| Show A TRIFLING SPEECH ExPresident Harrison made a speech to the farmers congress in Indianapolis In-dianapolis on Thursday in the course of which he made some statements that will not bear very close investigation investi-gation Among other things he said I It is a custom of the times for men of a particular occupation to associate themselves together to develop and cultivate mutual interests Such organizations or-ganizations are to be encouraged but we must not forget that lawyers farmers far-mers and laborers all have interests and that no one class should try to get thebetter of the other classes We are all rejoicing that you are getting a little more for your wheat and corn though it is at the expense of us who I have to pay a little more for the things we consume The public would like to know what I his advice to any class would be as to what it should do in the event of its finding that another had seized an improper im-proper advantage over it Mr Harrison Harri-son took an active part in the recent campaign One of the claims made by the Republican party In whose interest inter-est he appeared was that the farmers were attempting to secure an advantage advan-tage over others and it may fairly be inferred that he hinted at that in the remarks quoted Now if the farmers should not strive to secure an advantage over any other class it follows that no other class should strive to secure an advantage over them But when advantage Is taken of the farmers what would Harrison Har-rison have them do It looks as though his application of the rule were onesidedas though he would have the farmers accept Injustice lest an attempt to right it might be construed as an effort to take advantage of those who had perpetrated the wrong Again the expresident said It is mischievous to denounce classes and this thing and that If there are trusts let us know it and bring legislation to bear upon them and court decrees to bear upon them and then we have accomplished something If any man will make it plain to the American people that he is oppressed that he is not getting his rights then I undertake under-take to say that the American people will be on his side against whatever may oppress him How would the general have legislation legisla-tion brought to bear upon trusts when he and his party insist on legis ating in favor of trusts Has it not been made plain that the people are oppressed Yet General Harrison himself him-self joined in the campaign on the side of the agencies of oppression What sort of consistency is it for a man to advise the farmers to appeal to the people when he put himself at the head of a campaign to induce the people peo-ple to believe that the evil against which the appeal is made should be sustained Mr Harrison knows there are trusts he knows trusts should not exist he knows he has this year contributed toward their ccatinued existence and his speech was therefore trifling in the extreme |
