East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-09-28

Governor Woodrow Wilson address,
ed large crowd August Is at the
Farmers Picnic in Washington Park
In the southern part of New Jersey,
and was received with great enthu-
siasm. The governor said in part:
81 am interested in politics not as
search for office but as a great
contest devoted to something very
definite and practical indeed. Poll
tics ought not to be considered as a
mere occasion for oratory Politics
ought to be considered as a branch
of the national business, and a man
who talks politics ought to tell his
fellow-cA5izens very distinctly what
he thinks about their affairs and
what his own attitude towards them
is
Occupy Center of the Stage.
Here we are at a Farmers Pic
mic, and on this day l suppose that
here at Washington Park We might
say that the farmers occupy the CEN
ter of the stage. When did the farm
ers ever occupy the center of the
stage in our politics? 1 don't re-
member any time. l do remember
a time written OF with great enthu-
siasm by historians in the far year
1875 when the farmers around about
Lexington in Massachusetts gathered
along the roadside to prevent the re-
treat of a little handful of British
troops who had been bent upon an
Illicit errand. I have read a great
deal of poetry about the embattled
farmers at Lexington, and l know
that every war that We have fought
has seen the farmers of this country
along with the other patriotic men
embattled in the nations defense.
But whGn it comes down to the vot-
ing. when it comes down to the MAX
ing of laws, where are the embat-
tied trainers? When have the farm
ers ever occupied the center of the
stage in politics?
DO you ask me whether 1 want
the farmers to organize themselves
in such way that they shall thrust
others aside and usurp the center of
the stage l reply, No. There is
not a single class of the nation that
ought to demand that it should be
occupying constantly the center Of
the stage, but there is also not a sin
gle class in the nation that ought not
to demand constantly that it be re-
garded as a member of the firm in
the great partnership.
Tariff LEGISLATION.
II have seen the interests of great
many Z lasses specially regarded in
legislation. but l must frankly say
that 1 have never seen the interests
of the farmer very often 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. l have not heard of
farmers waiting for hearing before
the committee of ways and means of
the house and the finance committee
of the senate in order to take part in
determining what the tariff sched-
ule should be. l have not heard any
body but orators on the stump say
that the tariff was intended for he
benefit of the farmer, because you
have to be on the stump to keep a
straight face when you make state
ment like that. When the United
States was the granary of the world
and was supplying the world far and
near with the food stuffs that it sub
sisted upon, the farmers were not
looking for protection, and while
they were not looking everything else
had dut es upon it, and the cost of
everything that they had to use was
raised upon them and raised upon
them. until now it is almost impos-
sible for them to make a legitimate
profit.
while you were feeding the world,
congress was feeding the trusts. No
body doubts what the process of tar
iff legislation has BEEN because ev-
erybody who has been curious enough
to inquire knows what the process of
tar IF legis alton has been. We could
give you a list of the gentlemen who
have been most prominent in secur-
ing tariff legislation. We know the
KIND that secured it and the purpose
they secured it for; and they weren't
thinking about the general prosperity
Of the United States They were
thinking about the balance sheets in
particular investments, and those n
vestments were not investments which
were easily within the reach and work
of the farmer himself
i WOull De ashamed OF HySell, ID
dies and gentlemen, if l tried to str
up any feeling on the part of any
class against any other class. / wish
to disavow all intention of suggesting
to the farmer that he go in and do
somebody up. That sn't the point.
Al that am modestly suggesting to
you is that you break into your own
house and live there. And l want
you to examine very critically the
character of the tenants who have
been occupying it. 1t is very big
house and very few people have been
living in it, ana the rent has been de-
manded of you and not Of them.
You have paid the mOnsy whcl el-
abled them to live in your own
house and dominate your own prem
ises
IT regard this campaign as I re-
garded the last on and the one be-
fore the last an1 eve 'ampaign IN
which people have taken part since
the world began as simply a contin-
ued struggle to see IT thlt the people ]
were taken care OF by ther own gov