Chapter XXIV: Part 24

_Colonel Hooker and Fellow-citizens_--I have been called upon to
address my fellow-citizens under many diverse and some very peculiar
circumstances, but I think that those that surround me this morning
are absolutely unique. I understood that in the programme Secretary
Proctor had arranged for a day of pleasure here at this horse fair,
and that a more attractive entertainment was to be provided for you
and for me than speech-making. I am not well up in the rules of the
track, but I suppose on a morning like this some allowance will be
made for a heavy track, and if the horses are entitled to it I think
I may claim an allowance myself. [Laughter.] Therefore, I have only
to thank you for the friendliness of your reception and to express
my interest in this great industry which is represented here--the
breeding of horses. I understand that it was so arranged that, after I
had seen the flower of the manhood and womanhood of Vermont, I should
be given an exhibition of the next grade in intelligence and worth in
the State--your good horses. [Applause.] I have had recently, through
the intervention of the Secretary of War, the privilege of coming into
possession of a pair of Vermont horses. They are all I could wish for,
and, as I said the other day at the little village from which they
came, they are of good Morgan stock, of which some one has said that
their great characteristic was that they enter into consultation with
the driver whenever there is any difficulty. [Laughter and applause.]
Thanking you again, I hope you will give me the allowance to which a
heavy track entitles me. [Applause.]

BRADFORD, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

At Bradford 1,000 people assembled to do honor to the President, who arrived at 10 A.M. The visitors were escorted to a platform near the station. Among the prominent residents who welcomed the Chief Executive were H. E. Parker, Judge S. M. Gleason, Roswell Farnham, John H. Watson, Dr. J. H. Jones, and L. J. Brown.

Ex-Governor Farnham introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_Ladies and Gentlemen_--I will only say a few words to thank you for
this welcome which is extended to me this morning, and which it seems
to me furnishes some proof of your well wishes and kindly feelings. I
have had a journey through Vermont that will be very pleasant in my
recollection, although attended with some instances of an unpleasant
nature. As I understood the purpose of this trip when I gave my
assent to it at the request of your excellent fellow-citizen, whom
you kindly loaned me for a little while, and are now, as far as I can
see, about to reclaim, the trip was to be one of relaxation, and to
visit him and some of his friends. It seems to me that the circle has
been enlarged beyond the limit of his friends, and if not that they
include the whole of the people of Vermont. It is very pleasant to
pass through your enterprising manufacturing towns, and to see this
rural population, which, after all, is the foundation of all State
organizations, which are based upon the farms of old New England. The
farm has been, perhaps, one of the most productive measures toward
the enrichment of this country in things that are greater than the
material things--in manhood, valor in warfare, and statesmanship in
political life. It has been a matter of great pleasure to me as we
have driven through the streets of these cities, from Bennington until
this time, to observe one thing. As we pass by your streets I have
seen some aged father or mother or grandfather or grandmother placed
in a position for best observation and kindly attended by some member
of the family, showing that family love, that veneration for the aged,
that has, to me, been a source of particular gratification. For, after
all, the home is the beginning and centre of all good things. The
life of our Nation is learned in the first rudiments of government
at home and that lesson of veneration for things that are good. With
these elements I think you are sure to make the career of Vermont not
greater in temporary things, but greater in those things which are
more productive to the Nation and to mankind. [Prolonged cheers.]

WINDSOR, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

It was raining when the President arrived at Windsor, at 1 P.M. He was met by Senator William M. Evarts, accompanied by Hon. C. C. Beaman, of New York; Hon. Chester Pike, of Cornish, N. H., and the following prominent citizens, comprising the local Committee of Reception: Col. Marsh O. Perkins, Dwight Tuxbury, Hon. G. A. Davis, Dr. C. P. Holden, Dr. J. S. Richmond, U. L. Comings, George T. Low, Hon. Rollin Amsden, E. C. Howard, Charles H. Fitch, O. L. Patrick, Rev. E. N. Goddard, S. N. Stone, S. R. Bryant, J. M. Howe, George T. Hazen, S. M. Blood, S. E. Hoisington, Horace Weston, A. E. Houghton, A. J. Hunter, Allen Dudley, Dr. Deane Richmond, J. R. Brewster, A. D. Cotton, G. R. Guernsey, Charles N. Adams, Col. M. K. Paine, H. W. Stocker, George M. Stone, Harvey Miller, George T. Winn, and C. D. Penniman.

After partaking of luncheon at the residence of Senator and Mrs. Evarts, the President was conducted to the Town Hall, and, being introduced to the assemblage by Colonel Perkins, he spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I am about completing a very pleasant trip
through the State of Vermont--a trip which, while not the first,
has furnished the only occasion on which I have really been brought
in contact with the people of your State. My previous journeys were
those of a summer tourist, snatching these fine and attractive views
as we sped along some of your lines of railway, but getting little
impression of the character of the people who occupy these towns and
rural homesteads. It has given me great pleasure on this occasion
to receive at the hands of your people everywhere a most cordial
reception, It has been a source of constant regret to me that I am
able on such occasions as we have here this afternoon to make so
small a return for the care, preparation, and friendly interest which
the people manifest. I am under such limitations as to them and
about which I may talk that the fertility of a very rich and highly
cultivated mind and imagination would be necessary to furnish one
with something new or interesting to say in response to the repeated
calls. I have supposed that all of these meetings were expressions
of patriotism and of popular interest in a Government which Mr.
Lincoln so felicitously described as "a government of the people, by
the people, for the people." [Applause.] It is pleasant to have the
personal esteem and respect of my fellow-citizens, but I have not
thought of appropriating to myself these demonstrations. It is very
gratifying to see a people in love with their civil institutions and
with that glorious flag which typifies our diversity and our unity.
[Applause.] I have said before that it seemed to me this is the
essential element and base of every republican government, that the
loyalty and love of the people should be given to our institutions
and not to men. [Applause.] I think it is one element of discord and
unhappiness in some of our sister republics that the minds of these
patriotic and generous people are too much swayed by their admiration
for men, that they are often swept away from the moorings of principle
by the love of a leader. I have rejoiced to find everywhere in the
State of Vermont what seemed to me to be a deep-seated, earnest
patriotism. [Applause.] It is to be hoped that we may not soon have
any call for such manifestations as you have given in the past on the
battle-fields from Bennington to the surrender of Appomattox. [Cheers.]

It is pleasant to be here to day at the home of my esteemed friend
and your fellow-townsman, the Hon. William M. Evarts. [Applause.] I
am glad that he has introduced into Vermont model farming [laughter
and applause], and has shown you what the income of a large city
law practice can do in the fertilization of a farm. [Laughter and
applause.] He has assured me to-day that his farm yields a net income.
I accept the statement of my host with absolute faith--and yet Mr.
Evarts' reputation as a bookkeeper is not the best in the world.
[Laughter and applause.] It is pleasant to see him and to be for a
while in his genial presence, and to have this journey illuminated by
a visit to his home. I hope he may dwell long with you in peace and
honor, as he will always dwell in the honor and esteem of our whole
people. [Applause.]

CHARLESTOWN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AUGUST 27.

Notwithstanding the heavy downpour, 1,000 or more sturdy citizens of historic old Charlestown welcomed the President to New Hampshire. The Reception Committee consisted of Hon. George Olcott, George S. Bond, Frank Finnigan, Col. Samuel Webber, Herbert W. Bond, and Frank W. Hamlin. Lincoln Post, G. A. R., Lyman F. Partridge Commander, also participated in the reception. Colonel Webber delivered an eloquent address of welcome.

The President, responding, said:

_Colonel Webber and Fellow-citizens_--I think it might be said
to-day that New Hampshire has "gone wet," as they say when the
election returns come in on a vote against prohibition. I am very much
obliged to you for this extraordinary manifestation of your interest,
for to stand in this downpour of rain is certainly an evidence that
you have a most friendly interest in this little party of tourists,
who touch in a journey through Vermont the mainspring of the State of
New Hampshire. I have been talking about Vermont for the last two or
three days, but if you will take the pains, in the comfort of your own
homesteads, to read all the good things I have said about Vermont,
and then understand that they are all said of New Hampshire, it will
abbreviate my speech and will be expressive of my opinion of that
sturdy, enterprising, masterful New England character which you share
with them. [Applause.]

BELLOWS FALLS, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

When the train arrived at Bellows Falls, the rain was pouring in torrents and the President was conducted to the Opera House by the veterans of E. H. Stoughton Post, G. A. R. The Committee of Reception consisted of Hon. Wm. A. Russell, Hon. A. N. Swain, Judge L. M. Read, Barnes Cannon, Jr., Wyman Flint, John T. Moore, C. W. Osgood, Thomas E. O'Brien, George H. Babbitt, and Capt. Walter Taylor, the latter a veteran of eighty years, who marshalled the hosts for Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison in 1836 and '40. The building was packed.

Mr. Swain introduced President Harrison, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I will wait a moment until they turn out the
footlights. They put a barrier between us, and I always prefer to get
my light from above. [Applause.] We can only tarry in this busy city
a few moments. The inclement character of the day has driven us to
shelter, and the finding of a shelter has consumed some small part
of the allotment of time which our schedule gives to you. I greatly
appreciate the value and importance of these manufacturing centres,
which are now, fortunately for us, not characteristic of New England
alone, but are found west of the Ohio and of the Mississippi and of
the Missouri. I am one of those who believe that in a diversification
of pursuits we make most rapid increase in wealth and attain best
social relations and development. I am one of those who believe
that Providence did not set apart the United States to be a purely
agricultural region, furnishing its surplus to supply the lack of
other people of the world while they do all the manufacturing for us.
I think there are suggestions in our very geographical position, and
a great many of them in our history and experience, that we may well
desire and reach for that condition in which we shall raise our own
food and in which a manufacturing class, withdrawn from agriculture
and other pursuits, shall furnish the farmer a market for his surplus
near to his fields and gardens, while he exchanges with the farmer the
products of the shop and the loom.

I would not introduce politics. I do not intend to cross any lines
of division, but I think we all agree, though we may differ as to
the means by which it is to be done, that the nearer together the
producer and the consumer can be brought the less waste there is in
transportation and the greater the wealth. [Applause.] It is known
to you all that our 65,000,000 people furnish per capita a larger
market than any other like number of people. This grows out of the
fact that our capacity for purchasing is larger than is found in those
countries where poverty holds a larger sway. The workingman buys
more, has more to buy with in America than in any other land in the
world. [Applause.] I mentioned the other day at St. Albans that this
was the era of the battle for a market. The whole world is engaged in
it. The thought was suggested to me by a sentence in the address of
President Bartlett at the observance of the centennial of the battle
of Bennington in 1877. He says, "Trading Manchester furnished two
regiments to Burgoyne to conquer a market." The foreign policy of
the United States has never been selfish. There has always been, if
you will trace it through the struggles of Greece and of our South
American neighbors for independence and a free Government, a brave,
generous tone of sympathy with struggling people the world round in
our diplomatic policy. I think we may well challenge comparison with
the foreign policy of any other great Government in the world in this
regard. It has never been our policy to push our trade forward at the
point of the bayonet. We have always believed that it should be urged
upon the ground of mutual advantage; and upon this ground alone are we
now endeavoring, by every means in our power, to open the markets of
our sister republics in Central and South America to the products of
American shops and farmers. [Applause.]

We do not covet their territory. The day of filibustering aggression
has gone by in the United States. We covet their good will. We wish
for them settled institutions of government, and we desire those
exchanges that are mutually profitable. We have found that we were
receiving from some of these countries enormous annual imports of
sugar, coffee, and hides, and we have now placed these articles on the
free list upon the condition that they give to the products of the
United States fair reciprocity. [Applause.] If our own laws, or any
aggressive movement we are making for a larger share in the commerce
of the world, should excite the commercial jealousy and rivalry of
other countries we shall not complain if those rivalries find only
proper expressions. We have come to a time in our development as a
Nation when I believe that interest on money is low enough for us to
turn some of our accumulated capital from the railways into steam
transportation on the sea; that the time has come when we shall
recover a full participation in the carrying trade of the world,
when under the American flag steamships shall carry our products to
neighboring markets and bring back their exchange to our harbors.
Larger foreign markets for the products of our farms and of our
factories and a larger share in the carrying trade of the world,
peaceful relations with all mankind, with naval and coast defences
that will silently make an effective argument on the side of peace,
are the policies that I would pursue. [Applause.]

BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT, AUGUST 27.

Just before the train reached Brattleboro the rain ceased, and the President rode in a procession to the house of Col. J. J. Estey. The Committee of Reception consisted of Colonel Estey, Col. Kittredge Haskins, Dr. H. D. Holton, N. I. Hawley, F. W. Childs, ex-Governor Holbrook, Judge Wheeler, Hon. B. D. Harris, Hon. J. L. Martin, E. C. Crosby, Judge R. W. Clarke, C. F. Thompson, Col. W. C. Holbrook, George S. Dowley, Colonel Fuller, Dr. Conland, Dr. Ketchum, and G. A. Hines. Veterans of the G. A. R., and the Estey Guard, escorted the Chief Executive through the city. Several thousand were assembled on the grounds.

Colonel Estey welcomed and presented the President, who made the following address:

_My Fellow citizens_--Governor Proctor held out to me the suggestion
that this trip to Vermont would be a very restful one. He has the
queerest appreciation of what rest means of any man I know. [Laughter.]

When I attended the centennial demonstration of the inauguration
of Washington in New York, I spent part of one day on the bridge of
the _Despatch_ bowing to the fleet in the bay as we moved down to
the Battery, and the balance of the day shaking hands at the City
Hall, attending a ball at night; ten hours the next day reviewing a
procession, with a banquet at night; and about as many hours the day
following reviewing the civic procession; and when released from the
stand about 5 o'clock in the evening I hurried to the Jersey City
depot to take the train, scarcely able to stand upon my feet. One
of the gentlemen of the committee said to me: "Well, Mr. President,
I hope you have enjoyed these three days of rest in New York."
[Laughter.]

I wish I could see you more satisfactorily than I am able to do on a
hurried trip like this, but Governor Proctor kept me up very late last
night, and he was the last man down to breakfast this morning himself.

All that I have seen in your State has but increased the respect I
have always entertained for your people. My recent journey of somewhat
great length through the country has very deeply impressed upon me the
fact of the unity of our people. The building of these great railroad
lines making every part of every State familiar, and stretching across
the continent so as to bring within easy access the most distant parts
of our country, has had a great tendency to unify our people and to
wipe out whatever there was provincial or local in our character. It
has rubbed off some of the edges of the New England character, and
has rubbed on some of the New England polish upon the West. In fact,
wherever we have any combining, nothing makes it homogeneous except
a thorough mixer, and the American people have certainly had a most
thorough mixing. [Cheers.]

One of your war Governors was saying to me to-day, as we came along
in the train, your own distinguished fellow-citizen, that on a journey
West not long ago everywhere Vermont men came to meet him; and as I
went recently across the continent the railroad train scarcely stopped
at any station that some one from Indiana did not reach up his hand
and claim recognition; and so it is in all the States.

The West is now turning a little back toward the East, and I have
found some people, who probably had some ancestral connection with
New England, but whose birth, early residence, and business life
were in the West, who have come back to the old home. All this is
pleasant, all this is surety of the future of our country. It is
pleasant to know that the South is being obliterated, that all that
made it distinctive in the sense of separation or alienation is being
gradually wiped out. [Applause.]

Of course, the prejudices of generations are not like marks upon
the blackboard, that can be rubbed out with a sponge. These are more
like the deep glacial lines that the years have left in the rock; but
the water, when that surface is exposed to its quiet, gentle, and
perpetual influence, wears even these out, until the surface is smooth
and uniform. And so these influences are at work in our whole country,
and we should be hopeful for it, hopeful for its future. I am sure you
each feel pride in your American citizenship, and would show readiness
to defend it in war, and I am sure that from every class of your
community would come the response: "We will maintain it, honorable and
high, in peace."

I thank you most sincerely for your friendly greeting, and regret
that I am not able to speak to you more satisfactorily, and can only
accept with a heart full of appreciation these marks of your respect.
[Applause.]

RUTLAND, VERMONT, AUGUST 28.

The President and his party were guests of Secretary Proctor on the night of the 27th, at the village of Proctor, in the Green Mountains. The morning of the 28th, the party visited Rutland, and were met by the local Reception Committee: J. C. Baker, H. H. Dyer, W. G. Veazey, ex-Judge Barrett, J. W. Cramton, Dr. J. D. Hanrahan, C. H. Joyce, J. N. Woodfin, E. P. Gilson, P. W. Clement, George E. Lawrence, Henry F. Field, John N. Baxter, P. M. Meldon, John A. Sheldon, George J. Wardwell, Dr. Norman Seaver, and Henry Carpenter, President of the village.

Arrived at Memorial Hall the President was greeted by a large assemblage, including many ladies. He was presented by Colonel Baker and made the following address:

_My Fellow-citizens and Comrades of the Grand Army of the
Republic_--It gives me great pleasure this morning, tired as I am,
to see and to have an opportunity to express my thanks to this large
assemblage of the good citizens of Rutland. My journey through your
State has been attended with every evidence of respect which it was
possible for the people to bestow. Your chairman has spoken of the
fact that the President of the United States may travel everywhere
through our country without any attendance of policemen. As I have
had occasion to say before, the only peril he is likely to meet, if
the railroads take good care of him and the cranks keep out of the
way, is from the over-kindness of the people [laughter and applause];
and there is more peril in that than you will understand at first
thought. It is pleasant to stand upon the steps of this Memorial
Hall, erected as a place of deposit for trophies of the great Civil
War and as a monument of honor to those soldiers from Vermont who
aided so conspicuously in making that war successful. We cannot tell
how much hung upon that contest. No orator has yet been inspired to
describe adequately the gravity of the great issue which was fought
out upon the battle-fields of the War of the Rebellion. We say it was a
contest to preserve the unity of our republic, and so it was; but what
dismemberment would have meant; how greatly it would have increased
the cost of government; how sadly it would have disturbed the plan
of our border communities; how it would have degraded in the eyes of
the world this great people; how it would have rejoiced the enemies
of popular government, no tongue has yet adequately described. But
it was not to be so. God has desired that this experiment of free
government should have a more perfect trial, and it was impossible
that the brave men of the loyal States should consent to dismemberment
of the Union. We were very patient, so patient, in the early contest,
as it ranged through the great debate of convention and Congress that
our brethren of the South altogether mistook the temper of our people.
Undoubtedly there were evidences that the men of trade were reluctant
to have those lines of profitable communication, which had been so
long maintained with the South, broken off. Undoubtedly that character
so undesirable in our politics--the doughface--was particularly
conspicuous in those days of discussion, but we were altogether
misjudged when the people of the South concluded that they might
support their threats of disunion which had so long rung in Congress,
and so long filled their boasting press, by force of arms.

I shall never forget, nor will any of you who are old enough to
remember it, that great electric thrill and shock which passed through
our whole country when the first gun was fired at Sumter. Debate was
closed. Our orators were withdrawn, and a great wave of determined
patriotism swept over the country higher than any tidal wave ever
lifted itself upon a devastated coast [applause], and it was not to be
stayed in its progress until the last vestige of rebellion had been
swept from the face of our beloved land. The men of New England were a
peaceful people. The farmers and the farmers' sons were not brawlers.
They were not found at the tavern. They were abiding under the
sheltering moral influences and quietude of these New England hills.
But the man who thought that the spirit of 1776 had been quenched was
badly mistaken. The same resolute love of liberty, the same courage
to face danger for a cause that had its inspiration in high moral
purposes and resolves abided in the hearts of your people. [Applause.]
Possibly the war might have been avoided if the South had understood
this, but it was so written in the severe but benevolent purposes of
God. There was a great scroll of emancipation to be written. There was
a martyr President, who was to affix his name to a declaration that
would be as famous as that to which your fathers fixed their signature
in 1776. It was to be in truth as well as in theory a free people
[applause], and there was no other pathway to emancipation than along
the bloody track of armies, not seeing at the beginning nor having
the purpose that finally was accomplished, but guided by the hand of
power and wisdom that is above us and over us to the accomplishment of
that glorious result that struck the shackles from four millions of
slaves. [Applause.]

I greet most affectionately these comrades of the war who are before
me to-day. Let them abide in honor in all your communities. Let
shafts of marble and bronze lift themselves in all your towns to tell
the story of patriots' work well done and to teach the generations
that are to come how worthy their fathers were. Let us preserve all
these inspiring lessons of history, all these individual examples of
heroism, of which Vermont furnished so many during the war. Let them
not be forgotten. Let them be the illuminated and inspiring pages of
your State's history, and then, whatever shock may come to us in the
future, whenever the hand of anarchy or disorder shall be raised,
whenever foreign powers shall seek to invade the rights or liberties
of this great people, there will be found again an impenetrable
bulwark in the brave hearts of a sturdy and patriotic people.
[Applause.] You will, I am sure, crown your kindness by excusing
me from attempting further speech and allowing me to express, as I
part from you, my good wishes for Vermont and all her good people.
[Applause.]

PROCTOR, VERMONT, AUGUST 28.

On the return to Proctor in the evening the President was tendered the final reception of his trip to Vermont. The village was elaborately decorated; an illuminated evergreen arch spanned the entrance to Secretary Proctor's beautiful grounds. The residences and grounds of E. R. Morse, F. D. Proctor, B. F. Taylor, W. E. Higbee, G. H. Davis, E. J. Boyce, J. H. Edson, and H. E. Spencer were also brilliantly illuminated. From a platform fronting the Secretary's home the party reviewed the procession of 1,000 workmen from the marble quarries.

Secretary Proctor, in an affectionate address, introduced President Harrison, who spoke as follows:

It is not my privilege to call you neighbors, but I am sure I may
call you friends. This journey in Vermont is crowned to-night by a
reception and a good-by that is surpassingly brilliant and artistic
in its preparation and one that I have never seen exceeded. But
above all this, I have been able here in Proctor to witness in its
best manifestation that which I have seen elsewhere in New England
and especially in Vermont--a community of workers, men industriously
pursuing mechanical avocations and doing it under conditions of
the greatest possible comfort. As I look upon these homes in which
you dwell and contrast them with the wretchedness of the crowded
tenement-houses of our great cities; as I inhale to-night the bracing
air of these mountains, and as my eye has looked to-day upon their
green summits, I have said how happy is the lot of that man and that
woman who work in one of these bright, wholesome New England villages.
[Applause.] It has seemed to me that the relation of our mutual friend
who has inaugurated and developed these works in which many of you
find employment was that of a public benefactor and a personal friend.
[Applause.] The simplicity and naturalness of his own life among you,
his ready appreciation of the loyalty and intelligence of those who
are employed by him, his interest in their success in life, is the
ideal relation between the employer and his workmen. [Applause.] I
would to God it was always and everywhere so, that when a man is put
at a machine he should not be regarded by his employer as a part of
it, that the human nature, the aspirations of a man, should still be
recognized, and the relations with the employer be that of mutual
confidence and helpfulness and respect! [Applause.]

You are sharers in the responsibilities of local government, of the
government of your State and of the Nation, of which Vermont is one
of the honored members. I am sure that you have pride in the faithful
discharge of all these duties. I cannot but feel that our national
policy should be in the direction of saving our working people from
that condition of hopelessness which comes when wages are barely
adequate to the sustenance of animal life. [Applause.] There is no
hope for any community where this state of things exists, and there
will be no hope for the Nation should it become the general condition
of the workingmen of America. That man or woman out of whose heart
hope has gone, who sees nothing better in life, before whom the vista
of life stretches in one dead level of unending and half-requited
toil, that man's estate is calculated to make him reckless in
character. It is one of the beneficent conditions of citizenship here
that there are no disabilities put in the way of ambitions and the
aspiring. I hope it may always be so. I cannot always sympathize with
that demand which we hear so frequently for cheap things. Things may
be too cheap. They are too cheap when the man who produces them upon
the farm or the man or woman who produces them in the factory does not
get out of them living wages with a margin for old age and for a dowry
for the incidents that are to follow. [Applause.] I pity that man who
wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or
shapes it into a garment shall starve in the process. [Applause.]

I am most profoundly grateful to you, my fellow-citizens, and to my
good friend Governor Proctor, for this beautiful demonstration--this
magnificent rural welcome which we have had here to-day. It will live
always in my memory. I shall carry this community in my thoughts as
one of the best types of American neighborhood life. I have found
in him a most valuable contribution to the administration of the
Government at Washington. [Applause.] You cannot know fully how he has
grown into the respect and confidence of all who have been associated
with him in the Cabinet and of all our legislators in Congress without
distinction of party. I regret that there is some danger that you may
reclaim him for Vermont [applause]; yet it is quite natural that it
should be so, and I shall do the best I can to get a substitute. The
labors of public office at Washington are full of high responsibility
and most burdensome toil. No man is endowed with an incapacity to make
mistakes. We can, however, all of us, in public or private trust,
be sure of our motives. These are our own. We can know whether we
are pursuing low and selfish ends or have set before us the general
good, the highest good of all our people. Judgment upon what has been
done is with you. I am sure only that I have had it in my heart to
do that which should in the highest degree promote the prosperity of
our people and lift the glorious flag yet higher in the esteem of the
world. [Great applause.] We have been endeavoring to open a foreign
market for American trade. If these efforts are met, as I trust they
will be, by enterprise on the part of our merchants and manufacturers,
I do not doubt that the next ten years will see a most gratifying
increase in our foreign trade. [Applause.] They should diligently set
themselves to the study of the new markets into which their goods may
now go. The most intelligent representatives should be sent there,
and their goods adapted to the market that is to be supplied. This I
have no doubt they will do, and I add the expectation that we shall
presently have a most gratifying increase in the American merchant
marine. [Applause.]

WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 17, 1891.

_The Augusta Exposition._

President Harrison on the above date received at the Executive Mansion a delegation of prominent citizens of Georgia, who extended to him a formal invitation to attend the Augusta Exposition in November. The delegation comprised the following citizens and Exposition directors: Hon. Patrick Walsh, Walter M. Jackson, J. P. Verdery, H. G. Smith, J. L. Gow, C. H. Ballard, J. J. Doughty, W. A. Garrett, G. J. Howard, W. H. Landrum, J. E. Barton, W. E. Keener, Percy Burum, J. P. Bones, J. M. Cranston, Crawford Mays, Maurice Walton, L. J. Henry, T. R. Gibson, P. J. O'Connor, Jules Rival, Joseph Ganahl, Jr., W. H. Barrett, Jr., P. A. Stovall, W. E. Platt, A. J. Gouley, Frank X. Dorr, and Hon. J. C. Clements.

Chairman Walsh, on behalf of the committee, made the invitation address, to which the President, responding, said:

_Gentlemen_--I recall with pleasure the visit made by some of
your representatives. I think I have repeatedly, on every suitable
occasion, especially during my recent visit to the South, expressed
my sincere hope of the development of those marvellous resources
so long hidden from sight, but now about to be opened up. I had
occasion to say then that you would realize the advantage of
combining manufactures with agriculture. The old system made of
Georgia a plantation State. I would not have it less so. But you may
still develop other industries without destroying the surface of
the country. There is no competition between these industries; one
does not supersede the other. The farmer still has his near market
for some products that will not bear transportation. Out of this
diversity I think the highest development will come. Recently I made
a trip through New England and was deeply impressed with the numerous
industries and small factories showing in little places, where the
lives and homes of the workmen were so much cleaner and purer than in
the great cities, and this was made possible by the great diversity
of small interests. In Vermont I came upon a busy little factory
surrounded by cottages in the midst of the hills. I was told that the
proprietor made stethoscopes, and out of a small beginning had built
up a great trade. These little things make happy homes; bring money,
trade, and development. I am greatly interested in these things, and
I would be very happy to see this development in Alabama and Georgia
as in any Northern State. We all wish it. Whether I can be with you
or not I cannot now say. I have a good many very important matters
demanding attention from now on to the meeting of Congress. Some are
home matters of importance and some are foreign. Looking back over
the last year, it would seem probable that there was a conspiracy
among the powers to see that those in responsible places should have
no rest. Many of these things must now come to my personal attention.
If I cannot be with you, you will know that my heart is with you. If
I can I will come, but the time now being so close to the meeting of
Congress it is doubtful.

WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 17, 1891.

The Ecumenical Conference of the Methodist Church convened in the Metropolitan Church at Washington, D. C., on October 7, 1891. Rt. Rev. Thomas Bowman, Senior Bishop of the Church in America, presided at the opening, and Rev. William Arthur, M.A., of London, delivered the inaugural sermon. It was in every respect the greatest assembly in the history of Methodism.

Among a few of the distinguished preachers and orators from abroad were: Rev. T. B. Stephenson, D.D., LL.D., Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, M.A., Rev. John Bond, Rev. F. W. Bourne, Rev. J. Ernest Clapham, and Rev. David J. Waller, D.D., all of London. The following Washingtonians comprised the Committee on Reception: Bishop J. F. Hurst, D.D.; Rev. G. H. Corey, D.D., Chairman; Rev. C. W. Baldwin, Rev. J. H. Becket, Rev. J. W. E. Bowen, Rev. T. E. Carson, Rev. R. H. G. Dyson, Rev. George Elliott, Rev. S. R. Murray, Rev. C. H. Phillips, Rev. J. A. Price, Rev. E. S. Todd, Rev. L. T. Widerman, Rev. J. T. Wightman, Rev. L. B. Wilson, Alexander Ashley, E. S. Atkinson, W. S. Birch, Gen. Cyrus Bussey, J. F. Chestnut, D. S. Cissell, Robert Cohen, George Compton, L. A. Cornish, G. S. Deering, Robert Dunn, A. B. Duval, Hon. M. G. Emery, Prof. Edgar Frisbie, D. B. Groff, T. A. Harding, Gen. S. S. Henkle, W. H. Houghton, W. J. Hutchinson, Thomas Jarvis, B. F. Leighton, William Mayse, H. B. Moulton, Hon. Hiram Price, B. Robinson, W. J. Sibley, T. B. Stahl, B. H. Stinemetz, H. L. Strang, G. W. F. Swartzell, Frederick Tasker, J. S. Topham, L. H. Walker, E. S. Wescott, J. B. Wilson, and W. R. Woodward.

On the tenth day of the Conference, President Harrison, escorted by Rev. Dr. J. M. King, Secretary, and Rev. Dr. Corey, the pastor of Metropolitan Church, attended the session. Other distinguished visitors were Secretary of the Treasury Foster, Secretary of the Interior Noble, and Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British Minister.

The chief essay of the session was delivered by Mr. Thomas Snape, of Liverpool, upon the topic of the day, "International Arbitration," a subject which made the presence of the President and the British envoy particularly appropriate.

As the President ascended to the pulpit, all the delegates and the great audience instantly arose. The presiding officer of the day, Rev. T. G. Williams, of Montreal, presented the distinguished visitor, who was received with prolonged applause, in which the English delegates led.

President Harrison then addressed the Conference as follows:

_Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Conference_--I come here this
morning to make an expression of my respect and esteem for this great
body of delegates assembled from all the countries of the world, and
much more to give a manifestation of my respect and love for that
greater body of Christian men and women for whom you stand. Every
Ecumenical Conference is a distinct step in the direction, not only
of the unification of the Church, but of the unification of the human
race.

Assembling from countries unlike in their civil institutions, from
churches not wholly in accord as to doctrine or church order, you
come together to find that the unlikeness is not so great as you
had thought, and to find your common sympathies and common purposes
greater and larger than you had thought--large enough presently to
overspread and to extinguish all these transitory lines of division.

I am glad to know that as followers of Wesley, whose hymns we sing,
you have been in consultation as to the methods by which these minor
divisions among you might be obliterated. It is the natural order that
subdivisions should be wiped out before the grand divisions of the
Church can be united. [Applause.] Who does not greatly rejoice that
the controversial clash of the churches is less than it once was; that
we hear more of the Master and His teachings of love and duty than of
hair-splitting theological differences? [Applause.]

Many years ago, while visiting in Wisconsin, when Sunday came
around I went with some friends to the little Methodist church
in an adjoining village. The preacher undertook to overturn my
Presbyterianism. [Laughter and applause.] An irreverent friend who
sat beside me as the young man delivered his telling blows against
Calvinism was constantly emphasizing the points made by nudging me
with his elbow. [Laughter.] Now I am glad to say that very often since
then I have worshipped in Methodist churches, and that is the last
experience of that kind I have had. [Applause]

You have to-day as the theme of discussion the subject of
international arbitration; and this being a public, or, in a large
sense of the word, a political question, perhaps makes my presence
here as an officer of the United States especially appropriate.
[Applause.]

It is a curious incident that some days ago, and before I was aware
of the theme or the occasion which we have here this morning, I had
appointed this afternoon to visit the great gun foundry of the United
States at the navy yard. Things have come in their proper sequence. I
am here at this arbitration meeting before I go to the gun factory.
[Laughter.]

This subject is one that has long attracted the attention, and I
think I may say has, perhaps, as greatly attracted the interest and
adherence of the United States as that of any other Christian power in
the world. [Applause.]

It is known to you all that in the recent conference of the American
states at Washington the proposition was distinctly made and adopted
by the representatives of all, or nearly all, of the governments
of America that, as applied to this hemisphere, all international
disputes should be settled by arbitration. [Applause.]

Of course there are limitations as yet, in the nature of things,
to the complete and general adoption of such a scheme. It is quite
possible to apply arbitration to a dispute as to a boundary line;
it is quite impossible, it seems to me, to apply it to a case of
international feud. If there is present a disposition to subjugate,
an aggressive spirit to seize territory, a spirit of national
aggrandizement that does not stop to consider the rights of other men
and other people--to such a case and to such a spirit international
arbitration has none, or, if any, a remote and difficult application.

It is for a Christian sentiment, manifesting itself in a nation, to
remove forever such causes of dispute; and then what remains will be
the easy subject of adjustment by fair international arbitration. But
I had not intended to enter into a discussion of this great theme, for
the setting forth of which you have appointed those who have given
it special attention. Let me, therefore, say simply this: that for
myself--temporarily in a place of influence in this country--and much
more for the great body of its citizenship, I express the desire of
America for peace with the whole world. [Applause.] It would have been
vain to suggest the pulling down of block-houses or family disarmament
to the settlers on a hostile Indian frontier. They would have told
you rightly that the conditions were not ripe. And so it may be and
is probably true that a full application of the principle is not
presently possible, the devil still being unchained. [Laughter.]

We will have our gun foundries, and possibly will best promote the
settlement of international disputes by arbitration, by having it
understood that if the appeal is to a fiercer tribunal we shall not be
out of the debate. [Great applause.] There is a unity of the Church
and of humanity, and the lines of progress are the same.

It is by this great Christian sentiment, characterized not only by
a high sense of justice, but by a spirit of love and forbearance,
mastering the civil institutions and governments of the world, that
we shall approach universal peace and adopt arbitration methods of
settling disputes. [Applause.]

Let me thank you, Mr. Chairman, and you, gentlemen of this
Conference, for the privilege of standing before you for a moment, and
for this most cordial welcome which you have given to me. I beg to
express again my high appreciation of the character of this delegation
and the membership of the great Church from which you come, and to
wish that in your remaining deliberations and in your journeys to
far-distant homes you may have the guidance and care of that God whom
we all revere and worship. [Applause.]

AMERICAN TIN PLATE, OCTOBER 23.

While the gubernatorial campaign in Ohio was in progress and Major McKinley was making his famous race, the question as to the successful manufacture of tin plate in the United States was one of the leading issues of the day. At this juncture W. C. Cronemyer, of the United States Iron and Steel Tin Plate Works, at Demmler, Pa., sent President Harrison a box of tin plate manufactured at the Demmler works, and received in return the following interesting letter, which was given wide publicity at the time:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, October 19, 1891.

MY DEAR SIR--I have your letter of October 15, and also a box of
bright tin plate which you send as a specimen of the product being
turned out by the United States Iron and Tin Plate Company. I have no
skill in determining the character of this work; but, to the eye, it
seems to be eminently satisfactory, and I thank you for this evidence
that a new industry has been established in the United States.

I cannot quite understand how an American can doubt that we have the
mechanical skill and business sagacity to establish successfully here
the manufacture of tin plate. No other country, certainly, surpasses
us in the inventive genius of its citizens or in the business sagacity
of its capitalists. It is surprising to me that any patriotic American
should approach this question with a desire to see this great and
interesting experiment fail, or with an unwillingness to accept the
evidences of its success. It will be a great step in the direction of
commercial independence when we produce our own tin plate.

It seems to me that nothing, unless it be a lack of faith in the
maintenance of the present law, can thwart this desirable achievement.
I can understand how our success should be doubted and our failure
accepted with satisfaction in Wales, but I cannot understand how any
American can take that view of the question or why he should always
approach every evidence of the successful establishment of this
industry in this country with a disposition to discredit it and reject
it. If the great experiment is to fail, our own people should not add
to the mortification of failure the crime of rejoicing in it.

Very truly yours,
BENJAMIN HARRISON.

WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 14 AND DECEMBER 9, 1891.

_The Chilian Imbroglio._

In January, 1891, civil war broke out in the republic of Chili between the Congressional forces and the established Government under President Balmaceda. Deeds of cruelty signalized the conflict, which continued until August 28, when the insurgent forces landed near Valparaiso and, after a bloody engagement, captured that city. President Balmaceda became a fugitive, and a few weeks later committed suicide, by shooting, at the residence of Señor Uribirru, the Argentine Minister.

During the conduct of the war, the _Itata_, an armed vessel, commanded by an officer of the Chilian insurgent fleet, was seized under process of the United States Court at San Diego, Cal., for a violation of the neutrality laws. This seizure and the subsequent escape, surrender, and return of the _Itata_, and the strict neutrality observed by the American Minister, Hon. Patrick Egan, and Admiral Brown, commanding the squadron, caused the victorious Chilians to manifest a spirit of animosity toward the Government and people of the United States. This feeling was intensified by the false statements published in the British press, notably the London _Times_, touching the conduct of Admiral Brown and the American Minister, and by the fact that the American Legation, exercising the established right of asylum, opened its doors to several prominent political refugees of the defunct Balmaceda Government.

On October 16, 1891, this hostility culminated in an attack, in the streets of Valparaiso, upon a number of sailors attached to the U. S. cruiser _Baltimore_, who were upon shore leave. These sailors, wearing their uniforms, were assaulted by armed men in different localities in the city; one petty officer was killed outright, and eight seamen seriously wounded, one of whom died a few days later. Many of their stab wounds were in the back. The news of this bloody and unprovoked attack sent a thrill of indignation across the American continent, and it was felt that the deadly insult must be atoned in blood. The war feeling was not lessened by the impudent tone of the reply from the Chilian Minister of Foreign Affairs. American indignation subsided somewhat pending a judicial inquiry into the attack, but the determination to expiate the insult had in no degree abated when, on November 14, Señor Don Pedro Montt was presented to President Harrison as the newly accredited Chilian Minister to the United States.

The reception of a new Minister is ordinarily a very formal and uninteresting affair, but the circumstances narrated--with the two governments apparently on the verge of war--lent an unusual interest to this official meeting; and the President's remarks, characterized by his usual frankness and firmness, called forth the approval of the whole Nation.

The Minister was accompanied by Señors Anibal Cruz, Secretary of Legation; Guillermo Arenanetegan and Valentin del Campo, attachés. After the formal introductions by Secretary Blaine, Señor Montt addressed the President in Spanish as follows:

_Mr. President_--I have the honor to present the credentials which
accredit me in the capacity of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the republic of Chili in the United States of North
America. The object of the mission which the Government of Chili has
confided to me is to cultivate and maintain the relations of peace
and friendship between the United States and Chili, which have ever
been close and cordial. For the accomplishment of this purpose I rely
upon the kindness and good-will which the United States Government
has always manifested for the representatives of Chili. Permit me to
express my country's sincere wishes for the prosperity and welfare of
this noble country, which is so highly favored by Providence, and for
your own happiness.

The President, in response, said: