Our Government is a representative government. Delegates in Congress and members of our State Senate and House of Representatives are apportioned to districts, and the National and State Constitutions contemplate that these districts shall be equal, so that, as far as possible, each citizen shall have, in his district, the same potency in choosing a Member of Congress or of our State Legislature as is exercised by a voter in any other district. We do not to-day have that condition of things. The apportionment of our State for legislative and congressional purposes is unfair, and is known to be unfair to all men. No candid Democrat can defend it as a fair apportionment. It was framed to be unequal, it was designed to give to the citizens of favored districts an undue influence. It was intended to discriminate against Republicans. It is not right that it should be so. I hope the time is coming, and has even now arrived, when the great sense of justice which possesses our people will teach men of all parties that party success is not to be promoted at the expense of an injustice to any of our citizens. [Applause.] These things take hold of government. If we would maintain that respect for the law which is necessary to social order, our people must understand that each voter has his full and equal influence in determining what the law shall be. I hope this question will not be forgotten by our people until we have secured in Indiana a fair apportionment for legislative and congressional purposes. [Cheers.] When the Republicans shall secure the power of making an apportionment, I hope and believe that the experiment of seeking a party advantage by a public injustice will not be repeated. [Great applause and cries of "Good! Good!">[
There are some other questions affecting suffrage, too, to which my attention has, from circumstances, been particularly attracted. There are in the Northwest several Territories organized under public law with defined boundaries. They have been filled up with the elect of our citizens—the brave, the enterprising and intelligent young men from all the States. Many of the veterans of the late war have sought under our beneficent homestead law new homes in the West. Several of these Territories have been for years possessed of population, wealth, and all the requisites for admission as States. When the Territory of Indiana took the census which was the basis for its petition for admission to the Union we had less than 64,000 people; we had only thirteen organized counties. In the Territory of South Dakota there are nearly half a million people. For years they have been knocking for admission to the sisterhood of States.
They are possessed of all the elements of an organized and stable community. It has more people, more miles of railroad, more post-offices, more churches, more banks, more wealth, than any Territory ever possessed when it was admitted to the Union. It surpasses some of the States in these particulars. Four years ago, when a President was to be chosen, the Committee on Territories in the Senate, to meet the objection of our Democratic friends that the admission of Dakota would add a disturbing element to the Electoral College, provided in the Dakota bill that its organization should be postponed until after the election; now four years more have rolled around, and our people are called again to take part in a presidential election, and the intelligent and patriotic Dakota people are again to be deprived of any participation. I ask you why this is so? Is not the answer obvious? [Cries of "Yes!">[ They are disfranchised and deprived of their appropriate influence in the Electoral College only because the prevailing sentiment in the Territory is Republican. [Cries of "That's right!" "That's the reason!">[ The cause of Washington Territory is more recent but no less flagrant. If we appropriately express sympathy with the cause of Irish home rule, shall we not also demand home rule for Dakota and Washington, and insist that their disfranchisement shall not be prolonged? [Applause.] There is a sense of justice, of fairness, that will assert itself against these attempts to coin party advantage out of public wrong. The day when men can be disfranchised or shorn of their political power for opinion's sake must have an end in our country. [Cheers.] I thank you again for your call, and if you will observe the arrangement which has been suggested I will be glad to take each of you by the hand. I know that some of you are fasting, and therefore we will shorten these exercises in order that you may obtain needed refreshments. [Cheers.]
[INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 28.]
Jennings County, Indiana, was represented on the above date by a large delegation under the auspices of the Harrison and Morton Clubs of Vernon and North Vernon. The leaders of their delegation were Fred H. Nauer, J. C. Cope, C. E. Wagner, W. G. Norris, Dr. T. C. Bachelder, T. A. Pearce, P. C. McGannon, and Prof. Amos Saunders. Hon. Frank E. Little, President of the North Vernon Club, delivered the address. General Harrison, in response, said:
My Friends—It is a source of regret to me that I can do so little to compensate those who take the trouble to visit me. I need hardly say to you that I very highly appreciate this evidence of your friendliness and also the kind words which you have addressed to me through your representative. Jennings County has a history of which it may well be proud. It has contributed to the city of Indianapolis some of our most distinguished and useful men. Your spokesman has not exaggerated the fidelity and steadfastness of the people of your county. Your republicanism has been as straight as the walls of your cliffs [applause] and as solid as the limestone with which your hills are buttressed. [Applause.]
You have said to me that you are in favor of a free and equal ballot the country over. We are so related in our Government that any disturbance of the suffrage anywhere directly affects us all. Our Members of Congress pass upon questions that are as wide as the domain over which our flag floats. Therefore, our interest in the choice of these representatives is not limited to our own districts. If the debate upon public questions is to be of value the voter must be free to register his conclusion. The tribunal which is to pronounce upon the argument must not be coerced.
You have said to me that you favor the doctrine of protection. The Republican party stands for the principles of protection. We believe in the preservation of the American market for our American producers and workmen. [Applause and cries of "That's it!">[ We believe that the development of home manufactures tends directly to promote the interest of agriculture by furnishing a home market for the products of the farm, and thus emancipating our farmers from the transportation charges which they must pay when their products seek distant markets. [Applause.]
We are confronted now with a Treasury surplus. Our position is exceptional. We are not seeking, as many other nations are, new subjects of taxation, new sources of revenue. Our quest is now how, wisely, to reduce our national revenue. The attempt has been made to use this surplus as a lever to overturn the protective system. The promoters of this scheme, while professing a desire to diminish the surplus, have acted as if their purpose was to increase it in part by opposing necessary and legitimate appropriations. I agree that there is danger that a surplus may promote extravagance, but I do not find myself in sympathy with that policy that denies the appropriation necessary for the proper defence of our people, and for the convenient administration of our public affairs throughout the country, in order that the threat of a surplus may be used for a sinister purpose. I believe that in reducing our revenues to the level of our needful and proper expenditures we can and should continue to favor and protect our industries. I do not like to entrust this work to those who declare protective duties to be vicious "legalized robbery." The Republican party has by its legislation shown its capacity wisely to reduce our revenues and at the same time to preserve the American system. [Applause.] It can be trusted to do the work that remains, and to do it wisely. [Applause.]