[MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, APRIL 17.]
The presidential party arrived at Memphis early on the morning of the 17th and were greeted by 10,000 people. The committee for the reception and entertainment of President Harrison and his guests comprised the following prominent citizens: Lucas W. Clapp, president of the taxing district of Memphis, Chairman; H. M. Neely, M. Cooper, J. P. Jordan, B. M. Stratton, R. C. Graves, D. P. Hadden, R. P. Patterson, Wm. M. Randolph, John K. Speed, John R. Godwin, Sam Tate, Jr., N. W. Speers, Jr., Josiah Patterson, W. J. Crawford, Martin Kelly, John Loague, J. M. Keating, J. Harvey Mathes, A. B. Pickett, W. J. Smith, Emerson Etheridge, T. J. Lathan, A. D. Gwynne, R. D. Frayser, J. T. Fargason, Samuel W. Hawkins, T. J. Graham, B. M. Estes, S. R. Montgomery, W. A. Collier, A. C. Treadwell, F. M. Norfleet, Alfred G. Tuther, W. D. Beard, S. H. Haines, R. J. Morgan, Louis Erb, Dr. J. P. Alban, W. A. Gage, J. N. Snowden, John T. Moss, Thomas F. Tobin, J. S. Robinson, James Ralston, L. B. Eaton, John W. Dillard, J. M. Semmes, M. T. Williamson, Andrew J. Harris, R. S. Capers, L. H. Estes, J. J. DuBose, J. B. Clough, J. E. Bigelow, George Arnold, T. B. Edgington, Luke E. Wright, D. T. Porter, J. T. Pettit, Napoleon Hill, E. S. Hammond, Wm. R. Moore, G. C. Matthews, Colton Greene, Isham G. Harris, J. A. Taylor, P. M. Winters, Holmes Cummins, E. Lowenstein, J. S. Menken, A. Vaccaro, N. M. Jones, R. B. Snowden, W. M. Farrington, Barney Hughes, J. H. Smith, Noland Fontaine, J. H. Martin, J. C. Neely, Robert Gates, James W. Brown, G. E. Dunbar, J. W. Falls, S. C. Toof, W. H. Carroll, S. P. Read, H. G. Harrington, H. F. Dix, J. S. Galloway, T. W. Brown, H. J. Lynn, J. W. Person, H. B. Cullen, S. W. Green, P. J. Quigley, T. J. Brogan, M. C. Gallaway, W. E. McGuire, Ralph Davis, J. J. Williams, T. A. Hamilton, E. B. McHenry, George B. Peters, John L. Norton, W. H. Bates, M. T. Garvin, S. H. Dunscomb, F. H. White, and R. D. Jordan.
The following military committee also assisted: Gen. S. F. Carnes, Chairman; Col. Kellar Anderson, Col. Hugh Pettit, Maj. J. F. Peters, Col. W. F. Taylor, Col. L. W. Finley, Gen. A. J. Vaughn, Gen. G. W. Gordon, and Gen. R. F. Patterson.
Chairman Clapp made the address of welcome. President Harrison responded as follows:
My Fellow-citizens—The name of the city of Memphis was familiar to me in my early boyhood. Born and reared upon one of the tributaries of the great river upon which your city is located, these river marts of commerce were the familiar trading-posts of the farmers of the Ohio Valley. I well remember when, on the shores of father's farm, the old "broad-horn" was loaded from the hay-press and the corn-crib to market with the plantations along the Lower Mississippi. I remember to have heard from him and the neighbors who constituted the crew of those pioneer craft of river navigation of the perils of these great waters; of the snags and caving banks of the Lower Mississippi. In those times these States were largely supplied with grain and forage from the Northwestern States. Here you were giving your attention to one or two great staple products, for which you found a large foreign market. I congratulate you that the progress of events has made you not less agricultural, but has diversified your agriculture so that you are not now wholly dependent upon these great staples for the income of your farms.
The benefits of this diversification are very great and the change symbolizes more than we at first realize. This change means that we are now coming to understand that meanness cannot be predicated of any honest industry. I rejoice that you are adding to diversified agriculture diversified manufacturing pursuits; that you are turning your thought to compressing and spinning cotton as well as raising it. I know no reason why these cotton States, that produce 75 per cent. of the cotton of the world, should not spin the greater portion of it. I know no reason why they should export it as raw material, rather than as a manufactured product, holding in their midst the profits of this transformation of the raw material to the finished product. [Applause.]
I hope it may be so. I see evidence that the people are turning their attention to new industries, and are bringing into the midst of these farming communities a large population of artisans and laborers to consume at your own doors the product of your farms. I am glad that a liberal Government is making this great waterway to the sea safe and capable of an uninterrupted use. I am glad that it is here making the shores of your own city convenient and safe, and that it is opening, north and south, an uninterrupted and cheap transportation for the products of these lands that lie along this great system of rivers. I am glad that it is bringing you in contact with ports of the Gulf that look out with near and inviting aspect toward a great trade in South America that we shall soon possess. I am glad to believe that these great river towns will speedily exchange their burdens with American ships at the mouth of the Mississippi to be transported to foreign ports under the flag of our country. [Great cheering.]
This Government of ours is a compact of the people to be governed by a majority, expressing itself by lawful methods. [Cheers.] Everything in this country is to be brought to the measure of the law. I propose no other rule, either as an individual or as a public officer. I cannot in any degree let down this rule [cries of "No!" and cheers] without violating my official duty. There must be no other supremacy than that of lawful majorities. We must all come at last to this conclusion—that the supremacy of the law is the one supremacy in this country of ours. [Cheers.]
Now, my fellow citizens, I thank you for this warm and magnificent demonstration of your respect, accepting cordially the expression of the chief of your city Government that you are a sincere, earnest, patriotic, devoted people. I beg to leave with you the suggestion that each in his place shall do what he can to maintain social order and public peace; that the lines here and everywhere shall be between the well-disposed and the ill-disposed.
The effort of speech to this immense throng is too great for me. I beg to assure you that I carry from the great war no sentiment of ill-will to any. [Cheers.] I am glad that the Confederate soldier, confessing that defeat which has brought him blessings that would have been impossible otherwise, has been taken again into full participation in the administration of the Government; that no penalties, limitations, or other inflictions rest upon him. I have taken and can always take the hand of a brave Confederate soldier with confidence and respect. [Great cheering.]