Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States

A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HIS PUBLIC ADDRESSES FROM FEBRUARY, 1888, TO FEBRUARY, 1892, CHRO­NO­LOGICALLY CLASSI­FIED; EM­BRACING ALL HIS CAM­PAIGN SPEECHES, LET­TER OF AC­CEP­TANCE, IN­AU­GU­RAL AD­DRESS, AND THE NUME­ROUS SPEECHES DELIV­ERED DURING HIS SEV­ER­AL TOURS; ALSO EXTRACTS FROM HIS MESSAGES TO CON­GRESS
COMPILED BY CHARLES HEDGES
NEW YORK UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY SUCCESSORS TO JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 142 TO 150 WORTH STREET

Copyright, 1892, by Charles Hedges

It is not the purpose of this book to present a few selections of oratory, laboriously prepared and polished, or occasional flashes of brilliant thought. From such efforts, prepared, perhaps, after days of study and repeated revision, one can form but an imperfect idea of their author. Such a compilation might show the highest conceptions of the man, and evidence a wide range of thought and a surpassing grandeur of expression; but it would be but a poor mirror of the man himself in his daily life.
It is due to the people that the largest opportunity be given them to observe the character of their public servants, to come into closest touch with their daily thoughts, and to know them as they are—not when prepared for special occasions, but day after day and all the time. It is with this view that this collection of the speeches of President Harrison is offered to the public. It is a series of instantaneous photographs that have caught him unawares. The studied pose is wanting, but the pictures are true to life.
There are included the letter of acceptance, the inaugural address, the letter to the commercial congress, extracts from his last annual message to Congress, his patriotic message on the Chilian affair, and a few carefully prepared speeches, among them his notable addresses at the banquet of the Michigan Club, February 22, 1888, and before the Marquette Club at Chicago, March 20, the same year; also his celebrated speech at Galveston, in April last. All these are among the best models of statesmanlike thought and concise, forcible, and elegant expression. With these exceptions, the speeches presented were delivered during the presidential campaign of 1888, often four or five in a day, to visiting delegations of citizens, representing every occupation and interest, and during his tours of 1890 and 1891, when he often spoke eight or ten times a day from the platform of his car.