The San Francisco call., 1896-11-13
Organizations of the TilIers of the
Soil Should Be Encouraged,
Says the Ex-President.
POLITICS ALSO TOUCHED UPON.
Policy of Arraying Class Against
Class Not the Way to Insure
Prosperity.

INDIANAPOLIS, IND, Nov. 12.-The
third days session of the Farmers Ma
tional ongress had two important feat
ures One was an address by General
Harrison and the other was the adoption
of memorial to Congress.
General Harrison was in very happy
mood and when he arose 10 speak he was
greeted enthusiastically In part he said :
II came here to make an acknowledg-
ment of the compliment you have shown
me by inviting me to appear before this
congress. l suppose that politics is barred,
as this is an agricultural meeting. I'm
not an agrlculturist, though born and
reared on a farm. My education was paid
for by the proceeds of corn and hogs. 1t
is custom of the time for men of par
ticular occupation to associate themselves
TO- ether TO develop and cultivate mutual
interests. such organizations are to be
encouraged, but we must not forget that
lawyers, farmers and Iaborers all have in
terests and that no one class should try to
get the better of the other cl lasses We are
all rejoicing that you are getting little
more for wheat and corn, though it is at
the expense of us who have 10 pay little
more for the things we consume"
Then the general ventured a little piece
out into political waters.
II have no patience with those people
who are always fighting the air." he said.
He advised men who believed that legis-
lation is prejudlcial to them 20 go about
q fight in a systematic way, not lighting
the air." 1t was plain that the general was
referring to situation in the present cam
paign. He advised that public sentiment
be focused on whatever question of un-
usual import was brought before the peo-
pie, and that men go straight after what
they want.
Then he told of how brakeman came
and sat down beside him in the train one
day recently and told him that he did not
like the idea of this thing of trying to
array class against class. This remark OF
the brakeman of course pleased General
Harrison.
Whatever they say about class in this
country, the great body of the American
people will work for truth and right.
When any men engaged i'll a particular
calling from high motives associate them
selves together, and pursue those high
motives in their association, only good
can result. But we should not be selfish
in our purposes. think 1 may say that
If we were absolutely selfish in our pur-
poses and thought only OF our own good,
the good of the class and of the individual
of the class. we should find that good most
highly promoted by taking a broad view
OF things and by admitting to our deIib-
erations the thought that it is not possible
for one class to be highly prosperous while
all other classes are suffering; that there
is an interdependence in all our business
and social relations, and that this is highly
developed in free government like ours.
"In other words, in q broad sense we
prosper together and we suffer together
we are interdependent. l think some
times the .conceit OF the farmer has been
unduly promoted when it is said that he
is at the bottom of everything and that he
belongs to an independent class; that
cities are not of much account and that
farms are Gods work and enduring. What
would the farm be without the town and
what would the town be without the farm :?
These cities furnish the population that
consumes the products of the farm and
the farm furnishes the subsistence of the
city. heard a friend say the other day
1t is the city for the country and the
country for the city and all for the flag.
II there are abuses of any kind of legisla-
ton or in the business OF the country let
Us FIX the public eye upon them until we
have exposed tae evil and then we can
trust the country to make it right.
"1t is mischievous 10 denounce classes.
and this thing and that. If there are
trusts let us know it. and bring legislation
to bear upon them and court DEGREES 10
bear upon them. and then We have accom-
plished something. II any man viii make
il plain to the American people that he is
oppressed, that he is not getting his
rights, then l undertake to say that the
American people viii be on his side.
against whatever may oppress him.
Ny thought is, if you think there
are wrongs and grievances in the
business condition or in legislation
hunt them out and specify them, hold
them up to the public judgment and have
faith in your fellow-man. For l say to
won that of the great body OF the people,
always of justice and fairness. and if you
make that appeal to them they Will re-
spond.
II have reioiced in all that has tended
to make agriculture easier, to give leisure
for thought and reading, for the cultiva-
ton of the intellect. rejoice that the
schoolhouse and the little church are
found in every country neighborhood.
r. ia:ce in the belief that our people are
patriotic and that never before in the his
io-y of our country was there deeper and
more universal love of the starry banner
and the constitution for which it stands"
A memorial TO Congress, prepared by
special committee, was read and adopted
at the morning session. After the memo
rial was read, G. M. Hogg of Ohio moved
that the paragraph asking that the duty
upon wool, as prayed for by the National
WooI-growers' Association one year ago
and embodied in the memorial, be stricken
out ard also that the time OF holding i'm
ported wool in bond be extended thirty
days.
The motion brought wratbfuI reply
from Judge Lawrence of Ohio. who
charged that Hogg's interests were with.
TIE manufacturers rather than with the
wool growers. lie charged that tie Ding
ley bill Disseminated in favor OF the
manufacturer and against the wool
grower. Mr.. Hogg, in replying. said that
95 per cent of tie manuiactur rs were in
sympathy with the American wool
growers, and the discrimination against
American wools is because OF the faulty
condition in which they are put upon the
market