Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United StatesHarrison, Benjamin
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Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States
Harrison, Benjamin
Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901; Speeches, addresses, etc., American; United States -- Politics and government
_My Fellow-citizens_--I wish all of you could have seen what I have
seen in this extended but hasty visit through some of the great States
of the central West, the broader view which we get as we journey
through this country of the capabilities of its soil, of the beauties
of its landscape, of the happiness of its homes, but, above all, of
the sturdy manhood of its people, can but be useful to every public
man and every patriot. [Applause.] No one can make such a journey
as we have and look into the faces of hundreds of thousands of his
fellow-citizens and see how here in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa,
Kansas, and Missouri they are everywhere characterized by a sturdy
independence and intelligent thoughtfulness and manhood, and doubt
the future of this country of which they are citizens. Nothing can
shake its repose as long as this great mass of people in these homes,
on these farms, in these shops and city dwelling-places are true to
themselves and to their children. Not every one can hope to reach the
maximum of human wealth or enjoyment, but nowhere else is there so
general a diffusion of human comfort and the conveniences of life as
in this land of ours. You must not, then, show unthankfulness to the
framers of our great Constitution or to God by indulging in gloomy
forebodings or in unreasonable complaint. He has not promised that
everywhere and every season the fields should give full returns. He
has promised that the food of man should not fail, and where else
is famine unknown? Other countries have now and then appealed for
philanthropic help from abroad to feed their population, greater or
less. The United States has always a surplus after its people are fed,
and for this we should be thankful. I have been told everywhere that
though crops in some respects and in some places have been short, the
general prosperity is very great. Everywhere I have been told that no
wheel is idle, and that no hand is idle that seeks employment that
honest bread may come to his household. I believe that we are on an
upward grade of prosperity, if we will be brave and hopeful and true,
that shall lead us perhaps to a development and an increase of wealth
we have never before attained. And now, my fellow-citizens, thanking
you for this friendly morning greeting, I bid you good-by. [Applause.]
Let me have the pleasure, however, of introducing to you my valued
associate at Washington--Secretary Tracy. [Applause.]
CRESTLINE, OHIO, OCTOBER 13.
The people of Crestline honored the President with a large assembly,
prominent among whom were: Mayor P. W. Pool, Hon. Daniel Babst, John
G. Barney, Alexander Hall, B. F. Miller, John Whittle, John F. Castle,
C. F. Frank, Dr. W. P. Bennett, L. G. Russell, A. Howorth, G. B.
Thrailkill, E. S. Bagley, D. L. Zink, J. P. Davis, T. P. Kerr, W. R.
Boyd, E. W. Hadley, Samuel Gee, C. C. Hall, D. S. Patterson, and Richard
Youngblood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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