Speeches of Benjamin Harrison

In 1888 Benjamin Harrison campaigned for the Presidency in the manner common for candidates of his era: he stayed at home in Indianapolis and spoke to visiting delegations. In 1889 he traveled to Washington to take up residency in the White House and made a few brief trips out of town. In 1890 he undertook a train journey lasting more than a week and covering nearly 2700 miles making stops and speeches in seven states. But in 1891 he did something no other President had done to that point: a transcontinental train journey lasting a month and covering more than 9200 miles. On this voyage he visited and made speeches in nearly 200 municipalities in no fewer than 18 states and three territories which would soon join the union. Later that year he followed it up with a two-week 1400-mile journey through New York and Vermont with another 30 stops and speeches.This volume originally compiled by Charles Hedges in 1892 is a complete collection of Harrisons addresses from February 1888 to February 1892 in chronological order including all his campaign speeches several important letter and the numerous speeches delivered during his tours. It also includes extracts from his messages to Congress.Unknowingly contrasting his subject with the politicians of today Hedges writes in his introduction: it is not the purpose of this book to present a few selections of oratory laboriously prepared and polished or occasional flashes of brilliant thought. From such efforts prepared perhaps after days of study and repeated revision one can form but an imperfect idea of their author. Such a compilation might show the highest conceptions of the man and evidence a wide range of thought and a surpassing grandeur of expression; but it would be but a poor mirror of the man himself in his daily life. Instead he wrote the people deserve to observe the character of their public servants to come into closest touch with their daily thoughts and to know them as they are--not when prepared for special occasions but day after day and all the time. The vast majority of the speeches presented here were delivered during the presidential campaign of 1888 often four or five in a day to visiting delegations of citizens representing every occupation and interest and during his tours of 1890 and 1891 when he often spoke eight or ten times a day from the platform of his [train] car.He goes on to laud Harrisons efforts noting that among other reasons the speeches are notable in the fact that while delivered during the excitement of a political campaign and in the hurry of wayside pauses in a journey by railroad they contain not one carelessly spoken word that can detract from their dignity or by any possible distortion of language be turned against their author by his political opponents. With no opportunity for elaborately studied phrases he did not utter a word that could be sneered at as weak or commonplace. And also that no thought of sameness or repetition is ever suggested.... One marvels at his versatility in adapting himself to every occasion whether he was addressing a delegation of miners of comrades in war or of children from public schools....This modern edition is newly typeset and accompanied by maps detailing Harrisons journeys prepared specifically for this volume.