The opening of Oklahoma marked another epoch in national progress. The tract which had formed part of the Indian Territory was purchased from the Indians in 1889. In the spring of that year, fully fifty thousand people were eagerly waiting the word to enter and take up lands in that region. President Harrison’s proclamation declared that no one who entered and occupied lands in Oklahoma before twelve noon of April 22, 1889, should be permitted to acquire rights to lands there by such entrance and occupation. Hence, on the stroke of twelve, the bugle announced that Oklahoma was open, and a vast multitude rushed across the line, each endeavouring to get in ahead of the rest. Almost overnight, towns of rough board shanties and tents sprang up like mushrooms. Oklahoma City and Guthrie started thus; but five months later, Guthrie was a real town, with several newspapers, banks, and a street railway under construction. Such was the spirit of progress!
To the delight of the navy enthusiasts, the ninety old wooden ships were being steadily replaced by battleships and steamers of steel construction.
Most important to the business interests of the country were the three acts passed by Congress in 1890: the new Pension Act, that added 400,000 names to the pension roster, the expense of which has already been given; the McKinley Tariff, the principal object of which was the protection of American products and American industries against foreign competition; and the Sherman Silver Purchase and Coinage Act, which provided that each month the treasurer should buy, if it were offered, 4,500,000 ounces, or more than 140 tons, of silver and coin it into dollars.
The centennial census showed the population of the United States to be more than 62,000,000, a gain over the first census of 1790 of 50,000,000 people. A centennial celebration was held by the Supreme Court, and another by the Patent Office. This latter was especially interesting because of the history it disclosed. The first patents issued were for potash and soap in 1790. During the hundred years that followed, 450,000 patents had been applied for and secured. Inventors had endeavoured to enter every field of human skill, with the result that America’s labour-saving machines led the world. A notable and everyday utilitarian invention that has given satisfaction in transportation to countless hundreds is the safety bicycle, which “Baby McKee” learned to ride with his mother.
It was during this administration that national politics was invaded by the Farmers’ Alliance. The immigration laws also came in for amendment. An incident worthy of note was the great Carnegie Steel Strike at Homestead, Pa., to which the governor finally had to send troops.
President Harrison could not fail to feel a satisfaction in the record of accomplishment of his four years, and when he prepared to turn the White House over to his successor, he resolved to go back to his law practice, knowing that his future was established. He need accept only such clients as appealed to him and would be able to meet his fees.
He went back to the lawyer’s office in Indianapolis where he had first practised his profession. He accepted his defeat for reëlection in 1892 as final, and thereupon retired permanently from party politics. His only reëntrance into national affairs was when he became a member of the board of arbitration for Venezuela, which settled the historic boundary dispute between Great Britain and the South American Republic.
After his presidential term General Harrison became less reserved. He used to spend his vacations out of doors, and was most devoted to his grandchildren, the McKees. He became a familiar figure at Cape May, where the beach crowds often saw him romping in the surf with them.
On April 6, 1896, he married Mrs. Mary Scott Lord Dimmick, the niece of his first wife, who had acted as Mrs. Harrison’s secretary during her stay in the White House. The wedding took place at St. Thomas’s Protestant Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue, New York City, in the presence of a small group of friends. Neither General Harrison’s son nor his daughter was present. He took his bride to his Indiana home, where a baby girl was born to them the following year. This marriage estranged his family, as it was not at all pleasing to the children of his first wife.
He died of acute pneumonia in Indianapolis, March 13, 1901, with his immediate family and a few old friends around him. Although en route to his side, neither Russell Harrison nor Mrs. McKee was with him at his death.