[INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 20.]
For the fifth time during the campaign the commercial travellers visited General Harrison, each time with increased numbers. On Saturday, October 20, under the supervision of the Commercial Travellers' Republican Club of Indianapolis—G. C. Webster, President; Ernest Morris, Secretary—they held one of the largest and most successful demonstrations of this remarkable campaign. Their gathering partook of a national character, as large numbers of "drummers" were present from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, West Virginia, and Vermont, while every important city in Indiana sent its complement.
The visitors were received by a local committee of travelling men, consisting of Fred Schmidt, Chairman; C. McPherson, Wm. Faucet, Joseph Stubbs, Jeff Cook, Ed. Allcott, J. C. Norris, M. P. Green, Geo. White, O. W. Morman, Chas. D. Pearson, Jeff Taylor, Wm. P. Bone, Henry Ramey, Albert A. Womack, John A. Wright, James W. Muir, and Frank Brough. It was estimated that 40,000 spectators witnessed their fine parade, a conspicuous feature of which was a big bull covered with a white cloth on which was printed the words—"John Bull rides the Democratic party and we ride John Bull." On his back rode "Drummer" Dan'l B. Long in an emerald suit, while L. A. Worch, dressed as Uncle Sam, led the bovine. The parade was in charge of Chief Marshal J. R. Ross and his aids. As the column passed their residence it was reviewed by General and Mrs. Harrison. Later in the day the visitors were received at Tomlinson Hall. When General Harrison appeared a great demonstration occurred. President Webster presided; the speakers were: John E. Dowell, of Boston; R. T. Dow, of Atlanta; C. L. Young and John L. Fennimore, of Columbus, Ohio; Chas. P. Banks, of Brooklyn; John L. Griffiths and John C. Wingate, of Indiana.
General Harrison said:
My Friends—Four times already, I believe, the commercial travellers have honored me by calling upon me in large delegations. You have assembled to-day, not from a single State or locality, but from many States, upon the invitation of your associates of this city, to show your intelligent interest in the principles that are involved in this campaign. [Cheers.] I do not need to repeat what I have said on former occasions, that I very highly value the respect and confidence of the commercial travellers of the United States. [Cheers.] I value it because I believe they give their adherence to the party whose candidate I am upon an intelligent investigation and upon an earnest conviction as to what is good for the country of which they are citizens. [Cheers.] Who should be able, better than you, to know the commercial and business needs of our country? You, whose hand is every day upon the business pulse of the people; you, who travel the country up and down upon all the swift highways of commerce, and who are brought in contact with the business men of the country, not only in our great centres of commerce, but in all the hamlets of the land. I believe I may say for you that, as a result of this personal knowledge of our business needs, you have concluded that the policy for America is the policy of a protective tariff. [Great cheering.]
There are doubtless here many representatives of great American manufacturing establishments; and who should know better than they the prostrating effects upon the industries they represent of this policy of a revenue tariff, or the not much differing policy of free trade? [Cheers.] Who should know better than you that if the discriminating duties now levied, which enable our American manufacturers to maintain a fair competition with the manufacturers of other countries, and at the same time to pay a scale of living wages to the men and women who work for them, is once broken down, American competition with foreign production becomes impossible, except by the reduction of the scale of American wages to the level of the wages paid abroad? [Cheers.] Certainly you do not need to be told that that shop or mill that has the smallest pay-roll in proportion to its production will take the market. [Cheers.] Certainly you do not need to be told that the wages now enjoyed by our American workmen are greatly larger and the comforts they enjoy greatly more than those enjoyed by the working people of any other land. [Cheers.] Certainly you do not need to be told that if the American Government, instead of patronizing home industries, buys its blankets for the public service in England there is just that much less work for American workmen to do. [Cheers.] This is to me the beginning and the end of the tariff question. Since I was old enough to have opinions or to utter them, I have held to the doctrine that the true American policy was that which should maintain not only a living rate of wages, but one with a margin for savings and comfort for our workmen. I believe that policy is essential to the prosperity and possibly to the perpetuity of our Government. [Cheers.] The two propositions that now stare our working people—and our whole country—in the face are these: competition with foreign countries, without adequate discriminating and favoring duties, means lower wages to our working people; a revenue-only tariff, or progressive free trade, means larger importations of foreign goods, and that means less work in America. [Cheers.]
Let our Democratic friends fairly meet these two indisputable conclusions. How do they do it? [Cries, "They don't; they can't!">[ By endeavoring to prevent and poison the minds of our working people by utterly false and scandalous campaign stories. [Enthusiastic cheering.] Let me say in conclusion that I believe the managers of the Democratic campaign greatly underestimate the intelligence, the sense of decency, and the love of fair play that prevail among out people. [Great cheering.] You will pardon further remark. The evening is drawing on, and many of you, I am sure, have been made uncomfortable by your muddy walk through the streets of our city. I cannot omit, however, to thank my friends from Lafayette for this beautiful floral tribute which they have placed at my side—an emblem of their profession. [Floral gripsack.] I accept it gratefully, and very highly appreciate it as a mark of the confidence and respect of the intelligent body of my own fellow-citizens of Indiana. [Great cheering.]