US Presidency
1892

If the injustice of his employer tempts the workman to strike back he should be very sure that his blow does not fall upon his own head or upon his wife and children. The workmen in our great industries are as a body remarkably intelligent and are lovers of home and country. They may be roused by injustice, or what seems to them to be such, or be led for the moment by others into acts of passion; but they will settle the tariff contest in the calm light of their November firesides and with sole reference to the prosperity of the country of which they are citizens and of the homes they have founded for their wives and children. No intelligent advocate of a protective tariff claims that it is able of itself to maintain a uniform rate of wages without regard to fluctuations in the supply of, and demand for the products of labor.