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
_My Friends_--The man who does not believe that the issues of this
campaign have taken a very deep hold upon the minds and upon the
hearts of the American people would do well to come and stand with
me and look into the faces of the masses who gather here. I know
nothing of the human face if I do not read again in your faces and
eyes the lesson I have read here from day to day, and it is this: That
the thinking, intelligent, God-fearing and self-respecting citizens
of this country believe there are issues at stake that demand their
earnest effort. [Applause.] A campaign that is one simply of party
management, a campaign by committees and public speakers, may fail;
but a campaign to which the men and women of the country give their
unselfish and earnest efforts can never fail. [Great applause.]
It is no personal interest in the candidate that stirs these
emotions in your hearts; it is the belief that questions are involved
affecting your prosperity and the prosperity of your neighbors;
affecting the dignity of the nation; affecting the generation to which
you will presently leave the government which our fathers built and
you have saved. [Applause.]
One subject is never omitted by those who speak for these visiting
delegations, viz.: the protective tariff. The purpose not to permit
American wages to be brought below the level of comfortable living,
and competence, and hope, by competition with the pauper labor of
Europe, has taken a very strong hold upon our people. [Applause.] And
of kin to this suggestion and purpose is this other: that we will not
permit this country to be made the dumping-ground of foreign pauperism
and crime. [Great applause.] There are some who profess to be eager to
exclude paupers and Chinese laborers, and at the same time advocate
a policy that brings the American workman into competition with the
product of cheap foreign labor. [Applause and cries of "That's it!"]
The disastrous effects upon our workingmen and working-women of
competition with cheap, underpaid labor are not obviated by keeping
the cheap worker over the sea if the product of his cheap labor is
allowed free competition in our market. We should protect our people
against competition with the products of underpaid labor abroad as
well as against the coming to our shores of paupers, laborers under
contract, and the Chinese labor. [Enthusiastic applause.] These two
thoughts are twin thoughts; the same logic supports both; and the
Republican party holds them as the dual conclusion of one great
argument.
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