Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-10-07
THE RAILROAD STRIKES.
How Gen. Harrison Stood
Towards the Strikers.
THE RECORD ALL COMPLETE.
What the Republican Candidate Had
to Say About the Poor Battling
for Their Rights.

INDIANAPOLIS, August 29.-Before tn,
Railroad Mems Club here this evening
State Senator Leon o. Bailey delivered
an exhaustive speech upon Gen. Harri
sons record in labor matters, especially
the strike Of 1877 and its attendant Incl
dents. A large audience listened atten
lively to the Senator's remarks, whicl
evidently made deep impression. Fol
lowing is the speech:
What J. shall have to say tonight viii
be with reference to the Republican
Benjamin Harrison. l shall avoid al
bellishments or exaggeration, laying
before you the simple evidence as he has
made It and upon which he must stand
before the people in this campaign
And in my investigation of the subject in
hand / wish to acknowledge the very
material aid of one whose great heart and
intellect were with the boys in those
dark days wholly and valiantly. At the
head of great daily newspaper. Col. j.
those struggling employees. He was a
maker OF records then. He opens them
now.
WHAT NOMINATED HARRISON.
Let us view the influences at Chicago
which secured General Harrison's nomi-
nation. 1t was body representing a
vast aggregation of capital. 1t is said
something over 81 100000, 900. 1t would
be interesting to know the amount with
certainty, but surely the banks, rail-
roads, trusts, land grabbers and bond
holders were in the ascendancy. Nomi-
nally they spoke for a party of several
millions, but in fact only one element
was considered. One railroad alone ow-
ing debt OF over 81, 600, 900 to the United
States was numerously represented by
it's agents and solicitors. Chauncey NJ.
Depew, President of the Vanderbilt
property OF near $30O,0OO,OO0, aspired
for leadership. He held the EN-
pire delegation under perfect con-
troll, fear Of revolt in the
agricultural West alone checking his
personal ambition, but he could dictate
the candidate, and did. He sought a
leader as far from the people and as close
to the corporations as possible, ,one whose
life, record and sympathles were in close
accord with his own. A conference OF
money magnates at the Grand Pacific
Hotel, in Chicago, canvassed the field
and agreed upon their man. His name
was Benjamin Harrison. In the work
of choosing this distinguished railroad
lawyer of Indiana, which was soon after
confirmed pro lorna by the Convention,
he called to his aid such men as Dodd of
Council Bluffs, who was Mr.. GouId's
Wabash receiver until decapitated by
Judge Walter @. Gresham; Creed Hay
mond of California, solicitor of the
Southern Pacific, and Fred Crocker,
Vice-President of the same road );
II. X. Walcott of Colorado, solic-
itor for the Denver and Rio
Grande J. N. Thurston, Washington
lobbyist and solicitor OF the Union Paci-
fic; Senator Spooner OF Wisconsin, solici-
tor of the Chicago and Northwestern !;
Steve Elkins of Maverick" fame and
cattle partner of Mr.. Harrison; the gen.
eral manager of the Missouri Pacific; !;
Clarkson, a vice-president of Gould's
lines in Iowa; r. B. Landon, of Wyo-
ming, brother-in-law of Depew; Sena-
tor Stewart of Nevada, solicitor of the
Central Pacific; w. J. Sewall and John
/. Blair, the railroad millionaire of New
Jersey; James f. Wilson, solicitor OF
the latter's Western railroad pro-
perty. and T. i. Minor, a rail
road lawyer of Washington Ter
ritory, who gained much notoriety
on the Pacific slope by defending the
Chinese in their recent riot at Seattle.
These are among the few who directed
the choice of the Chicago convention.
Mr.. Harrison is the man thus named,
standing upon a platform of high taxes
and free whiskey, to which the Ameri-
can laborer is asked to look for his per-
sonal protection and prosperity. Is the
picture inviting? Does it have the clear,
honest ring of fair dealing and an un-
biased treatment of popular rights !?
Will the laboring men of this country
place their hopes in the control of these
Chicago iugglers Or can they have less
distrust in product of their creation :?
The question of labor and of laboring
men is in this campaign.
President Cleveland, in his message,
savs: "All will acknowledge the force OF
an aroumsnt which involves the welfare
and liberal compensation Of our laboring
neople.,' Mr.. Cleveland states funda-
mental fact in political economy. There
lis no development, there is no progress,
without labor. Strike down labor and,
as if by decree of Jehovah, you stop the
WnG0lS OF pTOST0Sb' olAh0 uO"A .esDoA
and you remand the world to Wilder
ness and to savagery. Strike down labor
and another keel would never cleave the
waves, another railroad train would
never thunder across the continent, and
the man who would cripple labor, who
would impoverish it, who would degrade
it, who would place obstacles in its path.
way, who would reduce its compensation
and embitter it's life, like vice,
Is monster of so frightful mein
AS to be hated needs only to be seen.
Labor is now coming TO the front. II
is demanding audience and recognition
1t proposes to challenge candidates, te
prepound to them certain questions anC
H. have answers without prevarications
Re,,jamin Harrison entertains the
game o,,inions Of workingmen in 1883 al
he did in 1877. He has not changed
There is NO record of change. 1t is no
where asserted that General Harrison
was ever the friend OF the workingman
that he ever engaged himself in betterin,
their wages or conditions; that In tht
Senate Of the United States he ever cas-
a vote, introduced measure or adyo
Gated one that was intended in any de
GREE to ameliorate the burdens or EN-
barrassments of anything or anybotd.
which did not attach to it's signatures TN
imprint of corporate seal.
THE GREAT STRIKE.
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