Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United StatesHarrison, Benjamin
History
Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States
Harrison, Benjamin
Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901; Speeches, addresses, etc., American; United States -- Politics and government
Your people are industrious, thrifty, and provident. To lay by
something is one of life's earliest lessons in a German home. These
national traits naturally drew your people to the support of the
Republican party when it declared for freedom and free homes in the
Territories. [Cheers.] They secured your adherence to the cause of the
Union in the Civil War. They gave us your help in the long struggle
for resumption and an honest currency, and I do not doubt that they
will now secure our sympathy and help in this great contest in behalf
of our American homes. Your people are largely wage-earners. They have
prospered under a protective tariff, and will not, I am sure, vote for
such a change in our tariff policy as will cut them off from their
wages that margin which they are now able to lay aside for old age and
for their children.
And now a word to my young friends from Wisconsin. You have come
into the possession of the suffrage at an important, if not critical,
time in our public affairs. The Democratic party out of power was a
party of negations. It did not secure its present lease of power upon
the platform or the policies it now supports and advocates. [Cheers.]
The campaign of 1884 was not made upon the platform of a tariff for
revenue only. Our workingmen were soothed with phrases that implied
some regard to their interests, and Democrats who believed in a
protective tariff were admitted to the party councils and gladly heard
in public debate. [Cheers.] But four years of power have changed all
this. Democrats who thought they could be protectionists and still
maintain their party standing have been silenced or their opinions
coerced. The issue is now distinctly made between "protection and
something that is not protection." [Cheers.] The Republican party
fearlessly accepts the issue and places itself upon the side of the
American home and the American workingman. [Cheers.] We invite these
young men who were too young to share the glory of the struggle for
our political unity to a part in this contest for the preservation of
our commercial independence. [Cheers.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account