HARRISON 



2701 



HARRISON 



Copyright Act of 1891 removed a long-standing 

 injustice by allowing foreigners, under certain 

 conditions, to copyright their own literary pro- 

 ductions in the United States. This was a sub- 

 ject in which Charles Dickens had taken an 

 intense interest during his visit to the United 

 States in 1842. 



During Harrison's term of office the United 

 States had disputes with four nations, and Con- 

 gress passed a law which was most displeasing 

 to a fifth. This law was the Chinese Exclusion 

 law of 1892, prohibiting Chinese immigration 

 for a further period of ten years and requiring 

 Chinese residents in the United States to be 

 registered. The most serious of the four dis- 

 putes, which was with Great Britain, involved 

 the respective rights of British and American 

 citizens in the seal fisheries of Bering Sea, off 

 the coast of Alaska. In June, 1891, both na- 

 tions agreed on a closed 'season, and submitted 

 the disputed points to arbitration (see BERING 

 SEA CONTROVERSY). Friendly relations with 

 Italy were nearly broken by an anti-foreign 

 riot in March, 1891, in New Orleans, where 

 eleven Italians were taken from jail and 

 hanged. The United States government ex- 

 pressed its regret, but was unable to promise, 

 as Italy demanded, that the .leaders of the 

 mob be punished. Their offense, under the 

 circumstances, could be punished only by the 

 state of Louisiana. The Italian minister then 

 demanded his passports and left Washington, 

 but the matter was finally settled by the pay- 

 ment of $25,000 to the families of the dead 

 Italians. For a time the excitement over this 

 question ran very high. 



In a dispute with Chile the situation was re- 

 versed, for the United States was compelled 

 to demand apology for an attack on several 

 American sailors by a mob in Valparaiso. A 

 dispute with Great Britain and Germany over 

 Samoa (which see) was settled amicably by the 

 treaty of Berlin, February 4, 1890. One of the 

 most important events of the administration 

 was the attempted annexation of Hawaii (for 

 details, see HAWAII). 



Presidential Election of 1892. 'The chief issue 

 of the campaign was the tariff, on which the 

 Republicans reaffirmed their high-tariff belief, 

 while the Democrats again demanded a tariff 

 for revenue only. Harrison was renominated 

 by the Republicans, and Grover Cleveland by 

 the Democrats. A third party, the People's 

 party, or Populists, voiced the discontent of 

 the agricultural communities of the West, and 

 declared itself in favor of free coinage of silver, 



a graduated income tax, state control of rail- 

 roads and government loans to the farmers. 

 The Populist candidate for President, Gen- 

 eral James B. Weaver of Iowa, received over 

 1,000,000 popular votes, but only twenty-two in 

 the electoral college. No candidate received a 

 majority of the popular vote, but Cleveland 

 was elected by 277 electoral votes to 145 for 

 Harrison. The Democrats also secured control 

 of both houses of Congress. 



Last Honors. After being relieved of the 

 burdens of office, Harrison seemed almost in- 

 stantly to broaden his views, and the people 

 as a whole listened to his opinions with increas- 

 ing respect. He delivered a course of lectures 

 at Leland Stanford Junior University, wrote 

 This Country oj Ours, an interesting study of 

 the practical workings of the United States 

 government, and was a frequent contributor to 

 magazines. He renewed his practice of law, 

 and appeared in several cases of international 

 importance. He was counsel for Venezuela be- 

 fore the arbitration commission which settled 

 the boundary dispute between that country and 

 Great Britain, arid in 1899 was the principal 

 representative of the United States at the 

 Hague Conference. Harrison's opposition to 

 President McKinley's policy in connection with 

 foreign possessions was very outspoken, but it 

 was his opinion, nevertheless, that the Republi- 

 can administration deserved indorsement in the 

 elections of 1900. Harrison's death occurred 

 after a brief illness, on March 13, 1901, at 

 Indianapolis. W.F.Z. 



Consult Wilson's The Presidents of the United 

 States; Hedge's Through the South and West 

 with President Harrison. 



HARRISON, N. J., an attractive residential 

 city in Hudson County, on the east side of the 

 Passaic River, opposite Newark. Several steel 

 bridges span the river between the cities. Har- 

 rison is served by the Delaware, Lackawanna 

 & Western, the Erie and the Pennsylvania 

 railroads, and by electric lines. The Pennsyl- 

 vania enters New York City from Harrison by 

 electric lines through the Hudson River tun- 

 nels. The population was 14,495 in 1910; in 

 1916 a Federal estimate reported 16,950. The 

 area of the city is about two square miles. 



Harrison has important manufactures of steel, 

 wire cloth, marine engines, hoisting engines, 

 tubes, machinery, roller bearings, refrigerators, 

 ink, leather, trunks, dry batteries, metal novel- 

 ties, wall plaster, lumber and cut stone. Set- 

 tled- in 1668, in 1873 the place was granted a 

 charter, which is still in force. 



