will be distributed. I suggest, therefore-and the occasion is such that bells might be rung in your streets to call the attention of the thoughtless to this great exigency-that a committee should be appointed to speedily collect contributions of food in order that a train loaded with provisions might be dispatched to-night or in the early morning to these sufferers.

I suggest, secondly, that as many of these people have had the entire furniture of their houses swept away, and have now only a temporary shelter, that a committee be appointed to collect from your citizens such articles of clothing, especially bedclothing, as can be spared; and, now that the summer season is on, there can hardly be many households in Washington that can not spare a blanket or a coverlid for the relief of the suffering ones.

I suggest, thirdly, that, of your substantial business people, bankers, and others, there be appointed a committee, who shall collect money; for, after the first exigency has passed, there will be found in those communities very many who have lost their all, who will need aid in the reconstruction of their demolished homes and in furnishing them in order that they may be again inhabited.

Need I say, in conclusion, that as a temporary citizen of Washington it would give me great satisfaction if the national capital should so generously respond to this call of our distressed fellowcitizens as to be conspicuous among the cities of the land for its ample and generous answer.

I feel, as I am calling for subscriptions, that I should say that on Saturday, on being first apprised of the need at Johnstown, I telegraphed to the mayor of that city my subscription. I do not care now or at any time to speak of anything that is so personal as this, but I felt it due to you, as I am placed here to-day to solicit and urge others to give, that I should say so much as that.

G. A. R. NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT.

[Boston, Mass., August 12, 1889.]

Mr. Chairman and Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic: I had impressions both pleasurable and painful as I looked upon the great procession of veterans which swept through the streets of this historic capital to-day; pleasurable in the contemplation of so many faces of those who shared together the perils and glories of the great struggle for the Union; sensations of a mournful sort as I thought how seldom we should meet again. Not many times

more here. As I have stood in the great National Cemetery at Arlington and have seen those silent battalions of the dead, I have thought how swiftly the reaper is doing his work and how soon in the scattered cemeteries of the land the ashes of all the soldiers of the great war shall be gathered to honored graves. And yet I could not help but feel that in the sturdy tread of those battalions there was yet strength of heart and limb that would not be withheld if a present peril should confront the Nation that you love. And if Arlington is the death, we see to-day in the springing step of those magnificent battalions of the Sons of Veterans the resurrection. They are coming on to take our places; the Nation will not be defenseless when we are gone, but those who have read about the firesides of the veterans' homes, in which they have been born and reared, the lessons of patriotism and the stories of heroism will come fresh armed to any conflict that may confront us in the future.

And so to-night we may gather from this magnificent spectacle a fresh and strong sense of security for the permanency of our country and our free institutions. I thought it altogether proper that I should take a brief furlough from official duties at Washington to mingle with you here to-day as a comrade, because every President of the United States must realize that the strength of the Government, its defense in war, the army that is to muster under its banner when our nation is assailed, is to be found here in the masses of our people. And so, as my furlough is almost done, and the train is already waiting that must bear me back to Washington, I can only express again the cordial, sincere, and fraternal interest which I feel this day in meeting you all. I can only hope that God will so order the years that are left to you that for you and those who are dear to you they may be ordered in all gentleness and sweetness, in all prosperity and success, and that, when at last the comrades who survive you shall wrap the flag of the Union about your body and bear it to the grave, you may die in peace and in the hope of a glorious resurrection.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS' MONUMENT.

[At Indianapolis, August 22, 1889.]

Mr. President and fellow-citizens: I did not expect to make any address on this occasion. It would have been pleasant, if I could have found leisure to make suitable preparation, to have accepted the invitation of the committee having these exercises in charge to deliver an oration. I would have felt it an honor to associate my

name with an occasion so great as this. Public duties, however, prevented the acceptance of the invitation, and I could only promise to be present with you to-day. It seemed to me most appropriate that I should take part with my fellow-citizens of Indiana in this great ceremony. There have been few occasions in the history of our State so full of interest, so magnificent, so inspiring, as that which we now witness. The suggestion that a monument should be builded to commemorate the valor and heroism of those soldiers of Indiana who gave their lives for the flag attracted my interest from the beginning. Five years ago last January, when the people assembled in the opera house yonder to unveil the statue which had been worthily set up to our great war governor, I ventured to express the hope that near by it, as a twin expression of one great sentiment, there might be builded a noble shaft, not to any man, not to bear on any of its majestic faces the name of a man, but a monument about which the sons of veterans, the mothers of our dead, the widows that are yet with us, might gather, and, pointing to the stately shaft, say: "There is his monument." The hope expressed that day is realized now.

I congratulate the people of Indiana that our legislature has generously met the expectations of our patriotic people. I congratulate the commission having this great work in charge that they have secured a design which will not suffer under the criticism of the best artists of the world. I congratulate you that a monument so costly as to show that we value that which it commemorates, so artistic as to express the sentiment which evoked it, is to stand in the capital of Indiana. Does anyone say there is wastefulness here? My countrymen, $200,000 has never passed, and never will pass, from the treasury of Indiana that will give a better return than the expenditure for the erection of this monument. As I have witnessed these ceremonies and listened to these patriotic hymns I have read in the faces of the men who stand about me that lifting up of the soul, that kindling of patriotic fire, that has made me realize that on such occasions the nation is laying deep and strong its future security.

This is a monument by Indiana to Indiana soldiers. But I beg you to remember that they were only soldiers of Indiana until the enlistment oath was taken; that from that hour until they came back to the generous State that had sent them forth they were soldiers of the Union. So that it seemed to me not inappropriate that I should bring to you to-day the sympathy and cheer of the loyal people of all the States. No American citizen need avoid it or pass it with unsympathetic eyes, for, my countrymen, it does not

commemorate a war of subjugation. There is not in the United States to-day a man who, if he realizes what has occurred since the war and has opened his soul to the sight of that which is to come, who will not feel that it is good for all our people that victory crowned the cause which this monument commemorates. I do seriously believe that if we can measure among the States the benefits resulting from the preservation of the Union, the rebellious States have the larger share. It destroyed an institution that was their destruction. It opened the way for a commercial life that, if they will only embrace it and face the light, means to them a development that shall rival the best attainments of the greatest of our States.

And now let me thank you for your pleasant greeting. I have felt lifted up by this occasion. It seems to me that our spirits have been borne up to meet those of the dead and glorified, and that from this place we shall go to our homes more resolutely set in our purpose as citizens to conserve the peace and welfare of our neighborhoods, to hold up the dignity and honor of our free institutions, and to see that no harm shall come to our country, whether from internal dissensions or from the aggressions of a foreign foe.

TO PAN-AMERICANS, APRIL 19, 1890.

[In the Executive Mansion.]

Gentlemen: I find in this parting call of the delegates of the Conference of American States both pain and pleasure. I participate in the regret which the delegates from the United States feel who are to part with those from other countries. I take pleasure in the knowledge of the fact that your labors have been brought to a happy conclusion. The differences of opinion have been happily reconciled. I remark with pleasure the proposition which will be productive of peace among the American States represented in the conference. It will be without excuse if one of them shall lift a hostile hand against the other. We gave you the other day a review of the small detachment of the American army-not to show you that we have an army, but that we have none; that our securities are lodged with our people and that they are safe.

We rejoice that you have found in the organization of our country something which commends itself to your own. We shall be glad to receive new lessons in return. In conclusion, I find much to approve in the friendly purposes of the Conference toward this Government, and I bid each and every one of you a heartfelt good-bye.

THE GARFIELD STATUE.

[At Cleveland, Ohio, May 30, 1890.]

Mr. Chairman and fellow-citizens: I thank you most sincerely for this cordial greeting, but I shall not be betrayed by it into a lengthy speech. The selection of this day for these exercises—a day consecrated to the memory of those who died that there might be one flag of honor and authority in this republic-is most fitting. That one flag encircles us with its folds to-day, the unrivaled object of our loyal love.

This monument, so imposing and tasteful, fittingly typifies the grand and symmetrical character of him in whose honor it has been builded. His was "the arduous greatness of things done." No friendly hands constructed and placed for his ambition a ladder upon which he might climb. His own brave hands framed and nailed the cleats upon which he climbed to the heights of public usefulness and fame. He never ceased to be student and instructor. Turning from peaceful pursuits to army service, he quickly mastered tactics and strategy, and in a brief army career taught some valuable lessons in military science. Turning again from the field to the councils of the state, he stood among the great debaters that have made our National Congress illustrious. What he might have been or done as President of the United States is chiefly left to friendly augury, based upon a career that had no incident of failure or inadequacy. The cruel circumstances attending his death had but one amelioration-that space of life was given him to teach from his dying bed a great lesson of patience and forbearance. His mortal part will find honorable rest here, but the lessons of his life and death will continue to be instructive and inspiring incidents in American history.

THE BENNINGTON MONUMENT.

[At Bennington, Vermont, August 18, 1890.]

Mr. President and fellow-citizens: There are several obvious reasons why I should not attempt to speak to you at this time. This great audience is so uncomfortably situated that a further prolongation of these exercises can not be desirable, but the stronger reason is that you have just listened with rapt attention to a most scholarly and interesting review of those historical incidents which have suggested this assemblage and to those lessons which they