The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-19
THE FRIEND OF LABOR
SOME OF THE MAJORS SPEECHES AT
CANTON SATURDAY.
Visiting Delegation Informed that
the Republican Party Does Not
Preach Discomfort.

gum and Perry counties, Ohio. in response
to Congressman S. A Northway and S. w.
Pascoe, Major Mckinley spoke as follows:
MY Fellow-citizens-I give warm and
tabula and Perry counties. l am glad TO
greet you at my home, and L thank you
for the warm assurances of support which
you bring and which nave been so elo-
quently expressed by your spokesman.
There is a studied effort made in some
quarters of this country to teach that the
employer of labor is attempting to enslave
the workingman. | submit to you, men of
toll all around and about me, who is the
better friend of labor-he who gives you
work that brings contentment or he who
breathes only words that create discon-
tent? There cannot be, there ought never
70 be, any enmity between labor and cap
ital The interest Of the one is the interest
friend to slavery is idleness. They talk
about making the .workingmen slaves.
becoming a slave if he receives American
wages. the wages that he had for thirty
years from 1860 to 1850, under the glorious
policy of a protective tariff. The best friend
to labor, the best policy in the interest of
labor is that policy which gives working
men an opportunity to work at good wages.
Which policy do you think subserves that
interest best? Our policy of protection, or
their policy of free trade? tremendous
shouts of Our! ours!' and .McKinley's
policy
This great audience fairly represents
the diversified Industries in the United
States. On the one side of me are men
who manufacture; on the other side are
AiASL wiz III ALOh OLC, dild IL HUH dl0
men who dig our coal. One is dependent
on the other; and here, in this audience,
TOO, are representatives OF the railroads of
the country, which transport not only raw
material, but the finished product from one
end of this country to the other. The one
is never prosperous unless the other is
prosperous. You know that from expert
ence. There is not a handler of ore at the
Ashtabula harbor who does not know that
when the great ore and steel industries of
this country are stopped he has nothing to
do. There is not a coal miner from Perry
county who does not know that when the
fires are extinguished in our furnaces there
is no demand for him. Now, the Republic
industry from the man who digs the coal,
which they call the raw material-if they
just tried digging it for a time. however,
they would find it was not so very raw.
From the man who mines the ore in
Michigan and Minnesota to the man who
handles it at our great ports and to the
final finished product, the Republican pol
icy protects and defends them all. And
what do we defend them against? We de-
fend them against the products of cheaper
labor in the old world: We defend our Ia
Dor because in the United States
every laboring man is an equal citizen with
every other man in the country.
Il am glad to see you, glad to meet you,
cedented victory in Ohio this year; Ohio
has never been behind. She led in the
great clxii war and she has led in the
has been impressed upon the most glorious
pages of American history. l give you
warm and generous greeting to my home,
and trust you may have a pleasant visit in
our little city OF Canton and get back to
your homes without accident or misfortune
Speech to Railway Employees.
In addressing the Columbus Railway
Sound-money Club and the Michigan Cen
trail Sound-money Club, Major Mckinley
said:
MY Fellow-citizens-I cannot express in
suitable words the honor / feel in receiv-
ing this visit from the employees of the
NIirhi0an Central Eni1uyaU (nrnnany tho
railway employees Of the city of Columbus
and of the Erie system: l give hospitable
Michigan, Ohio and northern Indiana to
testify your devotion, not to me as an in
diyiduai, but TO ,athe great cause Of
which to transact our business. There is
not d workingnian in this audience who
would not rather work for a good road
than a poor road; there is not an employee
in this great audience but would rather be
paid in good money than poor money.
is employment. What you want is to get
on the paw roll Of a good railroad company,
for you have to get on the pay roll before
You can get anything out of that pay car,
TO which my friend has alluded. But in
must nave business. You know when bust
ness is poor with the railroads some of you
are stricken from the pay roll. You have
experienced that in the last three years
and 81 half. What you are interested in,
therefore,, is the general prosperity of the
country:
be at work. We want every mine in the
country to be busy. We are willing that
cry one of them, too, will be busy, but if
they We're all put to work and every mint
D Mas at T4 fnT 1 pe:yyb WIu1 of 4 4pe i id1a Saen en- n
this country who earn their living by toll.
You have to get your employment in the
great, active, busy industries of the coun-
try. This is where you get your work and
wages. and when these great busy industries
are at work your railroads have plenty of
ira ffic- When ynUr railroads have Dlenty
of traffic you have constant and steady
employment at good wages. Is not that so?
perity you once enjoyed? Some people say
that the way to get 1T back is to debase
believe that Some people seem to think
that the way to get back prosperity is to
strike a deadly blow at the capital Of the
people seem to think that the way to put
men at work is to despoil the profits of the
men who employ labor. Is that the way
to get work? Capital and labor are inter
dependent. They are not enemies; They
wants to make a. profit, and when capital
goes into enterprises it must necessarily
employ labor. and when it has employed
right? You cannot start a railroad without
money. Yes. sound money at that.
Il read a statement the other day from
a president of one of the great railroads
of the country that there were $4,000 rail-
road men thrown out of employment in the
past three years. and that there were $4,000
cars lying idle between New York. Chicago
and St. Louis. what does tnat 1nean-tnlt
the railroads want to keep them idle? No,
it is because they have no traffic. Why
have they no traffic to employ them? Be-
cause confidence has been destroyed and
the wheels of industry have been stopped
and men are waiting with anxiety and APP
prehension lest the further confidence apd
credit of the country are to be shaken
and destroyed. What we want in this coun-
try is the return of good times. Do you
think good times will come by an attempt
to repudiate the debts of this government.
public or private? Would not that still
bring greater distrust in the country? 1
leans marching this year under the same
banner upon which is emblazoned honest
money, good wages and law and order.
My friends ], thank you for this visit.
1t is an inspiration to the cause for which
we stand. and nothing could give me more
qualification than to carry that flag to
victory. meaning, as we know 1t does, that
the honor and integrity of this government
shall be sustained and its credit and cur
rency upheld. 1 thank you all and bid you
good bye
Baltimore Wage Farmers.
Major Mckinley was royalty greeted by
the big delegation from Maryland. After
the cheering had subslded. he said:
MY Fellow-cieizens-It is an unsual
honor to any candidate or cause to have
three thousand wage earnerS travel n
thousand miles to testify their devotion and
loyalty. and [ appreciate more than j can
find words to express the presence here.
in Canton, of the potterS and wage earnerS
ers of the transportation companies, the
Spnpd-moneV clubs and the EMPLOYEES of