The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-08-29
GOV. WILSON'S FIRST
CAMPAIGN SPEECH

CAMfAlGN SfEECn,
Governor Wilson delivered hi. first
campaign speech At Gloucester, \.
y. h was given great ovation,
particularly by the farmers present.
Governor Wilson, said, in part:
II am interested in politics. not as
search for office, but as great
contest devoted to something very
definite and practical, indeed.
Politics ought not be considered as
mere occasion for oratOry.
Politics ought to be considered as
branch of the national business, and
a- man who talks politics to tell
his fellow citizens very distinctly
what he thinks about their affairs
aud what his own attitude toward
them is.
Here ". are at farmers picnic,
and on this day ! suppose we might
say that the farmers occupy the
center of the stage. When did the
farmers ever occupy the center of
the stage IN politics? / don't re'
member any time. have seen the
interests Of great many classes
especially regarded in legislation.
but ] must frankly say that ]
]
the farmer regarded in legislation.
/ And one of the greatest impOsitions
upon the farmer of this country that
/ has ever been devised Is the present
/ tariff Legislation of the United
States.
/ IL have not heard of farmers
waiting for q hearing before the
. committee on ways and means of
. tha hnnG.. nd ti,.. la 3 Pm.
1 uf the senate in order to take part
in determining what the tariff
| scedule should be While you were
feeding the world congress was feed
| ing the trusts. Nobody doubts
what the process of tariff legislation
/ has been, because everybody who
I mas been curious enough to inquire
knows what the process OF tariff
! legislation has been.
| would be ashamed of myself If ]
| tried To stir up any feeling on the
/ part of any classes against any other
/ class. wish to disavow all in
/ tentiuU of suggesting To the farmer
/ that he 20 in and do somebody mp.
! That Is not the point. All that ! am
| modestly suggesting to you is that
| you break into your own house and
live there. want you to examine
very critically the charachter OF the
tenants who have been occupying 1t.
1t Is a very big house and very few
have beeRliving in it, and the rent has
been demanded of you and not of
them. You have paid the money
which enabled them to live In your
own house and dominate your own
premises.
~ regard this campaign as | re-
REGARDED the last one and the one he
fore the last and every campaign In
which the people have taken part
since th5 world began, as simply a
continued struggle to see to IL that
the people were taken care by their
own government, and my indictment
against the tariff Is that II re-
presents special partnerships aud
does not represent the general
interests. II is a long time since
tariffs were made by men who even
supposed they were seeking to serve
the general interest, because tariffs
are not made by the general body
of members of either house of
congress. They have in the past
been made by very small groups of
individuals In certain committees of
those houses, who even refused
informtion to their fellow members
AS to the basis upon which they had
acted in framing the schedules.
lone of the gentlemen who has
been most cOnspicuously connected
with this thing has in recent years
prudently withdrawn from public
life. mean the one-time senior
senator from Rhode Island, Mr..
Aldrich. ! at least give MIR. Aldrich
the credit of having had large
weather eye. He saw the weather
was changing in Rhode Island, even
In Rhode Island as well as in the
rest of the union; the men who had
long known he was imposing upon
them felt that the limit had been
reached, and they were not going to
be imposed upon any longer. They
saw that he was not even doing what
he pretended to do, namely, to serve
the special interests of Rhode Island,
because he was serving only some
OF the special interests OF Rhode
Island and not all of them.
Now there are various questions
which you gentlemen ought to
realize are pending, questions that
directly concern the farmer Of this
country. The tariff intimately con.
GERS the farmer of this country.
1t makes a great deal of difference
to you that Mr.. Taft the other day
vetoed the steel bill. 1t makes a
difference TO you in the cost of
practically every tool that you use
upon the farm, aud 1t Is very
significant, or ought to he
significant to you, that the demo,
cratic house of representatives has
passed the steel tariff reduction bill
over the presidents veto, IA thing
am Informed is unprecedented in
the history of the country, that II
house sohuld have passed the tariff
measutes, the wool measure aud the
steel measure over the veto of the
president.
Tariff measures are not measures
for the merchants, merely, and the
manufacturer. The farmer pays Just
as big proportion of the tariff
duties as anybody else. Indeed,
sometimes when we are challenged
to say who the consumer Is, as con-
trasted with the producer, so far as
the tariff is cocerned, am tempted
to answer the farmer because he