Smyrna times., 1891-04-22
The Presidents Journey.

and instructive speeches. 1t is an in
tense intellectual strain upon one in
his position to go about the country in
these days of the ubiquitous reporter.
the stenOgraphic pencil and the ready
telegraph. To make seven or eight
Speeches a day for a couple of weeks
upon subjects necessarily circumscribed
by an occasion of simple felicitation
calls upon a wealth of intellectual re-
source which few men even in America
possess. There was time when il
was no confession of mental paucitv to
make the same speech with appropri-
ate variations do for all the public
demonstrations encountered during a
PRESIDENTIAL journey, but the reporter
and the telegraph operator have put
this era far in the past. A President
who now goes among the people must
invent at each stopping-place a new
method of expressing even the ordin-
airy sentiments of congratulation and
goodwill. He is scarcely permitted
to say "How are you ?" precisely as he
may have said it before.
No public man in America is less
embarrassed by these lately developed
requirements than President Harrison.
His life has been full of incident and
travel, and he knows the States and
their local questions almost as well IS
the National issues he has immediately
to deal with. He possesses the art.
too, of frank, easy, lucid speaking, of
suggestive and homely illustration.
and of putting three or four pertinent
ideas together in a few harmonious
sentences introduced with an ack-
nowledgment and closed with a con.
graduation. From these remarks
there is always total absence of friy-
Olity. They are always serious. They
always contain an argument worth
celebrating and a suggestion worth
considering. The tone is high and
line, their manner cordial, their ex-
preston graceful. A gentle touch of
humor lightens them here and there.
and, upon the whole, they invariably
produce pleasing impression as com
ing from one who is sincere, practical
and moved by patriotic impulses.
The Presidents route is happily
chosen. Virginia, Tennessee, Ken.
lucky, Georgia, Alabama and Texas
are States to which at this time a pecu-
liar interest attaches. They have be-
gun to live new career. They have
discovered a wealth ofcoal and mineral
hitherto unsupported in their mountain
caverns, and industries have sprung
up in mining and manufacturing that
have created new cities and revived
old ones at g rate of progress that is
simply amazing. The story of Spokane
is not more remarkable than the story
OF MiddlesborOugh. The development
of Cincinnati, St. Louis and Chicago is
being repeated at Birmingham, Chat
tanooga and Atlanta,
This is what the President has gone
TO see, and certainly nothing can be
more entitled to the compliment of the
Chief Magistrates personal examina-
ton. He goes not merely to ascertain
what the South is accomplishing, but
to bear to it the congratulations and
goodwill of the North and the West
He spoke truly and fortunately when
he told the people of Knoxville that all
the rest of the Nation was rejoicing
with the South In the new glory and
wealth she was so abundantly acuuir-
ing, and that it was the wish of all
with whom he associated in political
life that the streams of prosperity in
the South might run bankfulI. The
political questions which still cause the
Southern people, overlooking their
great industrial interests, to present a
solid front in favor of the Democratic
party do not interfere with the gratifi-
cation which every American feels in
the advancement of his country, and of
every part of it, in all that gives com.
fort and fortune to the people. The
President will spread this message
broadcast through the South, receiving
in return its expressions of loyalty to
the flag and of contentment with the
results of the War which are the nec-
essary first steps toward a wise and
just settlement of all remaining con.
trOversY.