Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in Indiana

[1.] HAMMOND, INDIANA (Rear platform, 9:10 a.m.)

Good morning! Thank you, Frank, for that most cordial introduction. You know, there are certain Members of the Congress who are all right, and Ray Madden is one of them. He is for the people every time he has had the opportunity. His record is straight and clean, in your interest. I can't say that for the Republican leadership of that Congress. I think Indiana is going to come back where it belongs. I think you are going to send a Democratic congressional delegation to the Congress, and you are going to elect Schricker for Governor, and the whole ticket right down the line.

I certainly appreciate this fine reception from the people of Hammond. Before I say anything else, I would like to congratulate you on the wonderful war production record you set here. Hammond was one of the main centers of tank production, and our armies all over the world were grateful for the high quality of the work you turned out. You were efficient, you were helpful, you made one of the great contributions toward winning the war.

I wish I had time to tell you all about the issues in this campaign--labor laws, and high prices, and housing. That is not possible, but let me give you an example--an example which shows the difference in labor policies of the Democratic and the Republican Parties.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was passed by a Democratic Congress on the recommendation of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act was bitterly opposed by the Republicans in both Houses of Congress. Nearly twothirds of the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against it. About nine-tenths of the Republicans in the Senate voted against it.

That act established a minimum straight-time hourly wage for all workers. It required payment of time and a half for all hours over 40 hours a week. It outlawed all oppressive child labor.

The Fair Labor Standards Act now covers an estimated 20 million American workers.

I asked the Both Congress to increase the minimum wage under that act to at least 75 cents an hour, and I asked that the protection of the act be extended to many additional millions of workers.

The Republican Both Congress refused the minimum wage. The Republicans refused to extend the Fair Labor Standards provisions.

Now the Republican candidate for President is campaigning on the record of the Both Congress. Can you imagine that? And he won't come out and say what he believes the minimum wage ought to be. He is ducking the issue. He says he believes in the minimum wage, but as I said at St. Paul the other evening, I think the smaller the minimum the better the Republicans like it.

Now just a little bit about high prices. Prices are so high now that they are cutting into people's savings. I think it is a terrible thing when a family has to dip into its savings--savings which it set aside for old age, or to educate their children--in order to buy bread and butter. I have done my best to get the Republican 80th Congress to do something about it. I called them back into special session twice, and I asked them to give relief to the American people from high prices. But the Republican Congress refused to take effective action against high prices. And if a Republican Congress and a Republican candidate are elected this year, you can be sure they still won't do anything.

We know that, because the Republican candidate says the 80th Congress delivered for the future of the country as no other Congress ever did. Apparently he believes that failure to help you meet the rising cost of living was a good thing for the country.

I am asking the people here to get out and vote this year. If we have a Democratic Congress, then I can prevent this inflation from blighting the future of the American family. I can have the minimum wage raised to at least 75 cents an hour, and we can look forward to fair labor laws, decent housing, and all the other progressive measures that the Democratic Party believes in and stands for. The Republican Party opposes every one of these things.

In 1944, 75,000 Democrats voted in the First Congressional District of Indiana, only 46,000 Republicans voted.

In 1946, one-third of the Democrats were lazy and stayed at home. But all 46,000 Republicans, and a few hundred more, went to the polls.

You can't afford to let that happen this year.

This is your election. You have got to decide whether you want to run this Government, or whether you want special privilege to run this Government; and if you don't want special privilege to run the Government, you had better get out early on election day and vote the Democratic ticket straight, and vote in your own interests.

[2.] NORTH JUDSON, INDIANA (Rear platform, 10:45 a.m.)

Thank you, Governor. I certainly appreciate very highly that wonderful introduction. I am most happy to be in the Governor's hometown. I know you must be exceedingly proud that you are the native city of one of Indiana's greatest Governors, and the next Governor of Indiana.

I am also glad to be in the district of Judge Smith. You see, Judge Smith is running against Charlie Halleck. As you all know, Charlie is the Floor Leader of the Republican Party in the Congress, and Charlie-while I like him personally, and I wouldn't want to injure him personally--politically I would like to put him out of business.

He faces backwards instead of forwards. He has tried his best to turn the clock back ever since he has been in the Congress. He almost succeeded this time and I think the best way to keep him from ruining that clock would be just leaving it home the next time.

I am very glad to be able to stop here in this town. Judging by the condition of the Indiana countryside I rode through on the way here, the farmers around here must be doing pretty well. The fact is the whole country is prosperous after 16 years of the Democrats. I want to keep it that way. I am very anxious to keep it that way.

In the past few days, I have been reminding the people of the laws passed by the Democratic Congresses under Democratic Presidents which are responsible for this prosperity. Today I want to tell you the other side of the story. I am going to talk about how the Republicans have been attacking those laws.

One example is the Republican attack on the soil conservation program, which means so much to the farmers. You people here in Starke County know what the Democratic soil conservation program has meant to your community; 1847 farms representing 71 percent of the cropland in Starke County participated in the agricultural conservation program this year. That means that the farms around here will have an abundant and a sustained yield.

But the Republicans are trying to kill or cripple the conservation program. More than three out of every four House Republicans, and more than two out of every three Senate Republicans voted against the Soil Conservation Act when the Democrats passed it.

In 1948, the Republicans cut the funds for payments to farmers who follow sound conservation programs. Every Democratic member of the Senate voted to restore these cuts, but nine out of ten Republicans voted against the restoration so the funds were slashed way down.

When a Republican introduced the motion that would abandon the present system of soil conservation payments, every Democrat in the Senate voted against that resolution. Nine out of ten Republicans voted to abandon the system.

When the final appropriations for farm funds, which had been cut by the Republicans, were being considered in the House, every Democratic member of the House voted to restore those funds. Nine out of ten Republicans voted against the restoration. They were led by Mr. Halleck.

This is the record of the two parties which you are to choose between in November. The Republican Party has consistently tried to kill, cripple, or delay the Democratic farm program. But on the three key farm votes this year, every Democrat in both Houses backed the program.

That proves to you that you can't go wrong by voting the straight Democratic ticket. That shows you which party has the interests of the farmer at heart. Exactly the same differences exist between the two parties on the other issues you are interested in--housing, education, health, control of high prices, fair labor laws, and all the rest of the forward-looking things for which the Democrats have stood ever since 1932.

Now, if you are interested in your own personal welfare, and this is your fight-this is your fight--you must exercise the privilege that gives you control of the Government, and that is the privilege to vote.

You know, in 1946 two-thirds of the people of the United States did not vote, and that is the reason we got this backward-looking 80th Congress.

Now, on November the 2d this time, exercise your rights and let the country remain in control of the people. If you do that, you will get up early on election day and go to the polls and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Then you will have a Democratic Governor, a Democratic Congressman from this district, you will have a President in the White House--and I won't have to go house hunting on the 20th of January.

[3.] LOGANSPORT, INDIANA (Rear platform, 11:43 a.m.)

Thank you, thank you very much. I certainly appreciate that introduction by National Committeeman McHale in his hometown. He has been worrying all the way down here as to whether we were going to have a turnout or not, and we have the best turnout we've had in Indiana anywhere. I don't believe Indianapolis is going to be able to equal this.

I was highly pleased when I found out, by accident, that the train crew on this train are all Democrats. You know the reason I know they are all Democrats? They took us over here at Junction Point 15 minutes late, and they got in here 5 minutes ahead of time. Now, it takes a Democrat to do that. We have had wonderful train crews all around the country and they've been just as kind to us as they could possibly be. I understand we have got a politician on this train crew--that the Conductor, Berkshire, is running for Sheriff. That is the reason the train got here on time.

I am most happy to be able to spend a few minutes here in Logansport this morning, on the banks of the Wabash River. I have heard of the Wabash River all my life and I have crossed it a dozen times, but I have never been at this point on the Wabash River. I wish I could stay longer.

I have been traveling all over the country, telling the people of this great Nation what the issues are in this campaign. I have talked to farmers and to people in the big cities. I have talked to small businessmen, white-collar workers, and I have been reminding them of what the Democratic Party stands for, and how all of them would pay through the nose if the Republican Party wins this election.

Now, you have got representation in Congress from this district that looks backward. I am certainly hoping that you will send Judge Ted Smith to Congress from this district. This Congress needs representation for the people and not for the special interests.

Here in this great railroad town I would like to talk about the Republican attitude toward workers. The Republican 80th Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in a determined effort to weaken organized labor so that the workers of this Nation would not be in such a good position to bargain for better wages and working conditions. The other night in Akron, Ohio, I showed conclusively that the Republicans plan even more drastic antilabor legislation if they are elected next month. Republican leaders regard the Taft-Hartley Act merely as the first step.

Now, you people here in Logansport know what great benefits the railroad brotherhoods have brought to all of you. The brotherhoods have been responsible for bringing very much better incomes to all railroad workers. I think there are about 4,000 railroadmen in this good town. And higher pay means better living standards for themselves and their families, more business for the merchants here in town, and better markets for the farmers in the surrounding community. Now, I wonder if there is anybody in this town that wants to see the rug pulled out from under the brotherhoods and wants to see them weakened. That is what the Republicans are asking for. They are trying to take the rights away from labor which were given to them under the Wagner Act which the Democrats passed. I am sure that you don't want that to happen.

The Democratic Party has always fought for the welfare of labor, and particularly for the railroadmen. The first great law passed for the benefit of the railroad workers was the Adamson Act, passed in Woodrow Wilson's administration in 1916. We have been working for your benefit ever since, and we will continue to do that.

You know, the train crews in those days were getting from $50 to $125 a month. The Republicans had been in power all that time and they had never done a thing for them--and they have never done a thing, consciously, for labor in their lives. What I am saying to you is that the pay of the railroadmen is from 3 to 5 times what it was in those days, and the towns in which they live have better times--the farmers have better times. They are all hooked together. You can't be good to one and not to the other. And that's what the Democratic Party stands for--all the people, and not for just a few at the top.

Of course, I know Logansport is interested in a great many things other than railroading. You are vitally interested in the prosperity of the farmers here in this county, Cass County. I live next door to Cass County down in Missouri. Jackson County adjoins Cass County on the north, and that is where I live. Our Democratic programs have helped the farmer just as much as they have helped the worker. When the Democrats took over in 1933, after 12 years of Republican misrule, three out of four farms in Cass County, Ind., were mortgaged. Many were being foreclosed, and the banks were going broke everyday. Today, Indiana farmers are enjoying the greatest prosperity in their history. Only one Cass County farm in 15 is mortgaged now. What brought that about? The policy of the Democratic Party is to see that the distribution of the national income gets into the hands of all the people and not just a few at the top, as I said before.

Now, if you want to keep this prosperity, the best way for you to keep it is to go to the polls on the 2d day of November and vote a straight Democratic ticket. Then you will have Henry Schricker for Governor of this great State of Indiana, and you will have Ted Smith as a Representative from this district-and you certainly need representatives in this district, as I said before. Don't fail, now. Do your duty as citizens.

You know, in 1946 two-thirds of the people stayed at home and didn't vote--and we got the Both Congress, and we got just what we deserved. People who don't exercise their rights have no right to complain if those rights are not looked after. Every man and woman in this country who is entitled to vote should exercise that privilege--and then the Government will be in the hands of the people, where the Constitution intended it to be.

Don't fail, now. Turn out on election day. Vote the Democratic ticket straight, and I'll still stay in the White House and I won't be troubled with the housing shortage on the 20th of January.

[4.] KOKOMO, INDIANA (Rear platform, 1:02 p.m.)

Madam Chairman:
I appreciate very much that introduction. I thought I had seen all the people in Indiana at the first two stops today, but I evidently hadn't seen a third of them. you're all here; and it shows conclusively that you are interested in the welfare of this country or you wouldn't come out like this to hear what your President has to say.

Indiana is one of the great States in the Union, and I want to see Indiana go right this time by electing a Democratic Governor and sending a Democratic delegation to the Congress. I am sure you'll elect John Walsh, here, to take the place of our backward-looking Congressman who represents this district. We need somebody to go along with the clock, not try to turn it back. And I know if you do that, you will elect a whole State ticket, with Governor Schricker at the head of it.

I have been traveling through the country, telling people the facts about the election this November, facts about high prices and housing and labor laws and the farmer's condition. The Republican candidate for President won't tell you the facts. He is just talking high-level platitudes, which mean nothing in a political campaign--and sometimes the Republican campaign oratory doesn't even tell the truth.

Kokorno is a manufacturing town famous for its farm machinery, stoves, and furnaces, and many other products. A great deal of your prosperity comes from your factories. At the same time, you are in the middle of one of the richest agricultural areas in the whole world. Business here is good when farmers are prosperous, as they are now. But when the farmers are broke, as they were in the early 1930's after 12 years of Republican misrule, then the cities like Kokomo have a very hard time getting along--and you have people out of work and people walking the streets hunting for jobs. You know that prosperity for the farmer and prosperity for the townspeople go hand in hand. Good farm incomes help the people in the towns, and high wages in the towns means that there are good markets for farm crops. We can enjoy genuine prosperity only when all groups of the American people are well off.

But this simple fact seems to escape the Republicans. They think the farmer is getting too much for his crops, and they tell the people in the towns that that is the reason for high prices. Then they go out and tell the farmer that prices are high because wages in the city are too high. Neither of those statements is correct. The Republican remedy for high prices seems to be to pull everybody down in a crash all together, like they did in 1929.

The 80th Congress has knocked the props out from under the long-range prosperity of the farmer, and the farmer hasn't yet begun to feel it. And whenever that happens, whenever that begins to come home to the farmer, cities like Kokomo are going to feel it. They have done their best to see that the workers' income has come down by passing the Taft-Hartley Act to weaken labor, and they haven't helped any of us because of the fact that they refused to pass price control laws which I asked for time and again.

To keep the kind of prosperity we now have, and to bring prices down, and to get decent housing at prices you can afford, and to make sure of a peaceful, prosperous, and advancing Nation--the best way you can get those things is to go to the polls on November the 2d and vote a Democratic ticket.

Now, in 1946 two out of every three people in this country said, "What difference does one vote make? Mine won't do any good." And so only one out of every three voters went to the polls--and look what you got. You got the 80th Congress, and you got just what you deserved. You'll get something like that again if you don't exercise your privilege to vote this time.

I'm urging you with all I have: this time we've got to have an election that really represents a majority of the people. Be sure that you are one of those who gets up early and gets to the polls. Do that in your own interests. You'll be voting for yourselves. The farmers will be voting for themselves if they vote a Democratic ticket. The workers will be voting for themselves if they vote the Democratic ticket. That's true of the workers in the city; that's true of the farmers; that's true of the white-collar workers.

More is at stake in this campaign than ever before in the history of the country, in my recollection, and you must exercise your privilege as a part of the Government. When you refuse to vote, you can't blame what happens in the capital cities on anybody but yourselves, because you have control of this Government when you want to exercise it.

Now, I'm urging you with everything I have; get up early on election day, go to the polls, and vote for yourselves and your interests by voting a straight Democratic ticket.

[5.] TIPTON, INDIANA (Rear platform, 2:45 p.m.)

Thanks, Governor, for that prophecy and that introduction. I appreciate it most highly.

I am very glad to be able to stop here in Tipton this afternoon. I wish I could stay longer. I have been doing a great deal of traveling in the past month, telling the people of the country what the issues in this campaign are. Everywhere I have gone, I have found the country is doing pretty after 16 years of Democratic administration. I want to keep it that way. In order to keep it that way, we must elect a Democratic Congress to go along with the Democratic President. Therefore, you should send John Walsh to the Congress.

We can keep America prosperous only if we stick to the policies and the programs of the past 16 years which have brought this prosperity.

Here, in the middle of some of the best farming country in the world, I am going to talk to you about the attack by the Republicans on the Democratic farm program. I am going to explain just how the Republicans are trying to turn the clock back by tearing down the Democratic programs which have brought prosperity to all of you.

President Roosevelt's administration established the Commodity Credit Corporation. The Commodity Credit served as a reservoir for farm products, to see that farm prices don't fall during the fat years, and to see that the Nation is well-fed during the lean years. Another measure to provide a floor under farm markets was the school lunch program. This program sees that farm surpluses are used to provide good, nourishing lunches to schoolchildren all over the country.

The latest measure of the administration designed to provide stable markets for the farmer was the International Wheat Agreement. Each of these measures has been opposed bitterly by the Republican Party. In 1948, the Republican 80th Congress refused to grant funds for the Commodity Credit Corporation, to provide storage space for grains. This means that farmers will have to sell their grain at dump prices, or let it rot in improper storage. It has already forced many farmers to sell their grain at prices lower than the support price. It will mean smaller supplies of grain in the future.

I want you to remember very carefully that this same Republican leadership will be in control of the 81st Congress if you people don't go out to the polls on election day and vote the Democratic ticket.

The Republicans crippled this program at the request of the grain speculators who wanted to force farmers to sell their grain at low prices so they could make a killing. They are starting to do that just now.

In 1948, the Republican 80th Congress cut funds for the school lunch program. This follows the Republican line established when they voted against the School Lunch Program Act of 1946. At that time, the law was passed by a Democratic Congress over bitter Republican opposition.

In 1948, the Republicans killed the International Wheat Agreement. This agreement would have provided world markets for wheat surpluses for the next 5 years. It would have promised American farmers a stable price for 185 million bushels of wheat a year for 5 years. It would have guaranteed the hungry European peoples a supply of grain. The Wheat Agreement was supported by every farm organization in the country. The Republicans killed it to please the large grain millers. The Republican leadership refused even to bring it to the floor of the Congress for a vote. The Republican leaders were afraid to let their own Party members vote. Now think of that.

That is part of the record you people are to vote on the 2d of November. The Republican Party has consistently opposed the Democratic farm program and the three cases I have cited are already being felt by the farmers.

The Democratic Party has always sought new ways to provide stable farm products. The CCC storage bins, the school lunch program, and the International Wheat Agreements are just three of many cases which demonstrate to the American people where their votes should go. The same differences exist between the Democratic and the Republican Parties on all the big issues, just like the farm issues.

The Republican Party doesn't want to raise minimum wages, or pass fair labor laws, or provide decent housing, or hold down the cost of living. The 80th
Congress refused to do any of these things for the people. And there is no hope from the Republican candidate for President--he is running on the record of the 80th
Congress, and every speech he makes in this campaign proves it conclusively.

If you people vote the Democratic ticket in November, you will be voting for yourselves. You know, you are really the Government when you exercise the privilege which the Constitution of the United States gives you. When you go out and vote, you then decide on what sort of government you will have. When you don't vote, you are shirking your duty as a citizen.

Two-thirds of the citizens of the United States failed to vote in 1946, and we got the 80th Congress. I sincerely hope that everybody who is entitled to vote will go to the polls and exercise that privilege on November 2d. If you do that, I am not the least bit worried about the results, for the simple reason that when you vote in your own interests you can't help but vote the Democratic ticket straight. That will mean you will have a Democratic Governor, a Democratic Congressman from this district, and you will have me back in the White House--and I won't be troubled with a housing shortage. on the 20th of January.

[6.] NOBLESVILLE, INDIANA (Rear platform, 3:29 p.m .)

Thanks, Governor, for that prophecy. I think you're right, from the looks of things in Indiana. I think you're going to be the next Governor, and I think I am going to be the next President of the United States.

I've been going up and down this country, ladies and gentlemen, discussing the issues in this campaign, telling the people just exactly what we are faced with. I know here you are in the midst of one of the greatest farming areas in the world. Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa constitute the farm belt of the United States, the breadbasket of the Nation. And I think that the farmers in this neighborhood ought to be highly interested in the situation with which they are faced.

The Democratic Party, the Democratic administration inaugurated a farm program way back in 1934 and 1935, when the farmers were completely broke. At that time, in 1932, the net income of the farmers in the country was $2,600 million. Now, this program which the Democrats inaugurated for the farmer has been a working program because the farmer's income in 1947 was $18 billion--that's his net income. His gross income was 30 billions, but his net income was $18 billion.

Now then, after we elected this Republican 80th Congress in 1946--because twothirds of you stayed at home and didn't do your duty on election day--the Republicans in that Congress, the leadership, began to tear down the farm program. One of the first things they did when they rechartered the Commodity Credit Corporation was to take away from the Commodity Credit Corporation the right to furnish storage to farmers for the support price grain which stays on the farms. And now, because the Commodity Credit Corporation cannot furnish that storage, which the Republicans did by joker in the charter of the Commodity Credit Corporation, farmers are receiving prices below the support price right now for corn on the farm and for wheat on the farm. And that situation is going to get worse because we have the greatest corn crop in the history of the world in this country this year; and our program, the Democratic program, is to store the corn and the wheat in surplus years and hold it so that the market can be held stable so the farmer will get his fair share of the income of the country. And that is the reason the farmers are prosperous.

Now, these Republicans tell the farmers that high wages in the town causes the situation of high prices and causes inflation. They tell the workers in the towns that the farmer is getting too much for his produce-his wheat and his corn and his other produce, his cattle and his hogs--and that's the reason that we are on the road to inflation. Neither one of those things is true. They balance each other. When the workers get good wages and when the farmers get good prices the country is prosperous and the wealth of the country is distributed the way it ought to be--the farmer gets his fair share, the workingman gets his fair share, and the small businessman gets his fair share. That's Democratic principle. That's government for all the people.

Now, these Republicans are trying to tear down that principle. They are for special privilege. The first thing they did when they got in there was to pass a rich man's tax bill. I vetoed it three times, but they finally passed it over my final veto. And that is conclusively a rich man's tax bill. A man who gets $60 a week saves about $1.50 or $1.60 a week under that tax bill, and the prices have gone out of sight, so he has lost that $1.60 a week. But a man who gets $100,000 a year saves $16,000 on that tax bill. That bill was made for special privilege. That's been the legislative program of this 80th Congress, and that is the reason I call it the worst Congress except one that this country has ever seen.

Now then, you are faced with this situation: You are the Government when you want to be. You can control the Government because when you cast your vote that decides what sort of a government you will have. In 1946 just one-third of the people of this country voted; two-thirds of them stayed at home. And you got the 80th Congress. You got just what you deserved because you didn't do your duty. Don't do that again. Turn out on the 2d of November and send John O'Grady to the Congress and reelect Mr. Schricker Governor of this great State of Indiana; and if you do that I'll stay in the White House another 4 years and won't be troubled with the housing shortage on the 20th of January.

[7.] INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (Indiana Theater Ballroom, 4:55 p.m.)

Thank you, Governor. I think you are a good prophet, and I know you are a good prophet because I have been informed that this is a gathering of the Democratic workers of Indiana. The Democratic Party is based from the precinct and to the township and to the county and to the district and to the State. That kind of organization is really necessary to make a great party function.

I have had a most cordial welcome in Indiana today. I think a great deal of it was due to the fact that I was in the right sort of company--I had the company of that great committeeman, Mr. McHale; and I just feel that Indiana knows which side its bread is buttered on.

Back in 1946, if you remember, the Republicans were preaching that it was time for a change, and they wanted to know why, in electric signs all over the country, if people had had enough.

Well, two-thirds of the people decided that the issue was not worth taking a hand in, and they stayed at home, and we elected a Congress along the lines that the "had enough" people wanted, and I think we have had enough of that Congress and its principles.

Now it is time to change back to the party that has always been for the people. You had a dose of Republican rule for 12 years, from 1920 to 1932, when in March of 1933 Franklin Roosevelt took over. You have had now 2 years of an attempt to turn the clock back to 1922.

You can't do that.

We have got to go forward, and I know that when the Democratic workers in Indiana are willing to turn out as you have turned out this evening, just to see the President, and the next Governor, and your able and distinguished Democratic Mayor of Indianapolis, I know, after meeting all these wonderful people today, that Indiana is going along with the President and try to keep the clock running forward and not backward.