[INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 17.]
Ohio's chief executive, Gov. Joseph B. Foraker, escorted by the Garfield Club and the Fourteenth Regiment Band of Columbus, made a pilgrimage to the Republican Mecca on October 17. The widely known Columbus Glee Club accompanied them. Among the prominent Republicans with the delegation were Auditor of State Poe, Adjutant-General Axline, Hon. Estes G. Rathbone, C. L. Kurtz, D. W. Brown, C. E. Prior, L. D. Hogerty, J. W. Firestone, and Ira H. Crum. Escorted by the Columbia Club, the Buckeyes marched to the residence of General Harrison and were introduced by Governor Foraker.
In response to their greeting General Harrison said:
Gentlemen—It was very appropriate that these representative Ohio Republicans should accompany to the State of Indiana your distinguished Governor, whose presence among us to-day is so welcome to our people. We know his story as the young Ohio volunteer, the fearless champion of Republican principles in public debate, and the resolute, courageous, and sagacious executive of the great State of Ohio. [Applause.] We welcome him and we welcome you. The fame of this magnificent glee club has preceded them. We are glad to have an opportunity to hear you.
To these members of the Garfield Club I return my thanks for this friendly call. You bear an honored name. I look back with pleasure to the small contribution I was able to make in Indiana toward securing the electoral vote of this State to that great son of Ohio, whose tragic death spread gloom and disappointment over our land. I welcome you as citizens of my native State—a State I shall always love, because all of my early associations are with it. In this State, to which I came in my earliest manhood, the Republicans are as staunch and true, as valorous and resolute, as can be found in any of the States. You have no advantage of us except in numbers. We welcome you all as Republicans. [A voice, "That's what we are!">[ We believe that our party now advocates another great principle that needs to be established—made fast—put where it shall be beyond assault. It is a principle which has wrought marvellously in the development of our country since the war. It has enabled us to handle a great national debt, which our desponding Democratic friends said would inevitably sink our country into bankruptcy, so that we are not troubled about getting the money to pay our maturing bonds, but are getting it faster than our bonds mature. We need to establish this principle of protection, the defence of our American workers against the degrading and unfriendly competition of pauper labor in all other countries [cheers], so unmistakably that it shall not again be assailed. [A voice, "Amen!">[ Our Democratic friends in previous campaigns have deceived the people upon this great question by uncertain and evasive utterances. We are glad to know that now they have drawn the issue clearly; we accept it. [Applause.] If we shall be able in this campaign, as I believe we will, to arouse our people to the importance of maintaining our defences against unfair foreign competition, we shall administer those who believe in revenue tariffs and in progressive free trade a wholesome lesson—one that will last them a lifetime. [Cheers.]
I had resolutely determined when I came upon these steps not to make a speech. [Laughter and cries of "Go on!">[ I am absolutely determined to stop now. [Laughter.] I shall be glad to meet the members of these escort clubs personally in my house. [Three cheers.]
Later in the day about 100 survivors of the Seventy-ninth Indiana Regiment, led by their first colonel, General Fred Knefler, called on General Harrison, and were presented by their leader in a brief speech, in response to which General Harrison, speaking from his doorway, said:
General Knefler and Comrades—I am always deeply touched when my comrades visit me and offer their kindly greetings. I have no higher ambition than to stand well in the estimation of my comrades of the old Union army. I will not speak of any political topic. These men who stand before me gave the supreme evidence of their love and devotion to their country. No man could give more than they offered. The perpetuity of our institutions, the honor of what General Sherman so felicitously called the "old glory," demand the country shall always and in every appropriate way honor and reward the men who kept it a Nation. Whatever may be said of our great prosperity since the war, and it can scarcely be exaggerated, if we look for the cause under God, is it not found in the stout hearts of these men? They have opened this wide avenue of prosperity and honor in which we are moving. It will be a shame if our people do not in every way properly recognize that debt and properly honor the men who gave this supreme evidence of their devotion to the country and its institutions. Thanking you again for this visit, I will be glad if you will enter my house and let me meet you personally.