The fourth and largest delegation of the day came from Boone County, numbering more than two thousand, led by Captain Brown, S. S. Heath, A. L. Howard, W. H. H. Martin, D. A. Rice, James Williamson, E. G. Darnell, D. H. Olive, and Captain Arbigas of Lebanon, the last-named veteran totally blind.
Another contingent was commanded by David O. Mason, J. O. Hurst, J. N. Harmon, and Mr. Denny, an octogenarian, all of Zionsville. Dr. D. C. Scull was orator for the visitors. General Harrison said:
My Friends—The magnitude of this demonstration puts us at a disadvantage in our purpose to entertain you hospitably, as we had designed when notified of your coming. [Cheers.] I regret that you must stand exposed to the heat of the sun, and that I must be at the disadvantage of speaking from this high balcony a few words of hearty thanks. I hope it may be arranged by the committee so that I may yet have the opportunity of speaking to you informally and individually. I am glad to notice your quick interest in the campaign. I am sure that that interest is stimulated by your devotion to the principles of government which you conceive—rightly, as I believe—to be involved in this campaign. [Applause.] I am glad to think that some of you, veterans of a former political campaign to which your chairman has alluded, and others of you, comrades in the great war for the Union, come here to express some personal friendship for me. [Cheers.] But I am sure that this campaign will be waged upon a plan altogether above personal consideration. You are here as citizens of the State of Indiana, proud of the great advancement the State has made since those pioneer days when brave men from the East and South entered our territory, blazing a pathway into the unbroken forest, upon which civilization, intelligence, patriotism, and the love of God has walked until we are conspicuous among the States as a community desirous of social order, full of patriotic zeal, and pledged to the promotion of that education which is to qualify the coming generations to discharge honorably and well their duties to the Government which we will leave in their hands. [Applause.] You are here also as citizens of the United States, proud of that arch of strength that binds together the States of this Union in one great Nation. But citizenship has its duties as well as its privileges. The first is that we give our energies and influence to the enactment of just, equal, and beneficent laws. The second is like unto it—that we loyally reverence and obey the will of the majority enacted into law, whether we are of a majority or not [applause]; the law throws the ægis of its protection over us all. It stands sentinel about your country homes to protect you from violence; it comes into our more thickly populated community and speaks its mandate for individual security and public order. There is an open avenue through the ballot-box for the modification or repeal of laws which are unjust or oppressive. To the law we bow with reverence. It is the one king that commands our allegiance. We will change our king, when his rule is oppressive, by these methods appointed, and crown his more liberal successor. [Applause.] I thank you again, most cordially, for this visit, and put myself in the hands of your committee that I may have the privilege of meeting you individually.
[INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 13.]
One thousand employees of the various railroads centreing at Indianapolis, organized as a Harrison and Morton Club—J. C. Finch, President, and A. D. Shaw, Marshal of the occasion—called on General Harrison on the night of July 13. Yardmaster Shaw was spokesman. General Harrison replied:
Gentlemen—Your visit is very gratifying to me, and is full of significance and interest. If I read aright the language of your lanterns you have signalled the Republican train to go ahead. [Applause and cries of "And she is going, too!">[ You have concluded that it is freighted with the interests and hopes of the workingmen of America, and must have the right of way. [Cheers and cries, "That's true!" and "We don't have to take water on this trip, either!">[ The train has been inspected; you have given it your skilled and intelligent approval; the track has been cleared and the switches spiked down. Have I read your signals aright? [Cheers and cries of "You have!" and "There's no flat wheels under this train!">[ You represent, I understand, every department of railroad labor—the office, the train, the shop, the yard, and the road. You are the responsible and intelligent agents of a vast system that, from a rude and clumsy beginning, has grown to be as fine and well adapted as the parts of the latest locomotive engine. The necessities and responsibilities of the business of transportation have demanded a body of picked men—inventive and skilful, faithful and courageous, sober and educated—and the call has been answered, as your presence here to night demonstrates. [Cheers.] Heroism has been found at the throttle and the brake, as well as on the battle-field, and as well worthy of song and marble. The trainman crushed between the platforms, who used his last breath, not for prayer or message of love, but to say to the panic-stricken who gathered around him, "Put out the red light for the other train," inscribed his name very high upon the shaft where the names of the faithful and brave are written. [A voice: "Give him three cheers for that!" Great and enthusiastic cheering.]
This early and very large gathering of Republican railroad men suggests to me that you have opinions upon public questions which are the product of your own observations and study. Some one will say that the railroad business is a "non-protected industry," because it has to do with transportation and not with production. But I only suggest what has already occurred to your own minds when I say that is a very deceptive statement. You know there is a relation between the wages of skilled and unskilled labor as truly as between the prices of two grades of cotton cloth; that if the first is cut down, the other, too, must come down. [Cries of "That's just so!">[ You know, also, that if labor is thrown out of one line or avenue, by so much the more will the others be crowded; that any policy that transfers production from the American to the English or German shop works an injury to all American workmen. [Great cheering.]
But, if it could be shown that your wages were unaffected by our system of protective duties, I am sure that your fellowship with your fellow toilers in other industries would lead you to desire, as I do and always have, that our legislation may be of that sort that will secure to them the highest possible prosperity [applause]—wages that not only supply the necessities of life, but leave a substantial margin for comfort and for the savings bank. No man's wages should be so low that he cannot make provision in his days of vigor for the incapacity of accident or the feebleness of old age. [Great cheering.]
I am glad to be assured to-night that the principles of our party and all things affecting its candidates can be safely left to the thoughtful consideration of the American workingmen—they will know the truth and accept it; they will reject the false and slanderous. [Applause.]