Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-03-11
President Harrison's Inaugural
Address.

Gen. Harrison delivered the fol-
lowing address:
There is no constitutional or lead
ing requirement that the president
shall take the oath of Office in the
presence of the people. But there is
so manifest an appropriateness in the
public induction to office of the chief
executive officer of the nation, that
from the beginning of the govern
ment the people, to whose service the
official oath consecrates the officer,
have been called to witness the SOL
the presence of the people becomes a
mutual covenant-the officer cove
nant to serve the whole body of the
people by faithful execution of the
laws, so that they may be the unfail-
ing defence and security of those who
respect and serve them. My promise
is spoken; yours unspoken-but not
the less real and solemn. Surely I
do not misinterpret the spirit of the
occasion when | assume that the
whole body of the people covenant
with me and with each other to-day
to support and defend the constitution
and the union of the states, to yield
willing obedience to all the laws and
each to every other citizen his equal
civil and political rights. Entering
thus solemely in covenant with each
other, we may reverently invoke and
confidently expect the favor and help
of Almighty God-that He may give
to me wisdom. strength and fidelity,
and to our people spirit of fraterni-
ty and love of righteousness and
peace.
This occasion derives peculiar in
terest from the fact that the presi-
dental term which begins this day is
the twenty-sixth under our constitu-
ton. The first Inauguration of Pres
ident Washington took place in New
York, where congress was then sit
ting, on the 3Oth day of April, 1889.
will not attempt to note the mar
velous and, in great part, happy con-
trasts between our country, as it
steps over the threshold into its sec
ond century of organized existence
under the constitution, and that weak
but wisely ordered young nation that
looked undauntedly down the first
century, when all its years stretched
out before it.
Our people will not fail at this time
to recall the incidents which accom-
panied the institution of government
under the constitution, or to find in
spiration and guidance in the teach
ings and example of Washington and
his great associates, and hope and
courage in the contrast which thirty
eight populous and prosperous states
offer to the thirteen states, weak in
everything except courage and the
love of liberty, that then fringed our
Atlantic seaboard.
The center of population when our
national capital was located was east
of Baltimore. Yet, in 1880, it was
found to be near Cincinnati, and the
new census, about to be taken, will
show another stride to the westward.
But our growth has not been limited
to territory, population and aggregate
wealth. The masses of our people
are better fed, clothed and housed
than their fathers were.
The facilities for popular education
have been vastly enlarged and more
generally dlffused. The virtues of
courage and patriotism have given
recent proof of their continued pres
ence and increasing power in the
hearts and over the lives of our peo-
pie. The influences of religion have
been multiplied and strengthened.
The sweet offices of charity have been
greatly increased. The virtue of
temperance is held in higher estima-
ton. We have not attained an ideal
condition. Not all of our people are
happy and prosperous; not all of
them are virtuous and law-abiding.
But, on the whole, the opportunities
offered to the individual to secure the
comforts of life are better than are
found elsewhere, and largely better
than they were here one hundred
years ago.
The revival at the end of the cent
ury of the same patriotic interest in
the preservation and development of
domestic industries, and the defense
of our working people against injuri-
Gus foreign competition, is an Incl
| dent worthy of attention. 1t is not
departure, but return that we
have witnessed. The protective pol
icy had then its opponents. The az
gument was made as now that it's
benefits Injured to particular classes
or sections. If the question became
in any sense or at any time sectional,
it was only because slavery existed in
some of the states. But for this
there was no reason why the cotton
producing states should not have led OF
walked abreast with the New Eng
land states in the production of cot
ton fabrics. The sectional element
has happily been eliminated from the
tariff discussion. We have no long
er states that are necessarily only
planting states. None are exclud-
ed from achieving that diversifcation
of pursuit among the people which
brings them wealth and contentmept.