The record-union., 1896-10-16

ney for the railroad company. A fa
vorite word with some of these people
is railroad hireling' or railroad attor-
ney.' Now, I think it is an honorable
thing to be an attorney for railroad
company because they pay big salaries
l never saw lawyer who would refuse
salary of $4,000 a year from the
railroad company. Now, when [ meet
one Of those lawyers / will order my
ascension robe right away, for the day
Of judgment is right at hand. Gap
plause and laughter)
Il want to say now, and l don't want
anybody to misunderstood me, that
any one who says that l ever was at
any time, directly or indirectly, attor-
ney for the railroad company lies, and
he knows he lies; and any one who says
that in any way, directly or indirectly,
| ever handled dollar of their money
lies, and he knows he lies. Now, that
is all there is to that.
"Now, what is this funding bill? An
honored constituent of mine, Joseph
Steffens, addressed me in a letter in
reference to it. I answered It. That
letter was published. l tried to give
every man in this county a copy. |
hope every man has received one. If
1 remember rightly it was published
in a paper in this county. l want
everybody to read it because it is a
truthful presentation of the facts in
that case, and l know that letter must
be correct, because up to this time, al
though 1 know the Democratic State
Committee appointed a committee to
answer that letter. they never yet have
written an answer to it. Truth is
mighty and will prevail, even where a
railroad is concerned.
What is the funding bill? I can tell
you in very few sentences. The
United States has a second mortgage
upon property that will not sell for
enough to pay the first mortgage,
which first mortgage is held by other
parties. What are you going to do
about it? Now, that is business ques-
ton, not a political one. There is a
large amount of money involved. What
are you going to do about it? Give it
up? That is one way-just wipe it out.
Now, we might do that. We might say,
Gentlemen, we forgive you this debt
Another way is for the United States
to foreclose the second mortgage, pay
off the first mortgage and go into the
business of running a railroad. / don't
believe in it. i don't think it is right.
L think it would be very dangerous.
Now, the third way is to fund the
debt; that is, to extend the time Of
payment, and that is the funding bill
Now which is the most businesslike? 1t
seems to me the business way is to ex-
tend 1t and give them a chance to
pay it.
Now, If any man here should come to
you and say: L have second mort
gage upon a mans farm; this mort
gage is for $500 1 don't want to go
into the farming business. This man
says if I give him time he can pay it in
full What had l better do? You
would undoubtedly say to him: Extend
the time Frequently in the course of
my business / have had men come to
me with second mortgages and I al
ways gave them that advice So does
every lawyer.
And now that is all there is to this.
All this talk and howl that has come
up about the funding bill is simply non
sense.
Now there is another thing you
want to take into account. If you hold
mortgage upon my property, and you
foreclose that mortgage, and it doesn't
give you enough to pay it, you would
sell any other property l have Now
you can't do that with this railroad
mortgage.
If there is any gentleman present
that wants to ask me any question
about the funding bill or about any
other part of my Congressional career,
L want him to ask it so / can answer
him as truthful as I know how.
thank you for the compliment in your
silence"
Mr.. johnson spoke further of the
party principles and made an eloquent
appeal for the election of Major Nc
Kinley as Chief Magistrate
At the close of his speech Mr.. John
son was accorded a continued round of
applause and cheers.
The meeting concluded with a rous-
ing song by the glee club, and three
| cheers for Mckinley and Hobart and
Congressman Grove l.. Johnson.