now to present to you
the only member of my Cabinet who accompanied me, General Tracy, of
New York, the Secretary of the Navy.

TOPEKA, KANSAS, OCTOBER 10.

The President's reception at Topeka on Friday, October 10, was a remarkable ovation; over 50,000 people from every county in the State greeted him. The famous Seventh U. S. Cavalry, Gen. J. W. Forsythe commanding, acted as the guard of honor. The President was welcomed by Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey, Senator John J. Ingalls, Chief-Justice Albert H. Horton, Mayor Robert L. Cofran, and the following distinguished committee: Ex-Gov. Thomas A. Osborn, ex-Gov. Geo. T. Anthony, Capt. Geo. R. Peck, Col. James Burgess, Hon. S. B. Bradford, Judge N. C. McFarland, Judge John Martin, A. J. Arnold, John Guthrie, Wm. P. Douthitt, John Mileham, William Sims, Cyrus K. Holliday, Perry G. Noel, S. T. Howe, Bernard Kelly, J. Lee Knight, N. D. McGinley, Wm. H. Rossington, Rev. Dr. F. S. McCabe, Geo. W. Reed, Elihu Holcomb, Lark Odin, L. J. Webb, Milo B. Ward, J. K. Hudson, F. P. McLennan, H. O. Garvey, Frank Root, John M. Bloss, John F. Gwinn, A. M. Fuller, J. W. F. Hughes, John R. Peckham, James L. King, Henry Bennett, Geo. H. Evans, M. C. Holman, John C. Gordon, H. P. Throop, Joseph R. Hankland, T. W. Durham, Judge C. G. Foster, A. K. Rodgers, A. B. Jetmore, and Thomas F. Oenes.

The parade was an imposing affair. Thirty thousand veterans were in line. The Indiana contingent numbered over 1,000, and as they passed the reviewing carriage, led by Major George Noble, cheer after cheer was given in honor of the distinguished Hoosier. Nearly 6,000 school children participated in the parade. In the afternoon the President visited the reunion grounds with Commander Ira F. Collins and other officers of the Kansas Department, G. A. R. Governor Humphrey delivered the welcoming address.

The President responded as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I am strongly tempted to omit even an attempt
to speak to you to-day; I think it would be better that I should go
home and write you an open letter. [Great laughter and cheering.] I
have been most profoundly impressed with the incidents which have
attended this tremendous and, I am told, unprecedented gathering
of the soldiers and citizens of the great State of Kansas. No one
can interpret in speech the lessons of this occasion. No power of
description is adequate to convey to those who have not looked upon
it or into the spirit and power of this meeting. This assembly is
altogether too large to be greeted individually--one cannot get his
arms around it. [Laughter and cheers.] And yet so kindly have you
received me that I would be glad if to each of you I could convey the
sense of gratitude and appreciation which is in my heart. There is
nothing for any of us to do but to open wide our hearts and let these
elevating suggestions take possession of them. I am sure there has
been nothing here to-day that does not point in the direction of a
higher individual, social, State and national life. Who can look upon
this vast array of soldiers who fought to a victorious consummation
the war for the Union without bowing his head and his heart in
grateful reverence? [Great applause.] Who can look upon these sons of
veterans, springing from a patriotic ancestry, full of the spirit of
'61, and coming into the vigor and strength of manhood to take up the
burdens that we must soon lay down, and who, turning from these to the
sweet-faced children whose hands are filled with flowers and flags,
can fail to feel those institutions of liberty are secure for two
generations at least? [Great cheering.] I never knew until to-day the
extent of the injury which the State of Kansas had inflicted upon the
State of Indiana [laughter and cheers]--never until I had looked upon
that long line of Indiana soldiers that you plucked from us when the
war was over by the superior inducement which your fields and cities
offered to their ambitious toil. Indiana grieves for their loss, but
rejoices in the homes and prosperity they have found here. [Cheers.]
They are our proud contribution to the great development which this
State has made. They are our proud contribution to that great national
reputation which your State has established as the friend as well as
one of the bulwarks of liberty and law. [Cheers.] It was not unnatural
that they, coming back from scenes where comrades had shed their blood
for liberty, should choose to find homes in a State that had the
baptism of martyrs' blood upon its infant brow. [Prolonged cheering.]
The future is safe if we are but true to ourselves, true to these
children whose instruction is committed to us. There is no other foe
that can at all obstruct or hinder our onward progress except treason
in our own midst--treachery to the great fundamental principle of our
Government, which is obedience to the law. The law, the will of the
majority expressed in orderly, constitutional methods, is the only
king to which we bow. But to him all must bow. Let it be understood
in all your communities that no selfish interest of the individual,
no class interests, however entrenched, shall be permitted to assert
their convenience against the law. This is good American doctrine,
and if it can be made to prevail in all the States of the Union until
every man, secure under the law in his own right, is compelled by the
law to yield to every other man his rights, nothing can shake our
repose. [Cheers.]

Now, fellow-citizens, you will excuse me from the attempt at further
speech. I beg you again to believe that I am grateful, so far as
your presence here has any personal reference to myself--grateful as
a public officer for this evidence of your love and affection for the
Constitution and the country which we all love. [Great applause.]

There is some grumbling in Kansas, and I think it is because your
advantages are too great. [Laughter.] A single year of disappointment
in agricultural returns should not make you despair of the future or
tempt you to unsafe expedients. Life is made up of averages, and I
think yours will show a good average. Let us look forward with hope,
with courage, fidelity, thrift, patience, good neighborly hearts, and
a patriotic love for the flag. Kansas and her people have an assured
and happy future. [Prolonged cheers.]

NORTONVILLE, KANSAS, OCTOBER 10.

At Nortonville the citizens, and especially the school children, turned out _en masse_ and gave the President the heartiest of welcomes. Among the prominent residents who participated in the greeting were Hon. A. J. Perry, S. P. Griffin, Thomas Eckles, C. C. McCarthy, Dr. D. T. Brown, L. P. King, D. A. Ellsworth, O. U. Babcock, Dr. R. D. Webb, J. G. Roberts, W. T. Eckles, Harry Ellison, Rev. T. Hood, and M. Crowberger. On behalf of the school children a little girl climbed the steps and presented the Chief Magistrate with an armful of beautiful bouquets, for which she received a hearty kiss.

Governor Humphrey introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--This brief stop forbids that I should say
anything more than thank you and to extend to you all my most
friendly greeting. The sky is overcast, but in this assemblage of
your school children, with flags and flowers, and in this gathering
of the sturdy men who have made Kansas great among States, there are
suggestions that spread a sky of beauty and hope above our country
and its destiny. It gives me great pleasure to make this first visit
to Kansas. It gives me great pleasure to see both at Atchison and
here the interest which the presence of these children shows you
take in public education. There are many here who in their early
days experienced the hardships and privations of pioneer life. The
avenues of learning were shut against them, but it is much to their
credit that what they lacked in early life, the impediments which have
burdened their careers, they have bravely resolved shall not burden
their children. I thank you again for this pleasant reception, and I
bid you good-by, as we proceed on our journey.

VALLEY FALLS, KANSAS, OCTOBER 10.

At Valley Falls, Kan., another large crowd was assembled. The President was welcomed by Mayor A. D. Kendall, Dr. A. M. Cowan, R. H. Crosby, M. M. Maxwell, Dr. Frank Swallow, Mrs. J. H. Murry, Miss L. M. Ring, and other prominent residents. Mrs. Dr. Cowan, on behalf of the ladies, presented General Harrison with a basket of flowers.

In response to the enthusiastic greetings the President said:

_My Friends_--I thank you sincerely for this cordial reception. I
will not attempt any speech further than to say that this greeting
puts me, if possible, under still stronger obligations in every
official duty that devolves upon me to consult the interests of the
people and do that which seems to be most promotive of public good.
[Cheers.]

LAWRENCE, KANSAS, OCTOBER 10.

The historic city of Lawrence was reached at 4:40 o'clock, where the cheers of an immense multitude, including a battalion from Haskell Institute, welcomed the President. The Reception Committee consisted of Mayor A. Henley, George Innis, W. H. Whitney, Gov. Chas. Robinson, Gen. J. N. Roberts, and E. F. Goodrich. The veterans of Washington Post, G. A. R., Gen. H. S. Hall, Commander, were present in a body.

Mayor Henley, in the name of the city, welcomed the President, who, responding, said:

_My Friends_--I am sure you are kind, and the greatest kindness you
can do me is not to ask me to attempt to speak again so recently after
attempting at Topeka to talk to all the rest of the people in Kansas
[laughter] who are not here. I supposed until the train pulled into
this city that the entire citizenship of the State was in the immense
crowd congregated at Topeka to-day. My voice was so strained in
attempting to speak there that I will only say to you that it gives me
great pleasure to see you and to speak to you, even for a moment, at
this hospitable town. All the inspiration connected with the story of
the early history of Kansas clusters around the city of Lawrence. I am
sure you will find in that story inspiration and suggestion that will
keep the cause of liberty ever near to your hearts. [Great applause.]

KANSAS CITY, OCTOBER 10.

The presidential party reached Kansas City at 5:30 P.M. Friday, where a grand reception was tendered the Chief Executive. The Committee of Reception, representing the municipality and business interests, comprised the following prominent citizens, who escorted the President from Topeka: Mayor Benjamin Holmes, Witten McDonald, J. C. James, Joseph Speyer, Judge C. L. Dobson, Col. M. J. Payne, W. S. Woods, Hon. E. H. Allen, F. L. Kaufman, M. E. Lawrence, Joseph Cahn, Col. T. B. Bullene, Col. E. H. Phelps, Col. J. F. Richards, George R. Barse, Major William Warner, William Taylor, Col. Louis Hammerslough, E. C. Sattley, J. H. Fink, Col. W. A. Wilson, Marshal Tracy, F. B. Nofsinger, Collector Devol, Surveyor Guffin, Dr. F. W. Schulte, W. T. Urie, G. S. Hampton, J. H. Smith, M. D. Henderson, H. J. Rosecrans, R. M. Easley, H. C. Fike, B. S. Flersheim, Wm. Barton, H. J. Long, E. M. Clendening, T. James, James M. Coburn, L. E. Irwin, C. L. Valandingham, G. W. Hollinger, E. E. Richardson, E. M. Wilcox, J. M. Cooper, W. H. Bundage, M. H. Dickerson, C. A. Brockett, S. A. Pierce, J. H. Neff, S. R. Hudson, A. H. Moffitt, S. B. Stokely, P. L. Whipple, J. W. Merrill, D. G. Saunders, F. W. Hatch, G. Bernheimer, B. C. Burgess, S. T. Smith, and J. L. Walker.

An enormous crowd greeted the President as he was driven to the Coates House, where the distinguished party were entertained at dinner by Mayor Holmes, ex-Governor Crittenden, Mayor W. A. Coy, of Kansas City, Kan.; Gov. A. J. Smith, of the Soldiers' Home at Leavenworth; Hon. John Scott Harrison--the President's brother--and other leading citizens.

In response to a toast to the President's health, General Harrison said:

_Gentlemen_--I am sorry to cause even this temporary interruption by
leaving the banquet, but I am sure you will all appreciate the desire
I have to spend a few minutes under my brother's roof in your city,
and will therefore excuse me. Let me say that I very much appreciate
the friendly and hospitable spirit of the business men of Kansas
City, to whom I am indebted for this banquet and reception. It has
never been my pleasure before to visit your city, but it has been
well advertised, and I have heard of it frequently. [Laughter and
applause.] So far as I could tell by the dim light of the evening in
riding through the city, it realizes fully my expectations in growth
and prosperity. [Applause.] Let me say, in conclusion, that I hope all
your dreams for Kansas City may be realized. [Great applause.]

After passing the evening at his brother's residence, at 8 P.M. the President was escorted by 300 members of the Third Regiment and a cavalry guard, commanded by Col. Milton Moore, to the Chamber of Commerce, where an informal reception was held.

Major William Warner introduced the President, who said:

_My Fellow citizens_--I will not attempt to say more than that I
am very grateful to you for your kindness, for this cordial, genuine
Kansas City welcome. [Cheers.] The arrangements which have been made,
and which are intended to give me an opportunity to meet some of you
personally, and the early hour at which we are to take the train for
St. Louis, make it inappropriate that I should attempt to speak at
any length. I thank you again for your kindness, and will now submit
myself to such arrangements as the committee have made to spend the
little time I have to spend with you. [Cheers.]

ST. LOUIS, OCTOBER 11.

The President arrived in St. Louis at 9:30 in the morning and received a royal welcome. As he drove through the city amid the roar of cannon, it is estimated that fully 200,000 people greeted him, and his journey partook of a triumph. The committee of escort that met the President at Kansas City consisted of ex-Gov. E. O. Stanard, Col. S. W. Fordyce, Hon. R. C. Kerens, and Marcus Bernheimer. The guard of honor was a detail from the Grand Army, commanded by Major Leo Rassieur.

The President was met on arrival by the following distinguished Committee of Reception: His Honor, Mayor Noonan, D. M. Houser, Geo. D. Reynolds, R. M. Scruggs, Nelson Cole, Col. James G. Butler, Col. J. O. Churchill, Daniel Catlin, Wm. M. Senter, John Orrick, John S. Moffett, S. Newman, D. P. Rowland, John J. Daly, A. B. Ewing, Miles Sells, John Dillon, Professor Waterhouse, Frank Buchanan, John B. Harlow, Marquand Foster, Philip Brockman, Wm. Grassmuck, Chas. Scudder, John J. O'Brien, T. J. Cummings, John H. Terry, J. S. Finkenbauer, C. J. Hanabrinck, L. Bohle, O. M. Dean, John M. Sellers, James Green, Dr. Thomas O'Reilly, Samuel Kennard, O. M. Haye, John A. Scudder, H. L. Morrill, S. H. H. Clark, John Scullen, C. C. Maffitt, Joseph Franklin, Hon. F. G. Niedringhaus, Hon. Nathan Frank, W. M. Kinsey, E. S. Rowse, Geo. D. Barnard, J. L. Boland, D. H. King, C. P. Walbridge, B. F. Harnett, Geo. Taylor, R. P. Tansey, A. S. White, F. A. Wann, M. M. Bodenheimer, W. A. Hargadine, George A. Baker, John N. Booth, Geo. W. Parker, J. D. Thompson, George A. Medill, E. C. Simmons, Edwin C. Kehr, G. A. Finkelnburg, Marcus Bernheimer, L. Beavis, Charles F. Joy, Henry Hitchcock, Wm. H. Thompson, W. F. Niedringhaus, Charles Espenschied, A. B. Goodbaugh, Jonathan Rice, Jacob Meyer, Goodman King, D. C. Nugent, John Davis, J. D. Bascom, R. W. Shapleigh, Edgar D. Tilton, John C. Wilkinson, D. D. Walker, Frederick Vaughn, E. F. Williams, J. H. Wear, C. D. Comfort, C. C. Rainwater, F. W. Humphrey, Michael McGinnis, John Wahl, W. L. Hughes, and Thomas H. West.

After reviewing the parade from the balcony of the Southern Hotel the President and Secretary Tracy visited the Merchants' Exchange and were tendered a reception by the business men of the city. Mr. Marcus Bernheimer, President of the Exchange, occupied the presiding chair and introduced Gov. D. R. Francis, who, in an eloquent address, welcomed the President in the name of the people of Missouri. The Governor was followed by Hon. Edward A. Noonan, Mayor of St. Louis, who extended a "sincere and hearty greeting," on behalf of the residents of the city.

Hon. Charles Parsons then introduced the President, who addressed the assemblage as follows:

_Governor Francis, Mr. Mayor, and Fellow-citizens_--It is very
grateful and very healthful to be so cordially received by you this
morning. The office which I have been called upon to administer
is very great in dignity, but it is very full of care and heavy
responsibility. The man who with conscientious regard and a proper
appreciation of the great trust seeks to administer it for the public
good will find himself daily beset with perplexities and doubts,
and daily besieged by those who differ with him as to the public
administration. But it is a great comfort to know that we have an
intelligent, thoughtful, and, at the same time, a very kind people,
who judge benevolently and kindly the acts of those public servants
of whose good disposition to do right they are not left in doubt. And
it is very pleasant to know--and I do not need these eloquent words
of assurance to have already impressed upon me--the great lesson that
there are more things in which we agree and have common interests
than in which we differ. But our differences of opinion as to public
administration are all brought together in a genuine patriotism and
love of country. [Applause]. It gives me pleasure to witness since
my last visit to St. Louis evidence of that steady and uninterrupted
growth which this great commercial centre has made since its birth as
an Indian trading-post on the Mississippi. No year has been without
its added evidences of progress, development, accumulation of wealth,
and increase in population. You have now passed any period of doubt or
uncertainty, and the career of St. Louis is assured. You have grown
like the oak, annually adding a ring to the prosperity and wealth and
commercial importance of your great city. You have struck the roots
of your influence broad and deep into the nourishing earth of this
great fertile land in which you have lived; and the branches--the
high branches of your enterprise--are reaching toward the sunlight
that shines upon them. You are situated upon the Mississippi River,
giving you water communication with the sea, a communication which
this Government has undertaken to improve and secure, and which I
believe will be made secure by appropriate legislation. [Applause.]
Nor do I know any reason why these great lines of railway stretching
from St. Louis to the Southwest may not yet touch great ports of
commerce, deep harbors, until they shall become trunk lines. We have
come to regard only these lines of railway communication to eastern
seaboards as trunk lines. I do not know why. Indeed, I believe that in
the future, when we shall have seized again, as we will seize if we
are true to ourselves, our own fair part of commerce upon the sea, and
when we shall have again our appropriate share of South American trade
[cheers], that these railroads from St. Louis, touching deep harbors
on the gulf, and communicating there with lines of steamships, shall
touch the ports of South America and bring their tribute to you. You
shall in all these things find a special interest, but an interest
that will be shared, as all great interests are, by the Nation and
people, of which you are a loyal and enterprising part. And now, my
friends, again let me thank you, and all those who have spoken in your
behalf, for these friendly words. These great industries of commerce
and manufactures here are entwined in friendly helpfulness. As they
are diversified your prosperity is increased; but under them all,
as the only secure rock upon which they can rest, is social order
and obedience to the law. Let it never be forgotten anywhere that
commerce builds only upon social order. Be watchful and careful of
every instrumentality or suggestion which puts itself against the law.
Where the law is wrong make it right. [Cries of "Good!" and cheering.]
Let that be the one rule of conduct in the public relations of every
American citizen. And now, my friends, again let me say thank you and
good-by.

At the conclusion of the reception on 'Change the President, escorted by the Committee of Reception, visited the Fair Grounds and attended a banquet in his honor at the Jockey Club House. In the evening the distinguished guests visited the Exposition, where a tremendous crowd gathered. As the President entered Music Hall, Gilmore's famous band struck up "Hail to the Chief." The great audience stood and called repeatedly for a speech. The President arose in his box and bowed several times; but there was no denying their demands, and Governor Francis finally introduced his excellency, who said:

_Ladies and Gentlemen_--I have sometimes thought that the life of
the President of the United States is like that of the policeman in
the opera--not a happy one. So many cares strew his path, so many
people's welfare is to be considered, that wiser heads than mine may
well be puzzled. The attention of this mighty audience to-night has
been distracted from the concert by my entrance, not withstanding the
fact that it has a leader more a master of his art than any other on
the continent. I did not, nor do I desire to make a speech to-night.
But as I have always declared myself in favor of the rule of the
majority, I feel compelled to do so.

From early morn till late this evening the day has been one of
unalloyed pleasure to me. Every possible courtesy has been shown our
party, and we have gathered, I assure you, a most high opinion of your
people and your city. This building is in every way a credit to St.
Louis, the metropolis of the Southwest, and its exhibits do credit to
the merchants and manufacturers represented. I am glad to see that the
higher arts go hand-in-hand with mechanics. Art, music, poetry, and
song should not be separated from the homes of the poor, and such an
institution as this cannot fail to instil all that is good into the
hearts of every one. Before I close let me tell you all how grateful
and how complimented I feel at my hearty reception in your midst. I
shall always recall this day with happy remembrance. Now, won't you
crown the great courtesies of the day by allowing me to end my speech?
[Applause.]

ANDERSON, INDIANA, OCTOBER 13.

President Harrison passed the Sabbath quietly at his Indianapolis residence, and early Monday morning, accompanied by Secretary Tracy and Marshal Ransdell, started for Washington.

The first stop was at Pendleton, where the President shook hands with quite a crowd. Anderson, the county seat of Madison County, was reached at 7:10, and a large concourse of people greeted the travellers. The President was received by Hon. Winfield T. Durbin, Chas. T. Doxey, W. A. Kittinger, John F. McClure, Caleb Brown, Jacob Koehler, Francis Watkins, A. A. Small, and other leading citizens. Mayor Terhune, in a patriotic address, presented the Chief Executive.

After acknowledging the cordial greeting, the President spoke of the rapid industrial development of that section consequent upon the discovery and development of natural gas, and predicted a fine future for the county. Concluding, he said:

I am here to-day, returning to my duties at Washington from a trip
taken to meet some of my old comrades during the war. There are some
here this morning. I bid them God-speed; I give them a comrade's
greeting; and to you, my old-time friends, not in politics, but in
that pride and association which makes us all Indianians--we are
all proud of our State and proud of our communities--I desire to
say that while I have friends elsewhere, these were my earliest
friends--friends of my boyhood almost, for I was scarcely more than
a boy when I became a citizen of this State, and I always turn to it
with affectionate interest. [Cheers.]

MUNCIE, INDIANA, OCTOBER 13.

At Muncie the assemblage was very large, numbering over 10,000, and the President received the most vociferous greeting of the day. Here, as at other points in the State, hundreds of General Harrison's old friends crowded forth to welcome him and bid him God-speed. Prominent among these were: Hon. Frank Ellis, Mayor of the city; Hon. M. C. Smith, Hon. John C. Eiler, Hon. Fred W. Heath, Hon. W. W. Orr, Hon. O. N. Cranor, Hon. Geo. W. Cromer, Judge O. J. Lotz, Dr. G. W. H. Kemper, Dr. Thos. J. Bowles, Dr. A. B. Bradbury, A. L. Kerwood, Geo. L. Lenon, F. E. Putnam, Thos. H. Kirby, Charles H. Anthony, D. H. H. Shewmaker, Theodore F. Rose, N. N. Spence, Chas. M. Kimbrough, Webster S. Richey, Thos. L. Zook, John T. Watterhouse, J. W. Ream, C. E. Jones, and R. I. Patterson. Mayor Ellis delivered a brief welcoming address and introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I have known this beautiful city of yours and
many of the people of this prosperous county for more than thirty
years. I have known in a general way the development of your interests
by almost yearly visits to the city of Muncie, but it seems to me that
in these two years I have been out of the State you have made more
progress than in any ten years when I was in the State. [Cheers.] I
think it was in the year 1886, when I spent a night in Muncie, that
my attention was drawn by some of your citizens, as darkness settled
down, to a remarkable and what was then thought to be chiefly a
curious red glow in your horizon. It was, if I recollect aright, about
the earliest development of natural gas in Indiana, and the extent of
this great field was wholly unknown. How rapidly events have crowded
each other since! You have delved into the earth and have found the
supply of this most adaptable and extraordinary fuel inexhaustible;
and what has it done for you? No longer are you transporting coal from
the distant mines to feed your furnaces. No longer are you sending the
choppers into the woods to cut your trees and haul them in, that they
may bring you winter heat and fuel. The factories have been coming
to you. This convenient heat and serviceable fuel is found in the
humblest home in Muncie. How it has added to your comfort only those
who have used it know. How much it has added to your prosperity and
development of manufactures here you have only begun to know. [Cheers.]

The sunlight will not more surely shed its beams on us this morning
than this great tide of prosperity which has set in through this gas
belt in Indiana shall go on increasing until all these cities and
towns within its radius are full of busy men and humming machinery.
What does all this mean? It means employment for men. It means happy
and comfortable homes for an increasing population. It means an
increased home market for the products of your farm. It means that
the farmer will have a choice of crops, and will have consumers for
perishable products of his farm at his very door. It means, if you
preserve the order of your community, if this good county of Delaware
continues to maintain its reputation as a law-abiding, liberty-loving,
free-school-loving population [cheers], that you shall have a
prosperity--an increase of riches and of human comfort that we have
scarcely conceived.

And now, my friends, all over this, and above all this, and better
than it all, let us keep in mind those higher things that make our
country great. I do not forget that your good county sent to the war
of the Union, in the gallant regiments that went from this State, a
multitude of brave men to stand by the flag. [Cheers.] Some of them
are with you to-day. [Applause.] Now let that love of the flag be
still uppermost in your hearts. Nothing has pleased me more as I
passed through some of our Western States than to see that the school
children everywhere had the starry flag in their hands. [Cheers.] Let
it be so here and everywhere. Let them learn to love it, to know its
beauty, in order that when the time of peril comes they may be ready
to defend it. [Applause.] Now to these friends, I am most grateful for
your appreciative kindness, and if I shall be able, in the discharge
of high and difficult duties, to maintain the respect and confidence
of my fellow-citizens of Indiana, other things will take care of
themselves.

WINCHESTER, INDIANA, OCTOBER 13.

Winchester's greeting was of the most cordial character; a large share of the population of Randolph County seemed to have turned out to do the President honor. Among the prominent citizens participating were: Leander J. Monks, Albert O. Marsh, Martin B. Miller, C. W. Moore, Dennis Kelley, W. R. Way, W. E. Miller, T. F. Moorman, Albert Canfield, John R. Engle, A. C. Beeson, E. L. Watson, Thos. S. Gordon, H. P. Kizer, J. E. Watson, John T. Chenoweth, W. H. Reinheimer, B. Hawthorne, and B. W. Simmons.

Gen. Thomas M. Browne, on behalf of the citizens, delivered an eloquent address of welcome, and closed by introducing President Harrison, who said:

_My Friends_--It gives me great pleasure to hear from the lips of
your honored fellow-citizen, my old-time army comrade, these words of
welcome, spoken in your behalf. I thank you and him for his assurance
that your assembling here together is without regard to difference
in belief, and as American citizens having common interests and a
common love for the flag and the Constitution. Now, to these good
people of Randolph County I render this morning my sincere thanks
for their hearty and cordial welcome. No public servant, in whatever
station, can ever be indifferent to the good esteem of men and women
and children like these. You do not know how much these kindly faces,
these friendly Indiana greetings, help me in the discharge of duties
that are not always easy.

I bid you good-by and God-speed. I do wish for Indiana and all her
people the greatest happiness that God can give. [Prolonged cheers.]

UNION CITY, INDIANA, OCTOBER 13.

The President found another great crowd awaiting him at Union City, including several hundred school children, each waving a flag. Between rows of children he was escorted to the park near the station by a committee consisting of Hon. Theo. Shockney, B. F. Coddington, J. S. Reeves, and Geo. W. Patchell. Arrived at the park he was met by James B. Ross, S. R. Bell, L. C. Huesman, J. F. Rubey, W. S. Ensign, L. D. Lambert, J. B. Montani, C. S. Hardy, J. C. Platt, Judge J. W. Williams, R. G. Clark, H. H. Le Fever, H. D. Grahs, Chas. Hook, and other prominent citizens. Senator Shockney made the welcoming address. The President, responding, said:

_Senator Shockney and Fellow-citizens_--The conditions are not such
here that I can hope to make many of you hear the few words that
it is possible for me to speak to you. I have found myself in this
tour through these Western States, undertaken for the purpose of
meeting some of my comrades of the late war, who had invited me to
be with them at their annual gatherings, repeating the words "Thank
you" everywhere. I have felt how inadequate this word or any other
word was to express the sense of gratitude I should feel to these
friendly fellow-citizens who everywhere greeted me with kind words and
kinder faces. I feel very grateful to see you, and to realize that
if there are any fault-finders, sometimes with reason, and sometimes
without, that the great body of our people are interested only in good
government, in good administration, and that the offices shall be
filled by men who understand that they are the servants of the people,
and who serve them faithfully and well. If it were not so a President
would despair. Great as the Government is, vast as is our civil list,
it is wholly inadequate to satisfy the reasonable demands of men, and
so, from disappointment, reasonable or unreasonable, we turn with
confidence and receive with encouragement these kindly greetings from
the toilers of the country--the men and women who only ask from the
Government that it shall protect them in their lives, their property,
and their homes; that it shall encourage education, provide for these
sweet young children, so that they shall have an easier road in life
than their fathers had, and that there shall be an absence of corrupt
intent or act in the administration of public business.

And now, standing on the line which divides these two States,
the one for which I have the regard every man should feel for his
birthplace, and the other to which I owe everything I have received
in civil life or public honor, I beg to call your attention to the
fact how little State lines have to do with American life. Some of
you pay your taxes on that side of the line, some on this, but in
your intercourse, business, and social ties you cross this line
unknowingly. Above both and greater than both--above the just pride
which Ohioans have in that noble State, and above the just pride which
we have in Indiana--there floats this banner that is the common banner
of us all. We are one in citizenship; we are one in devotion to the
Government, which makes the existence of States possible and their
destruction impossible. [Cheers.] And now, to these children, to my
Grand Army friends, and to these old citizens, many of whom I have
met under other conditions, I beg to say God bless you every one, and
good-by.

DE GRAFF, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.

Crossing the Ohio line a short stop was made at Sidney, where the President shook hands and received a delegation from Bellefontaine headed by Judge Wm. Lawrence. At De Graff the President met with a cordial reception, especially from the school children. He was welcomed by ex-Mayor H. P. Runyon, Dr. W. W. Hamer, Dr. W. H. Hinkle, W. E. Haris, G. W. Harnish, John F. Rexer, Dr. F. M. Galer, Dr. Wm. Hance, R. O. Bigley, D. S. Spellman, D. W. Koch, Benjamin Bunker, W. H. Valentine, J. W. Strayer, and S. E. Loffer.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph Swisher introduced the President, who said:

_My Friends_--I am very glad to see you all, and especially these
dear young children. I have been passing through a country glorious
in the autumnal tints which make a landscape that can be seen nowhere
else in the world, and yet I turn always from these decaying glories
of nature with great delight to look into the bright faces of these
happy children, where I see a greater, because immortal, glory. I
thank them for their presence here this morning. I wish their lives
may be as sunny and bright through manhood and through womanhood,
finding happiness in usefulness. I wish I had time to shake hands with
you all. [Cheers.]

BELLEFONTAINE, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.

Bellefontaine accorded the President an enthusiastic welcome. The Committee of Reception consisted of Dr. A. L. Wright, Mayor of the city; Judge William Lawrence, Judge West, Judge Price, J. C. Brand, D. Hennesy, Geo. W. Emerson, Aaron Gross, A. C. Elliott, A. E. Griffen, H. J. King, J. E. West, I. N. Zearing, and J. Q. A. Campbell.

Mayor Wright delivered a brief welcoming address and introduced the President, who spoke as follows: