The herald., 1896-09-18
M'K|NLEYS TENDER HEART
Touched by a Visit From Work
: ingmen
THE CANTON EXCURSIONS
Draw Bigger Crowds Than Free Min.
strel Show
Allowance Must Be Made for the Fact
That 1t Might Not Be safe to
Stay Away.
Associated Press Special Wire

Associated Press Special Wire
CANTON, o., Sept. 17.-McKinley's
organized visitors today consisted of en-
ployes of the Edgar Thomson steel
works of Braddock Pa. Fully 1000 men
were in line. At McKinley's home hear
ty congratulations and assurances of
support were offered by ]. l.. Jones, the
spokesman Of the party.
Major Mckinley responded:
Mr.. Jones and My Fellow Citizens:
Many delegations have waited upon me
in the last two months. All have been
welcomed and their visits have been in
spring, but somehow, when an assem-
blage of workingmen come to pay me
visit, 1t attracts my interest and touches
my heart. (Cheers.) bid you welcome
to my city and to my home. / can well
appreciate why the workingmen of this
country should have deep and pro-
found interest in the outcome of the
present national contest. l cannot fail
to remember that one thing which stands
between your labor and the labor of Eu-
rope-the one thing which stands be-
tween your workshops and the work.
shops of the old worlds wise, patri-
otic American policy. (Great cheering.)
1 am very glad to have this large dele
cation of the employees of the Egdar
Thomson steel works of Braddock, Pa,
at my home. (Applause.)
You have come, as your spokesman
has stated, to bring me your good will
and that of your fellow citizens whom
you represent. I am glad to have you
come in the manner your spokesman
has described, representing all creeds,
all colors and all classes, men who be-
long to the Republican party and those
who have heretofore beloned to other
parties, now acting together for what
they believe to be the common good.
This is distinctively the peoples year,
when old lines are effaced and men here
tofore opposed meet upon common
platform to sustain the honor of our
country. (Applause.)
Political parties are only the agents
of the people. They are only what the
people make them, and are entitled to
their confidence so long as they serve
their highest and best interests. Gap
plause.)
We are all concerned, no matter what
may be our occupations, in our coun-
try's welfare. Whatever political views
we may have, however we may differ
on minor questions of public policy, we
are all of one mind in the conviction
that something or other is the matter
with the country. (Applause.) We may
differ in our diagnosis. We may differ
about the treatment in detail, but we
do not disagree upon what is essential
in the first instance to the restoration
of the better conditions of the past. One
thing above all else that is wanted at
this juncture is the return of public and
private confidence. (Applause) Its alb
sence Is our fundamental trouble. Upon
that there cannot be two opinions, and
that, my fellow citizens, no class of
people know better than you. We know
the very day and hour when this con-
fidence was first shaken and from that
hour distrust and doubt have hung over
the business of the country. 1t has been
aggravated from a variety of causes, but
none greater than the assault which has
been made by the allied political organi-
cations upon the credit and currency of
the country (Applause) This new men,
ace must be averted before we can hope
to have any permanent prosperity. We
know that the, present monetary stand
ard has not stood in the way of prosper
ity in the past. YouAxnow that we were
prosperous in 1892. and had been for the
preceding ten years. You know that
we have not seen any real measure OF
1nr, tr,ac
is so sensitive, so quick to scent danger,
that any legislation or proposed legis-
lation or change of policy which would
derange or alter or unsettle values is
felt long before the apprehended blow
is given. So that from the very hour it
was determined by the American peo-
pie that the Republican party which
with but single interruption had been
in control of the government for more
than thirty years. was to go out of power
and another party with a different pol
icy was to come in, that moment every
business man of the country assumed
an attitude of waiting and of fear and
anxiety. (Applause) While business
men were waiting to know exactly what
legislation was to be, business was Ian
gushing from one end of the country
to the other and labor was without
work. Then we commenced living from
hand to mouth; we have been living
from hand to mouth ever since. (Great
applause) And as an old comrade said
to me few days ago, "the distance
| seems to be getting greater with each
succeeding year" daughter and ap-
plause.)
According to a census recently taken
by newspaper in New York, it appears
that in July, 1892 577 employers of labor
in the United States gave work to 114,-
231 hands. How was it in July. 1896?
The same employers gave work to 49,
500 hands; 1851 men who had been en-
ployed in 1892 were thrown out of en-
ployment in 1896 and put in a state of
idleness resulting in loss of more than
80 per cent to labor. In July, 1892, the
wages paid to the 114,231 hands amount
ed to SO, ,925, 900. In July, 1896, the earnings
of the 7S,700 hands amounted to only
81, ,469,712, a loss to labor in a single
month in those establishments Of 40 per