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Cofy-2
SHORT REVIEW
Public and Private Life
Gen'l Benj. Harrison
What the Working Men Say of Him.
HIS RECORD AS A SOLDIER, AND HOW HE APPEARS AT HOME.
" The Page bill was considered in the Senate in the early part of 1882, and Sen-
ator Harrison voted against it The bill, however, failed as a law to keep out
Chinese immigration, and was amended in 1884. There is no record as to Senator
Harrison's position on the amended bill, but it is known that he favored the addi-
tional legislation ; but even the law as amended proved ineffectual, and in the
XLIXth Congress I introduced a bill which became known as the Morrow bill. It
was drawn with considerable care, as I was familiar with the subject, having been
Assistant United States Attorney at San Francisco and familiar with the Federal
jurisdiction. The bill was approved by the Collector of the Port, the United
States Judges and the United States Attorney, and it was supposed that it would
accomplish everything that legislation could do under the treaty. The bill was
introduced in the Senate by Senator Fair, the Democratic Senator from Nevada,
and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, of which Senator Harrison
was then a member. I had occasion to meet with members of that committee sev-
eral times while the bill was pending before the committee, and among others with
Senator Harrison, and I know that he was in favor of excluding Chinese immi-
gration, either by suitable legislation under the treaty, or a new treaty that
could make exclusion absolute. I remember that he and I were members of a
small party that went to Philadelphia in the early part of 1886 to attend a dinner
given by the Clover Club. During the trip I had quite a talk with Senator Harri-
son on the subject of Chinese immigration, and I was gratified to find that he was
not only in favor of further legislation in restraint of such immigration, but he
was in favor of a new treaty that would provide for absolute exclusion.
"The bill introduced by Senator Fair was considered by the Committee on
Foreign Pteiations of the Senate, and passed the committee unanimously. It was
reported to the Senate by Senator Sherman, who said : ' The bill has been carefully
examined iu the Committee on Foreign Relations, and as far as I know every pro-
vision was assented to with entire unanimity.' This statement will be found on page
4,958 of the Congressional Record of the first session of the XLIXth Congress. It
is well known that Senator Mitchell, of Oregon, is extremely radical against Chi-
nese immigration. In discussing this bill (which Harrison voted for in the com-
mittee, as I have just stated,) Senator Mitchell said : ' This bill is a great improve-
ment, permit me to say. in my judgment, upon any bill that has ever heretofore at
any time been reported by any committee of either branch of Congress upon this
question.' The Senator's speech will be found on page 5,109 of the Congressional
Record of the first session of the XLIXth Congress. The bill passed the Senate
unanimously, but was smothered in the House Committee on Foreign Afi'airs, of
which Mr. Perry Belmont was chairman, and the only action the Democratic
House took in furtherance of the action of the Senate on the Chinese question was
to pass the Chinese indemnity bill, providing for the payment of $147,009 to the
Chinese for the Rock Springs outrage.
" But it is said that Senator Harrison, in 1882, opposed legislation against'
Chinese immigration, and that he voted against an amendment to the bill then
pending, offered by Senator Farley, providing that hereafter no State Court or
Court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and repealing all
laws in conflict with the act. Senator Edmunds opposed this form of amendment,
saying that the naturalization laws did not authorize naturalization of Chinese.
The Senator was correct. Four years before, in 1878, Judge Sawyer, the U. S.
Circuit Judge for California, Oregon and Nevada, had decided on the application
of Ah Yup that a native of China of the Mongolian race was not entitled to be-
come a citizen of the United States. On the authority of this decision, Senator
Edmunds proposed an amendment in these words: 'Nothing in the act shall be
construed to change the existing naturalization laws so as to admit Chinese per-
sons to citizenship.' Senator Harrison voted for this amendment in preference to
the one proposed by Senator Farley. This is all there is in this vote.
" Senator Harrison was undoubtedly opposed to the abrogation of a treaty by
indirect legislation. He was in favor of a clear-cut proposition for abrogating
the existing treaty, with its annoying limitations, and excluding the Chinamen
absolutely, and it is an interesting fact that this is precisely the position occupied
by the Senators and Representatives from the Pacific Coast. We have favored an
abrogation of the present treaty, because of its limitations on the power of Con-
gress to legislate in defense of the country. Senator Harrison has occupied pre-
cisely this position, and his votes on the amendments to the Page bill prove this
fact beyond a doubt. Furthermore, Senator Harrison's position has been justified
by the fact that a new treaty has been negotiated, with the appnwal of both par-
ties, under which Chinese immigration will be stopped. The bill introduced by
Senator Fair in the vSenate is the bill which Senator Harrison voted for in com-
mittee, and it is worthy of note that this bill is the framework of the new treaty
just negotiated with China.
The press of the coast says :
[Portland Oregonian.]
" The nomination of Harrison is a happy outcome of the contentions of the
convention. Harrison will receive the united Republican support. His career
has been active, honorable, patriotic, and thoroughly American. On the Chinese
question his course has been honorable and right. He properly maintained that
we have no just right in violation of a treaty to pass an act to deprive the subjects
of China of the privileges guaranteed them by treaty, and insisted that good faith
and international amity required that China be asked to modify the treaty before
we should enact any extreme legislation. It can not be denied that this position
was right. Subsequently, when the objections were removed, Harrison joined in
reporting and voting for the restriction bill prepared by Senator Fair (Dem. ), of
Nevada. But the immigration of the Chinese is no longer a question of practical
importance, since restriction keeps them out, and their number in the United
States is gradually decreasing. It is complained that some do evade the law and
enter the United States, but if this is so it is due to otficial laxity on the part of
our present administration."
[Sacramento Record- Union.]
" The Democracy has already resorted to the mean device of reporting Chinese
as celebrating the nomination of General Harrison. It goes without saying that
these stories are made out of whole cloth. The record of General Harrison has
been thus early misrepresented because the Democracy fears his nomination more
than it would have done that of Blaine, Sherman or Gresham. General Harrison
has never been a man of concealments concerning his ideas upon public questions.
His views have never been matters of doubt on the Chinese question or any other.
As a lawyer he opposed useless legislation, and when it came to defense of treaty
compacts he stood by the honor and integrity of the government, while opposed to
any system that degi-ades the American workmen, and for this he is now assailed.
He reported and voted for anti-Chinese legislation as soon as treaty compacts ad-
mitted it, and he stands pledged upon a platform clear and satisfactory upon the
question discussed. He is disclosed in strong favorable contrast with his opponent,
who but a few short weeks ago was anxiously inquiring of Californians if it was
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not possible to Christianize Chinese and bring them into harmony with our system
of civilization — thus displaying a surprising degree of ignorance upon the subject.
If there are those who would otherwise support General Harrison, but who are
fearful that he, in common with some millions, years ago did not understand the
Chinese as we do, and therefore can not vote for him, in the name of conscience let
them go over to the Democracy, with all its glaring offenses and its open assaults
upon the vital industries of the country and the cause of the American laboring
citizen. But it is preposterous to suppose that any man who looks at the matter
calmly, and is in harmony with the positive protection platform upon which
General Harrison stands, with its pronounced championship of home industries
and American labor, and its antagonism to Chinese immigration, and who is
aware, as the fact is, that General Harrison is the sincere friend of these causes,
will be led to desert to the Democracy."
ISan Jose (Cal.) Mercury.!
"If the Democrats can derive any comfort from quoting this old and abandoned
[Chinese] record of General Harrison they are welcome to it. The only reason
the Republicans can not produce a similar record of Cleveland is that in 1882 he
was too obscure to have made a record worth presentation upon any national issue."
[Nevada Territorial Enterprise.] .
" It was understood from the beginning that the convention at Chicago would
choose wisely and well. It was only in debate as to whom the choice would fall.
We now know the men and everybody is pleased. Harrison and Morton will hold
the entire strength of the Republican party, and will gain largely from Democrats
who are dissatisfied with the course of Mr. Cleveland."
[Santa Cruz Sentinel.]
" Good statesmanship consists in devising measures to secure the success of prin-
ciples. Good politics consists in devising means to secure the success of parties.
Judged by these standards, the work of the Chicago convention shows good states-
manship and good politics. The advancement of the Republican principles and
the restoration to power of the Republican party are, we believe, fully assured by
the nomination of Harrison and Morton."
[Nevada Territorial Enterprise.]
" His word is good in letter and spirit, and he has accepted a position involving
a distinct agreement to keep every promise and defend every principle in the Re-
publican national platform. This alone is sufficient answer to the Chinese hum-
bug. To go further : The Chinese question is entirely of the past and is not, nor
has it ever been, a party question. It has been settled for twenty years to come —
a longer time than General Harrison will hold the office of President — but should
treaty complications arise during his term the platform will be the guide of the
President in the course to pursue." ,
Senators Mitchell and Dolph have also declai-ed that the General's record was
satisfactory to their constituents. If so, what becomes of the silly attempt of the
Democrats to create a prejudice against him on this ground in the Eastern States?
THE GREAT STRIKE OF 1887.
Another lie started from Indianapolis is to the effect that during the great
railroad strike of 1877 he swayed himself in bitter hostility to the strikers, and
urged the employment of force to end the strike. Again the record is against the
tradacei-s. Not only is the record against tliem, but his wiiole life. The facts are,
in brief :
During the strike the citizens of Indianapolis organized what was known as
the Committee of Safety. Gen. Harrison, together with other prominent Republi-
cans and Demqcrats, was a member of the committee. The testimony of all the
members, Democrats as well as Republicans, is that at all times and under all cir-
cumstances he counseled moderation, holding that the strikers had great cause for
complaint, and that they would not violate the laws if the matter was properly set
before them. He was on the Committee of Mediation, and maintained the side of
the strikers. This is borne out by the testimony of the strikers themselves. A
number of the strikers were arrested, some of them for interfering with the run-
ning of trains on the O. & M. R. R., Gen. Harrison being the attorney for the re-
ceiver of the road. The men were sentenced to ninety-nine days in tlie jail. After
serving a few days Gen. Harrison went to Judge Drummond, who had tried the
cases, and prevailed upon him to release them. It is charged that he commanded
the troops called out on that occasion. He was solicited so to do by Gov. Wil-
liams, a Democrat, but he declined. He did command a company that was called
out to defend tlie arsenal. Let us look at the testimony. Hon. Joseph E. McDon-
ald, a leading Democrat, says :
" The organization of that committee was for the purpose of providing protec-
tion for the city and property, if an emergency should arise to make such action
necessar}'. It was not anticipated that any riot would be precipitated by the
strikers, but beyond them, for which they were in no wise responsible, was a dan-
ger that had to be guarded against. It was on that account, and that alone, that
the committee was organized. From its members a sub-committee of five, consist-
ing of General Harrison, Albert G. Porter, Franklin Landers, ex-Governor Baker
and myself was chosen to consult with th'e strikers in order to bring about a peace-
able solution of the difficulty. All of us on that sub-committee were in accord,
and our relations with the strikers were pleasant. Every member of the com-
mittee was in favor of peace, and there was no divergence of opinion."
Gen. Fred. Knetller says :
" Harrison's company was detailed to protect the United States armory. He
put this important point in a stage of defense. It is certain that Harrison acted
in a thoroughly humane and proper spirit all through. He repelled any sugges-
tion of attacking the strikers unless it should become necessary, and when the
strike ended he exerted himself to have the arrested strikers treated leniently.
About 200 had been sentenced to 90 days' imprisonment for contempt of court.
General Harrison Avent to Judge Drummond, suggesting that the law had been
sufficiently vindicated by the pronouncing of this sentence, and asked that the
men be released. Those who had already begun their terms were released, and
others were discharged, and nothing more was heai'd of the prosecutions. The In-
dianapolis Sentinel acts not only very unworthily in attacking General Harrison,
but in a party sense very foolishly, since the most prominent Democrats in the
State were as much engaged in the preservation of order as Harrison. It was
simply a citizens's duty."
TESTIMONY OF STRIKEES.
Frank Alley, who is in charge of the reducing station of the Indianapolis Gas
Company, was an influential member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
at the time of the big strike. Speaking of that strike, he says : " I read the Sen-
tinel's article, and 1 saw nothing in it concerning General Harrison which was not
to his credit rather than to his discredit. He did what any good citizen ought to
have done under the circumstances. It was that sort of action which saved the city
thousands of dollars which it would otherwise had to have paid, as was done in
Pittsburgh. Why, nobody can be blamed for trying to save property and perhaps
human life. If you can blame men like General Harrison, why don't you blame
Governor Williams, who called out the militia?"
" Do you think there was at any time any danger from the strikers them-
selves ? "
"None; the apprehension was on account of the rabble who sought to take the
opportunity to })lunder or pillage. Why, I took up a gun and helped them defend
property in Louisville, where I was at the time."
Dairus E. Crawford, of 125 Garden Street, who for a long time has been an
employe of the Vandalia Railroad Company, says : "I am one of the men who
was in the strike of '77. I can tell you all you want to know, and moreover I am
glad to do it. It was in July, on a given Monday, that the first outbreak occurred.
I was then in the Vandalia Yards, and had been for some time. I don't deny the
fact thai I was in the strike. I don't deny that I helped to stop the trains on the
I., B. & W. and the I., C. & L., as it was then, now the Big Four. There were a
number of us yardmen connected with it. A Deputy United States Marshall placed
me under arrest, along with Chas. Githens, P. Dean, and others, and entered us on
the charge of interfering with trains. On the Wednesday following our trial be-
gan, closing on the next Friday. Judge Drummond presided, and C. W. Fairbanks
and Major Gordon were prominent figures in the prosecution. All during that
trial everybody who was there knows that Albert G. Porter and Benjamin Harri-
son were the two men who stood out in prominence for their lenient and sympathetic
actions. Harrison did all he could and on all sides he could. Why, I was in a
restaurant that day by the postoffice, and while I was eating in walked a Deputy
Sheriff with five men in handcuffs. They had been brought up from Vincennes,
and were in custody on the same charge I was, only they were employes of the O.
& M. Railroad Company. General Harrison said he would see these men acquitted
if it was in his power, and they were, through his influence, cleared. Well, our
trial came off. We were all sentenced to ninety-nine days in the Bartholomew
County jail. But at the end of twenty-nine days we were pardoned out through
some then unknown influence But I am confident, as were the others, that it was
General Harrison who interceded in our behalf. Why, you ask me? Simply be-
cause I know the man — I know that our pardon could not have come through the
other side. Yes, I can truly testify to the General's leniency and generosity to all
of us men all during those times, and I am here to say that if I am alive I will
vote for him for our next President."
Alexander Mc Alpine, Superintendent of the Western Car Company, but who
was at the time of the strike Master Mechanic of the Vandalia, said that during
the trouble it was learned that sixty-four tramps were near the city, and that they
threatened to come in and bring about a reign of terror. " The strikers," he con-
tinued, " went to the officers of the Vandalia, L, B. & W., and all other roads in-
volved, and said they would not be responsible for anything of that kind. They
asked for police powers so they could help preperve tlie peace. General Harrison
was one of the Committee on Mediation, and he used his influence toward a set-
tlement of the difficulties in favor of the strikers. It is due to him that the wages of
the men were raised. A few hot-headed fellows went to the General and asked :
' Why don't you fire upon these men?' The General replied, ' I do not propose to
arm myself and go out on the streets and shoot down my ueighborp.'"
It has been charged that General Harrison has said one dollar a day was
enough for a laboring num. If he had ao said, it is a little singular he should in-
terest himself to procure an increase of wages for the men. The silly lie needs no
other refutation.
INDORSED BY CHIEF ARTHUR.
P. M. Arthur, the head of the Locomotive Brotherhood, says in regard to the
support of Gen. Harrison by the labor organizations:
" I have no doubt but that they will give him a strong support. They recog-
nize him as a safe man, and he stands on a sound platform. General Harrison
has nothing in his record that should prevent anj' Republican workingman from
voting for him. I regard his nomination as a strong one, and know his friendly
attitude toward organized labor. Sometime ago I went to Indianapolis to
straighten out a difficulty between our men and one of the local roads, and it was
principally through the good offices of General Harrison that a strike was pre-
vented and matters were adjusted. Mr. Harrison has proven himself a friend of
labor — at least he has shown a kindly feeling toward the Brotherhood. A com-
mittee, of which I was one, waited upon him once, and he received us most cordi-
ally and did all he could do for us. He secured an audience with the President
for us, going with the committee to the executive mansion and waiting until our
interview ended. He made a lasting impression on the delegates, and I do not
think one of us will ever forget him for the kind reception he gave the Brother-
hood through the committee. By his action he showed himself the friend of the
working class."
FURTHER INDORSEMENT BY LABOR MEN.
John Jarrett, the labor leader, who, two years ago, knocked out "Horizontal"
Bill Morrison, expressed himself as well sati.sfied with the Eepublican ticket.
" The selection of Harrison and Morton was a good one," he said, " and the plat-
form is excellent, every issue being clearly drawn. I called at the headquarters of
several labor organizations to-day, and find the sentiment of all* our labor leaders
is that a better platform could not have been framed. As to the candidates, they
were satisfied with them. McKinley, you know, was our choice, but Harrison is a
good man, and will get the support of all true protectionists.
" We can not condemn Mr. Harrison for voting against the Chinese immigra-
tion bill. The provisions of the bill were at variance with our treaty with China.
He claimed that the matter should be adjusted without a violation of the treaty.
He voted conscientiously and deserves credit for so doing. I do not think his
action on the question will have any weight with the working people. We know
he has been for years in sympathy with the laboring clas.«e8, and should get their
support. I have heard labor leaders who are Democrats express their intention of
voting for him. President William Wiehe and Stephen Madden, assistant secre-
tary of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel -workers, are both enthu-
siastic protectionists, and, of course, will support the ticket. Those of the laboring
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class who will vote the Democrat ticket are dyed in the wool and would vote no
other, no matter what the issue might be. They are largely among the Irish
element, and are unconsciously working in the interests of Great Britain."
GENERAL HARRISON AND KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
[San Francisco Chronicle.]
" The Knights of Labor are a keen and intelligent set of men ; they sometimes,
in moments of excitement, fail to perceive that rashness or unnecessary antagonism
of capital must in the long run prove detrimental to them, but they may be de-
pended upon to single out with perfect accuracy the party whose aims most coin-
cide with theirs. That party is the Republican party, which, through its repre-
sentatives, has always consistently advocated internal improvements and protection
to American sailors and opposition to free ships ; it is the party which elevates
above all things industry, and declares that the protection of American labor
against the encroachments of foreign competition should be the first duty of Amer-
ican statesmen. Benjamin Harrison stands on this platform, and as the exponent
of the id.ea that well-paid labor makes a good workingman and a good citizen, he
will receive the suffrage of every Knight of Labor who detests the doctrine preached
by Cleveland, Mills and other free-traders, that the chief aim of statesmanship is
to make things cheap, and to accomplish which they are willing to sacrifice the
decently paid labor of the United States.
HIS ACTS SPEAK FOR HIM.
Illustrative of his kindness and broad charity, a well-known railroad man,
who has w^orked his way up from the humble walks of labor, tells this incident :
" I was living in two rooms on the same street, within a door or two of where Gen.
Ben. Harrison lived, eighteen years ago, in this city. I did not know the General
or his wife then, as I had been married but a short time and had but lately moved
into my rooms. My wife was taken sick, and strangers as we were, the General
frequently called at the door of our humble home to inquire of her condition, and
many a time Mrs. Harrison brought in to my wife dainties to eat, and was always
cheery in her kindly words. Poor, and stranger as I was, it made an impression
that will be green in my mind as long as I live. Talk about laboring men not
voting for General Harrison ! No truer or more sympathetic heart ever beat in a
man's bosom than his, and that of his wife, for poor men, and for one I'll be in at
his election to rejoice with the others."
Mr. Anderson, a mechanic of Indianapolis, relates the following: "When
General Harrison was building his present residence, I was one of the mechanics
employed by the contractor. The General paid the contractor in full, who then
absconded, leaving the workmen unpaid. The General was not legally bound to
us for a dollar. He owed no man anything on the building. When he was in-
formed that we were unpaid, he sent for us and told us to make out our claims.
We did so, and he paid the whole seventeen in full. I shall vote for him and do
all I can to elect him."
On the question of wages, the General said himself, in a public speech : " The
simple fact is, many things are made and sold now too cheap, for I hold it to be
true that whenever the market price is so low that the man or the woman who
makes it can not get a fair living out of the making of it, it is too low."
Other citations of a similar character might be made, but this is sufficient.
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HIS RECORD AS A SOLDIER — FIGHTING JOE HOOKER's TKSTIJIONY TO HIS PROFES-
SIONAL WORTH.
Fighting Joe Hooker thus made known his opinion of General, tlien Colonel
Benjamin Harrison:
Headquarters Northern Department, "i
CiNiCNNATi, 0., October 31, 1864. |
To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War:
I desire to call the attention of the department to the claims of Colonel
Benjamin Harrison, of the Seventieth Indiana Volunteers, for promotion to the
rank of Brigadier General of Volunteers.
Colonel Harrison first joined me in command of a brigade of Ward's division
in Lookout Valley, preparatory to entering upon what is called the Campaign of
Atlanta. My attention was first attracted to this young officer by the superior
excellence of his brigade in discipline and instruction, tlie result of his labor, skill
and devotion. With more foresight than I have witnessed in any officer of his ex-
perience, he seemed to act upon the principle tliat success depended upon the
thorough preparation in disciple and esprit of his command for conflict more than
any other influence that could be exerted in the field itself, and when the collision
came his command vindicated his wisdom as much as his valor.
In all the achievements of the 20lh corps in that campaign Colonel Harrison
bore a conspicuous part. At Resaca and Peach Tree Creek the conduct of himself
and command were especially distinguished. Colonel Harrison is an officer of su-
perior abilities, and of great professional and personal worth. It gives me great
pleasure to commend him favorably to the honorable Secretary with the assurance
that his preferment will be a just recognition of his services and martial accom-
plishments. Respectfully your obedient servant,
Joseph Hooker, Major General Commanding.
NO better soldier than HE.
Ex-County Clerk M. G. McLain, a one-armed soldier, who followed General
Harrison's lead in a good many hard places during the war, is a great admirer of
his old commander's soldierly qualities. No man, he says, was dearer to the boys
in the line than General Harrison, and it rose from one single element in the man's
character — his determination to take the leading part in whatever he asked his
men to do. He, too, recalls the bloody charge at Resaca, where his own right arm
was shot away, and the sight of General Harrison waving his sword aloft and
shouting in that shrill voice for which he was noted : " Come on, boys." Con-
tinuing, he said: "One scene has always lived in my memory. Our old chaplain,
Allen, a man who was beloved by all the boys and for whom almost every man in
the regiment would have given his life, conducted service on Sunday with Colonel
Harrison, as it was then, and Lieut. -Col. Sam Merrill assisting. I have often
heard General Harrison offer up the prayer for the boys' welfare and protection
down there on those Southern fields, so far away from home, and many times have
heard him address the boys in place of the chaplain. Never to my knowledge, in
all the trying times of war, did I ever see one thing from him unbecoming a Chris-
tian. I think the battlefield and the camp bring out what there is in a man about
as well as anything can, and I have seen General Harrison tested in every way.
As a soldier courageous, sympathetic and enduring, the army had no better."
" How was he a? a disciplinarian ? "
12
"Going out as he did, a civilian and without any military training whatever,.
he became one of the closest students of the science and art of war there was in
the army. As he does in everything else, he threw his whole heart into the work
of making himself a proficient oflacer and his regiment a well disciplined body of
men. And he succeeded in an eminent degree in both instances. General Harri-
rison was a very sympathetic man. Whenever a soldier was hurt in the discharge
of his duty none was readier to offer sympathy than he. And as a result of this
trait of his character he always looked after the welfare of his regiment with
scrupulous care. He never went to bed at night without knowing that the boys
were going to have as good a breakfast as could be secured in the morning. You
can rest assured these were favors that were appreciated by his men. Scattered
over the country as the regiment is, I dare say the news of the old commander's
nomination will recall a thousand tender memories of the days of 1863, '64
and '65."
KIND AND COURAGEOUS.
Kichard M. Smock, who was a member of General Harrison's regiment, in re-
lating some incidents of army life, relates the following incident: "In the winter
of 1863-4 we were encamped near Nashville. As all who were there at the time
will remember, it was one of the coldest winters on record. Hundreds of soldiers
perished while on picket duty. I remember that during one of the coldest nights
I was on picket and suffered greatly with the cold, when I saw a man approaching
from the direction of the officers' headquarters. I halted him and when he gave
the countersign and advanced I saw it was General Harrison. He had a large
can filled with hot coffee, and when I asked him what he was doing he said he was
afraid some of the pickets would freeze to death, and he knew some hot coffee
would help the men to keep alive. He was the most welcome visitor I ever met,
for I really believe I would have frozen before morning had not the coffee been
brought. After leaving me the General passed on to all the other pickets and
cheered them up with the beverage. His act was one of kindness. The men on
duty were nearly all from his regiment, and his personal friendship for them in-
duced him to get up out of his comfortable quarters in the dead of night, prepare
that coffee and bring it to us. General Harrison was always in the thickest of the
battle. I remember that on the 14th of May, the day before the battle of Resaca,
our regiment was ordered to advance through a strip of woodland which ended at
the foot of a hill. On the brow of an opposite hill were the rebels, and the posi-
tion which we were ordered to take put us in direct range of their guns. We were
subjected to a terrific fire, and as we could see no reason why we should be com-
pelled to occupy such an exposed position, many of us wanted to fall back. Gen-
eral Harrison was with us, on foot, at the head of the column, and he said we
would obey orders and stay there if we died. Our ranks were thinned by the bul-
lets of the enemy, but we held our position, and General Harrison never left his
advanced position."
HIS CARE FOR THE SOLDIERS.
[Col. Samuel Merrill.]
" In the army he was indefatigable in his care for the health of his men, and
took pains to see that they were clothed, and that they were not imposed upon.
His men all honored him greatly. Although they did not like his discipline, they
liked him as a brigade commander in a fight. In regard to his discipline, he
would be spoken of as a strict disciplinarian. He exercised great care to see that
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his men Avere supplied with clothing; and food, and that sanitary laws were ob-
served. "While other States had influence at Washing^ton, and were pushing their
officers ahead for high positions, the State of Indiana, having fewer general officers
in proportion to the number of privates than any other State in the Union, did
not push her officers into prominence, and the result was that, although General
Harrison was as capable of commanding a corps as any of the corps commanders,
his modesty and unwillingness to ask for anything for himself kept him from
taking the high position to which he was entitled and for which he was fitted.
General Harrison is a member of George H. Thomas Post, of the Grand Army of
the Republic. He is very popular among the soldiers of his own State, and he has
never pushed himself forward in the Grand Army any more than he did in the
field, but has left to others the seeking of official position.
"In the march he was merciful, protesting against unnecessary haste. Frequently
he would take the guns and accoutrements of some poor worn-out fellows and carry
them before him on the saddle. Often I have seen him dismount and walk while
a sick soldier occupied his place on the horse. Those who were ill in the field
hospital testify that they were not forgotten by their kind commander, but that he
was deeply interested in their recovery, constantly making inquiries as to their
welfare and suggestions for their comfort.
"He protected the private soldier from imposition by those in authority, as a
father would his own children. Once when we had been cut off from our supplies
for a long time the men became so ragged that it was pitiful to see them. At last a
partial stock was received by the quartermaster. »Some of the officers appropriated
the pantaloons to their own use. As soon as this was known General Harrison com-
pelled these lordly fellows to strip, and turn this clothing over to the rightful
owners. If at any time he felt that he had wronged one, his sense of justice gave
him no rest until he had repaired the injury.
" He did not have a code of morals to be observed at home and neglected abroad,
but there was the same purity of conduct and conversation while a soldier in the
field, as when a citizen going through his daily round of duties, with all the sweet
restraints of family and friends."
RECOLLECTIONS OF A COMRADE.
[Capt. H.A.Ford.]
" General Harrison was a brigade commander in our division of the Twentieth
Army Corps, and I came to know him well. Indeed, I was indebted to his kind
offices for the most interesting military association I had as adjutant and chief of
Btafi to the celebrated Irish refugee. Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher. Harrison was
a thoroughly kind and good man, very popular with his command, and a large
army acquaintance. He was an able and courageous officer, and I have no doubt
that his prompt, well-directed action saved the day at Peach Tree Creek at a criti-
cal moment of the Atlanta campaign. But for him I think our army on that field
would have been cut in two, and at least one wing of it rolled up and badly shat-
tered.
" When Wood delivered his savage attack ihe colonel happened to be away from
his brigade at an advanced position a little to the right held by Eastern troops.
General Ward had been returned to the head of the division, and with his staflT,
upon which I was then seiv'ug, was resting, unexpectant, upon a knoll in the rear.
The first onset fell where Harrison was, and he, divining at once the character of
14
the attack, aud the need of immediate resistance, came dashing down the hill on
his splendid charger, riding down bodily a partly barred gate as he flew, and with-
out an instant's hesitancy for orders, moved his brigade to the top of a short but
sharp slope, at whose foot it had been halted, and forward until the enemy was met,
as he was almost at once. Other troops connected speedily on the right and left,
and here the impetuous rebel advance was stayed once for all. But I have always
felt that if it had had the advantage of a charge down the slope upon our unpre-
pared lines they would have been driven in hopeless disorder into and across the
deep stream in our rear, and the battle would, in all probability, have been lost.
" Harrison was the hero of Peach Tree Creek, which made him a brigadier. He
was the senior field officer in the brigade at the previous battle of Resaca, bore him-
self gallantly in one of the most desperate and deadly charges of history, that
which captured the redoubt and four guns, and took command of the force after
General Ward had been wounded and retired from the field. His service through-
out was honorable and efiicient, and would have advanced him to a more promi-
nent position had he been an older man. I am sure that no one met him in those
days who did not feel his mental and moral power, and expect of him great things
in the coming days. His brief speeches at spontaneous assemblies of the troops, as
in front of Raleigh, when news of the death of Lincoln was received, were remark-
ably well put and often rose to eloquence. I have heard him since in political
speeches to throngs of Hoosiers, whose popular idol he is, and thus have personal
evidence that he has nobly answered the promise of his earlier manhood. He is a
thoroughly good and true man of old Presbyterian stock, to whose traditions he
has been faithful. He was the only general officer I knew or heard of at whose
headquarters family prayers were regularly held."
GENERAL HARRISON AT RESACA.
[Sketch in Boston Advertiser.]
" It was at Resaca that Colonel Harrison's courage as a soldier was tested to its
fullest extent. His brigade lay under cover of the woods. Orders were received
during the afternoon of one day to break that cover, and charge through a stretch
of open field to the crest of a hill a quarter of a mile away, to take a battery which
was being used with terrible effect upon the national forces. Colonel Harrison's
regiment was in advance, and he, as the ranking Colonel, was at the head. His
orders were peremptory to charge at once. The officers were to dismount and go on
foot with the men. Colonel Harrison only asked one question of the aid-de-camp
who brought him the order. He said to him : " You are familiar with the field
outside. I am not. Will you go ahead with me alone, and show me the direc-
tion of this battery, for if I were to cliarge out now I would be as apt to charge
flank on to it as any other way ? " Colonel Harrison walked out of the woods
then with this officer. When they had barely left the cover a puff of smoke from
a neighboring hill and a screarning projectile emphasized the indication swiftly
made by the guide. Harrison instantly waved his sword to his men behind him,
shouted, " Come on, boys ! " and with the four regiments yelling at his heels he ran
toward the hill, which now concentrated upon his column a most murderous fire.
Between the woods and the crest of the hill the brigade lost one-third of its men
in killed and wounded. After a spurt of very savage fighting the Union forces
succeeded in capturing the outside line of the breastworks, but between them and
15
the battery itself was a line of unsurmountable stakes and brushwood. Night fell
before the battery itself was taken ; but during the night Harrison's men tunneled
up through to the guns and captured them, lowering them into the tunnel. At
break of day they expected the contest for the crest of tlie hill to be renewed, but
the rebels had withdrawn in the night, greatly to the disappointment of General
Sherman, though not a single member of Harrison's brigade was disappointed at
the result."
ONE OF HIS OLD REGIMENT.
" Dan. M. Ransdell, ex-county clerk, one of General Harrison's old regiment,
and a steadfast friend and admirer of his old commander, says in regard to him :
"As an officer General Harrison was noted as a disciplinarian. Many of his men,
who had been unused to restraint, thought him at first tyrannical and exacting,
but when the regiment got into active service they all saw the immense benefit re- "
suiting from his strict discipline, and whatever they thought of it at first, forgave
him for it afterward. Eemarkably cool under fire, no one ever saw him manifest
the slightest indication of fear. He shrank from no duty, Iiowever dangerous it
might be, nor did he ever shirk the slightest responsibility. Conscientious and
faithful to the last degree, he threw his whole heart and soul into the service. No
officer was more beloved by his men than General Harrison. The privates of his
regiment would have died for him to a man. His call to them was always, ' Come
on, boys,' and never * Go on,, boys.' His motto was, I know, at least his conduct
showed it : 'I will never ask my men to do anything that I would not do myself,'
and of course the boys had a deep respect and affection for such an officer. We
went into the fight at Eesaca with 600 men, and lost 257 killed and wounded.
General Harrison was in the thickest of the fight and never flinched once. I re-
member a charge on a battery in one of the battles where we had to cross a ravine
and charge up a hill on the rebels. A whole corps Avas supporting that battery.
We ran up the hill, fell down on our breasts, loaded, and sprang up again, and
so on until we got within a few paces of the enemy. I remember seeing General
Harrison standing up there right in front of the rebels, waving his sword in one hand
and brandishing a revolver in the other. I tell you there was no discount on him
as a soldier. He was as good as the best, as every man that saw him in the war
will tell you. We were on garrison duty for sometime after we went out, and I
knoAv it was a great dissatisfaction to General Harrison to be kept at that kind of
warfare. He chafed under it, and wanted to get to the front, and Avhen he got
there he rendered valued service. Another thing, he was peculiarly kind to his
men. I have seen him give up his horse on a long march to a weary soldier, and
shoulder the private's gun and march along with the regiment. I remember once
he did me that kindness. I have always loved him and admired him, and I might
say I have always insisted that he would one day be President of these United
States."
A soldier's story.
[Philapelphia Press Special.]
"General Harrison is, of course, a member of the Grand Army of theEepublic
and of the Loyal Legion. There are hundreds of old soldiers in Indianapolis and
scattered through the State, who fought in his brigade, and who remember well his
16
bravery, his care for the men and his unselfish patriotism. If one meets a one-
armed veteran in the street here the simplest questions will call out a eulogy of
Harrison. The old soldiers remember him vividly for his tenacious care for their
rights. When he was a Colonel he saw to it that his regiment received all the al-
lowances of every kind to which it was entitled, and when he led a brigade every
individual soldier felt that he had a friend in his commander, strict disciplinarian
though he was.
"An old soldier whom I met quite by accident in a hotel here, told me this
anecdote : ' In the battle of Peach Tree Creek, one of the fights before Atlanta,
the surgeon of Harrison's brigade was lost. No one knew where he was, but he
had disappeared. My recollection is that in the rapidly changing movements the
surgeon and his assistants had become tangled with another brigade, and were so
overwhelmed with duty there that they couldn't get back to their own command.
However that may be, when the fight was over our field hospital was full of wounded,
and there was no one to attend them. The General just threw off his coat, tore
his own tent into strips, and went about bandaging wounds. He even tore his
shirt ofl' his back and used it up in bandaging the boys' wounds. When surgical
help arrived I remember what a sight the General was. Both his arms were bare,
and they were covered with blood from shoulders to finger-tips.' "
"'The men most fond of the General are the men who know him best.' That
is the pithy sentence in which one of his oldest friends here sums up his opinion
of General Harrison's personal character."
HOW HE BECAME A SOLDIER.
Mrs. Harrison thus relates the circumstance of General Harrison's enlistment :
" My husband enlisted in the army in July, 1862. Knowing Governor Morton in-
timately he went one morning in that mouth to consult him on some matter, and
while there in consultation the Governor said to him sadly that the call for 300,000
men by the President had been answered so slowly and with such reluctance, that
he did not know what would become of the country. There seemed to be no de-
sire to go to the front, and little patriotism to urge men forward. General Harri-
son immediately assured the Governor that there was one person in the State who
stood ready to go at any time, and that he would be found at the front as soon as
ordered there. Governor Morton thereupon asked him to recruit a regiment, and
without ever consulting his faiuily he undertook the work and enlisted in the ser-
vice of his country. I knew nothing of it until he came home and told me about
it. I told him to go and do what he could to save the imperiled flag, i thought
it was his patriotic duty."
A CONTRAST.
[Omaha Republican.]
This anniversary of independence is a very appropriate day on which to re-
produce two pictures the Des Moines Eegister presents in parallel columns. That
in the first column is from a sketch of Mrs. Ben Harrison, written by a Washing-
ton correspondent :
17
here was a certain solemn and aw-
ful day in her history in 186'2, when
President Lincoln had called for " 300,-
000 more," and her loving husband, who
had just returned from a three months'
service at the front, was called into the
office of the great war Governor, Oliver
P. Morton, who saw him passing by, and
said to him : " Ben, these are discour-
aging days. I don't know what we are
going to do with so many treasonable
elements to contend with in our State."
Slowly and tentatively he continued :
" Could you raise a company and go out
at its head to stimulate others by your
example ? " The young man did not
hastily promise, but walked thought-
fully homeward into the presence of his
"wife, hugged his little boy and girl with
more than usual tenderness, and said :
'" Carrie, the Governor wants me to go
back to the front. Can you and the
babies get along without me for a little
.ile again?" Mrs. Harrison, like the
patriotic woman she was, said, with a
blanched face and choking voice : " Yes,
Ben, we will try to get along somehow,
if the country needs you."
Scene, Buffalo. Time, 1862.
(irover Cleveland, a strong, luaty
young man of twenty-five, unmarried,
with no family depending upon him for
support, also hears the appeal of Lin-
coln, but gives no response, not even a
word of sympathy. The draft follows.
He locks his office door, walks down the
docks and hires a poor sailor, who goes
as his substitue, and afterwards is al-
lowed to die in the poor-house.
HIS HOME LIFE — GENERAL AND MRS. HARRISON RECEIVING.
[Indianapolis Cor. Philadelphia Press.]
The way is open for any visitor, of high or low degree, to enter this home.
The voice of the people has pronounced the signal which has opened its doors, and
the people themselves are flocking to look within. Yet there is no undignified,
discourteous rush. The visitors are many, but their manner is that of the self-
restrained, self-respecting American. T happened to walk up to the door to-day in
company with the Vermont delegation and a few Virginians, who had come from
Chicago on the same train. Ex-Governor Proctor headed the party, among whom
was Governor Oglesby. As they approached the steps the wire-screen doors opened,
showing a half dozen ladies in the hall. They were Mrs. Harrison herself, and a
half dozen ladies of Indianapolis, most of them old associates of hers in the First
Presbyterian Church, who were helping her to receive
As the visitors were introduced to her by Mr. William Henry Harrison Miller,
General Harrison's law partner, she extended her hand with simple affability and
a smiling welcome to each. Some of them she had met before, and for each of
them she had an appropriate word. The sudden prominence which has befallen
the Harrison household has apparently had no untoward efi'ect upon this matron.
Her smile is as cheery, her eye as clear, her cheeks as round and rosy, and her
whole bearing as natural and unaffected as when she was a young girl thirty-five
18
years ago, the daughter of a college professor of mathematics. I doubt whether
any of the college boys, who doubtless admired her then, when young Ben. Harri-
son carried her away from Miami University as his greatest prize, would not ad-
mire her quite as much now, could they see the self-poise and womanly tact with
which she meets every demand of her trying position. Her hair is slightly gray
and her figure more full than in ihose days of her girlhood, but she has all the
beauty that clings about the honored mistress of an ideal household. In a mo-
ment General Harrison, who had been detained briefly by other callers, steps out
of the parlor into the hall. The visitors press forward with hands outstretched
and words of congratulation on their lips.
" Thank you all," he says. " Walk in," and he leads the way into the parlor,
where tongues wag fast until the call is ended and way is made for others.
General Harrison stands the test of his sudden good fortune with serene com-
posure. As he himself said, he felt more troubled when the bulletins of the bal-
lots showed that his nomination was assured than when failure seemed almost cer-
tain, because he knew something of what the strain and responsibility would be
that were coming, but now that his shoulders are under the load they bear it firmly
with the ease of conscious strength.
General Harrison receives all the visitors with a warm clasp of the hand, a
cheery smile and a word of thanks for their congratulations. All public men diflPer
in their way of shaking hand, and General Harrison has his own method.
His hand is not large, but it is broad and well knit. He takes the visitors hand
well in his own, gives a quick, but not nervous pressure with all the fingers, and
instantly drops it. He does not linger over it ; his smile is not solely of the lips.
It is of the eyes also. His eyes look straight into yours as you address him, and
there is light behind them that attracts a liking at once.
GOSSIP ABOUT THE WIFE OF THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT.
[New York Press.]
No woman has figured in Washington society better able to fill the position of
mistress of the White House than Mrs. Benjamin Harrison. Well-born, well-bred
and well-educated, she has the easy charm of a woman of the world, yet without
one tinge of cynicism or hardness. Given the dangerous gift of wit, she has never
used it to sting or wound — one great reason for her personal success. There is no
one society respects more than a clever woman who can hold her tongue under
temptation.
For her bon mots and her claret punch, made after the "Tippecanoe" receipt,
the wife of the Republican nominee is famous, and be it said, she serves both with
discretion. Mrs. Harrison is a little woman, plump, fresh and wonderfully young
for one that assumed the responsibilities of life in her teens. As a girl she must
have been exceedingly pretty. The regular features, bright dark eyes and abund-
ant dark hair of the matron tell that.
The lady from Indiana has one of the greatest charms of her sex, a beautiful
little hand, every finger of which is straight and shapely, tapering at the ends with
a rosy nail. It is also very white and cared for as a lady's hand should be, not by
a manicure, but its owner. No such hand has been shaken in the White House
for at least this generation. In talking Mrs. Harrison uses her hands to empha-
size her meaning, and does it gracefully. Her eyes, too, are very expressive, and
have in their depths a certain rogueishness that is captivating.
"During the last few administrations the Capital, and through it society at
large, has felt the need of a typical American woman at the head of the Executive
Mansion. A woman whose antecedents, whose life and whose personality would
give wholesome tone to society. One who had the capacity and tlie courage to
lead and would be accepted as a leader. This place the daughter of the learned
Professor Scott, of Oxford, and the wife of General Harrison, can fill. She has
the experience, the good feeling, the good breeding and the character which it de-
mands.
" Mrs. Harrison is not a woman of fashion, but she dresses well and her gowns
"fit," As to her hair, it is arranged most becomingly in waves close to her face,
and drawn back into a knot fastened low on the neck. Mrs. Harrison carries her-
self with dignity, never degenerating into stiffness. She has been and always will
be a woman who knows what is due to her position — no fear that any one will be
called upon to make 'explanations' or 'apologize' for her."
THE HARRISON FAMILY AT WASHINGTON.
[Washington Special to Philadelphia Press.]
" The family of General Harrison are pleasantly remembered in Washington
from their six winter's residence here during his recent senatorial term. They
were kindly, cordial people, not able to housekeep here in the style of wealthier
Senators, as General Harrison lived mainly on his salary and contributed to the
support of a widowed sister besides. But, though plain in purse, they had always
the prestige of distinguished family on both sides, and took their senatorial posi-
tion naturally and easily, too well balanced to strain for display beyond their reach,
but receiving their friends and the calling world in general with well-bred hospi-
tality in their hotel or boarding-house parlors.
" The first winter they boarded at the Eiggs House, and there their only son,
Kussell, in visiting his parents and sister, met his future life-partner in the person
of Miss Mamie Saunders, a young blonde beauty, the only child of the then senior
Senator from Nebraska, who was just home from boarding-school. Some three
years later they were married, and are now residing in Helena, M. T. They have
a baby daughter a few months old. Miss Mary Harrison, the General's only
daughter, married Mr. James Robert McKee, a young merchant of Indianapolis,
shortly after the marriage of her brother, and a little son, born to them last year,
bears the name of Benjamin Harrison McKee. Miss Harrison was one of the
most popular girls in Washington society, and belonged to the set of which Dora
Miller, the California Senator Miller's brilliant daughter; Miss McElroy, niece of
President Arthur; Miss Jennie Sherrill, Miss Kate Bayard and Miss Virginia
Cameron were a few others of noteworthy interest. Mrs. McKee is a devotedly
happy wife and daughter. Her fair young face will grace the White House not
less effectively than its present bonnie mistress, while her mother, Mrs. Harrison,
the comely wife of the General, will be near and precious to every patriotic
American heart, as a representative soldier's wife."
HARRISON'S PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
[Indianapolis Correspondence in Philadelphia Press.]
" Though commonly known among the people here as ' Ben ' Harrison, the ex-
Senator is not given to rude familiarity. He is intensely popular, yet he has about
him a manly dignity that inspires respect, while it does not repel liking. I do not
believe it possible to find a man in Indianapolis who does not know him, at least
20
by sight, and yet the General was never known to enter a saloon in the city, His
public prominence has no back passages leading to it that start in'the alums and
wind through the devious ways of ward politics.
"As his personal character has been of singularly even growth, the result of an
upright nature full of generous traits, governed by an even temperament and sub-
jected to an iron will, so his popularity and his influence over men are the natural
result of a clear, simple, commanding mental and spiritual stature.
"His manner is frank and cordial; his greeting warm ; his whole bearing at-
tractive. He has a singular faculty of making friends. He has all the courtesy
of good will to others. Not only are his friends legion, but they have the warm-
est attachment to him as he has to them. He is a somewhat reticent man as to his
own affairs, and does not impart inmost confidences to a stranger. His long legal
training has made him deliberate and cautious in that respect, and he is not ef-
fusive. But he is a friendly, sociable, unassuming American gentleman.
"The visitor to General Harrison's house will scarcely have crossed the threshold
before he discovers another trait of his character. As the ostensible master of the
house walks through the hall the real king of the establishment appears — Benja-
min McKee, the General's grandson, whose experience of this life spans only fifteen
months. The baby crows when he sees his grandfather, and every trace of the
busy lawyer and dignified statesman disappear in an instant as the child is lifted
in his welcoming arms. Then there is a romp with the baby for half an hour.
The General's fondness for children is not limited to his own descendant. Every
boy and girl in the neighborhood knows him and loves him, as he knows and loves
them all. There is something in the sweet innocence and unconscious trust of
childhood that has a peculiar charm for this husband and father. There is some-
thing in his kindly way and protecting manner that must have a peculiar charm
for childhood. Mrs. McKee, the young mother of this petted grandson, is a tall,
slender, graceful lady, with dark hair and eyes, and a social charm that would be
difficult to describe."
A GOOD PEN PICTURE.
[Boston Advertiser.]
" General Harrison is a man slightly under medium height. His figure, how-
ever, is very broad and compact. His large head is set well down between his
broad, high shoulders, as his neck is very short. His face is of an almost deadly
pallor, although the Senator enjoys excellent health. It is the cpmplexion of a
recluse. His eyes are a grayish blue, deeply set under a very prominent bulging
ferehead. His nose is straight, slightly curving outward, and square at the end.
His thin-lipped njouth is shaded by a very light, long, curling moustache, while
the lower part of his face is hidden in a long, sandy, gray beard. The hair upon
his head is of the same color, and is combed very smoothly tight to his head
so as to show plainly the ovitline of the skull. He always dresses plainly in black,
and has a great fashion of walking up and down the Senate chamber with his
hands in his pockets."
LIKES HIS HOME.
[Special in Pittsburg Dispatch.]
"The General has a strong prejudice in favor of Indianapolis as to other
things besides base ball. It was shown by a remark he let fall to the correspondent
to-day : ' It has often been suggested to me that I should go to New York,' he
said, ' but I don't think I could do it. I'm a fellow that roots deeply. I think it
21
would almost break mv heart to have to leave this home and start a new one
somewhere else. I suppose I could make more money in New York, but I don't
think it would repay me for my home.' "
HIS DEMOCRATIC WAYS.
[Indianapolis Special in Pittsburg Dispatch.]
" A story was told by one of his friends lo-day illustrating General Harrison's
simplicity of life. A week ago, it is said, a Catholic Church fair was about to be
opened here, and the managers asked a number of leading men, including ex-
Governor Porter, Governor Gray and General Harrison to make speeches upon
the occasion. General Harrison also would be most happy. The committee hinted
that if he would name a convenient hour a carriage would be in waiting. ' Oh,
never mind that,' said the General, ' this is for a benevolent object, and there is no
need of spending any of ihe money for a carriage for me. I had just as lief go in
a street car.' "
IMPRESSIONS OF A MASSACHUSETTS DELEGATE WHO CALLED AT INDIANAPOLIS EN
ROUTE HOME.
[Boston Special to New York Tribune.]
" J. Henry Gould, one of the Massachusetts delegates to the national convention
at Chicago, did not return to Boston until Friday. After the convention ad-
journed he went to Indianapolis, Avhere he congratulated General Harrison, for
whom he had voted from first to last, and took port in a great ratification meeting.
He was the only member of the Massachusetts delegation to visit Indianapolis at
that time. When asked, upon his return to Boston, what he thought of the action
of the convention, he said :
"'The nomination of General Harrison was the best possible solution of the
question before the national convention, and prevented heart-burnings in the party.
I took the position that the doubtful States should be consulted on the selection of
candidates, as those States would really be the battle-ground for the campaign. I
adhered to this view from the time of leaving home until the nominations were
made. I had the confidence of General Harrison's managers and attended all
their conferences, and am glad to say that his candidacy was conducted in the
most honorable manner. They antagonized no other candidate, consequently a
friendly feeling prevailed in all the delegations for Harrison. The New York
delegation was sincere and earnest on its vote for General Harrison as the most
available candidate before the convention, as he was a brave soldier and a man of
excellent record in the United States Senate, was said to be the father of the pen-
sion bill which was afterward adopted by the Grand Army of the Republic, and is
the strongest and most popular man in his own State, a man of high character and
a man of brains.'
'' 'What state of affairs did you find in Indianapolis?'
'"Upon my arrival there on Tuesday afternoon the population seemed to have •
turned out en mass in honor of the presidential nominee, and men, women and
children were rivaling one another in expressions of joy. Thou.sands of trumpets
were sounding, bands were playing, American flags were flying from many build-
ings. Arches spanned some streets. Bunting was everywliere, and in fact the city
seemed wild with joy at the choice which the convention had made. General Har-
rison, when called upon at his home, did not seem elated with success; but, while
22
appreciating the liigii honor which had been conferred upon^Jiim, was perfectly
self-possessed, and greeted us all in a friendly manner. He seemed to lose sight of
himself in his earnestness for the party success, and impressed us as being the man
for the hour and a true representative of the Republican party. Mrs. Harrison
won the hearts of all by the charming manner in which she received her guests,
and everything in the house bespoke domestic hai^piness. The people of Indiana
assured us that they would attend to Indiana themselves, and would not require
outside assistance, and they predicted a majority of 15,000 for Harrison. The mass
meeting of the evening was attended by 8,000 people, it is estimated, among them
the survivors of the old Tippecanoe Club, with a small log cabin, which they had
carried in procession in 1840, and also the banner which the club carried in that
year. It was a remarkably enthusiastic meeting, and mention of General Har-
rison's name was received with deafening applause.' "
A letter from Indianapolis to the New York Sun gives this picture of General
Harrison :
"General Harrison to-night showed little sign of what must have been the
fatigue of the past thirty-six hours. He wore the same black sack coat, with a
vest swelling out comfortably at the rotundity of the waist. He has almost enough
roundness to qualify him for an Alderman. The golden badge of the California
delegation to Chicago rested upon a bit of white watered ribbon on his right breast,
and the little G. A. K. button was in his left lapel. A plain gold watch-chain was
all his jewelry. A snowy turned-down collar and a black and white four-in-hand
tie showed at his throat. His complexion, of an even cream whiteness, was fresh
and clear, and there was no rumple or other sign of nervousness in the fine, silky,
short hair and beard, dark at the roots and turning white at the ends, with odd
variations of grayness between. His gray eyes were open and clear as usual. The
day had been an easy one compared with yesterday, though there was a constant
stream of callers, and telegrams and letters by the liundred."
ANECDOTES OF HIS LIFE.
HE WORKED FOK BUT ONE OFFICE.
[Philadelphia Press Special.]
" With the possibility of a Presidential nomination so imminent as it was last
Wednesday, one might expect that some signs of perturbation could be detected in
the daily movements and current speech of this captain of Indiana Republicanism.
But I found General Harrison unruffled and serene. He fulfills the everyday du-
ties of home, office and society as tranquilly as though there were no chance of
their interruption. I remarked to him to-day that, however equable his tempera-
ment, it was hardly possible that he could think of his nomination for the Pres-
idency by the Republicans of the United States with entire calmness. He replied
at once :
" ' I have not allowed it to disturb me in the least. I have seen too much of
the uncertainties of political life, in the first place ; and in the next place, I have
seen not a little of the cares, anxieties, responsibilities and worries that surround
23
the Presidency." The General went on to speak of how he liad observed and ap-
preciated the wearing care that clouded Garfield's brow, and added : " I have
never spoken or written, directly or indirectly, to any living man a word about this
matter. As I have often told my friends, there was never but one political office
that I wanted, and I wanted that because I needed it. That was when I was a
poor young lawyer, just before the war, with a family. I really wanted then the
position of Reporter of the Supreme Court. Since then I can truthfully say tliat I
have never sought for myself public place."
iiakrison's first fee.
[Special in Philadelphia Press.]
" General Harrison himself told me an interesting anecdote during an afternoon
drive last week that serves to illustrate the sharp poverty of his earliest days of
professional struggle.
" Mr. Miller proposed that the carriage pass by the house where the General
lived with his young bride when he first came to Indianapolis from Ohio. The
carriage presently drew up before this early home. It stands to-day just as it stood
then, only in those days it was in the outskirts of Indianapolis, while now houses
stretch many blocks beyond it. The house is a little, one-story frame structure,
containing but three rooms, but the lawyer and his bride, when they settled there
in 1854, were as happy as youthful hope and love could make them.
"As we sat in the carriage looking at this humble abode. General Harrison
was moved to tell a story, which I shall repeat as nearly as may be in his own
words :
'"Right in front of that door," he said, " I received my first lawyer's fee. It
was the first Sunday in our new home, and I had walked out on the sidewalk in
the afternoon, and was standing there looking with some pride at the front of the
house, when a man clattered up on horseback. He quickly made known his er-
rand. A man had been arrested at Clermont, about eight miles from here, on the
charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. The rider wished me to appear
before the .lustice of the Peace there for the prosecution. I agreed to do so, and he
handed me a five dollar gold piece. It was not an enormous fee, but I was glad to
have it. The sum was hardly large enough to warrant a buggy, so the next morn-
ing I rode to Clermont on the back of a pony that I hired at a stable. I came
back home that night pretty well chafed, but I had succeeded in what I went for.' "
PA.DDLED HIS OWN CANOE.
L. B. Lewis, of Indianapolis, gives the following account of the first time he
ever met Gen. Ben Harrison. Mr. Lewis was, for twenty years or more, in part-
nership with a Pennsylvania German by the name of Eichelberger, in the milling
business at Lawrenceburg. The mill, like all mills of that period, did custom work
chiefly, and farmers living on the river above and below Lawrenceburg brought
their grists in skifis to the landing near the mill. The miller would go for it with
a dray, do the grinding immediately, and return the flour and bran to the skiff, and
the farmers would row it home, sometimes many miles. Mr. Eichelberger was a
very intelligent man, and especially fond of boys, with whom he always engaged
in conversation while they were waiting for their grinding. One afternoon, nearly
forty-five years ago, Mr. Lewis, going to the mill, noticed two country boys in the
farmer costume of the period, but neat and clean, one about twelve and the other
a year or two older. " Whose boys are these?" asked Mr. Lewis.
24
" Scott Harrrison's," replied Mr. Eichelberger, with enthusiasm and a spirit of
prophesy. "They brought a grist to mill and are waiting for it. But that little
fellow — Ben they call him — why, he is sharp as tacks. There is nothing that he
does not seem to be posted on. He seems equally at home on farming or politics.
I tell you, if he lives he will be President of the United States before he is as old
as his grandfather was."
In a little while the grist was done and taken to the skiff, and that " little fel-
low, Ben," they called him, took his seat at the oar by the side of his bigger brother,
and they pulled away and were soon out of sight, rowing up stream at that. "I
have known Harrison ever since," Mr. Lewis said, " and he has always been pad-
dling his own canoe."
outsiders' gossip — GENERAL HARBISON'S LACK OF WEALTH AND SOME OF THE
CAUSES THEREOF.
[Indianapolis Letter in New York World.]
The General's law partner, Mr. Miller, is a Presbyterian, like the General, and
goes to the same church. He is a thin, brainy-looking man, whose health can not
be good. Short gray whiskers hide his chin, and his big, intellectual forehead is
all the more prominent by reason of incipient baldness. He is lively, enthusiastic
and good-natured, but does not seem to go crazy like the rest of his townsmen.
Mr. Miller corroborates the statement made by another that General Harrison's
wealth, all told, would not amount to more than $40,000, or at the outside, $50,000.
"I'll tell you," he said, " it is an actual fact that General Harrison's entire in-
come, outside of that received from his law practice, does not amount to over $1,500.
He is not interested in any local corporations, and so far as I can now remember,
never has been."
"Is it not strange that, having lived so long in the city. General Harrison has
held no oflSces or directorships of banks or organizations of such sort?"
" No. It is explained by the fact that he didn't have money. The truth is
that he has given away more money in charity every year than a good many good
lawyers make. He has stuck to his business, but has not demanded fees at all pro-
portionate to the work he did or nearly as large as his reputation would justify his
demanding. Many men with whom he has been associated have done far better in
a pecuniary sense than he."
COMMENTS OF THE PRESS.
A RELIGIOUS ORGAN WHICH SUPPORTED ST. JOHN RALLIES TO THE HARRISON
STANDARD.
[New York Independent.]
" Wisdom wins in Chicago, and the Republican party is to be congratulated. It
has escaped a great peril, and achieved a great result. It has a nominee who will
make it a united and harmonious party, and lead it to victory. It will put aside
all differences, it will cease to be Blaine and anti-Blaine, and it will only remem-
ber that it has a battle to fight and a strong and alert enemy to overcome.
"There is great political wisdom in the nomination of Benjamin Harrison, of
Indiana. Chosen from a list of most excellent candidates, he is unquestionably
25
the best man the convention could have chosen. His record is without spot or
stain. We mention that fact first because a clean candidate is the first recjuisite.
No other would be acceptable to the Christian people of the country. Mr. Harri-
son is a clean man. He is also an able man. He was a soldier in the late war,
and earned by hard service his military title. In every Presidential battle in In-
diana since the Republican party was organized he has taken part, save in the
struggle of 18G4, when he was in the army. As United States Senator he distin-
guished himself as a sound, wise and useful legislator, and he is dear to the Re-
publican heart of Indiana. No man is more beloved in that State than General
Harrison, and it must be remembered that Indiana is a doubtful State, and it is
extremely desirable that it should be carried for the Republican party. The nom-
ination of Harrison will not only make this possible, but certain. The convention
at St. Louis passed by Indiana, which had a prominent candidate for Vice Presi-
dent in Governor Gray, and look up Thurman, of Ohio. That was a political
blunder by which the Republican party will profit. Harrison will rescue Indiana.
"General Harrison is a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, the
hero of Tippecanoe. He comes, therefore, of excellent stock, though he began life
without money and without family aid. A man of sturdy character and strong
convictions, a communicant of the Presbyterian Church, dignified but not distant
in his personal bearing, an eloquent speaker, he has great power over men, and
his standard in the coming campaign will evoke a whirlwind of enthusiasm.
" The name to be associated with General Harrison's on the ticket is that of
Mr. Levi P. Morton, ex-Minister to France. Mr. Morton stands high in the confi-
dence of financial and business circles in New York City, and will give the ticket
great strength in the Empire State. Indiana and New York are pivotal States,
and no ticket that could have been nominated would have made them safer for the
Republican column than that of Harrison and Morton. It is a ticket that means
victory.
" The Republican party is again on solid ground. It has returned to its old
traditions. It has given us a ticket which Christian men and men of conviction
can heartily support. Those who left the parly in 1884 can now return and vote
for men as well as principles. There is no excuse for continued alienation. Let
us close up our ranks and have an old-fashioned Republican victory in November."
AN IRISH-AMERICAN OPINION.
[American Celt, St. Louis.]
" The recent exciting and protracted contest as to the nomination of the Repub-
lican standard-bearers was insignificant in more than one respect. It was a con-
vention of the representatives of a party out of power, showing a large amount of
derangement, and yet a decided tendency to recuperation. The convention was a
truly representative one, and it was impossible to stampede in the interest of any
man. Gen. Harrison, of Indiana, and Mr. Levi P. Morton, of New York, were
the leaders of the hosts between which the real battle was fought. Gen. Harrison
is a man of the people, who has filled positions of official trust, while Mr. Morton
is a successful banker, who has risen by his own efforts from an humble occupation
to a high social and political position, and as popular as any man in New York
State. In these champions the East and the West are united, and for the first time
since 1880. They come together to defeat the aims and purposes of Grover Cleve-
land and the free-trade wing of the Democratic party.
26
" But what is the main issue of the campaign? What is the real question be-
tween the Eepublican and Democratic parties? Let us answer in the outset that
it is not a question as to the merits of party in itself, or rather in relation to the
offices. The real question turns upon the struggle of protection to American in-
dustry, as against the principle of free trade, as advocated by the disciples of the
Cobden Club, of England. It has fallen to the lot of America to adopt a tariff for
the protection of American manufactures against ruinous competition of foreign
labor, and the working of the experiment is the best argument in favor of the con-
tinuance. Since the war America has witnessed almost unexampled prosperity.
There could be no better illustration of the advantages of a tariff system than a
comparison of the wages paid in Europe and America. As a nation, we have had
a broad and ample experience of the influences of a tariff system on our industrial
prosperity, and we are now summoned by Grover Cleveland to listen to the siren
voice of the manufacturers of Great Britain. With the exception of a certain
class of humanitarians, who conceive it their duty to wage war in favor of work-
ingmen across the Atlantic, we know of no class of men, except Grover Cleveland
and his Cabinet, who wish to see America adopt a free trade policy.
" We have dwelt upon the convention and its candidates so long that we have
left ourselves little space for urging upon our Irish American friends their duty
in the coming campaign. We will say to them as Americans, as freemen, that the
time has arrived when all divisions and animosities should cease, in order to res-
cue this glorious land from a hateful Anglo-manian domination. We hope that
Irish- Americans will discard all past alliances, put aside all present fears, and
dread no future coalitions, in the single hope of carrying to speedy victory a ban-
ner inscribed with these devices: 'Harrison and Morton,' ' Protection to American
Labor and Industry,' 'Protection of the American Citizen at Home and Abroad.'"
AVAILABLE FOR HIMSELF.
[New York World (Dem.)]
" It will be said of Mr. Harrison that he is nominated for his name ; that if
his grandfather had not been President of the United States and his great-grand-
father a signer of the Declaration of Independence, he would not have been the
candidate. But this is idle talk. Mr. Harrison is available without reference to
the honorable positions occupied by his ancestors. In the first place he is a promi-
nent citizen of a doubtful State, and he had the support of its delegates all but
unanimously. He has a good soldier record, having gone into the war a second
lieutenant of volunteers and having come out of it a brevet brigadier-general. He
is a thoroughly equipped lawyer and has experience as a statesman, having served
creditably for six years in the United States Senate. He has always acted as a
straight party man, and his honesty has never been questioned. Moreover, he has
always been a practical civil service reformer and an extreme protectionist, and
when in Congress he favored tax reduction by the abolition of internal revenue
duties."
A REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLICAN.
fNew York Press.]
"That General Harrison represents the principles of the Republican party is
not susceptible of a doubt. His speeches and votes in the Senate speak for them-
selves. He is a firm believer in the American policy of protection. He believes
in an honest vote and a fair count. He has always been a friend to the soldiers,
27
and no one fought more loyally than Senator Harrison for the admiesion of Da-
kota. Altogether, the more you think about General Harrison .and the more you
know about him the better you like him. His has been a citizenship that ought to
appeal to every young American. The honor that has come to him has been well
earned by a life of industry, patriotism and integrity. With sucli an excellent
candidate, with the stars and stripes as our symbol, and the memories of old Tip-
pecanoe in our songs, we onglit to everlastingly whip the free-traders this fall, and
if vve try we will do it without a doubt."
A STATESMAN FOR PRESIDENT.
[Philadelphia Inquirer.]
" Benjamin Harrison's record in the Senate is pretty good evidence of his
statesmanship. The conspicuous events of his six years' term were his report favor-
ing the admission of Dakota as a State, his speech on the application of civil-service
reform to the State of Indiana, his position on the silver question — on which he
declared himself a bimetallist, but with a conviction that the ratio of silver and
gold coin needed changing — his work on the foreign relations committee, which
prepared the Chinese restriction bill, which was accepted on the Pacific coast as the
best bill that could have been drawn within the provisions of the treaty, and his
course on the question of contract labor. In a speech in the Senate on this subject
he held that, while the largest possible freedom should be extended to foreigners
immigrating to become citizens, the importation of contract labor should be for-
bidden."
EQUAL TO ANY SINCE LINCOLN.
[A. H. McClure, in Philadelphia Times.]
"The nomination of Gen. Benjamin Harrison as the Republican candidate for
President is admittedly highly creditable to the party. He is not one of the great
leaders of Republicanism, but he is the equal in intellectual power, public experi-
ence and creditable record in statesmanship of any of the Republican Presidents
since Lincoln. * He is the grandson of a soldier-statesman and President;
he is a soldier-statesman himself, and he is a man against whose character, either
as a citizen, soldier, or statesman, the tongue of scandal can not wag. It is only
just to say that General Harrison is a clean, creditable presidential candidate, and
his nomination invites the country to turn from the fiendish jackals of the low-
grade politics to soberly consider and decide the grave national issues which are
to be decided by the American people in November next,"
THE IRISH FOR GENERAL HARRISON.
[American Celt, St. Louis.]
"As we go to press, word reaches us that Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, is
nominated by the Chicago convention as the candidate of the Republican party
for President. No estimate of the result of Mr. Harrison's nomination has any
value, that does not start with the fact that the people, through their chosen rep-
resentatives, and the people alone nominated him.
" Since the days of Abraham Lincoln, no other candidate of either party has
been so clearly the choice of a convention representing the masses of the Repub-
lican party. Mr. Harrison had no patronage to help him. Most of the delegates
28
represented doubtful States. His votes did not come from States where the Re-
publican party is weak and helpless. We believe a nomination so obtained means
victory for Harrison and protection to American industry. We believe there is
an excellent prospect of the revival of the foreign policy of the lamented Garfield.
The nomination of Gen. Benjamin Harrison is a strong, brilliant and pacific one."
SOUND ON THE TARIFF.
[Peoria Transcript.]
" On the tariff question General Harrison is pre-eminently sound. No other
candidate whose name was presented to the convention, James G. Blaine included,
has. a more consistent record as an advocate of the policy of protection to Ameri-
can industry, and he came honestly enough by his protective tariff principles.
He comes of an old Whig ancestry, and was an advocate of protective tariff even
before he became a voter. In his later career he has defined his position on the
question too often and too eloquently to leave any doubt or conjecture about the
fact that in the entire length and breadth of the land there is no more pronounced
and consistent advocate of the American idea on the tariff question than Gen-
eral Harrison."
AN INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATIC TRIBUTE.
[Lafayette Times.]
" In this political campaign, the Sunday Times will not be found for or against
the Eepublican candidate for the presidency. The Times is an independent paper
— with opinions, and it will have no other than kind words for General Benjamin
Harrison.
" He is the chosen candidate of his party for the highest office in the gift of the
people. So far as the Times is concerned, he shall have fair treatment all along
the line. The man of the party who underrates General Harrison makes a mis-
take. He may not arouse as much enthusiasm as the " magnetic man from Maine,"
but he is a man of unblemished private and public life, against whom nothing that
is derogatory can be truthfully said, except that he is a Republican in the strictest
sense, which is a good indorsement with his party friends. It is probably true that
General Harrison is no stronger than his jiarty in Indiana, but he is no weaker
than his party. The warfare must be waged on the principles which divide the
people. Let us be thankful for all this."
A CONTRAST AND COMPARISON.
[Noblesville Ledger.]
" General Harrison offered the first dependent pension bill in the Senate. Grover
Cleveland was the first President to veto a dependent pension bill. We ask a can-
did comparison of the loyalty of these two candidates."
ACCOMMODATING.
[Philadelphia Press.]
" We trust Harrison and Morton will be satisfied with a majority of 25,000 in
the city of Philadelphia. If not, let them say so and we will make it 30,000. In
this latitude the motto is : ' We study to please.' "
29
A HARVEST FOR THE BUTTON MAN.
[Boston Journal.]
"The dealer who gets first into the market with Harrison badges and Harrison
buttons has a harvest before him. Republicans are so delighted with the ticket
'that they are in a hurry to have some external expression of their feelings."
WHY IRISH-AMERICANS SUPPORT HARRISON.
[American Celt.J
" A great many independent Irish-Americans support General Harrison because
'they know that he will oppose British arrogance and protect American citizenship
abroad."
THE IRISH DO NOT WANT FREE TRADE.
[New York Special.]
At a well-attended meeting held under the auspices of the Irish-American
Republican Association in Military Hall of the Bowery, the following lively reso-
lutions were adopted :
" Resolved, That no Cleveland-Bayard traitorous ' Joe ' Chamberlain, fishery,
free trade, pro-British combination will do for us.
"Resolved, That we will make manifest our desire to serve the country of our
adoption by a true loyalty to the Republican party, since it is the only one that
preserves tlie interests of the toiling masses of this Republic.
" Resolved, That we can not be stampeded by a bigot's speech, a rain-storm or
other untoward incidents, but stand true to the cause of the party which best pro-
tects the interests of American industry, namely, the Republican party, and that
we will endeavor to make it another Fontenoy for Britain and her treacherous
allies in this country."
Michael P. Murphy presided and delivered an address on protection and
higher wages.
Ex-Judge Badgely, of the Supreme Court of California, also spoke.
THE TARIFF IN INDIANA.
New Albany Special to Commercial-Uazette.
" A gentleman who owns one of the largest furniture factories in the city, and
who all his life has been a Democrat, declares he will support Harrison. This
gentleman has five sons who are voters, all of whom follow him into the ranks of
protection.
" A Democrat, who has been a State Senator from this district, and who is a
large stockholder in one of the rolling mills of this city, and who has always been
a decided Democrat, comes out from the British free-trade party, and arrays him-
self on the side of Harrison and American interests. Two other members of the
same firm, both Democrats, and who have held responsible county offices, to which
they were elected as Democratic nominees, also declare for Harrison and protec-
tion.
"A banker and manufacturer, having varied interests in the industrial estab-
lishments of the city and elsewhere, attended the Republican ratification meeting
Saturday night, and is enthusiastic.
30
" All these are men of prominence and influence, and this list could be largely
extended. But these are enough to show the trend of the public opinion in this
heretofore benighted Democratic section.
" A young man said to your correspondent to-day : ' I belong to a political
club composed of young men who will cast their first vote in November next. In
this club as members are twenty-two young men who belong to Democratic fami-
lies, and have been brought up in the strictest principles of Democracy, every one
of whom are red-hot for Harrison, Morton and protection to American industries,
American labor and American homes.' He named the young men, but thinks it
not good policy to make their names public.
"Talk about Harrison not carrying Indiana! His majority will run very
considerably above ten thousand."
Note. — The best evidence of Gen. Harrison's popularity with the working-
men rests in the fact that at his own home, there are eight large clubs composed
exclusively of mechanics, who are supporting him. The membership of these
clubs already numbers over 3,000. One club is composed entirely of railroad em-
ployes, with a membership of nearly 1,000.
HIS OPINIONS IN 1878.
In 1878 Gen, Harrison was a candidate for no office, he was
seeking no votes, but in a speech delivered at Richmond, in
this State, on the 9th of August of that year, he thus spoke of
the wages of workingmen, and what he thought ought to be done
for them :
"Another direction in which practical relief may be given
to large classes of laboring men is in the laws securing and en-
forcing prompt payment of wages. In the case of labor debts
owing by railroad corporations, the courts have, in the exer-
cise of their equity powers, without legislation, given a prefer-
ence over mortgage bonds to labor claims accrued within six
months of the appointment of a receiver. The equity of a
laborer whose wages have been unjustly withheld for seven
months is certainly not weakened by his added month of wait-
ing. There seems to be no good reason why there should not
be given by proper legislation to the employes of all corpora-
tions and manufacturing companies a first lien for wages due.
Such a law might not be operative in the full against existing
mortgages, but it would be as to all future liens. Holders of
mortgage securities would then have an interest to see that
wages were paid, while they could protect themselves against
the mismanagement of those who controlled the enterprise by
making the non-payment of these labor liens a cause of forfeit-
ure of the mortgage entitling the mortgagee to foreclose. If
any railroad or other business enterprise can not earn enough
to pay the labor that operates it and the interest on the bonds,
no right-minded man can hesitate to say which ought to be
paid first. The men who have invested money in the enter-
prise, or loaned money on its securities, ought to have the right
to stop the business when net earnings fail, but they can not
honestly appropriate the earnings of the engineer, or brake-
man, or laborer.
" When a court, on motion of the bondholders, seizes a rail-
road and operates it by a receiver, the chancellor will yield
nothing for interest on the bonds till he has paid the men who
operate the road. Why should there be any other rule for a
railroad President? But not only should payment be made
secure, but promptness should be enforced. Great wrong is
often done by delay, though ultimate payment may be certain.
The laborer is forced to buy on credit at enhanced prices or sell
his claims at a heavy discount. This, I believe, could be reme-
died by legislation prohibiting, under proper penalties, the di-
version of earnings to other purposes until the labor roll is
receipted."