[INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 2.]
The fourteenth week of General Harrison's public receptions opened this date with the arrival of an enthusiastic Republican club from the distant city of Tower, Minn., most of whose members were engaged in the iron industry. They left a huge specimen of Vermilion range iron ore—weighing over 500 pounds—in the front yard of the Harrison residence. Prominent in the delegation were Dr. Fred Barnett, Capt. Elisha Marcom, S. F. White, Chas. R. Haines, John Owens, W. N. Shepard, N. H. Bassett, S. J. Noble, J. E. Bacon, J. B. Noble, Frank Burke, W. H. Wickes, Chas. L. White, A. Nichaud, D. McKinley, and Page Norris; also Geo. M. Smith and W. H. Cruikshank, of Duluth.
Immediately following the reception of the Minnesota visitors came two large delegations from Fulton and Marshall counties, Indiana. The Fulton leaders were J. H. Bibler, Dr. W. S. Shafer, Dr. E. Z. Capell, Arthur Howard, Samuel Heftly, Henry Mow, C. D. Sisson, Arch Stinson, J. F. Collins, A. F. Bowers, W. J. Howard, and T. M. Bitters, of Rochester. M. L. Essick was their spokesman. Among the prominent members of the Marshall County delegation were M. W. Simons, John W. Parks, J. W. Siders, Edward McCoy, M. S. Smith, John V. Astley, Enoch Baker, I. H. Watson, and Abram Shafer, of Plymouth. H. G. Thayer delivered the address.
General Harrison said:
My Indiana Friends—This is a home company to-day. Usually our Indiana visitors have met here delegations from other States. I am sure you will understand that I place a special value upon these evidences of the interest Indiana Republicans are taking in the campaign. Whatever the fate of the battle may be elsewhere, it is always a source of pride to the soldier and to his leader that the part of the line confided to their care held fast. [Applause.] I feel that I ought also to acknowledge the friendliness and co-operation which has been already extended to us in this campaign by many who have differed with us heretofore. [Applause.] It is encouraging to hear that the prosperous and intelligent farmers of Marshall and Fulton counties have not been misled by the attempt to separate the agricultural vote from the vote of the shop. It has seemed to me that the Mills bill was framed for the purpose of driving from the protection column the agricultural voters, not by showing them favor, but the reverse—by placing agricultural products on the free list, thus withdrawing from the farmer the direct benefits he is receiving from our tariff laws as affecting the products of his labor, hoping that the farmers might then be relied upon to pull down the rest of the structure. I am glad to believe that we have in Indiana a class of farmers too intelligent to be caught by these unfriendly and fallacious propositions. [Applause.] I had to-day a visit from twenty or more gentlemen who came from the town of Tower, in the most northern part of Minnesota, where, within the last four years, there has been discovered and developed a great deposit of iron ore especially adapted to the manufacture of steel. Within the four years since these mines were opened they tell me that about a million tons of ore have been mined and sent to the furnaces. They also mentioned the fact that arrangements are already being made to bring block coal of Indiana to the mouth of these iron mines, that the work of smelting may be done there. This is a good illustration of the interlocking of interests between widely separated States of the Union [applause]—a new market and a larger demand for Indiana coal.
The attempt is often made to create the impression that only particular classes of workingmen are benefited by a protective tariff. There can be nothing more untrue. The wages of all labor—labor upon the farm, labor upon our streets—has a direct and essential relation to the scale of wages that is paid to skilled labor. [Applause.] One might as well say that you could bring down the price of a higher grade of cotton cloth without affecting the price of lower grades as to say that you can degrade the price of skilled labor without dragging down the wages of unskilled labor. [Applause.] This attempt to classify and schedule the men who are benefited by a protective tariff is utterly deceptive. [Applause.] The benefits are felt by all classes of our people—by the farmer as well as by the workmen in our mills; by the man who works on the street as well as the skilled laborer who works in the mill; by the women in the household, and by the children who are now in the schools and might otherwise be in the mills. [Applause.] It is a policy broad enough to embrace within the scope of its beneficent influence all our population. [Applause.] I thank you for your visit, and will be glad to meet any of you personally who desire to speak to me. [Applause.]
[INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 3.]
The Porter-Columbian Club, a local organization named in honor of Governor Porter, with a membership of 700 workingmen, paid their respects to General Harrison on this night, commanded by their President and founder, Marshall C. Woods, who delivered an address.
General Harrison, in reply, said: