Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in Minnesota

[1.] WINONA, MINNESOTA (Rear platform, 8:05 a.m.)

This is my last trip around the country as President of the United States, and I am very glad to have a chance to come here to Winona before I leave that Office.
I am out campaigning for two things--for continued prosperity for this country, and for world peace. If you look at the record, if you look at what we have done in the last 20 years, you will see that you can trust the Democratic Party to work these things out. And you will see that you cannot trust the Republicans.
The Democratic Party has two of the finest candidates this year that were ever put before the people--Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman. Adlai Stevenson is a man who knows civilian government. He has been a great Governor of a great State, and he is also an expert in foreign affairs. He understands our system of government because he has made it work successfully for the good of the people.

The Republican candidate is a professional Army general. He is a good man in that line of work, but he doesn't understand civilian government. No professional general has ever made a good President. The art of war is too different from the art of civilian government.

The Democratic vice-presidential candidate is a man who came up to the Senate by his own efforts. He is one of the great liberals in the Senate. He votes every time for the interests of the little fellow, for the United Nations, and for international cooperation.

The Republican candidate for Vice President is an inexperienced young man, who was put into the Senate by a little group of rich men in southern California. His supporters are oil men, real estate operators, and tax lawyers. They pay him extra money for his office expenses. He votes every time for the big interests and against the little fellow. All I want you to do is just to think these things over.

You can trust the Democratic Party to work for peace. It has created firm defenses and alliances around the world. It saw the Communist menace and moved to meet it while the Republican Party was still asleep to the danger. We can say now, with certainty, that the Communists are not going to take over the rest of the world. We have met Communist aggression the way it had to be met--with force. And our sacrifices in Korea have kept us out of a third world war.

If we had followed the advice of the Republican isolationists, we would have lost both Europe and the far East by now, and we would be standing alone against communism with our backs to the wall.

On the other hand, if we had followed the advice of some of our generals, we would probably be involved in a much greater conflict. In the far East, one general almost got us into a much bigger war--against China and Russia--and I had to remove him.

If we want to have peace, we must always keep civilians at the head of our Government. Now, my friends, we can't have peace unless we keep our country strong and prosperous. If we have a depression, we will be easy pickings for the Communists. The Republicans promise you prosperity. They are full of promises to the people just before election time. But those promises don't square with their votes in the Congress.

Take their promises to the farmers this year. They have some very vague language in their platform about their farm program. But just this spring a majority of the Republican Congressmen voted to put an end to farm price supports at 90 percent of parity. And just last year, a majority of the Republican Senators voted to cut flood control in this country right in half.

These are just two examples out of many-a great many. The story is the same wherever you look--social security, minimum wages, aid to housing, health, and education. A great majority of the Republicans vote against these things regularly, every time they have a chance.

Don't look to the Republicans to keep us prosperous and strong. You had better not listen to what they have to say. Look at what they do. Look at their record. Give it some thought. And then what you should do is to think first of the interests and welfare of the greatest Nation in the history of the world. And then you must think of your own interests.

If you do that, I have no doubt what you will do next Tuesday. You will go to the polls and vote the Democratic ticket. You will vote to send Bill Carlson to the Senate, to help Hubert Humphrey fight your battles. You will send George Allson to Congress. You will make Orville freeman your next Governor.

And you will vote to send down to the White House that fine, progressive Governor of one of our great States--Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.
Thank you very much.

[2.] RED WING, MINNESOTA (Rear platform, 9:20 a.m.)

I am more than happy to be here. This certainly is a fine turnout. And I am happy to say that it has been this way on all my stops throughout the country. The people are anxious to hear the facts in this election year, and that is just what I am trying to give them--I am trying to get them to think for themselves. That is the only reason I am out. I want the people to have a chance at the facts, and they can't get a chance at those facts unless I tell them what they are.

First of all, I want to pay a tribute to a wonderful person whose home is here in Red Wing, and that is our United States Ambassador to Denmark, Eugenie Anderson. Eugenie Anderson is one of the finest human beings I know. She is the kind of Democrat that makes me proud of my party, and she is doing a wonderful job for us in Copenhagen. We have a wonderful number of foreign Service representatives in the service of the foreign Service of the United States, and Eugenie Anderson is among the tops.

Through her splendid work in Denmark, Eugenic Anderson is doing her part to help build the strength and unity of the free nations of Europe. And in this way she is helping to protect her own country; because our own safety, and our chances of preventing another world war depend upon how successful we are in helping other nations to become strong and to stay free.

We are engaged in a great struggle for peace. One part of that struggle is military. That means defenses, and fighting against aggression. The other part is civilian. It means helping other countries, through economic aid and other assistance, to keep strong.

If a friendly country goes bankrupt, or suffers economic collapse, it can't stand up against communism and stay free. Over the last 6 years, in Europe and Asia, we have helped dozens of friendly countries in this way. This is a vital part of our national defense. It is a new thing. We have given this sort of help to our allies in a war, but this time we are giving it to friendly countries to prevent a war. By making other countries strong enough to stand up against communism, we are working to save the lives of American boys. This is the kind of work Eugenie Anderson is doing in Europe, and it is just as important as the work of an Army general.

This part of our struggle for peace is clearly at stake in this election. The Old Guard Republicans are against helping other nations in this way. And they will control the Congress if the Republicans are elected. They have shown by their voting records that they do not understand how important other nations are to our national defense. In 1949 the Republican Congressmen voted almost 2 to 1 against the military aid program, including military aid to the Republic of Korea. In 1950 they voted 3 to 1 against point 4. In 1951 Republican Senators voted overwhelmingly, six different times, to cripple economic aid for Western Europe. And just this year, three-fourths of the Republican Senators voted disastrous slashes in the economic and military aid to our allies.

If we are going to have peace, we have to stay prosperous here at home. But the policies of the Republican Party are a threat to our prosperity. Look at their attitude on farm programs, for example. Over the years we have built up farm prosperity through farm programs like soil conservation, price supports, and rural electrification. But if you look at the Republican voting record in Congress, you will see the Republicans usually voting to cut or trim these programs, or voting against improvements on them. You might even look at the record of your own Congressman, and see where he stands.

I urge you to inform yourselves on these issues. That's all I am asking you to do. I want you to get the facts for yourselves, and make up your own minds. I urge you to vote for your own interests. Vote for the party and the candidates that have shown they understand the importance of the work your own Eugenic Anderson is doing in the cause of peace.

Vote for the party and the candidates who understand the needs of the workingman, the farmer, the businessman, and the housewife in this day and age.

If you do that, you will send Bill Carlson to the Senate, and George Alfson to the House. Orville freeman will be your next Governor. And you will send down to the White House that fine, progressive Governor of the great State of Illinois--Adlai Stevenson.

[3.] HASTINGS, MINNESOTA (Rear platform, 9:58 a.m.)

I am very glad to be here. You know, I was very appreciative of the wonderful support that this city and county gave me in 1948. I needed it badly then, and I need it badly again. I hope you will keep on staying with me.

I am working harder in this campaign than I did for my own election. The reason I am doing that is because I think it is of vital importance that people understand just exactly what the issues and the facts are in this campaign. I am trying to give you the facts, and then I want you to think about them. I want you to use your heads. If you will do that, I will have accomplished my purpose.

In this election the people of this country will be making one of the gravest decisions since the Civil War. That is why it is so very important that you understand just what is at stake for you. I am doing my best to see that you get the full story.

This election is so important because we are halfway through a great worldwide program for peace. We are up against a terrific danger--the danger of Communist aggression. Our aim is to lick that danger without having a third world war. That is what we are doing.

If we had followed the advice of the Republican isolationists, we would have lost Europe and all Asia to the Communists by now. We would have weak defenses. We would be with our backs to the wall, without allies, against the Communist power that had gobbled up the free world.

On the other hand, if we had followed the advice of some of our generals, we would have gotten ourselves involved in a large-scale war in China and Russia.

We did neither of these things. We have strong allies around the world, and strong defenses. We have checked aggression in Korea, and held back a third world war. This is a difficult road to follow. The fighting in Korea is something we are using all our efforts to bring to a stop. But we must not give up in Korea, or we will bring on the greater danger we are trying to avoid; that is, the danger of a third world war.

We are winning in this worldwide struggle against communism. But if we stop now, and let the isolationists take over the Congress, and the generals take over the White House, we may be in terrible trouble.

I can't think of anything worse than a professional military man at the top of this Government, with a military way of thinking about world affairs, supported by a Republican Congress that won't vote enough money for our defenses.

Now, remember this. We cannot win this struggle for peace unless we are prosperous at home. But the Republican Party won't keep us prosperous at home, any more than they will keep us safe against communism.

Let me give you an example of the way the Republicans act about prosperity. The Republicans talk now as if they were in favor of good strong farm price supports. The Republican candidate for President talked about 100 percent of parity.

But the Republican platform didn't say that. In fact, if you read it you won't know quite what it means. That Republican platform--you ought to take that Republican platform and compare it with the Democratic platform. The Republican platform is the worst piece of gobbledegook I have read in 40 years of politics--and I have been reading the Democratic platforms for 40 years.

Now, more than half--more than half the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against price supports at 90 percent of parity just this last June. That is what they think of price supports.

The position of the Democratic Party is perfectly clear. The Democrats got our present price support program, at 90 percent of parity, extended through 1954. Now, that's performance on the job.

The Democratic platform pledges to keep that program and to extend price supports to the producers of perishable commodities. That's our promise, and we will keep it if you keep enough Republicans out of the Congress, so we can keep it.

The Democratic candidate stands firm on the Democratic platform. And he is a man who knows something about farming and farm programs, and how this Government works.

It's the same story with every other issue-rural electrification, social security, fair labor laws, aid to small business. The Republican platform and the Republican voting record prove over and over again that the Old Guard Republican Party has not changed one bit. It is for the special interests and against the people.

Now don't listen to what these Republicans say at election time. Look at what they do. I am asking you to read the record-that's all I am asking you to do. I wouldn't have to argue if I could get everybody here just to read the record--you would be convinced.

Don't risk that sweet talk they are making. You will regret it for 4 long years, if you let that siren song put you to sleep and cause you to vote the wrong way.

Examine the platforms, as I say, and examine the voting records and the qualifications of each candidate. Then go to the polls and vote for your own interests, vote for the party that has always worked for you--the Democratic Party.

And if you do that, Bill Carlson will join Senator Humphrey to help him fight your battles in the Senate; Dick Malone will go to represent you in the House; Orville freeman will do a fine job for you as Governor of this great State--and you will send Adlai Stevenson to the White House for 4 more years of good government.

[4.] ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (Rice Park, 11:13 a.m.)

Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests on this platform, and ladies and gentlemen:

I am very happy to be back in St. Paul once more. I remember very well how kind you were to me when I was here in 1948. You gave me just such a reception as this, which I certainly did appreciate. Then you went out and voted for me on election day--and that was all to the good, too. That helped me a lot.

Now my hope is that you will do as well or better by the new standard bearer of the Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.

I urge you to vote for him and for his running mate John Sparkman, and for all the fine progressive candidates on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor ticket here in Minnesota.

That is the purpose of my visit here to St. Paul today.

For 5 weeks, now, I have been traveling across the country campaigning for a Democratic victory in this election. I am not doing this for myself. I am not running for any office, and don't expect to. I expect nothing from Governor Stevenson and I have asked him for nothing. The Democratic Party and the people of this country have given me all the rewards a man could ever want or ever seek. I am more than happy and grateful for what the Democratic Party has done for me. And I am going to continue to try to repay that and show my gratefulness. I am not like some of these birds, get all they can out of the party and get rich and go off and join the Republicans. I am going to be a Democrat until I die.

I have entered this campaign on my own account--my own account, on account of the fact that I believe there are things at stake in this election that we must be informed on. I have come here with a deep conviction that your future--our whole country's future-is at stake in this election. The choice is yours to make. But I am deeply anxious that you make it on the basis of your own interest, and in the light of the full facts.

The people cannot make a choice that will be right for them and good for them, unless they have the facts. And so I have made it my business to bring the facts to the people. I have gone around the country reading the record on the Republican Party and on their candidate for President.

This has enraged the Republicans no end--and that makes me very happy. It has infuriated the one-party press. In lofty editorials from coast to coast, I have been accused of "mud-slinging."

When the Republican candidate for President permitted Senator Taft to tell the waiting world that they agreed on all domestic issues, I pointed out that this meant surrender to the Republican Old Guard. That was called "mud-slinging" by the press-but it was a fact, and is and was a fact today.

When the Republican candidate began to shout that the Democratic Party had been too well disposed toward the Soviets at the close of World War II, I pointed out--citing his own book and his own testimony before Congress--that he had suffered more than most from soft delusions about Soviet intentions. The editorials professed deep shock that I should dare to throw the General's own words back at him--but they were the facts, right in the record he had made for himself.

When the Republican candidate--so recently Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers--began to promise fantastic cuts in our defense budget and in aid to our allies, I pointed out that this involved abandoning our allies and crippling our own Armed forces. Again I was accused of "mudslinging." But that was the plain, hard fact. The General's promises meant nothing but surrender to the policies of isolationism, in the guise of a budget cut.

I am here to say to you that I have had a hand in 18 budgets of this United States Government, and I have made 8 of them myself. I know more about the budget of the United States than any man alive except the Budget Director.

When the Republican candidate, of his own free will and motion, embraced Jenner of Indiana and McCarthy of Wisconsin-and endorsed them both for reelection as members of his "great crusade"--I pointed out that these two men had falsely slandered his own great benefactor, General George C. Marshall. He did not come to George C. Marshall's defense until I forced him to make a statement on it. I called that action a betrayal of morality and principle. The editorials screamed "mud-slinging." But I stated the facts, and I was right.

When the candidate accepted Chapman Revercomb of West Virginia into his crusade, I pointed out that this man's record was so shameful and full of prejudice that even Thomas Dewey refused to endorse him in 1948. I stated that the present candidate must take responsibility for the company he keeps. You remember "Old Dog Tray," don't you?

The very newspapers that had praised Dewey 4 years ago, when he rejected this same association, hurled cries of "foul blow" at me, for even bringing up the subject. Dewey, himself, burst out hysterically into shouts of "lies" and "treason" aimed at the President of the United States. Yet what I had done was to point up the fact that Dewey's own conduct showed far greater scruples than the present candidate has now displayed.

The comparison was all in Dewey's favor. Perhaps that's what upset him so. Perhaps that's what disturbs the editors. Maybe they are all secretly ashamed of this man they now support.

Whatever they may feel, there's one thing I am sure of. If they are startled by the words I've used in this campaign, they should be shocked and horrified by the facts which I have brought out. Instead of hurling epithets at me, they should be calling on their favored candidate to face up to the grave defects in his own course of conduct and in his party's record.

But that, I fear, the Republican politicians and the one-party press will never do. The last thing in the world they want to do is to face the facts and run on the record. The Republicans are well aware that they cannot win this election if their past performance is exposed to public view. That is really why they yell so loudly every time I make a speech. I tell the truth on them-and it hurts!

People yell to me "Give 'em hell, Harry." Well now, I think that's a pretty bad reputation for a good Baptist to have. The only thing I am doing is telling the truth, and that's a lot worse than giving 'em hell.

You see, the whole strategy of the Republicans in this campaign has been to hide their record all they can. That's why they chose a military hero for their candidate. And that is why in the last month of the campaign, they have started to sing the "me too" song that Dewey used to sing--and the same old "me too" song that Willkie sang before him.

For 3 years and 11 months out of every 4 years, the Republicans spend their time fighting and opposing almost every measure to benefit the people and to help build up our country. They violently dislike the things the New Deal and the fair Deal stand for and they make no secret of it-in between elections.

Then, in October of each presidential election year they always realize that the people really like the progress the Democrats have brought them. So the Republicans have no choice but to start singing "me too" in the hope that you'll forget the record, or that you'll believe this deathbed repentance act of theirs is honest and sincere.

Well, you didn't believe them in 1944--and I was in that campaign, too. And you didn't believe them in 1948--and I had something to do with that campaign, too. And they have spent their time between elections proving just how right you were in not believing them.

In the campaign of 1948 they said they were for social security, then they came right back to Congress and voted against social security improvements. They said they were for housing, then they fought low-rent housing every year from 1949 up to now. They said they were for helping schools, and voted against aid to education. They said they were for helping farmers, and they voted against 90 percent price supports.
But now, in the closing weeks of this campaign they have gone back to the "me too" song once more.

They said they are for social security, although their candidate for President has compared it to being in jail.

They say they are for supporting farm prices, although they forgot to put that in their platform. I wish you would read that Republican platform. It's a "dinger." It's the best piece of gobbledegook I have run across in 44 years of reading platforms.

They say they are for labor unions, but they're going to keep the Taft-Hartley law. In fact, they endorsed it in their convention.

They say they are for civil liberties--and they ask for the reelection of Senator McCarthy to help protect the Bill of Rights. He doesn't know it's in the Constitution.

My friends, the only thing to say to this Republican "me too" campaign is the same thing you said before: "What you do speaks so loud, that I can't hear what you say." That's what you're gonna say to them.

Now, it is quite dear that the Republicans fear you may do just that. The "me too" song did not work for them in 1940, or 1944, or 1948. And this time, while they are using it, they are not counting on it quite as much as they used to. Apparently, they have decided that it is not enough, they must do something more.

And so, they have injected another element into their national campaign--the element of smear and fear, the element of slander and character assassination. If the Republicans can't fool the people on the issues, by saying "me too," they think perhaps the tactics of Joe McCarthy will get the people so confused and fearful and suspicious that they will forget the issues.

They are applying tactics to the Nation this year, that they've tested out before in certain States--in California and Maryland and Utah, among others. Now, you are seeing them tried nationally--even here in Minnesota.

In your own city this Republican smear business is now being used against one of the finest, most liberal, and loyal Americans in the Congress of the United States, my friend Gene McCarthy.

Gene McCarthy is a man who's fought his whole life against the bad conditions that breed communism here at home--a man who's fought staunchly for all our programs to stop the spread of communism abroad. He is a good father, he is a good citizen, he is a good Catholic, your own friend and townsman-and he is my friend, and I am proud to acknowledge it publicly.

My friends, if they can get away with this--if you let them smear Gene McCarthy-then I expect they'll feel their tactics can be used anywhere, any time, against anyone. They must look upon this as a real test, my friends, and so do I. For if Gene McCarthy is not safe from this sort of thing, then nobody is safe--nobody in St. Paul, nobody in Minnesota, nobody in the whole United States.

Of all the issues raised in this campaign, this is the most serious and the most dangerous. If Joe McCarthyism can triumph over a good man like Gene McCarthy, the rights and liberties of all Americans will be in deadly peril. And that means you, my friends, each and everyone of you.

We must not let this happen. You must not let it happen. It shouldn't happen anywhere.

I urge upon you, think carefully about the decision you must make next Tuesday. Do not be misled by the military splendor of a five-star candidate. Do not be misled by Republican "me too" promises that are sure to be forgotten when election time is past. Above all, do not be deceived by slander and false rumor and character assassination.

Remember who you are and what you are. You are free men and women--and Americans. You are the sovereigns in this democracy of ours. It is up to you to choose your Government--you must then live by that choice for 4 long years.

When you make that vital choice, make it in the light of the facts as they are. Make it in the light of your own interests and your country's interests. Always remember, vote for the good of this great Republic. Vote for what is good for you, and what is good for the free world.

If you do that, if you think these things through as you should, I know exactly what will happen when you go to the polls. You will vote for a fine man to represent you in the United States Senate, Bill Carlson. He will make a good teammate for Hubert Humphrey. You will vote to vindicate your friend and neighbor, Gene McCarthy. You will vote for yourselves a good progressive Governor in Orville freeman.

And for President, my friends, you will select a man who has shown courage and wisdom, and great strength of character in this campaign--a man who is talking sense to the American people, taking a stand on every issue, without fear or favor, a most able and progressive Governor of one of our great States--Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.

[5.] MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA (Pioneer Square, 12:30 p.m.)

I am certainly having a fine visit in Minnesota. I always do. I am especially glad to be in Minneapolis, the home of my good friend, that fighting liberal, Senator Hubert Humphrey.

It is gratifying to find such a splendid slate of candidates on the Democratic-farmer-Labor Party ticket. Bill Carlson has been a dynamic and progressive member of your legislature for three terms. He will make a fine Senator and a great helper to Hubert Humphrey.

Roy Wier, who just gave me that wonderful introduction, from your Third Congressional District, has a record in Congress that our party can be proud of. He represents the farmers, labor, and all the people. We need him back in Washington next year. And from your fifth District, I want you to send to Congress a good Minnesota liberal, Karl Rolvaag.

Minnesota should have a Democratic Governor next year, and the man for the job is Orville freeman.

Now, one thing about this is that these candidates represent the youth, the vigor, and the idealism that have gone into the past 20 years of Democratic progress. I hope you will elect all of them on November the 4th--and I am sure you will.

I am here today to ask you to elect, as President of the United States, one of the greatest men the Democratic Party has ever produced--Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. As I told your neighbors in St. Paul, I have been campaigning across this country for just one purpose, to tell the people the facts and the truth about the issues in this campaign. I am doing that because I want to make as certain as I can that all of you are well informed when you go to the polls next Tuesday.

I am not asking anything for myself in this election. But I am anxious, most anxious, that you have an understanding of what is at stake--for you, and for this country-to which we all owe so much.

Let me put it to you as simply and as honestly as I can. We are approaching what is probably the most important election since the Civil War. We are in what may be the most crucial stage in our progress toward lasting peace. This election may decide whether we go forward toward peace, or fall back into isolation and ultimate disaster.

Moreover, this election may decide whether we shall keep and extend the great gains in welfare and in security that have come to all our people in the past 20 years, or whether the policies that brought these gains are going to be reversed.

Today I want to talk to you briefly about the nature of our prosperity. I have discussed it before, and I will talk about it again at Hibbing tonight, in a speech which I understand will be broadcast throughout Minnesota.

I hope you will listen to it, for I will have something to say that will make the Republicans dance a jig.

The Republican Party in this election cannot deny we have prosperity. So they have tried to tell you it is somehow the wrong kind of prosperity. The first thing they would like to say is that our prosperity depends on war. That is absolutely and deliberately false. A complete answer to that charge is found in the statistics of our peacetime economy for the whole period between the end of World War II and the beginning of our current defense program.

Before the outbreak of aggression in Korea, we had achieved a peacetime prosperity that was breaking all records--whether they would be measured in jobs, production, national income, profits, or almost any other significant measure of prosperity.

What we did before Korea shows the kind of prosperity we could have, if a share of our resources were not required for defense. Then we could be building more homes, more schools, more hospitals and highways, power dams and transmission lines. We could be modernizing and expanding factories to produce more automobiles and other consumer goods, instead of weapons.

But when the Communist forces invaded the Republic of Korea in June of 1950, we had no choice but to shift a share of our resources to a great defense production program. And that defense program, my friends, is holding down prosperity, not keeping it up. Since June of 1950 we have deliberately decided to sacrifice some of our peacetime prosperity for the sake of national and world security.

I would like to remind you now of the degree of national unity we had when that decision was first made 2 years ago. There were no carping critics then, of the kind that are now leading, or misleading, the Republican Party.

Among those who supported our great military buildup to strengthen the free world against the threat of aggression was the very general who is now a candidate for President on the Republican ticket. Nearly 2 years ago he told the Congress he was terribly proud of our country for undertaking our mobilization program. But now he has forgotten to mention his pride in his country's program. Now he only says that we are on a "treadmill prosperity" because of it. He says our real income has not risen, because of the higher taxes and the higher prices that have resulted from the defense program. He implies that we shouldn't have high taxes. And in the same breath he promises to reduce prices.

Now, anybody who knows anything about economics knows you can't keep taxes low in a time of heavy expenditures and still hold prices down. Everybody knows that if we had not levied higher taxes when we did, we would simply have more inflation.

This administration has tried to pay as we go for the cost of national defense. How would the Republican candidate have done it? I don't know. Would he have kept taxes down and borrowed the money to finance the program? He must know that the bigger the borrowing the greater the inflationary pressure.

Would he have met this pressure with firm price controls, or would he have lined up with the majority of Republicans in Congress who are opposed to price controls ?

He has actually suggested, on several occasions, that he too is an enemy of price controls. The latest instance was only last night at Pittsburgh. There he criticized what he called Government interference with labor-management relations. He referred to the steel and coal cases, where the Government had to consider the terms of settlement, in order to carry out wage and price controls.

If the Republican candidate is against This kind of Government participation, then he can only mean to scrap these controls-and without them there is no effective way to check the inflation he claims to be against.

To be at one and the same time for the defense program, but against taxes and opposed to price control, may sound like smart politics to a candidate who doesn't know the facts, or doesn't care. Perhaps it even sounds like sensible economics to a man whose life has been spent on Army posts. But the American people know more about the economic facts of life than he apparently has ever learned. They can't afford this kind of ignorance or confusion-or sheer hypocrisy--in the President of the United States.

I have gone into this in some detail, not only to tell you that your prosperity is real, but to show you what kind of campaign the Republican candidate is carrying on.

He has shown that he will say almost anything he thinks might help him get votes. He will say one thing in New York, another thing in South Carolina. He will say one thing in California and another thing in Pennsylvania. Now, I don't know whether he understands that the news in this country is universal or not--that what I say is true, what I say here will be heard in California--and what he says in Pennsylvania will be heard in the great State of Washington. He will play on your natural desire for lower taxes by suggesting that present taxes aren't necessary, when he either does or should know they are absolutely vital. He will play on your resentment of high prices by promising to bring them down--and he will still be against controlling prices. He will play on the hopes and fears of wives and mothers by pretending he knows how to end the Korean war--when he knows of no solution.

I know he knows of no solution because I made him Chief of Staff. I put him in command of NATO--the European defense recovery program. He was my military adviser-one of the principal ones up to the time he decided to run for President. And if he knew any panacea to end the Korean situation, he should have told me and not make a campaign issue out of it.

He will play on the hopes of our young men by implying that he has a way to stop the draft, when he knows very well it is essential now to maintain the Armed forces we must have.

And it goes on--it is indeed a strange crusade. It is a crusade that constantly misrepresents the facts, and confuses the issues. It is a crusade that plays brutally and cynically on whatever anxieties and fears the candidate can find or create among the voters.

The campaign that Adlai Stevenson has conducted must seem to you--as it does to me--to be an immensely refreshing contrast. It is a campaign of honesty, sincerity, consistency, and high principle.

I urge you to listen to Adlai Stevenson every chance you get between now and Tuesday, and get to know him well. He is a man you can trust. Here is a man who can give our country the leadership it needs for the next 4 years.

So get out next Tuesday and look after your own interests. Remember that the welfare of this great Republic is at stake. Remember that the Bill of Rights, the principal part of the Constitution of the United States, is at stake in this campaign. Remember that the welfare of the free world is at stake. And the next thing that is most important to you is to do a little thinking. Use your head. This is your country. You are the boss. You exercise that authority on next Tuesday.

If you exercise it correctly, you will send Adlai Stevenson to the White House, and we will have 4 more years of good government.

[6.] DULUTH, MINNESOTA (Near the train, 4:58 p.m.)

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. It was just 96 in the shade that day I was here that he was talking about, and everybody I met--and I met a lot of people--said that didn't happen, it was just an accident. Maybe it was because I was there, stirring up things--like I am trying to do today.

I appreciate very much this wonderful reception. It is wonderful. You know, of course, if you haven't heard--I will let you in on a secret--I am not running for office this time, but I have been delighted with the way people all over the country have turned out to listen to what I have to say now on this campaign trip for the Democratic ticket.

You have a good Democratic slate here in Minnesota. For the Senate, Bill Carlson, whom you should send to the Senate to work with Senator Humphrey in the interest of all the 'people. He will make you a good Senator.

For Congress, John Blatnik. We call him "Mr. St. Lawrence Seaway" himself. John Blatnik has never let up in his fight for the St. Lawrence project. He has really understood what it would mean for this area and for the whole country to have oceangoing travel between Duluth and European ports. So you just be sure to keep him in the Congress where he can continue the fight for this great project.
For Governor, Orville freeman. He is a fine young man. He will restore proper law enforcement in your State. He is the kind of man the Democratic Party is proud to have on the ticket.

This year the Democratic Party offers the country two national candidates of outstanding ability--Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman. They understand the vital issues of our day, and they are telling the people just where they stand on every one of them. Their positions on these issues have not changed one bit throughout the entire campaign, regardless of which one of the 48 States they visited.

But that is not the way the Republican candidate for President has been conducting his campaign. In his travels across the country he has developed a new position on about every issue--depending upon which wing of the Republican Party he is courting at the time, and which local issue he is exploiting. I imagine he is getting pretty embarrassed by some of this now, so when he gets a chance he harps back to a story he has been peddling for quite a while now. It is the story about how badly off the people are after 20 years with the New Deal and the fair Deal.

Now I have been up and down this country from one end to the other, and at one time the Republican candidate for President remarked that the country was a wreck. Well, it's the livest wreck I ever saw in my life, and I think everybody liked it. I have never seen a more prosperous layout in this great United States than we have now.

This prosperity seems to be driving the Republicans crazy. They just go round and round and round--they are trying to stop it, but they don't know how. They can't bear to see the country so well off under the Democrats, so they are doing their best to try to explain it away. They are trying to tell you that our prosperity can't last, because they say that the defense effort is the only thing holding up the economy. That is not true. Our prosperity is sound and it is healthy. Right now we have a total national production of about $340 billion. Defense production accounts for less than a sixth of it.

Now, get this straight. If it were not for the defense effort, we would be even more prosperous than we are today. The defense effort is making us postpone and put off a lot of things we need, things that would make our country greater and stronger.

Take the situation right here in Duluth. Your harbor handled more than 73 million tons of cargo in 1951--second only to waterborne commerce in New York Harbor. Just this year Congress passed a law authorizing the deepening of the channel, and when this is completed you will be able to handle even greater tonnage.

When the St. Lawrence Seaway is completed-as it will be, someday--your transportation industry will boom to even greater heights than you know now. And when the full uses of the taconite ore are developed, a whole new industry will be brought to this area. In all these ways the future holds out promise of even greater prosperity. And as soon as we can ease off on defense, more attention can be devoted to all these problems.

There need be no depression in this country, if you keep the kind of government in Washington that understands these things and will help get new production going in the right 'places and at the right time. That is one thing the Democratic Party knows how to do, and we have proved it.

For the first time in history, we have kept the country out of a depression after a big war. That was in 1945 and 1946. In 1949, when things started to slide back, we took quick and immediate action, and by the spring of 1950 we were back in boom times again.

That was before Korea started. The defense buildup had nothing whatever to do with it. Now the Republican candidate for President is making all sorts of promises in the world about assuring prosperity under Republican leadership. But he is in no position to make good on those promises any more than he can make good on the other easy promises he is pulling out of his hat these last days before the election. And that goes for his grandstanding on Korea, just like everything else.

The General has lived the specialized life of a soldier. He has been a fine military man, but the Army is all he has ever known in his whole life. Now he is surrounded by the Republican Old Guard, the very men who have opposed every progressive program that the New Deal and the fair Deal have put out and that has led this country to prosperity and world leadership. Those old mossbacks have taken the General into camp completely. They don't let him find out a thing about what is going on.

A combination like this not only could bring on the worst depression we have ever known, it could well result in the loss of every gain we have made in the past 7 years in the struggle for world peace.

I am going to make a speech tonight in Hibbing, telling you just why the Republican Party cannot be trusted to keep this country prosperous and secure. I hope you will all listen to that speech over the radio.

But remember this. You cannot afford to take a chance on turning your country over to a confused general who is just a "babe in the woods"--and Senator Taft controls the woods.

You cannot trust our prosperity to a combination like that. You most surely cannot trust them with the peace of the world.

Think things over carefully. Think of your own interests, and think of the interests and the welfare of the greatest Nation the sun ever shone upon. We have the greatest and the most powerful nation in the history of the world. The Office of President is the greatest and most powerful office that ever was, and you must be very careful that you put a man in that office that you can trust, a man who understands what goes on in the world, as well as what goes on in this country.

If you do that, you will go to the polls and vote for the party that has always worked for all the people and has faced up to the responsibilities of leadership in the fight for peace.

If you do that--if you do a little thinking--that's all I am trying to get you to do, I am just trying to get you to study the record, I want you to study the record of the Republicans in Congress and the Democrats in Congress, and then I want you to think about the welfare of the greatest nation in history, I want you to think about your own welfare--and if you do that, you will elect Adlai Stevenson President of the United States on the 4th day of November, and we will have 4 more years of good government.
Thank you very much.