Chapter XIV: Part 14

It is the one rule of conduct for us all. I may not choose as
President what laws I will enforce, and the citizen may not choose
what laws he will obey. Upon this broad principle our institutions
rest. If we save it, all the agitations and tumults of our campaigns,
exciting though they may be, will be harmless to move our Government
from its safe and abiding foundation.

If we abandon it, all is gone. Therefore, my appeal everywhere is
to hold the law in veneration and reverence. We have no other king;
public officers are your servants; but in the august and majestic
presence of the law we all uncover and bow the knee.

May every prosperity attend you. May this ground, made memorable by
one of the most gallant assaults and by one of the most successful
defences in the story of the war, never again be stained by
blood; but may our people, in one common love of one flag and one
Constitution, in a common and pervading fealty to the great principles
of our Government, go on to achieve material wealth, and in social
development, in intelligence, in piety, in everything that makes
a nation great and a people happy, secure all the Lord has in His
mind for a Nation that He has so conspicuously blessed. [Great and
prolonged cheering.]

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, APRIL 15.

Chattanooga was reached Wednesday morning at 8:30 o'clock. The President was received with marked cordiality and enthusiasm by the several thousand citizens assembled at the station. At this point the party was joined by the President's younger brother, Mr. Carter B. Harrison, and his wife, of Murfreesboro, Tenn. The following prominent citizens comprised the committee that received the President: Hon. J. B. Merriam, Mayor of Chattanooga; Hon. H. Clay Evans, Judge David M. Key, H. S. Chamberlain, D. J. O'Connell, Henophen Wheeler, John Crimmins, Maj. J. F. Shipp, Col. Tomlinson Fort, John T. Wilder, Adolph S. Ochs, John B. Nicklin, L. G. Walker, A. J. Gahagan, C. E. James, F. G. Montague, H. M. Wiltse, John W. Stone, J. B. Pound, E. W. Mattson, and Judge Whiteside.

The committee escorted the distinguished guests to the summit of Lookout Mountain. At the Lookout Inn President Harrison pointed out to his immediate companions the spot where he was encamped for a time during the war. From the mountain the party was driven about the city, which was profusely decorated. All the school children in the city stood in front of their respective schools and waved flags and shouted as the President and Mrs. Harrison drove by. Assembled around the platform where the general reception was held were many thousand people.

Ex-Congressman Evans, amid deafening cheers, introduced the President, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity of
seeing Chattanooga again. I saw it last as the camp of a great army.
Its only industries were military, its stores were munitions of war,
its pleasant hill-tops were torn with rifle-pits, its civic population
the attendants of an army campaign. I see it to-day a great city, a
prosperous commercial centre. I see these hill-tops, then bristling
with guns, crowned with happy homes; I see these streets, through
which the worn veterans of many campaigns then marched, made glad with
the presence of happy children. Everything is changed.

The wand of an enchanter has touched these hills, and old Lookout,
that frowned over the valleys from which the plough had been
withdrawn, now looks upon the peaceful industries of country life.
All things are changed, except that the flag that then floated over
Chattanooga floats here still. [Cheers.] It has passed from the hand
of the veterans, who bore it to victory in battle, into the hands
of the children, who lift it as an emblem of peace. [Cheers.] Then
Chattanooga was war's gateway to the South; now it is the gateway of
peace, commerce, and prosperity. [Cheers.]

There have been two conquests--one with arms, the other with the
gentle influences of peace--and the last is greater than the first.
[Cheers.] The first is only great as it made way for that which
followed; and now, one again in our devotion to the Constitution and
the laws, one again in the determination that the question of the
severance of the federal relations of these States shall never again
be raised, we have started together upon a career of prosperity and
development that has as yet given only the signs of what is to come.

I congratulate Tennessee, I congratulate this prosperous city, I
congratulate all those who through this gateway give and receive
the interchanges of friendly commerce, that there is being wrought
throughout our country a unification by commerce, a unification by
similarity of institutions and habits, that shall in time erase every
vestige of difference, and shall make us, not only in contemplation of
the law, but in heart and sympathy, one people. [Cheers.]

I thank you for your cordial greeting to-day, and hope for the
development of the industries of our country and for the settling of
our institutions upon the firm base of a respect for the law. In this
glad springtime, while the gardens are full of blossoms and the fields
give promise of another harvest, and your homes are full of happy
children, let us thank God for what He has wrought for us as a people,
and, each in our place, resolutely maintain the great idea upon which
everything is builded--the rule of the majority, constitutionally
expressed, and the absolute equality of all men before the law.
[Cheers.]

CARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA, APRIL 15.

The first stop after crossing the Georgia State line was Cartersville, where a citizens' committee, headed by M. G. Dobbins, W. H. Howard, and Walter Akerman, received the President, who in response to repeated calls said:

_My Friends_--I am very much obliged to you for coming here in this
shower to show your good-will. I can only assure you that I entirely
reciprocate your good feelings. I have had great pleasure to-day in
passing over some parts of the old route that I took once before under
very different and distressing circumstances, to find how easy it is,
when we are all agreed, to travel between Chattanooga and Atlanta.
I am glad to see the evidences of prosperity that abound through
your country, and I wish you in all your relations every human good.
[Cheers.]

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, APRIL 15.

"What War has ravaged Commerce can bestow,
And he returns a Friend who came a Foe."

The presidential party travelled over the Western and Atlantic route from Chattanooga to Atlanta, passing through historic battle-grounds with which the President and other members of his party were once familiar. General Harrison actively participated in the Atlanta campaign and held the chief command at the battle of Resaca. It was with keen interest, therefore, that he viewed this memorable field in company with Marshal Ransdell, who lost an arm there. Short stops were made at the battle-fields of Chickamauga, Tunnel Hill, Resaca, Dug Gap, and Kennesaw. At Marietta the President was met by a committee from the city government of Atlanta, consisting of Mayor W. A. Hemphill, Aldermen Hutchison, Woodward, Rice, Shropshire, and Middlebrooks; Councilmen Murphy, Hendrix, Lambert, Holbrook, Sawtell, King, Turner, McBride, and City Clerk Woodward. These officials were accompanied by a special committee of citizens representing the Chamber of Commerce and the veteran associations, comprising ex-Gov. R. B. Bullock, Gen. J. R. Lewis, Capt. John Milledge, Julius L. Brown, S. M. Inman, Hon. J. T. Glenn, and Hon. W. L. Calhoun.

A vast throng greeted the President's arrival. Gov. William J. Northen and the other members of the Reception Committee received the party. Governor Northen said: "I am glad to welcome your excellency to the State of Georgia. You will find among us a loyal and hospitable people, and in their name I welcome you to the State."

Replying, the President said it gave him great pleasure to visit the Empire State of the South, the wonderful evidences of the prosperity of which were manifest in the stirring city of Atlanta.

In the evening the President and his party were tendered a reception at the Capitol by Governor Northen and Mayor Hemphill, assisted by Chief-Justice Bleckley, Judge Simmons, Judge Lumpkin, Gen. Phil. Cook, Comptroller-General Wright, Judge Van Epps, and the following prominent citizens: E. P. Chamberlin, J. W. Rankin, G. T. Dodd, Judge Hook, R. J. Lowry, J. W. English, Hoke Smith, Phil. Breitenbucher, J. G. Oglesby, John Silvey, Capt. Harry Jackson, Jacob Haas, W. L. Peel, B. F. Abbott, John Fitten, Joe Hirsch, George Hillyer, A. A. Murphy, P. Romare, J. B. Goodwin, David Wyly, G. H. Tanner, Dr. Henry S. Wilson, J. F. Edwards, M. A. Hardin, A. J. McBride, John J. Doonan, Hugh Inman, J. H. Mountain, M. C. Kiser, E. P. Howell, A. E. Buck, Edgar Angier, Col. L. M. Terrell, S. A. Darnell, John C. Manly, T. B. Neal, Walter Johnson, Major Mims, W. R. Brown, Col. T. P. Westmoreland, Albert Cox, Clarence Knowles, H. M. Atkinson, J. C. Kimball, C. A. Collier, Rhode Hill, Howard Van Epps, W. H. Venable, G. W. Adair, F. T. Ryan, L. P. Thomas, H. F. Starke, W. A. Wright, Amos Fox, R. L. Rodgers, H. C. Divine, W. M. Scott, A. B. Carrier, W. B. Miles, T. C. Watson, and L. B. Nelson.

At the conclusion of the reception the President, accompanied by Mayor Hemphill, Hon. A. L. Kontz, and Superintendent Slaton, visited the night school, where the boys gave him an enthusiastic welcome and called for a speech.

The President said:

I am glad to be with you to-night. Having but a few minutes to spare
I would offer a few words of encouragement to you. Most, if not all,
of you are here at night because your circumstances are such that the
day must be given to toil. The day is your earning period. The night
must, therefore, be set apart for study. I am glad to see that so many
find it in your hearts to be here in this school; it is a very hopeful
sign. I think it has in it the promise that you will each become a
useful citizen in this country. Pluck and energy are two essential
elements. A boy wants to be something. With pluck and energy success
is assured. There is a day of hope above every one of you.

I bid you good cheer and would offer encouragement to every one of
you, and I know every one of you may be useful and honorable citizens
in this community, whose officers have taken the interest to organize
this school for your benefit. I very sincerely and earnestly wish
you God-speed. Stick to your studies and don't neglect to acquire a
needful education, and you may one day occupy the positions of honor
which are held by those to-day in charge of the affairs of your city.

ATLANTA, APRIL 16.

On the morning of the 16th the President's party bade adieu to Atlanta. More than 10,000 people were present. Mayor Hemphill invited the President to the rear platform of the train and presented him to the assemblage. In response to their cheers he said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I desire, in parting from you, to give
public expression of my satisfaction and enjoyment in my brief visit
to Atlanta. I saw this city once under circumstances of a very
unfavorable character. I did not think I would like it, although we
were making great efforts to get it. [Laughter.] I am glad after all
these years to see the great prosperity and development that has come
to you. I think I am able to understand some of the influences that
are at the bottom of it, and I am sure that I look into the faces of
a community that, whatever their differences may have been, however
they viewed the question of the war when it was upon us, can have but
one thought as to what was best. We can all say with the Confederate
soldier who carried a gun for what seemed to him to be right, that God
knew better than any of us what was best for the country and for the
world.

You are thankful for what He has wrought and chiefly for
emancipation. It has opened up to diversified industries these States
that were otherwise exclusively agricultural, and made it possible
for you not only to raise cotton, but to spin and weave it, and has
made Georgia such a State as it could not have been under the old
conditions. I am sure we have many common purposes, and as God shall
give us power to see truth and right, let us do our duty, and, while
exacting all our own rights, let us bravely and generously give every
other man his equal rights before the law. [Cheers.]

Thanking you for your reception, which has been warm and
hospitable, I go from you very grateful for your kindness and very
full of hope for your future.

I cannot wish more than that those enterprising land-owners whose
work in grading and laying new additions I saw yesterday will realize
all their hopes. I am very sure if that is done Atlanta will not long
be rated the second city of the South. [Cheers.]

At the conclusion of the President's address there were many calls for Mr. Wanamaker. These finally brought the Postmaster-General to the platform, who said:

That man is unfortunate who is called on to speak after a President.
But at such a moment as this, parting from people who in a single
night have shown so much kindness and good-fellowship, it is not
difficult to return at least our grateful thanks for your most
generous welcome. Of all objects in your city I have looked with most
interest upon the house where a great light had gone out, and felt
again the common sorrow in the absence of Henry Grady, a man whose
life and influences were larger than Atlanta. The words he spoke and
the principles he stood for cannot be forgotten. If we can but learn
to know each other and understand each other there will be fewer
differences than might be supposed. By more frequent intercourse and a
fairer consideration of each other we should rise to a higher level of
happiness. I wish we had come sooner and could stay longer. [Cheers.]

TALLAPOOSA, GEORGIA, APRIL 16.

The city of Tallapoosa was bedecked with flags and bunting in honor of the distinguished visitors, and gave the President a cordial reception. Mayor A. J. Head and the following representative citizens were among those who greeted the Chief Executive: James H. Rineard, Walker Brock, U. G. Brock, J. A. Head, R. M. Strickland, J. C. Parker, W. T. King, R. G. Bently, T. J. Barrett, J. T. Tuggle, R. J. McBride, G. W. Bullard, C. Tallafario, J. A. Burns, J. R. Knapp, C. W. Fox, M. C. Reeve, M. Munson, W. W. Summerlin, S. J. Cason, J. H. Davis, S. White, A. Hass, T. L. Dougherty, G. A. Stickney, N. L. Hutchens, O. F. Sampson, H. Martin, M. C. Haiston, G. W. Tumlin, and J. C. Murrey.

Responding to the welcoming cheers the President addressed the assembly as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--This large assemblage of people from this new
and energetic city is very pleasant, and I thank you for the welcome
that it implies. All of these evidences of extending industry are
extremely pleasing to me as I observe them. They furnish employment to
men; they imply comfortable homes, contented families, a safe social
organization, and are the strength of the Nation.

I am glad to see that these enterprises that are taking the ores
from the earth and adapting them to the uses of civilization have
not been started here unaccompanied by that more important work--the
work of gathering the children into the schools and instructing them,
that they in their turn may be useful men and women. [Applause.] I am
glad to greet these little ones this morning; it is a cheerful sight.
We are soon to lay down the work of life and the responsibilities of
citizenship, these mothers are soon to quit the ever-recurring and
never-ending work of the home and give it into new hands.

It is of the utmost consequence that these little ones be trained
in mind and taught the fear of God and a benevolent regard for their
fellow-men, in order that their lives and social relations may be
peaceful and happy. We are citizens of one country, having one flag
and one destiny. We are starting upon a new era of development, and I
hope this development is to keep pace and to be the promoting cause of
a very perfect unification of our people. [Cheers.]

We have a Government whose principles are very simple and very
popular. The whole theory of our institutions is that, pursuing those
election methods which we have prescribed under the Constitution,
every man shall exercise freely the right that the suffrage law
confides to him, and that the majority, if it has expressed its will,
shall conclude the issue for us all. There is no other foundation.
This was the enduring base upon which the fathers of our country
placed our institutions. Let us always keep them there. Let us press
the debate in our campaigns as to what the law should be; but let us
keep faith and submit with the reverence and respect which are due to
the law when once lawfully enacted. [Applause.]

The development which is coming to you in these regions of the
South is marvellous. In ten years you increased your production of
iron about 300 per cent.--nearly a million and a quarter of tons--and
you have only begun to open these mines and to put these ores to the
process of reduction. Now, I want to leave this thought with you: In
the old plantations of the South you got everything from somewhere
else; why not make it all yourselves? [Cheers.]

ANNISTON, ALABAMA, APRIL 16.

Many thousands greeted the President on his arrival at Anniston. The Reception Committee consisted of Mayor James Noble, J. W. Lapsley, H. W. Bailey, T. G. Garrett, B. F. Cassady, John J. Mickle, C. H. Camfield, J. J. Willett, J. C. Sproull, R. H. Cobb, I. Finch, and Alex. S. Thweatt. The committee appointed by the Alabama State Sunday-School Association, then in session, was: Joseph Hardie, Geo. B. Eager, P. P. Winn, M. J. Greene, and C. W. O'Hare. On the part of the colored citizens the Committee of Reception was: Rev. W. H. McAlpine, Wm. J. Stevens, S. E. Moses, Rev. J. F. Fitspatrick, and Rev. Jas. W. Brown. Daniel Tyler Post, G. A. R., H. Rosenbaum, Commander, G. B. Randolph acting Adjutant, also participated. The Hon. John M. McKleroy delivered the address of welcome, followed by Wm. J. Stevens in behalf of the colored people.

President Harrison responded as follows:

_Fellow-citizens_--I very much regret that I am able to make so
little return to you for this cordial manifestation of your respect
and friendship; and yet, even in these few moments which I am able to
spend with you, I hope I shall gather and possibly be able to impart
some impulse that may be mutually beneficial. I am glad to see with
the eye that of which I have kept informed--the great development
which is taking place in the mineral regions of the Southern States.

I remember, as a boy, resident upon one of the great tributaries
of the Mississippi, how the agricultural products of those States,
the corn and provisions raised upon the fertile acres of the Ohio and
Mississippi valleys, were marketed in the South. The old broad-horn
took its way down the Mississippi, stopping at the plantations to
sell the provisions upon which the people of the South were largely
sustained. The South was then essentially a plantation region,
producing one or two great staples that found a ready market in the
world, but dependent for its implements of industry and domestic
utensils upon the States of the North Mississippi Valley.

I am glad all this is changed, that you are realizing the benefits
of diversified agriculture, and that the production upon your farms of
the staples which you once bought elsewhere is largely increasing; and
I am glad that to diversified agriculture you have also added these
great mechanical pursuits which have brought into your communities
artisans and laborers who take from the adjacent farms the surplus of
your fertile lands. [Cheers.] There has been received in the South
since the war not less than $8,000,000,000 for cotton, and while I
rejoice in that, I am glad to know that in this generous region there
are near 100,000 acres devoted to raising watermelons. [Laughter.]

No farmer, certainly no planter in the old time, would have
consented to sell watermelons. You are learning that things which were
small and despised have come to be great elements in your commerce.
Now your railroads make special provision for the transportation of a
crop which brings large wealth to your people.

I mention this as a good illustration of the changing conditions
into which you are entering. You are realizing the benefits of home
markets for what you produce, and I am sure you will unite with me
in those efforts which we ought to make, not only to fill our own
markets with all that this great Nation of 65,000,000 needs, but to
reach out to other markets and enter into competition with the world
for them. [Cheers.] This we shall do, and with all this mechanical
and commercial development we shall realize largely that condition of
unification of heart and interest to which those who have spoken for
you have so eloquently alluded. [Cheers.]

And now, wishing that the expectations of all who are interested in
this stirring young city may be realized, that all your industries
may be active and profitable, I add the wish that those gentler and
kindlier agencies of the school and church, of a friendly social life,
may always pervade and abide with you as a community. [Cheers.]

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, APRIL 16.

Large delegations came from Mobile, Selma, Montgomery, Sheffield, and other points in Alabama, to participate in the grand ovation tendered President Harrison and his party at Birmingham on April 16. Gov. Thomas G. Jones and the following members of his staff welcomed the presidential party at Henryellen: Adjt.-Gen. Charles B. Jones, Col. F. L. Pettus, Col. Eugene Stollenwerck, Col. M. P. Le Grand, Col. W. W. Quarles, Col. B. L. Holt, Lieut. James B. Erwin, and J. K. Jackson, Secretary to the Governor. The Governor's party was accompanied by five members from the Citizens' Committee: Col. E. T. Taliaferro, Rufus N. Rhodes, J. W. Hughes, R. L. Houston, and C. A. Johnston.

On arrival at Birmingham, in the afternoon, the President was greeted by an enormous gathering and formally welcomed by Mayor A. O. Lane at the head of the following distinguished committee: H. M. Caldwell, Joseph F. Johnston, B. L. Hibbard, William Youngblood, W. J. Cameron, J. A. Van Hoose, R. H. Pearson, E. H. Barron, M. M. Williams, J. O. Wright, James Weatherly, Chappell Cory, Louis Saks, D. D. Smith, J. P. Mudd, Charles M. Shelley, Paul Giacopazzi, James A. Going, Joe Frank, T. H. Spencer, P. G. Bowman, J. M. Martin, G. W. Hewitt, T. T. Hillman, E. Soloman, F. P. O'Brien, Lewis M. Parsons, Robert Jemison, John McQueen, Geo. L. Morris, B. Steiner, Mack Sloss, J. A. Yeates, J. M. Handley, Fergus W. McCarthy, E. V. Gregory, F. H. Armstrong, Geo. M. Morrow, Thomas Seddon, E. W. Rucker, W. H. Graves, Gus Shillinger, M. T. Porter, Edwin C. Campbell, Eugene F. Enslen, R. L. Thornton, Charles Whelan, W. S. Brown, John M. Cartin, Wm. M. Bethea, I. R. Hochstadter, John W. Johnston, Wm. Vaughn, Jas. E. Webb, and Robert Warnock. George A. Custer Post, G. A. R., commanded by Ass't Adjt.-Gen. W. J. Pender, escorted the President on the march through the city. The following officers participated: W. H. Hunter, Department Commander; F. G. Sheppard, Past Department Commander; William Snyder, Commander; A. A. Tyler, Senior Vice-Commander; Henry Asa N. Ballard, Surgeon; Edward Birchenough, Assistant Quartermaster-General; A. W. Fulghum, Past Commander; and John Mackenzie, Officer of the Day.

Both the Governor and the Mayor delivered eloquent addresses of welcome, to which President Harrison responded as follows:

_Governor Jones, Mr. Mayor, and Fellow-citizens_--The noise of
your industries will not stay itself, I fear, sufficiently to enable
me to make myself heard by many in this immense throng that has
gathered to welcome us. I judge from what we have seen as we neared
your station that we have here at Birmingham the largest and most
enthusiastic concourse of people that has met us since we left the
national capital. [Great and prolonged cheering.] For all this I am
deeply grateful. The rapidity with which we must pursue this journey
will not allow us to look with any detail into the great enterprises
which cluster about your city; but if we shall only have opportunity
to see for a moment these friendly faces and listen to these friendly
words, we shall carry away that which will be invaluable, and, I
trust, by the friendly exchange of greetings, may leave something
to you that is worth cherishing. [Great cheering.] I have read of
the marvellous development which, in the last few years, has been
stirring the solitude of these southern mountains, and I remember that
not many years after the war, when I had resumed my law practice at
Indianapolis, I was visited by a gentleman, known, I expect, to all of
you, upon some professional business. He came to pursue a collection
claim against a citizen of Indiana; but he seemed to be more
interested in talking about Birmingham than anything else. [Laughter
and cheers.] That man was Colonel Powell, one of the early promoters
of your city. [Cheers.] I listened to his story of the marvellous
wealth of iron and coal that was stored in this region; of their
nearness to each other, and to the limestone necessary for smelting;
to his calculations as to the cheapness with which iron could be
produced here, and his glowing story of the great city that was to be
reared, with a good deal of incredulity. I thought he was a visionary;
but I have regretted ever since that I did not ask him to pay me my
fee in town lots in Birmingham. [Laughter and cheers.]

My countrymen, we thought the war a great calamity, and so it was.
The destruction of life and of property was sad beyond expression;
and yet we can see now that God led us through that Red Sea to a
development in material prosperity and to a fraternity that was
not otherwise possible. [Cheers.] The industries that have called
to your midst so many toiling men are always and everywhere the
concomitants of freedom. Out of all this freedom from the incubus
of slavery the South has found a new industrial birth. Once almost
wholly agricultural, you are now not the less fruitful in crops, but
you have added all this. [Cheers.] You have increased your production
of cotton, and have added an increase in ten years of nearly 300 per
cent. in the production of iron. You have produced three-fourths
of the cotton crop of the world, and it has brought you since the
war about $8,000,000,000 of money to enrich your people. But as
yet you are spinning in the South only 8 per cent, of it. Why not,
with the help we will give you in New England and the North, spin
it all? [Cheers.] Why not establish here cotton mills that shall
send, not the crude agricultural product to other markets, but the
manufactured product? [Cheers.] Why not, while supplying 65,000,000
of people, reach out and take a part we have not had in the commerce
of the world? [Cheers.] I believe we are to see now a renaissance
in American prosperity and in the up-building again of our American
merchant marine. [Cheers.] I believe that these Southern ports that so
favorably look out with invitations to the States of Central and South
America shall yet see our fleets carrying the American flag and the
products of Alabama to the markets of South America. [Great cheering.]

In all this we are united; we may differ as to method, but if
you will permit me I will give an illustration to show how we have
been dealing with this shipping question. I can remember when no
wholesale merchant ever sent a drummer into the field. He said to his
customers, "Come to my store and buy;" but competition increased and
the enterprising merchant started out men to seek customers; and so
his fellow-merchant was put to the choice to put travelling men into
the field or to go out of business. It seems to me, whatever we may
think of the policy of aiding our steamship lines, that since every
other great nation does it, we must do it or stay out of business,
for we have pretty much gone out. [Cheers.] I am glad to reciprocate
with the very fulness of my heart every fraternal expression that has
fallen from the lips of these gentlemen who have addressed me in your
behalf. [Cheers.] I have not been saved from mistakes; probably I
shall not be. I am sure of but one thing--I can declare that I have
simply at heart the glory of the American Nation and the good of all
its people. [Great and prolonged cheering.] I thank these companies
of the State militia, one of whom I recognize as having done me the
honor to attend the inaugural ceremony, for their presence. They are
deserving, sir [to the Governor], of your encouragement and that of
the State of Alabama. They are the reserve army of the United States.
It is our policy not to have a large regular army, but to have a
trained militia that, in any exigency, will step to the defence of the
country; and if that exigency shall ever arise--which God forbid--I
know that you would respond as quickly and readily as any other State.
[Cheers.] [The Governor: "You will find all Alabama at your back,
sir!"] [Continued cheering.]

I am glad to know that in addition to all this business you are
doing you are also attending to education and to those things that
conduce to social order. The American home is the one thing we cannot
afford to lose out of the American life. [Cheers.] As long as we have
pure homes and God-fearing, order-loving fathers and mothers to rear
the children that are given to them, and to make these homes the
abodes of order, cleanliness, piety, and intelligence, the American
society and the American Union are safe [Great cheering.]

After the parade the President's party, the Governor and staff, and the citizens' Reception Committee sat down to luncheon. On the right of the President was Mrs. Jones, wife of the Governor; on his left, Mrs. Lane, wife of the Mayor. Mr. Rufus N. Rhodes proposed the health of the President of the United States, to which General Harrison responded briefly, saying:

We have seen something of the marvellous material growth of
Birmingham, and seen evidence of the great richness of your "black
diamonds" and your iron, and now we see something of your home life.
The many beautiful women whom we have had the happiness to meet, and
some of whom are now with us, are the angels of your homes, and right
glad we are to be favored by their presence. After all, it is their
homes which make a people great. We are glad to be here; for, really,
you overwhelm us with kindness. [Long-continued applause.]

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, APRIL 17.

The presidential party arrived at Memphis early on the morning of the 17th and were greeted by 10,000 people. The committee for the reception and entertainment of President Harrison and his guests comprised the following prominent citizens: Lucas W. Clapp, president of the taxing district of Memphis, Chairman; H. M. Neely, M. Cooper, J. P. Jordan, B. M. Stratton, R. C. Graves, D. P. Hadden, R. P. Patterson, Wm. M. Randolph, John K. Speed, John R. Godwin, Sam Tate, Jr., N. W. Speers, Jr., Josiah Patterson, W. J. Crawford, Martin Kelly, John Loague, J. M. Keating, J. Harvey Mathes, A. B. Pickett, W. J. Smith, Emerson Etheridge, T. J. Lathan, A. D. Gwynne, R. D. Frayser, J. T. Fargason, Samuel W. Hawkins, T. J. Graham, B. M. Estes, S. R. Montgomery, W. A. Collier, A. C. Treadwell, F. M. Norfleet, Alfred G. Tuther, W. D. Beard, S. H. Haines, R. J. Morgan, Louis Erb, Dr. J. P. Alban, W. A. Gage, J. N. Snowden, John T. Moss, Thomas F. Tobin, J. S. Robinson, James Ralston, L. B. Eaton, John W. Dillard, J. M. Semmes, M. T. Williamson, Andrew J. Harris, R. S. Capers, L. H. Estes, J. J. DuBose, J. B. Clough, J. E. Bigelow, George Arnold, T. B. Edgington, Luke E. Wright, D. T. Porter, J. T. Pettit, Napoleon Hill, E. S. Hammond, Wm. R. Moore, G. C. Matthews, Colton Greene, Isham G. Harris, J. A. Taylor, P. M. Winters, Holmes Cummins, E. Lowenstein, J. S. Menken, A. Vaccaro, N. M. Jones, R. B. Snowden, W. M. Farrington, Barney Hughes, J. H. Smith, Noland Fontaine, J. H. Martin, J. C. Neely, Robert Gates, James W. Brown, G. E. Dunbar, J. W. Falls, S. C. Toof, W. H. Carroll, S. P. Read, H. G. Harrington, H. F. Dix, J. S. Galloway, T. W. Brown, H. J. Lynn, J. W. Person, H. B. Cullen, S. W. Green, P. J. Quigley, T. J. Brogan, M. C. Gallaway, W. E. McGuire, Ralph Davis, J. J. Williams, T. A. Hamilton, E. B. McHenry, George B. Peters, John L. Norton, W. H. Bates, M. T. Garvin, S. H. Dunscomb, F. H. White, and R. D. Jordan.

The following military committee also assisted: Gen. S. F. Carnes, Chairman; Col. Kellar Anderson, Col. Hugh Pettit, Maj. J. F. Peters, Col. W. F. Taylor, Col. L. W. Finley, Gen. A. J. Vaughn, Gen. G. W. Gordon, and Gen. R. F. Patterson.

Chairman Clapp made the address of welcome. President Harrison responded as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--The name of the city of Memphis was familiar
to me in my early boyhood. Born and reared upon one of the tributaries
of the great river upon which your city is located, these river marts
of commerce were the familiar trading-posts of the farmers of the Ohio
Valley. I well remember when, on the shores of father's farm, the old
"broad-horn" was loaded from the hay-press and the corn-crib to market
with the plantations along the Lower Mississippi. I remember to have
heard from him and the neighbors who constituted the crew of those
pioneer craft of river navigation of the perils of these great waters;
of the snags and caving banks of the Lower Mississippi. In those times
these States were largely supplied with grain and forage from the
Northwestern States. Here you were giving your attention to one or two
great staple products, for which you found a large foreign market. I
congratulate you that the progress of events has made you not less
agricultural, but has diversified your agriculture so that you are not
now wholly dependent upon these great staples for the income of your
farms.

The benefits of this diversification are very great and the change
symbolizes more than we at first realize. This change means that we
are now coming to understand that meanness cannot be predicated of
any honest industry. I rejoice that you are adding to diversified
agriculture diversified manufacturing pursuits; that you are turning
your thought to compressing and spinning cotton as well as raising it.
I know no reason why these cotton States, that produce 75 per cent. of
the cotton of the world, should not spin the greater portion of it. I
know no reason why they should export it as raw material, rather than
as a manufactured product, holding in their midst the profits of this
transformation of the raw material to the finished product. [Applause.]

I hope it may be so. I see evidence that the people are turning
their attention to new industries, and are bringing into the midst of
these farming communities a large population of artisans and laborers
to consume at your own doors the product of your farms. I am glad that
a liberal Government is making this great waterway to the sea safe and
capable of an uninterrupted use. I am glad that it is here making the
shores of your own city convenient and safe, and that it is opening,
north and south, an uninterrupted and cheap transportation for the
products of these lands that lie along this great system of rivers. I
am glad that it is bringing you in contact with ports of the Gulf that
look out with near and inviting aspect toward a great trade in South
America that we shall soon possess. I am glad to believe that these
great river towns will speedily exchange their burdens with American
ships at the mouth of the Mississippi to be transported to foreign
ports under the flag of our country. [Great cheering.]

This Government of ours is a compact of the people to be governed by
a majority, expressing itself by lawful methods. [Cheers.] Everything
in this country is to be brought to the measure of the law. I propose
no other rule, either as an individual or as a public officer. I
cannot in any degree let down this rule [cries of "No!" and cheers]
without violating my official duty. There must be no other supremacy
than that of lawful majorities. We must all come at last to this
conclusion--that the supremacy of the law is the one supremacy in this
country of ours. [Cheers.]

Now, my fellow citizens, I thank you for this warm and magnificent
demonstration of your respect, accepting cordially the expression of
the chief of your city Government that you are a sincere, earnest,
patriotic, devoted people. I beg to leave with you the suggestion that
each in his place shall do what he can to maintain social order and
public peace; that the lines here and everywhere shall be between the
well-disposed and the ill-disposed.

The effort of speech to this immense throng is too great for me.
I beg to assure you that I carry from the great war no sentiment of
ill-will to any. [Cheers.] I am glad that the Confederate soldier,
confessing that defeat which has brought him blessings that would
have been impossible otherwise, has been taken again into full
participation in the administration of the Government; that no
penalties, limitations, or other inflictions rest upon him. I have
taken and can always take the hand of a brave Confederate soldier with
confidence and respect. [Great cheering.]

I would put him under one yoke only, and that is the yoke that the
victors in that struggle bore when they went home and laid off their
uniforms--the yoke of the law and the obligation always to obey it.
[Cheers.] Upon that platform, without distinction between the victors
and the vanquished, we enter together upon possibilities as a people
that we cannot overestimate. I believe the Nation is lifting itself
to a new life; that this flag shall float on unfamiliar seas, and
that this coming prosperity will be equally shared by all our people.
[Prolonged cheering.]

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, APRIL 17.

As the presidential party crossed the Mississippi they were met on the Arkansas shore by Gov. James P. Eagle and wife, Judge John A. Williams, Mayor H. L. Fletcher, James Mitchell, Col. Logan H. Roots, Mrs. Judge Caldwell, Mrs. C. C. Waters, Mrs. Wm. G. Whipple, Mrs. W. C. Ratcliffe, Miss Jean Loughborough, and Miss Fannie Mitchell. Arriving at Little Rock, late in the afternoon, the President was welcomed by Hon. Josiah H. Shinn, R. A. Edgerton, Chas. C. Waters, B. D. Caldwell, W. A. Clark, H. F. Roberts, T. H. Jones, and the other members of the Committee of Reception. McPherson and Ord posts, G. A. R., in charge of Marshal O. M. Spellman, Lee Clough, and C. Altenberg, acted as escort to the President, accompanied by the McCarthy Light Guards. The parade was in charge of Grand Marshal Zeb Ward, Jr., assisted by Col. W. T. Kelley, Horace G. Allis, and Oscar Davis. The Lincoln Club, commanded by P. Raleigh and P. C. Dooley, participated in the reception. At the State House Governor Eagle formally welcomed the distinguished travellers.

President Harrison replied:

_Governor Eagle and Fellow-citizens_--No voice is large enough
to compass this immense throng. But my heart is large enough to
receive all the gladness and joy of your great welcome here to-day.
[Applause.] I thank you one and all for your presence, for the kind
words of greeting which have been spoken by your Governor, and for
these kind faces turned to me. In all this I see a great fraternity;
in all this I feel new impulses to a better discharge of every public
and every private duty. I cannot but feel that in consequence of this
brief contact with you to-day I shall carry away a better knowledge
of your State, its resources, its capabilities, and of the generous
warm-heartedness of its people. We have a country whose greatness this
meeting evidences, for there are here assembled masses of independent
men. The commonwealth rests upon the free suffrage of its citizens
and their devotion to the Constitution, and the flag is the bulwark
of its life. [Cheers.] We have agreed, I am sure, that we will do no
more fighting among ourselves. [Cries of "Good! good!" and cheers.]
I may say to you confidentially that Senator Jones and I agreed
several years ago, after observing together the rifle practice at Fort
Snelling, that shooting had been reduced to such accuracy that war was
too dangerous for either of us to engage in it. [Laughter and cheers.]
But, my friends, I cannot prolong this talk. Once already to-day
in the dampness of this atmosphere I have attempted to speak, and
therefore you will allow me to conclude by wishing for your State, for
its Governor and all its public officers, for all its citizens without
exception, high or humble, the blessing of social order, peace, and
prosperity--the fruits of intelligence and piety. [Great cheering.]

TEXARKANA, ARKANSAS, APRIL 17.

Notwithstanding it was nearly midnight when the presidential train reached Texarkana, about 2,000 citizens were present. Foremost in the movement to give a fitting reception to the President were: George H. Langsdale, Robert Langsdale, Richard Brunazzi, and Edward Donnelly. Among other well-known citizens present were Lyman S. Roach, Commander of Dick Yates Post, G. A. R.; Ira A. Church, J. A. Mifflin, Wm. Rhinders, W. F. Loren, W. W. Shaw, Fred A. Church, J. P. Ashcraft, Wm. H. Bush, A. B. Matson, W. W. De Prato, T. P. McCalla, J. W. Hatcher, John McKenna, Peter Gable, John Mayher, Martin Foster, J. K. Langsdale, and F. L. Schuster.

The President spoke briefly and said:

Having had notice of your request that we stop here for a few
moments, I have remained up in order to thank you for your expressed
interest and for this very large and cordial demonstration. I have
spoken several times during the day, and am sure you will excuse
me from attempting now, at midnight, to make a speech. I hope that
prosperity is here and that it may abide with you. Thanking you again,
I bid you good-night.

PALESTINE, TEXAS, APRIL 18.

The first stop in the Lone Star State was at Palestine, where the President received a royal welcome, the population of the city turning out to do him honor. His excellency Gov. James S. Hogg cordially greeted the President at this point. Hon. John H. Reagan, Hon. Geo. A. Wright, Mayor of Palestine, and the City Council in a body, constituted the Committee of Reception, together with the following prominent residents: Capt. T. T. Gammage, A. H. Bailey, Geo. E. Dilley, N. R. Royall, W. C. Kendall, A. Teah, J. R. Hearne, J. W. Ozment, P. W. Ezell, O. B. Sawyers, G. W. Burkitt, W. M. Lacy, Henry Ash, A. C. Green, A. R. Howard, A. L. Bowers, D. W. Heath, Wm. Broyles, John J. Word, E. R. Kersh, R. J. Wallace, J. M. Fullinwider, Rev. E. F. Fales and Mrs. Fales, who welcomed her distinguished brother Postmaster-General Wanamaker.

Governor Hogg made the formal address of welcome, to which the President responded as follows:

_Governor Hogg and Fellow-citizens_--It gives me pleasure to come
this fresh morning into this great State--a kingdom without a king,
an empire without an emperor, a State gigantic in proportions and
matchless in resources, with diversified industries and infinite
capacities to sustain a tremendous population and to bring to every
home where industry abides prosperity and comfort. Such homes, I am
sure, are represented here this morning--the American home, where the
father abides in the respect and the mother in the deep love of the
children that sit about the fireside; where all that makes us good
is taught and the first rudiments of obedience to law, of orderly
relations one to another, are put into the young minds. Out of this
comes social order; on this rests the security of our country.
The home is the training-school for American citizenship. There we
learn to defer to others; selfishness is suppressed by the needs of
those about us. There self-sacrifice, love, and willingness to give
ourselves for others are born.

I thank you that so many of you have come here this morning from
such homes, and all of us are thankful together that peace rests upon
our whole country. All of us have pledged ourselves that no sectional
strife shall ever divide us, and that while abiding in peace with all
the world we are, against all aggression, one mighty, united people.
[Cheers.]

I desire to assure you, my countrymen, that in my heart I make no
distinction between our people anywhere. [Cheers.] I have a deep
desire that everywhere in all our States there shall be that profound
respect for the will of the majority, expressed by our voters, that
shall bring constant peace into all our communities. It is very kind
of you to come here this morning before breakfast. Perhaps you are
initiating me into the Texas habit--is it so?--of taking something
before breakfast. [Laughter and cheers.] This exhilarating draught of
good-will you have given me this morning will not, I am sure, disturb
either my digestion or comfort during this day. [Cheers.]

HOUSTON, TEXAS, APRIL 18.

The presidential party reached Houston at noon on April 18 and were greeted by an enthusiastic assemblage estimated at 20,000. The welcoming committee, headed by Mayor Scherffius, comprised the following-named prominent citizens: Hon. Charles Stewart, Geo. A. Race, J. W. Temby, Maj. R. B. Baer, A. K. Taylor, Col. John T. Brady, W. D. Cleveland, D. C. Smith, C. Lombardi, Dr. E. F. Schmidt, Capt. J. C. Hutcheson, T. W. House, S. K. Dick, W. B. Chew, James F. Dumble, R. B. Morris, James A. Patton, Jr., A. P. Root, W. V. R. Watson, G. W. Kidd, G. C. Felton, H. W. Garrow, Geo. E. Dickey, F. Halff, John F. Dickson, E. W. Cave, Charles Dillingham, A. C. Herndon, J. W. Jones, D. M. Angle, Geo. L. Porter, Rufus Cage, F. A. Rice, Dr. D. F. Stuart, and President Mitchell, of the Commercial Club. Many prominent ladies of the city participated in receiving and entertaining the ladies in the presidential party.

Congressman Stewart introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--Your faces all respond to the words of welcome
which have been spoken in your behalf. We have been not only pleased
but touched by the delicate and kindly expressions of regard which we
have received since entering the State of Texas. I remained up last
night until after midnight that I might not unconsciously pass into
this great State, and I was called very early from my bed this morning
to receive a draught of welcome, before I had breakfasted, from
another Texas audience. You have a State whose greatness I think you
have discovered.

A stranger can hardly hope to point out to you that which you
have not already known. Perhaps Virginia and Kentucky have been
heard to say more about their respective States than Texas; but I
think their voices are likely soon to be drowned by the enthusiastic
and affectionate claims which you will present to the country for
your great commonwealth. [Cheers.] You have the resources in some
measure--in a great measure--of all the States gathered within your
borders; a soil adapted to the production of all the cereals and
grasses; and to this you add cotton, sugar, and tobacco. You are very
rightly diversifying your crops, because the history of intelligent
farming shows that as the crops are diversified the people prosper.

All is not staked upon the success of a single crop. You do well,
therefore, to raise cotton, sugar, and tobacco, and I am glad you are
not neglecting cattle, sheep, hogs, corn, and all the cereals. We
have been trying to do what we could from Washington to make for you
a larger and better market for your enormous meat products. [Cheers.]
We have felt that the restrictions imposed by some of the European
governments could not be fairly justified upon the ground stated by
them. Already the Secretary of Agriculture--himself a farmer, who has
with his own hands wrought in all the work of the farm--has succeeded
in procuring the removal of some of these injurious restrictions,
and has announced to the country that exportation of cattle has
increased 100 per cent. in the last year. [Cheers.] I beg to assure
you that these interests will have the most careful attention from
the Government at Washington and from our representatives at foreign
courts. It is believed that we have now by legislation a system of
sanitary inspection of our meat products that, when once put in
operation and examined by the European governments, will remove the
last excuse for the exclusion of our meats from those foreign states.

Our time is so limited that I can scarcely say more than "thank
you." We cannot at all repay you for this demonstration of welcome,
but let me say that in all your prosperity I shall rejoice. I do
desire that all our legislation and all our institutions and the
combined energies of all our people shall work together for the common
good of all our States and all our population. [Great cheering.] You
have great resources of a material sort, and yet above all this I
rejoice that the timely forethought of your public men has provided an
unexampled school fund for the education of the children.

These things that partake of the life that is spiritual are better
after all than the material. Indeed, there can be no true prosperity
in any State or community where they are not thoughtfully fostered.
Good social order, respect for the law, regard for other men's rights,
orderly, peaceful administration are the essential things in any
community. [Cheers.]

GALVESTON, TEXAS, APRIL 18.

The President and his party, accompanied by Governor Hogg, arrived at Galveston on the afternoon of Saturday, April 18, and were tendered an ovation by the hospitable residents of the Island City. The distinguished travellers were met at Houston by a committee of escort consisting of Chairman Leo N. Levi, George Sealy, Julius Runge, R. B. Hawley, W. F. Ladd, Col. R. G. Lowe, Maj. C. J. Allen, Aldermen C. M. Mason and T. W. Jackson, D. D. Bryan, J. W. Burson, Mrs. R. L. Fulton, Mrs. R. B. Hawley, Mrs. Aaron Blum, Mrs. W. F. Ladd, and Mrs. C. J. Allen.