Chapter IX: Part 9

_Mr. McDaniels and my Friends_--I have seen, during this
busy summer, many earnest and demonstrative assemblages of my
fellow-citizens. I have listened to many addresses full of the kindest
expressions toward me personally; but, among them all, none have been
more grateful to me, none have more deeply touched me than this great
assemblage of the workingmen of Indiana and these kind words which
have been addressed to me in your behalf. [Great cheering.] There
are reasons why this should be so that will readily occur to your
minds, and to some of which Mr. McDaniels has alluded. Early in this
campaign certain people, claiming to speak for the laboring men, but
really in the employ of the Democratic campaign managers, promulgated
through the newspaper press and by campaign publications that were not
given the open endorsement of the Democratic campaign managers, but
were paid for by their funds and circulated under their auspices, a
number of false and scandalous stories relating to my attitude toward
organized labor. [Great and prolonged cheering.] The purpose of all
these stories was to poison the minds of the workingmen against the
candidate of the party that stands in this campaign for the principle
of protection to American labor. [Great cheering.] I have only once,
in all the addresses I have made to my fellow-citizens, alluded to
these malicious and scandalous stories, but, now and in the presence
of this great gathering of workingmen, I do pronounce them to be
utterly false. [Tumultuous cheering, waving of flags and banners,
continued for several minutes.] The story that I ever said that one
dollar a day was enough for a workingman, with all its accompaniments
and appendages, is not a perversion of anything I ever said--it is a
false creation. [Enthusiastic cheering.] I will not follow in detail
this long catalogue of campaign slanders, but will only add that it is
equally false that anywhere or at any time I ever spoke disparagingly
of my fellow-citizens of Irish nativity or descent. Many of them
are now enrolling themselves on the side of protection for American
labor--this created the necessity for the story. [Cheers.] I want
to say again that those who pitch a campaign upon so low a level
greatly underestimate the intelligence, the sense of decency, and
the love of fair play of the American people. [Prolonged cheering.]
I said to one of the first delegations that visited me that this was
a contest of great principles; that it would be fought out upon the
high plains of truth, and not in the swamps of slander and defamation.
[Great cheering.] Those who will encamp their army in the swamp will
abandon the victory to the army that is on the heights. [Cheers.]
The Republican party stands to-day as the bulwark and defense of the
wage-earners of this country against a competition which may reduce
American wages even below the standard they falsely impute to my
suggestion. [Cheers.]

There are two very plain facts that I have often stated--and others
more forcibly than I--that it seems to me should be conclusive with
the wage-earners of America. The policy of the Democratic party--the
revision of our tariff laws as indicated by the Democratic party,
a revenue-only tariff, or progressive free trade--means a vast and
sudden increase of importations. Is there a man here so dull as not to
know that this means diminished work in our American shops? [Cheers
and cries of "No, no!"] If some one says that labor is not fully
employed now, do you hope it will be more fully employed when you
have transferred one-third of the work done in our shops to foreign
workshops? [Cries of "No, no!"] If some one tells me that labor is not
sufficiently rewarded here, does he hope to have its rewards increased
by striking down our protective duties and compelling our workmen to
compete with the underpaid labor of Europe? [Cheers.]

I conclude by saying that less work and lower wages are the
inevitable result of the triumph of the principles advocated by the
Democratic party. [Cheers.]

And now you will excuse further speech from me. [Cries of "Go
on!"] There are here several distinguished advocates of Republican
principles. You will be permitted to hear now, I understand, from the
Hon. Henry W. Blair, a Senator from the State of New Hampshire, who
has been so long at the head of the Committee on Education and Labor
in the United States Senate; and to-night in this hall you will be
permitted to listen to the Hon. William McKinley, Jr., of Ohio. Now
will you allow me again to thank you out of a full heart for this
cordial tender of your confidence and respect. I felt that in return I
could not omit to say what I have said, not because you needed to be
assured of my friendliness, but in recognition of a confidence that
falsehood and slander could not shake. I have not thought it in good
taste to make many personal references in my public addresses. If any
one thinks it necessary that a comparison should be instituted between
the candidates of the two great parties as to their friendliness to
the reforms demanded by organized labor, I must leave others to make
it. [Great cheering.]

INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 27.

The railroad men of Indiana held their last gathering of the great campaign on Saturday night, October 27. Its estimated 7,000 voters participated in their parade under Chief Marshal A. D. Shaw and Chief of Staff Geo. Butler. The Porter Flambeau Club, the Harrison Zouaves, and 1,000 members of the Indianapolis Railroad Club--each man carrying a colored lantern--escorted the visiting organizations. General Harrison and the Hon. W. R. McKeen, of Terre Haute, reviewed the brilliant procession from the balcony of the New-Denison and then repaired to Tomlinson Hall, where the General's arrival was signalized by an extraordinary demonstration. Chairman Finch introduced Hon. Mathew O'Doherty, of Louisville, and A. F. Potts, of Indianapolis, who addressed the meeting later in the evening.

General Harrison was the first speaker. He said:

_My Friends of the Railroad Republican Clubs_--Before your committee
waited upon me to request my presence here to-night I had resolutely
determined that I would not make another address in this campaign. But
when they presented their suggestion that I should meet my railroad
friends, I said to them--the kindness which has been shown to me from
an early period in this campaign by the railroad men of Indiana has
been so conspicuous and so cordial that I could not deny any request
that is presented in their name. [Cheers.] And so I am here to-night,
not to speak upon any political topic, but only to express, if I
can find words to express, the deep and earnest thankfulness I feel
toward you who have shown so much kindness and confidence in me.
[Cheers.] Very early in this campaign there were those who sought to
make a breach between you and me. You did not wait for my answer, but
you made answer yourselves. [Cheers.] And time and again you have
witnessed your faith that my disposition toward you and toward the men
who toil for their living was one of friendliness, and the principles
which I represented and have always advocated were those that promoted
the true interests of the workingmen of America. [Cheers.] I have
always believed and held that the prosperity of our country, that the
supremacy of its institutions and its social order all depended upon
our pursuing such a policy in our legislation that we should have in
America a class of workingmen earning adequate wages that would bring
comfort into their homes and maintain hope in their hearts. [Cheers.]
A despairing man, a man out of whose horizon the star of hope has
gone, is not a safe citizen in a republic. [Cheers.] Therefore I would
preserve against unfriendly competition the highest possible scale of
wages to our working people. [Great cheering.]

I know the stout hearts, I know the intelligence, I know the
enterprise of those men who man our railway trains and push them at
lightning speed through darkness and storm. I know the skill and
faithfulness of those who sit at the telegraph instrument, holding
in their watchfulness the safety of those who journey. I know the
fidelity of the men who conduct this business, which has grown to
be a system as fine and perfect as the finest product of mechanical
art. [Cheers.] And so I value to-night this evidence of your cordial
respect; and let me say that whatever may happen to me in the future,
whether I shall remain a citizen of Indianapolis to bear with you
the duties and responsibilities of private citizenship, or shall be
honored with office, I shall never forget this great demonstration of
your friendliness. [Prolonged cheers.]

General Harrison's unequalled campaign of speech-making closed on the afternoon of this day with a visit from 80 young lady students of Oxford, Ohio, College. They were organized as the "Carrie Harrison Club of Oxford," and their visit was in honor of that distinguished lady, who, 36 years before, as Miss Carrie Scott, graduated from this same institution, of which her venerable father, the Rev. Dr. John W. Scott, was the first President. The students were accompanied by President and Mrs. Faye Walker and Professors Wilson, Fisher, and Dean.

Miss Nellie F. Deem, of Union City, Indiana, the youngest teacher in the college, addressed Mrs. Harrison on behalf of the school. General Harrison responded briefly in a happy little speech, in which he expressed the pleasure felt by both over the visit of the Oxford young ladies. He spoke of their mutual memories of the school and the happy days spent in its charming surroundings, and said they both rejoiced in the prosperity of the college, noted as it was for its scholarship and the Christian training of its pupils. In conclusion he thanked them for their visit, and assured them that the kind words spoken of Mrs. Harrison and himself were fully appreciated and would be long remembered.

INDIANAPOLIS, NOVEMBER 5.

The last day of the great campaign brought a delegation of nearly 100 ladies and gentlemen from Terre Haute, Indiana, who came to deliver a handsome present of a miniature silver-mounted plush chair, designated the "Presidential Chair." They also brought Mrs. Harrison a valuable flower-stand, voted to her at Germania Fair as the most popular lady. In returning thanks for these gifts and their visit General Harrison said:

_Captain Ebel and Gentlemen_--I am very much obliged to you for this
friendly visit. It comes in the nature of a surprise, for it was only
a little while ago that I was advised of your intention. I thank you
for this gift. It is intended, I suppose, as a type, and a type of a
very useful article, one that does not come amiss in any station of
life. Only those who for months found their only convenient seat upon
a log or a cracker-box know what infinite luxury there was in even a
common Windsor chair. We are glad to welcome you to our home, and will
be glad to greet personally the members of this club and those ladies
who accompany you.

The General then, in behalf of Mrs. Harrison, thanked the ladies for their present to her.

THE ELECTION, NOVEMBER, 1888.

It is not the purpose of this work to more than chronicle the result of the great presidential campaign of 1888. The election fell on November 6. Twenty States gave the Republican candidate 233 votes in the Electoral College, and 18 States cast 168 votes for Mr. Cleveland, the Democratic candidate. The total vote cast in the 38 States, for the 7 electoral tickets, was 11,386,632, of which General Harrison received 5,440,551. The Republican electoral ticket was chosen in Indiana by a plurality of 2,392 votes.

When it became evident that General Harrison had won the election a demonstration without parallel was inaugurated at Indianapolis and continued three days. The exciting street parades and gatherings witnessed at the time of his nomination were re-enacted with tenfold energy and enthusiasm. Delegations came from all points in the State to offer their congratulations, and 10,000 telegrams and letters from distinguished countrymen poured in upon the successful candidate. From an early hour on the morning of the 7th, for days thereafter, the streets of Indianapolis were thronged with enthusiastic visitors.

The first delegation to call upon General Harrison after his election came from Hendricks County, numbering 400 veterans and others, headed by Ira J. Chase, the newly elected Lieutenant-Governor, Rev. J. H. Hull, and John C. Ochiltree. General Harrison made no formal response to their congratulatory address. On November 9 a delegation from the Commercial Club of Cincinnati arrived, and at night the saw-makers of Indianapolis--about 100 in number--bedecked in red from head to foot, marched with glaring torches to the residence of General Harrison, and after a serenade called upon him for a speech.

Coming out on the steps the General said:

The time for speech-making is over. The debate is closed, and I
believe the polls are closed. ["Right you are!"] I will only thank
you for your call to-night and for that friendly spirit which you have
shown to me during the campaign.

_A Famous Telegram._

The State of New York gave Harrison (Rep.) over Cleveland (Dem.) a plurality of 13,074 votes; but for Governor--at the same election--the State gave David B. Hill (Dem.) a plurality of 19,171 over Warner Miller (Rep.). These opposite results called forth the following famous telegram from the President-elect:

INDIANAPOLIS, IND., Nov. 9, 1888.
_To_ HON. WARNER MILLER, _Herkimer, N. Y._:

I am greatly grieved at your defeat. If the intrepid leader fell
outside the breastworks, the column, inspired by his courage, went on
to victory.

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

INDIANAPOLIS, JANUARY 1, 1889.

The installation of officers by George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., on the night of New Year's Day, '89, was attended by General Harrison, who for many years had been an active member of this post. Many comrades from other posts in the city were present. The President-elect was escorted by Col. Irvin Robbins, who was commander of the Democratic regiment during the recent campaign, and Col. George W. Spahr, who commanded a Republican regiment. He was received with full honors by the retiring commander, James B. Black, who presented him to the post.

In response to their enthusiastic greeting, General Harrison--speaking in public for the first time since his election--in substance said:

_Commander and Comrades_--It affords me pleasure to meet with you
again on this occasion. When I left the army so many years ago I
little expected to enter it again, as I soon will. Among the many
honors which may be placed on me in the future there will be none, I
can assure you, that I will esteem more highly than my membership in
this order, instituted by those who sustained the flag of Washington,
the flag of Perry, the flag that was baptized in the blood of the
Revolution and again in the second conflict with the mother country;
that floated over the halls of the Montezumas, and was sustained
in other wars, and which you made possible to wave over every foot
of our beloved country. I esteem it my greatest honor that I bore
even an humble part with you and all the comrades of the Grand Army
in bringing about this most desirable result. I wish to say before
parting with you, if I may never look upon your faces collectively
again, that the parting request I would make of you would be that each
of you, without regard to party (and I believe I can say this without
offence to any comrade of the Grand Army), stand shoulder to shoulder,
as we did during the war, to preserve a free and honest ballot.
There is nothing, I can assure you, that will do more to preserve
and maintain our institutions than this. Our country, separated as
it is by the great watery waste, need have no fear of interference
by foreign countries with its institutions; nor do we desire in any
way to interfere with them. Nor, indeed, is there any fear of another
civil war. The only fear we should now have is a corruption or
suppression of the free ballot, and your utmost exertions should be to
prevent it.

In concluding, he called for the choicest blessings upon his comrades, saying: "To each one, God bless you and your families; God keep you and protect you in your homes!"

INDIANAPOLIS, FEBRUARY 25, 1889.

_The Departure for Washington._

President-elect and Mrs. Harrison bade their friends and neighbors good-by and left Indiana on February 25 for Washington. Governor Hovey, Mayor Denny, and several thousand citizens escorted them from their residence to the railroad station. In the escort column were 1,000 G. A. R. veterans from Geo. H. Thomas and other posts, commanded by H. C. Allen. Conspicuous in their ranks was that distinguished soldier-diplomat, General Lew Wallace. The members of the Indiana Legislature saluted and joined the _cortége_ as it passed through Pennsylvania Street.

General Harrison's carriage was completely enclosed within a hollow square composed of 32 prominent citizens--a body-guard of honor. The entire population of the city turned out to witness the eventful departure, while numerous delegations were present from Danville, Richmond, Crawfordsville, Terre Haute, and other cities. A great throng greeted the distinguished travellers at the Union Station. From the rear platform of the special inaugural train Governor Hovey presented the President-elect amid tumultuous cheering.

General Harrison was greatly affected by the scene and the occasion. Speaking with emotion he said:

_My Good Friends and Neighbors_--I cannot trust myself to put in
words what I feel at this time. Every kind thought that is in your
minds and every good wish that is in your hearts for me finds its
responsive wish and thought in my mind and heart for each of you. I
love this city. It has been my own cherished home. Twice before I have
left it to discharge public duties and returned to it with gladness,
as I hope to do again. It is a city on whose streets the pompous
displays of wealth are not seen. It is full of pleasant homes, and in
these homes there is an unusual store of contentment. The memory of
your favor and kindness will abide with me, and my strong desire to
hold your respect and confidence will strengthen me in the discharge
of my new and responsible duties. Let me say farewell to all my
Indiana friends. For the public honors that have come to me I am their
grateful debtor. They have made the debt so large that I can never
discharge it. There is a great sense of loneliness in the discharge of
high public duties. The moment of decision is one of isolation. But
there is One whose help comes even into the quiet chamber of judgment,
and to His wise and unfailing guidance will I look for direction and
safety. My family unite with me in grateful thanks for this cordial
good-by, and with me wish that these years of separation may be full
of peace and happiness for each of you. [Great cheering.]

KNIGHTSTOWN, INDIANA, FEBRUARY 25.

As the inaugural train sped along it was greeted at every station by thousands of cheering spectators. The first stop was at Knightstown, where the Soldiers' Orphans' Home is located. In response to their calls General Harrison said:

_My Friends_--I thank you for this cordial gathering and
demonstration. I can detain the train but a moment, and I only stopped
at the request of the Superintendent of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home,
so that the children might have an opportunity to see me and that I
might wish them the bright and prosperous future which the sacrifices
of their fathers won for them. I bid you farewell.

RICHMOND, INDIANA, FEBRUARY 25.

The city of Richmond was reached at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, where several thousand people greeted the travellers. General Harrison said:

_My Friends_--I have so long had my home among you that I cannot
but feel a sense of regret in leaving the soil of Indiana. I go with
a deep sense of inadequacy, but I am sure you will be patient with my
mistakes, and that you will all give me your help as citizens [cheers
and cries of "We will!"] in my efforts to promote the best interests
of our people and the honor of the Nation we love. I thank you for
this cordial greeting. [Cheers.]

COLUMBUS, OHIO, FEBRUARY 25.

At Piqua the President-elect and his party were welcomed by Ohio's chief executive, Gov. J. B. Foraker, and his wife; and, notwithstanding the hour, some 20,000 people greeted their arrival at Columbus. The roar of cannon rendered speaking difficult. Governor Foraker presented General Harrison, who here made his last public speech before being inaugurated as President. He said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I thank you for the wonderful demonstration
of this evening. In these evidences of the good will of my friends
I receive a new stimulus as I enter upon the duties of the great
office to which I have been chosen. I beg to thank you again for your
interest. [Great cheering.]

WASHINGTON, D. C., MARCH 4, 1889.

General Harrison and his family, accompanied by Hon. James N. Huston, Hon. W. H. H. Miller, Mr. E. W. Halford, Mr. E. F. Tibbott and family, Miss Sanger, and the representatives of the press, arrived in Washington on the evening of February 26. The President-elect was met by Col. A. T. Britton, Geo. B. Williams, Gen. H. V. Boynton, J. K. McCammon, Gen. Daniel Macauley, and other members of the Inaugural Committee, and escorted to the Arlington Hotel.

The inaugural celebration was conducted by several hundred residents of Washington, acting through committees. The Executive Committee, having supervising charge of all matters pertaining to the celebration, comprised the following prominent Washingtonians: Alex. T. Britton, Chairman; Myron M. Parker, Vice-Chairman; Brainerd H. Warner, Treasurer; Henry L. Swords, Secretary; Elmon A. Adams, Joseph K. McCammon, James E. Bell, James G. Berret, Robert Boyd, Henry V. Boynton, Almon M. Clapp, A. H. S. Davis, Frederick Douglass, John Joy Edson, Lawrence Gardner, George Gibson, Charles C. Glover, Stilson Hutchins, E. Kurtz Johnson, George E. Lemon, John McElroy, Geo. A. McIlhenny, Crosby S. Noyes, Albert Ordway, Charles B. Purvis, Melancthon L. Ruth, Thomas Somerville, Orren G. Staples, John W. Thompson, Henry A. Willard, George B. Williams, Louis D. Wine, Simon Wolf, Levi P. Wright, and Hallett Kilbourn. General James Beaver, Governor of Pennsylvania, was Chief Marshal of the day, and with a brilliant staff led the great column in its march to and from the Capitol. The veterans of the Seventieth Indiana Regiment were accorded the post of honor on the route to the Capitol, and on conclusion of the ceremonies escorted their old commander to the White House. Chief-Justice Fuller administered the oath of office.

President Harrison delivered his inaugural address from the terrace of the Capitol in the presence of a vast concourse and during a rainfall.

THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

There is no constitutional or legal requirement that the President
shall take the oath of office in the presence of the people. But
there is so manifest an appropriateness in the public induction to
office of the chief executive officer of the Nation that from the
beginning of the Government the people, to whose service the official
oath consecrates the officer, have been called to witness the solemn
ceremonial. The oath taken in the presence of the people becomes a
mutual covenant; the officer covenants to serve the whole body of the
people by a faithful execution of the laws, so that they may be the
unfailing defence and security of those who respect and observe them,
and that neither wealth and station nor the power of combinations
shall be able to evade their just penalties or to wrest them from a
beneficent public purpose to serve the ends of cruelty or selfishness.
My promise is spoken; yours unspoken, but not the less real and
solemn. The people of every State have here their representatives.
Surely I do not misinterpret the spirit of the occasion when I assume
that the whole body of the people covenant with me and with each other
to-day to support and defend the Constitution and the Union of the
States, to yield willing obedience to all the laws and each to every
other citizen his equal civil and political rights. Entering thus
solemnly in covenant with each other, we may reverently invoke and
confidently expect the favor and help of Almighty God, that He will
give to me wisdom, strength, and fidelity, and to our people a spirit
of fraternity and a love of righteousness and peace.

This occasion derives peculiar interest from the fact that the
presidential term which begins this day is the twenty-sixth under our
Constitution. The first inauguration of President Washington took
place in New York, where Congress was then sitting, on April 30, 1789,
having been deferred by reason of delays attending the organization
of the Congress and the canvass of the electoral vote. Our people
have already worthily observed the centennials of the Declaration of
Independence, of the battle of Yorktown, and of the adoption of the
Constitution, and will shortly celebrate in New York the institution
of the second great department of our constitutional scheme of
government. When the centennial of the institution of the judicial
department by the organization of the Supreme Court shall have been
suitably observed, as I trust it will be, our Nation will have fully
entered its second century.

I will not attempt to note the marvellous and, in great part, happy
contrasts between our country as it steps over the threshold into its
second century of organized existence under the Constitution, and that
weak but wisely ordered young Nation that looked undauntedly down the
first century, when all its years stretched out before it.

Our people will not fail at this time to recall the incidents which
accompanied the institution of government under the Constitution,
or to find inspiration and guidance in the teachings and example of
Washington and his great associates, and hope and courage in the
contrast which thirty-eight populous and prosperous States offer to
the thirteen States, weak in everything except courage and the love of
liberty, that then fringed our Atlantic seaboard.

The Territory of Dakota has now a population greater than any of
the original States--except Virginia--and greater than the aggregate
of five of the smaller States in 1790. The centre of population when
our national capital was located was east of Baltimore, and it was
argued by many well-informed persons that it would move eastward
rather than westward. Yet in 1880 it was found to be near Cincinnati,
and the new census, about to be taken, will show another stride to
the westward. That which was the body has come to be only the rich
fringe of the nation's robe. But our growth has not been limited to
territory, population, and aggregate wealth, marvellous as it has
been in each of those directions. The masses of our people are better
fed, clothed, and housed than their fathers were. The facilities
for popular education have been vastly enlarged and more generally
diffused. The virtues of courage and patriotism have given recent
proof of their continued presence and increasing power in the hearts
and over the lives of our people. The influences of religion have been
multiplied and strengthened. The sweet offices of charity have greatly
increased. The virtue of temperance is held in higher estimation. We
have not attained an ideal condition. Not all of our people are happy
and prosperous; not all of them are virtuous and law-abiding. But,
on the whole, the opportunities offered to the individual to secure
the comforts of life are better than are found elsewhere, and largely
better than they were here 100 years ago.

The surrender of a large measure of sovereignty to the general
Government, effected by the adoption of the Constitution, was not
accomplished until the suggestions of reason were strongly re-enforced
by the more imperative voice of experience. The divergent interests
of peace speedily demanded a "more perfect union." The merchant, the
ship-master, and the manufacturer discovered and disclosed to our
statesmen and to the people that commercial emancipation must be
added to the political freedom which had been so bravely won. The
commercial policy of the mother country had not relaxed any of its
hard and oppressive features. To hold in check the development of
our commercial marine, to prevent or retard the establishment and
growth of manufactures in the States, and so to secure the American
market for their shops and the carrying trade for their ships, was the
policy of European statesmen, and was pursued with the most selfish
vigor. Petitions poured in upon Congress urging the imposition of
discriminating duties that should encourage the production of needed
things at home. The patriotism of the people, which no longer found a
field of exercise in war, was energetically directed to the duty of
equipping the young republic for the defence of its independence by
making its people self-dependent. Societies for the promotion of home
manufactures and for encouraging the use of domestics in the dress of
the people were organized in many of the States. The revival at the
end of the century of the same patriotic interest in the preservation
and development of domestic industries and the defence of our working
people against injurious foreign competition is an incident worthy of
attention.

It is not a departure, but a return, that we have witnessed. The
protective policy had then its opponents. The argument was made, as
now, that its benefits inured to particular classes or sections. If
the question became in any sense, or at any time, sectional, it was
only because slavery existed in some of the States. But for this there
was no reason why the cotton-producing States should not have led
or walked abreast with the New England States in the production of
cotton fabrics. There was this reason only why the States that divide
with Pennsylvania the mineral treasures of the great southeastern
and central mountain ranges should have been so tardy in bringing to
the smelting furnace and the mill the coal and iron from their near
opposing hillsides. Mill-fires were lighted at the funeral pile of
slavery. The emancipation proclamation was heard in the depths of the
earth as well as in the sky--men were made free and material things
became our better servants.

The sectional element has happily been eliminated from the tariff
discussion. We have no longer States that are necessarily only
planting States. None are excluded from achieving that diversification
of pursuit among the people which brings wealth and contentment.
The cotton plantation will not be less valuable when the product is
spun in the country town by operatives whose necessities call for
diversified crops and create a home demand for garden and agricultural
products. Every new mine, furnace, and factory is an extension of the
productive capacity of the State more real and valuable than added
territory.

Shall the prejudices and paralysis of slavery continue to hang
upon the skirts of progress? How long will those who rejoice that
slavery no longer exists cherish or tolerate the incapacities it puts
upon their communities? I look hopefully to the continuance of our
protective system and to the consequent development of manufacturing
and mining enterprises in the States hitherto wholly given to
agriculture as a potent influence in the perfect unification of our
people. The men who have invested their capital in these enterprises,
the farmers who have felt the benefit of their neighborhood, and the
men who work in shop or field will not fail to find and to defend
a community of interest. Is it not quite possible that the farmers
and the promoters of the great mining and manufacturing enterprises
which have recently been established in the South may yet find that
the free ballot of the workingman, without distinction of race, is
needed for their defence as well as for his own? I do not doubt that
if these men in the South who now accept the tariff views of Clay and
the constitutional expositions of Webster would courageously avow and
defend their real convictions they would not find it difficult, by
friendly instruction and co-operation, to make the black man their
efficient and safe ally, not only in establishing correct principles
in our national Administration, but in preserving for their local
communities the benefits of social order and economical and honest
government. At least until the good offices of kindness and education
have been fairly tried the contrary conclusion cannot be plausibly
urged.

I have altogether rejected the suggestion of a special executive
policy for any section of our country. It is the duty of the Executive
to administer and enforce in the methods and by the instrumentalities
pointed out and provided by the Constitution all the laws enacted by
Congress. These laws are general, and their administration should be
uniform and equal. As a citizen may not elect what laws he will obey,
neither may the Executive elect which he will enforce. The duty to
obey and execute embraces the Constitution in its entirety and the
whole code of laws enacted under it. The evil example of permitting
individuals, corporations, or communities to nullify the laws because
they cross some selfish or local interests or prejudices is full of
danger, not only to the Nation at large, but much more to those who
use this pernicious expedient to escape their just obligations or to
obtain an unjust advantage over others. They will presently themselves
be compelled to appeal to the law for protection, and those who would
use the law as a defence must not deny that use of it to others.

If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their
legal obligations and duties they would have less cause to complain of
the unlawful limitations of their rights or of violent interference
with their operations. The community that by concert, open or secret,
among its citizens denies to a portion of its members their plain
rights under the law has severed the only safe bond of social order
and prosperity. The evil works, from a bad centre, both ways. It
demoralizes those who practise it, and destroys the faith of those who
suffer by it in the efficiency of the law as a safe protector. The man
in whose breast that faith has been darkened is naturally the subject
of dangerous and uncanny suggestions. Those who use unlawful methods,
if moved by no higher motive than the selfishness that prompts them,
may well stop and inquire what is to be the end of this. An unlawful
expedient cannot become a permanent condition of government. If the
educated and influential classes in a community either practise or
connive at the systematic violation of laws that seem to them to
cross their convenience, what can they expect when the lesson that
convenience or a supposed class interest is a sufficient cause for
lawlessness has been well learned by the ignorant classes? A community
where law is the rule of conduct, and where courts, not mobs, execute
its penalties, is the only attractive field for business investments
and honest labor.

Our naturalization laws should be so amended as to make the inquiry
into the character and good disposition of persons applying for
citizenship more careful and searching. Our existing laws have been in
their administration an unimpressive and often an unintelligible form.
We accept the man as a citizen without any knowledge of his fitness,
and he assumes the duties of citizenship without any knowledge as to
what they are. The privileges of American citizenship are so great and
its duties so grave that we may well insist upon a good knowledge of
every person applying for citizenship and a good knowledge by him of
our institutions. We should not cease to be hospitable to immigration,
but we should cease to be careless as to the character of it. There
are men of all races, even the best, whose coming is necessarily a
burden upon our public revenues or a threat to social order. These
should be identified and excluded.

We have happily maintained a policy of avoiding all interference
with European affairs. We have been only interested spectators of
their contentions in diplomacy and in war, ready to use our friendly
offices to promote peace, but never obtruding our advice and never
attempting unfairly to coin the distresses of other powers into
commercial advantage to ourselves. We have a just right to expect that
our European policy will be the American policy of European courts.

It is so manifestly incompatible with those precautions for our
peace and safety, which all the great powers habitually observe and
enforce in matters affecting them, that a shorter water-way between
our eastern and western seaboards should be dominated by any European
Government, that we may confidently expect that such a purpose will
not be entertained by any friendly power. We shall in the future, as
in the past, use every endeavor to maintain and enlarge our friendly
relations with all the great powers, but they will not expect us
to look kindly upon any project that would leave us subject to the
dangers of a hostile observation or environment.

We have not sought to dominate or to absorb any of our weaker
neighbors, but rather to aid and encourage them to establish free and
stable governments, resting upon the consent of their own people. We
have a clear right to expect, therefore, that no European Government
will seek to establish colonial dependencies upon the territory of
these independent American States. That which a sense of justice
restrains us from seeking they may be reasonably expected willingly to
forego.

It must not be assumed, however, that our interests are so
exclusively American that our entire inattention to any events that
may transpire elsewhere can be taken for granted. Our citizens
domiciled for purposes of trade in all countries and in many of the
islands of the sea demand and will have our adequate care in their
personal and commercial rights. The necessities of our navy require
convenient coaling stations and dock and harbor privileges. These and
other trading privileges we will feel free to obtain only by means
that do not in any degree partake of coercion, however feeble the
Government from which we ask such concessions. But having fairly
obtained them by methods and for purposes entirely consistent with the
most friendly disposition toward all other powers, our consent will be
necessary to any modification or impairment of the concession.

We shall neither fail to respect the flag of any friendly nation
or the just rights of its citizens, nor to exact the like treatment
for our own. Calmness, justice, and consideration should characterize
our diplomacy. The offices of an intelligent diplomacy or of friendly
arbitration, in proper cases, should be adequate to the peaceful
adjustment of all international difficulties. By such methods we will
make our contribution to the world's peace, which no nation values
more highly, and avoid the opprobrium which must fall upon the nation
that ruthlessly breaks it.

The duty devolved by law upon the President to nominate and, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all public
officers whose appointment is not otherwise provided for in the
Constitution or by act of Congress has become very burdensome, and its
wise and efficient discharge full of difficulty. The civil list is so
large that a personal knowledge of any large number of the applicants
is impossible. The President must rely upon the representations of
others, and these are often made inconsiderately and without any just
sense of responsibility.

I have a right, I think, to insist that those who volunteer or are
invited to give advice as to appointments shall exercise consideration
and fidelity. A high sense of duty and an ambition to improve the
service should characterize all public officers. There are many ways
in which the convenience and comfort of those who have business with
our public officers may be promoted by a thoughtful and obliging
officer, and I shall expect those whom I may appoint to justify their
selection by a conspicuous efficiency in the discharge of their
duties. Honorable party service will certainly not be esteemed by
me a disqualification for public office; but it will in no case be
allowed to serve as a shield for official negligence, incompetency, or
delinquency. It is entirely creditable to seek public office by proper
methods and with proper motives, and all applications will be treated
with consideration; but I shall need, and the heads of departments
will need, time for inquiry and deliberation. Persistent importunity
will not, therefore, be the best support of an application for office.

Heads of departments, bureaus, and all other public officers having
any duty connected therewith, will be expected to enforce the Civil
Service law fully and without evasion. Beyond this obvious duty
I hope to do something more to advance the reform of the civil
service. The ideal, or even my own ideal, I shall probably not
attain. Retrospect will be a safer basis of judgment than promises.
We shall not, however, I am sure, be able to put our civil service
upon a non-partisan basis until we have secured an incumbency that
fair minded men of the opposition will approve for impartiality and
integrity. As the number of such in the civil list is increased
removals from office will diminish.

While a treasury surplus is not the greatest evil, it is a serious
evil. Our revenue should be ample to meet the ordinary annual demands
upon our treasury, with a sufficient margin for those extraordinary
but scarcely less imperative demands which arise now and then.
Expenditure should always be made with economy, and only upon
public necessity. Wastefulness, profligacy, or favoritism in public
expenditures is criminal; but there is nothing in the condition of
our country or of our people to suggest that anything presently
necessary to the public prosperity, security, or honor should be
unduly postponed. It will be the duty of Congress wisely to forecast
and estimate these extraordinary demands, and, having added them to
our ordinary expenditures, to so adjust our revenue laws that no
considerable annual surplus will remain. We will fortunately be able
to apply to the redemption of the public debt any small and unforeseen
excess of revenue. This is better than to reduce our income below
our necessary expenditures with the resulting choice between another
change of our revenue laws and an increase of the public debt. It is
quite possible, I am sure, to effect the necessary reduction in our
revenues without breaking down our protective tariff or seriously
injuring any domestic industry.

The construction of a sufficient number of modern war ships and of
their necessary armament should progress as rapidly as is consistent
with care and perfection in plans and workmanship. The spirit,
courage, and skill of our naval officers and seamen have many times
in our history given to weak ships and inefficient guns a rating
greatly beyond that of the naval list. That they will again do so
upon occasion I do not doubt; but they ought not, by premeditation or
neglect, to be left to the risks and exigencies of an unequal combat.

We should encourage the establishment of American steamship lines.
The exchanges of commerce demand stated, reliable, and rapid means of
communication, and until these are provided the development of our
trade with the States lying south of us is impossible.

Our pension law should give more adequate and discriminating relief
to the Union soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans.
Such occasions as this should remind us that we owe everything to
their valor and sacrifice.

It is a subject of congratulation that there is a near prospect of
the admission into the Union of the Dakotas and Montana and Washington
Territories. This act of justice has been unreasonably delayed in the
case of some of them. The people who have settled those Territories
are intelligent, enterprising, and patriotic, and the accession
of these new States will add strength to the Nation. It is due to
the settlers in the Territories who have availed themselves of the
invitations of our land laws to make homes upon the public domain that
their titles should be speedily adjusted and their honest entries
confirmed by patent.

It is very gratifying to observe the general interest now being
manifested in the reform of our election laws. Those who have been for
years calling attention to the pressing necessity of throwing about
the ballot-box and about the elector further safeguards, in order
that our elections might not only be free and pure, but might clearly
appear to be so, will welcome the accession of any who did not so soon
discover the need of reform. The national Congress has not as yet
taken control of elections in that case over which the Constitution
gives it jurisdiction, but has accepted and adopted the election laws
of the several States, provided penalties for their violation and a
method of supervision. Only the inefficiency of the State laws or an
unfair partisan administration of them could suggest a departure from
this policy. It was clearly, however, in the contemplation of the
framers of the Constitution that such an exigency might arise, and
provision was wisely made for it. No power vested in Congress or in
the Executive to secure or perpetuate it should remain unused upon
occasion.

The people of all the Congressional districts have an equal
interest that the election in each shall truly express the views and
wishes of a majority of the qualified electors residing within it.
The results of such elections are not local, and the insistence of
electors residing in other districts that they shall be pure and free
does not savor at all of impertinence. If in any of the States the
public security is thought to be threatened by ignorance among the
electors, the obvious remedy is education. The sympathy and help of
our people will not be withheld from any community struggling with
special embarrassments or difficulties connected with the suffrage,
if the remedies proposed proceed upon lawful lines and are promoted
by just and honorable methods. How shall those who practise election
frauds recover that respect for the sanctity of the ballot which is
the first condition and obligation of good citizenship? The man who
has come to regard the ballot-box as a juggler's hat has renounced his
allegiance.

Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let
those who would die for the flag on the field of battle give a better
proof of their patriotism and a higher glory to their country by
promoting fraternity and justice. A party success that is achieved by
unfair methods or by practices that partake of revolution is hurtful
and evanescent, even from a party standpoint. We should hold our
differing opinions in mutual respect, and, having submitted them to
the arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an adverse judgment with
the same respect that we would have demanded of our opponents if the
decision had been in our favor.

No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and
love, or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon,
and so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor. God has
placed upon our head a diadem, and has laid at our feet power and
wealth beyond definition or calculation. But we must not forget that
we take these gifts upon the condition that justice and mercy shall
hold the reins of power, and that the upward avenues of hope shall be
free to all the people.

I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush
along our path, but we have uncovered and vanquished them all.
Passion has swept some of our communities, but only to give us a new
demonstration that the great body of our people are stable, patriotic,
and law-abiding. No political party can long pursue advantage at the
expense of public honor or by rude and indecent methods, without
protest and fatal disaffection in its own body. The peaceful agencies
of commerce are more fully revealing the necessary unity of all our
communities, and the increasing intercourse of our people is promoting
mutual respect. We shall find unalloyed pleasure in the revelation
which our next census will make of the swift development of the great
resources of some of the States. Each State will bring its generous
contribution to the great aggregate of the Nation's increase. And when
the harvest from the fields, the cattle from the hills, and the ores
of the earth shall have been weighed, counted, and valued, we will
turn from them all to crown with the highest honor the State that has
most promoted education, virtue, justice, and patriotism among the
people.

NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1889.

_The Nation's Centenary._

The celebration, at the city of New York, of the one hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as first President of the United States was more than national in its scope and influence. The people of the entire continent manifested a gratifying interest in it, and no event in our history has been commemorated with greater success. The occasion called together more than two million people within the gateways of the great metropolis, many of them our most distinguished and representative citizens. The celebration was conducted under the auspices of one hundred prominent citizens, organized as a general committee, of which the Hon. Hamilton Fish was President; Mayor Hugh J. Grant, Chairman; Hon. Elbridge T. Gerry, Chairman Executive Committee; and Clarence W. Bowen, Secretary.

Early on the morning of April 29 the President, accompanied by Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. J. R. McKee, Mr. and Mrs. Russell B. Harrison, the members of the Cabinet, Chief Justice and Mrs. Fuller, Justice and Mrs. Field, Justice Blatchford, Justice Strong, Major-General Schofield, Mr. Walker Blaine and Miss Blaine, Col. Thos. F. Barr, Lieut. T. B. M. Mason and Mrs. Mason, left Washington by special train tendered by President Geo. R. Roberts and Vice-President Frank Thomson, of the Pennsylvania Company. The distinguished guests were escorted by the following members of the Centennial Committee designated for this honorable duty: John A. King, Chairman; John Jay, Edward Cooper, Wm. H. Wickham, Wm. R. Grace, Frederick J. DePeyster, Wm. H. Robertson, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Wm. M. Evarts, Frank Hiscock, Seth Low, Orlando B. Potter, Clifford S. Sims, Jas. Duane Livingston, and Frank S. Witherbee.

At Trenton the party was met by the New Jersey Centennial Committee, consisting of Governor Green, General Sewell, Rev. Dr. Hamill, Colonel Stockton, General Grubb, Colonel Donnelly, Captain Skirm, Senator Cramner, Senator Cattell, Colonel Chambers, and others.

Arrived at Elizabeth the President breakfasted with Governor Green and then held a reception, conducted by Col. Rob't S. Green, assisted by Col. Suydam, Chas. G. Parkhurst, and John L. Boggs. Following the route taken by Washington, President Harrison and his party embarked at Elizabethport on board the U. S. S. _Despatch_, and, escorted by a magnificent fleet of war ships, merchant marine, and craft of all kinds, proceeded up the Kills to the bay amid the roar of cannon from the several forts and the men-of-war.

At the gangway of the _Despatch_ the President was received by Jackson S. Schultz and the following gentlemen, comprising the Committee on Navy: John S. Barnes, George G. Haven, D. Willis James, Frederick R. Coudert, Capt. Henry Erben, Ogden Goelet, John Jay Pierrepont, Loyall Farragut, Alfred C. Cheney, Buchanan Winthrop, and S. Nicholson Kane. Other distinguished guests on the _Despatch_ were Gov. David B. Hill, Gen. William T. Sherman, Admiral David D. Porter, Commodore Ramsey, and Jas. M. Varnum. Several hundred thousand patriotic people greeted the _Despatch_ as she proudly entered the harbor. The scene was a most memorable one.

Following the example of Washington, President Harrison was rowed ashore in a barge, landing at Pier 16, where he was met by the venerable Hamilton Fish, who welcomed him to New York. Proceeding to the Equitable Building, the President was tendered a reception in the rooms of the Lawyers' Club, followed by a banquet under the auspices of the Committee on States, consisting of the following distinguished citizens: William G. Hamilton, Chairman; James C. Carter, John Schuyler, J. T. Van Rensselaer, James W. Husted, Theo. Roosevelt, Jacob A. Cantor, E. Ellery Anderson, Floyd Clarkson, Henry W. LeRoy, John B. Pine, Samuel Borrowe, and Jas. M. Montgomery. Among the guests--other than the members of the Cabinet and the other prominent gentlemen who accompanied the President on the _Despatch_--were ex-President R. B. Hayes and the Governors of thirty-five States.

At night the President and his Cabinet attended the grand centennial ball at the Metropolitan Opera House, at which 6,000 guests were present. This brilliant entertainment, rendered memorable by the presence of so many distinguished people, was given under the auspices of a committee composed of the following society leaders: Stuyvesant Fish, Chairman; William Waldorf Astor, William K. Vanderbilt, William Jay, Egerton L. Winthrop, Robert Goelet, Wm. B. Beekman, Stephen H. Olin, Wm. E. D. Stokes, and Gouverneur Morris.