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
We are confronted now with a Treasury surplus. Our position is
exceptional. We are not seeking, as many other nations are, new
subjects of taxation, new sources of revenue. Our quest is now how,
wisely, to reduce our national revenue. The attempt has been made to
use this surplus as a lever to overturn the protective system. The
promoters of this scheme, while professing a desire to diminish the
surplus, have acted as if their purpose was to increase it in part by
opposing necessary and legitimate appropriations. I agree that there
is danger that a surplus may promote extravagance, but I do not find
myself in sympathy with that policy that denies the appropriation
necessary for the proper defence of our people, and for the convenient
administration of our public affairs throughout the country, in order
that the threat of a surplus may be used for a sinister purpose. I
believe that in reducing our revenues to the level of our needful
and proper expenditures we can and should continue to favor and
protect our industries. I do not like to entrust this work to those
who declare protective duties to be vicious "legalized robbery." The
Republican party has by its legislation shown its capacity wisely to
reduce our revenues and at the same time to preserve the American
system. [Applause.] It can be trusted to do the work that remains, and
to do it wisely. [Applause.]
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 31.
The last delegation in July came from Henry County, Indiana, two
thousand strong, headed by C. S. Hernley, W. H. Elliott, Hon. Eugene
Bundy, Judge Mark E. Forkner, A. Abernathy, A. D. Osborn, O. P. M.
Hubbard, David Luellen, O. B. Mooney, and Captain Armstrong, all of New
Castle. Gen. William H. Grose was their orator.
In his response General Harrison at this early day out-lined his views
upon reciprocal trade relations with South American nations--views which
were afterwards successfully, and with great profit to our people, put
into effect through the celebrated reciprocity treaties with Brazil,
Venezuela and other countries.
Repeated outbursts of enthusiasm punctured his address. He said:
_Comrade Grose and my Henry County Friends_--If we have here any
discouraged statesman who takes a despondent view of the future of the
country, I think he would recover his hopefulness if he could look,
once in a while, into the face of an audience like this. [Applause.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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