Rear Platform Remarks in Indiana and Illinois

[1.] VINCENNES, INDIANA (Rear platform, 7:20 a.m.)

• . . greet your President. It is a pleasure to me, and I feel it as a great compliment. You know, I am in this thing because I think the welfare of the country and the world is at stake. I have been your President for a little over 7 years. I have tried to give you the best service possible. I could have run again, but I felt that leadership should be continuous, that one man should not be placed in the control of the Government. I will be 69 years old in May, and that is far beyond the retirement years for military men.

I have been going up and down the country telling people what I believe they ought to hear. I am trying to get them to think• I am trying to get them to understand what the issues are, and I have put the issues before the country, and I think people have started to think. And I hope you will do some thinking. I am in earnest about that. It is necessary that you understand just exactly the situation with which we are faced.

We have been fighting a cold war. We wanted peace after the Second World War was over. We did everything we possibly could to get it. We signed agreements with all the world powers• Those agreements have been broken and not kept by the Soviets. They have made every effort possible to take over the free world. We can't allow that to happen, because if they take over the free world, we will have our backs to the wall by ourselves facing this situation. That is the reason we have been willing to help our allies improve their position of defense• That is the reason we have been improving our own defenses. That is the reason we have to meet aggression in Korea.

Now there is a young man, a captain of the Army in Korea, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, and he came back home on this rotation program that we have for bringing the soldiers back in turn. And they asked him down there in Wichita what he thought about the situation and why we were fighting in Korea. Well, he said, all the soldiers and all the men in Korea understand why we are fighting there, the only confusion is in the United States, and that has been put up there purposely for political purposes. He said we are fighting in Korea so we won't have to fight in Wichita. And that is the answer, my friends. We are holding this aggressive approach back, trying to prevent an embroilment of the whole world in another war. We are trying to put before the country the principles and the policy of the Democratic Party over the last 20 years, which has brought about a prosperity that has never existed in any country in the history of the world, except this one, over the last 20 years.

We have tried to bring about a social balance. We have tried to make it possible for the farmer to have a good income. We have made it possible for labor to be in a bargaining position where they could talk to the big fellows who control things. And if you will study the situation, you will find that the income of the farmer, the income of the man who works, and the income of the small businessman, and the income of the big businessman--believe it or not--is better than it ever has been in the history of the world.

I want you to take all these things into consideration, and if you think about them-I am not trying to high-pressure you into doing anything--I want you to think about the situation, I want you to think about the situation of the free world, I want you to think about the situation of your own great country, and I want you to think about your own welfare, and what it means to you, to have a situation continue which gives everybody a fair deal and a fair chance.

If you do that, you can't do anything else but send Adlai Stevenson to the White House, and we will just have 4 more years of good government.

[2.] TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA (Rear platform, 8:50 a.m.)

I am happy to be back in Terre Haute today, on my way home to Missouri to vote next Tuesday.

For the President and the Vice President of the United States, I am going to vote for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman, and I hope all the rest of you do.

And I hope you will vote for the right kind of Democratic Congress that will back those two gentlemen up.

For nearly 6 weeks now, I have been traveling across the country urging people to think about their responsibilities in the election next Tuesday.

This is a tremendously important election, important to our country and to every one of you. For what is said and done by the Government we vote into power on November the 4th, may well decide whether we shall have prosperity or depression--peace or war.

Now, the election of a President, the man who is to lead this country in times of crisis and decision, is not something to be taken lightly, I think you understand that very well. One of the principal reasons why I have been going up and down the country has been to try to get people to think. If they will just think, they can't do but one thing.

This is not a popularity contest. This is a matter of bread and butter--your bread and butter. It is a matter of your safety and your children's safety in this atomic age.

The President of the United States, my friends, must make some of the hardest and gravest decisions ever given to any man to make. And nobody knows that better than I do.

This is why I have spent so much time in this campaign urging the voters to consider very carefully the qualifications of the two presidential candidates.

I have also urged the people to consider the qualifications of the candidates for Vice President, the men who would stand just one heartbeat from the highest office in our land.

Now this raises a problem I should like to talk to you about today.

Only three Presidents in our history were older when they were first inaugurated than the Republican candidate for President would be if he were elected. He would be only 1 year younger than President Roosevelt was when he died. Seven of our Presidents have died in office and have been succeeded by their Vice President.

I think you will agree that it is important for us to know just what kind of man the Republican candidate for President has chosen as his running mate.

Richard Nixon's entire experience in political office consists of the 4 years he spent in the House of Representatives from 1946 to 1950, and the 2 years he's been in the Senate since. That is not a very long career to prepare a man for the Presidency. But it has been time enough for him to show beyond a doubt that he is one of the most thoroughgoing reactionaries in public life today.

Senator Nixon's voting record has always been reactionary on domestic policy and frequently isolationist on foreign policy. He is an outstanding example of young blood in the hardened arteries of the Republican Old Guard. He expresses clearly the close connection between the Republican leadership in the Congress and the big business and financial interests who pay the party's bills and set the policies it follows.

You may have heard something about the contributions a "millionaires' club" made to help Richard Nixon get along in life. They gave him a fund of $18,000--almost $900 a month--while he was Senator. Now, I'm not going to express any opinion about that fund--whether it was ethical or not. I leave that to you to judge. But I do want to call to your attention the fact that Senator Nixon has proved himself a good investment for those fund contributors.

That "millionaires' club" included men whose business interests were oil, real estate, big manufacturing, banking, and insurance. Now, I urge you to compare these interests with the way the Republican vice-presidential candidate has voted in the Congress. You'll find out why they thought he was worth a little subsidy.

Let me give you some examples: The Republican candidate for Vice President voted to give away your offshore oil--oil the Supreme Court says belongs to you and all the rest of the people in this country. That's why the oil men like him so much.

He has voted against the people on low-rent housing, on slum clearance, on farm housing, and on effective rent controls. That's why the real estate crowd thinks so much of him.

He has voted time after time against effective price controls. That's one reason why the big corporations like him so much.

He was one of the leaders in the fight for the House version of the Taft-Hartley Act-which was even more violently antilabor than the final product. That's why he's a favorite of the National Association of Manufacturers.

He has voted for cutbacks in social security, and against the expansion of the social security program. That's one of the reasons he's in good with some of the big insurance executives, who still don't realize that social security has helped the private insurance companies.

He has voted against the people in supporting special tax benefits for big business and the rich--and he has opposed making them pay their fair share of our defense costs. That is one of the reasons why all the money interests have befriended him.

Even where the big business lobbies do not seem to have a special axe to grind, Senator Nixon has followed a pattern of voting against measures that mean progress for the ordinary people of this country.

He comes from California, a western State with a fine liberal tradition. Yet, he has consistently voted wrong on civil rights.

He comes from a part of the country that has been traditionally internationalist in outlook, with special interests in the countries of the far East. Yet his voting record on our programs of international cooperation is little better than that of the most isolationist Republicans. And he actually cast the deciding vote against aid to the Republic of Korea, 5 months before the Communist invasion of that country.

These, my friends, are only highlights of the record that this man has made in his short career in public life. I have not time to tell you of his many votes against farm programs, against the electric power programs, against our efforts to correct the discriminatory features of the immigration laws. But as you might expect, he has voted wrong on all these things and many more every time he has had a chance.

Now, these are the facts that show the attitudes and outlook of the man who might well become President of the United States, if the Republicans should win the election next Tuesday.

It is a dismal prospect, one that should make you think long and carefully before you vote. These facts came out of the Congressional Record. You can verify them. If you have got time and the inclination, go to the library and get the Congressional Record and see the facts just as I have stated to you. That is what I have been doing all up and down the country. I have been telling the facts. The Republican Old Guard doesn't like it. They can't stand the facts.

It is a good thing for this Republic that the people need not make a choice like that. Fortunately, the Democratic Party offers you a fine alternative.

On the Democratic side, you have not only a presidential candidate of outstanding ability and a deep comprehension of the American liberal tradition, but you have a fine vice-presidential candidate with one of the most distinguished liberal careers in the Congress.

Senator Sparkman's voting record shows very plainly that he has been on the side of the people as consistently as Senator Nixon has been against them.

Though he comes from the South, he helped to write the finest plank on civil rights that has ever appeared in the platform of either party. He stands squarely on that platform as an outstanding progressive southerner. He is an honorable man, and when he tells you that he stands on the platform, he means it, and he will carry it out.

Don't take a chance with your vote next Tuesday. There is too much at stake. You can't afford to turn this great country of ours back to the Old Guard Republicans. They brought on the Great Depression of the 1930's, and their isolationist foreign policies would throw to the winds the allies we must have in our fight for freedom. That would greatly increase the danger of another world war.

Be sure of your own welfare when you vote next Tuesday. Cast your vote for prosperity at home and for a strong defense against Communist aggression abroad.

I am urging you to vote the Democratic ticket.

Send Governor Schricker to the Senate. Send Jack Mankin to the House of Representatives. Send John Watkins to the Governor's office in Indianapolis.

And then wind up your voting career by voting for Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman, and we will have 4 more years of good government.

[3.] DANVILLE, ILLINOIS (Rear platform, 11:28 a.m.)

I am more than happy to be back in Danville once again. When I was here in 1948 I asked you to vote for Adlai Stevenson for Governor of Illinois. He has been a great Governor, as you know. I only hope that by this time all the people of the United States know Adlai Stevenson, too. If they do, there is no question but what he will be the next President of the United States, and a President who will rank in history with the other great President who came from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln.

You know, I got acquainted with politics when I was 8 years old. That was back in 1892, when Adlai Stevenson's grandfather was running for Vice President with Grover Cleveland. I had a campaign cap which said "Cleveland and Stevenson" on it. Some big Republican boys took my cap away from me and tore it up--and the Republicans have been trying to snatch things away from me ever since. They have never had much luck at it, though. We just don't let them get away with it. What's more, I don't think the American people are going to let the Republicans take away the gains you have made in the past 20 years.

I have made over 200 speeches and traveled 18,000 miles during this campaign, to give the people the facts on the Republican record and the Democratic record. Just read the record for yourselves and you will see that the Republican Party has been consistently against the things for which the New Deal and the fair Deal have stood for the welfare of the country.

'They voted against farm price supports, against social security, against minimum wage laws, against public housing, against full employment measures--they have been against everything that is for the welfare of the people.

On the other hand, you will see that the Democratic Party has always fought for the welfare of the people, and has brought this country to the greatest prosperity we have ever known.

About the only thing the Republicans are for is what they call a "change." I have a copy here of the October 26th Danville Commercial-News. You all know this paper doesn't like the Democrats any more than most of the publishers in the country. Now the working newspapermen are all for Stevenson--but the publishers are not.

This newspaper has an editorial that says it's time for a change--time for a change in Washington. But right in the very next column, the same newspaper has a story headed "Do you remember--20 years ago-October 26th, 1932"--now I am quoting from the newspaper--it is just as interesting as it can be. It says:

"The lowest price for wheat in the history of the Chicago Board of Trade was chalked up today when December delivery contracts sell down to 44 cents a bushel." They want to "change" back to that--this is what their editorial says.

The Republicans would give you a change, all right. I don't know whether they would take you all the way back to 1932 on farm policy--but they would go part of the way back, anyway.

The Republicans in Congress opposed most of the Democratic farm programs that brought to an end the chronic Republican farm depression of the 1920's. You might think that by now they would go along with our programs.

But only this year the Republicans in the House of Representatives, by a majority vote, voted against price supports at 90 percent of parity. Senator Taft, who would control the Congress in a Republican administration, said that if he had been in town he would have voted against it, too.

The last time the Republicans had control of the Congress, you remember, in 1948, they enacted the sliding scale, which would let price supports go down as low as 60 percent of parity.

Right now, if the Republican sliding scale was in effect, the support price for corn could be as low as $1.18 a bushel. Under our 90 percent program, it is now supported at $1.66 a bushel. You can hardly have a healthy, strong America without a prosperous agriculture. And 60 percent of parity is not prosperity for the farmer.

The Republican candidate has not said where he stands on price supports. He says he will figure something out before the present Democratic law expires. But you know that Senator Taft would dominate a Republican Congress--and you know exactly where he stands.

You can't afford to take a chance on the Republican record--a Republican Congress-or the Republican candidate--to maintain either farm prosperity or industrial prosperity.

You can't trust them on the matter of world peace, either. We have been building our military strength, and the strength of our allies, to meet the threat of Communist aggression. But the Republican isolationists have voted to cripple our efforts to prevent a third world war. If they had their way, very soon we would be left alone with no friends or allies. The Republican isolationists would tear down the work we have done for world peace, and risk plunging this country into a third world war.

Think about these things when you go to the polls on Tuesday. Vote for the safety of this country. Vote for your own prosperity. And vote for Sherwood Dixon for Governor. Vote for John Kinneman for Congress, and send Governor Stevenson to the White House and we will have 4 more years of prosperity.

[4.] DECATUR, ILLINOIS (Rear platform, 1:02 p.m.)

I certainly do appreciate this most cordial welcome. It is a great pleasure indeed to be back here in Decatur. I am on my way home today. This may be the last time I will be seeing you as President of the United States. For the past 7 years that I have been President, the world has been passing through a very, very critical period.

Once again we face the worldwide threat of aggression. The policy of this country is to build the strength of the free world to meet that threat, and we are meeting the Communist challenge and hurling it back.

In June 1950 the leaders of the Kremlin directed the aggression against Korea, in one of the most brutal attacks in the history of the world. The free world stopped that aggression in Korea, and I am proud of what our soldiers have done there.

Our soldiers are fighting in Korea so we won't have to fight in Denver or Detroit or Decatur. I resent the efforts of the Republican candidates who try to say that our men in Korea are fighting a useless war. They are fighting to protect our safety and freedom, and to prevent an atomic war.

When the Republican candidate for President was here in Decatur a few weeks ago, he promised to eliminate our losses in Korea, and he promised to avoid future Koreas. He said the battleline today should be manned primarily by South Koreans.

Now, what do you suppose our fighting men over in Korea think of these speeches the General has been making? I will tell you. I have here an article from yesterday's New York Times, a paper that favors the Republican candidate. This article was written by a reporter at the fighting front out in Korea, and here is what it says:

"In an informal sampling of American soldiers fighting in Korea, it was revealed that with surprising unanimity they disapproved of any plan that would take United States troops off the frontline .... Officers and enlisted men alike--all of whom now are actively engaged in the fighting--feel any such withdrawal would be disastrous ....All of those who were questioned shared the view that United States divisions must remain on the front for the present ....'We can't get out now--it wouldn't work,' said Sergeant James Shatto of Purdin, Mississippi .... 'It would just mean that we would be making another landing in Pusan within a few weeks,' said Corporal Harvey D. Jones of Crumpler, West Virginia ....He observed that since this was a United Nations war, the United States was obligated to share in the fighting and not remain in the rear and 'let the others do the dirty work.'"

I want you to understand that these men did not mean any slur against the valor of our South Korean allies who are fighting side by side with them.

This article goes on to say that all our men, and I quote--expressed "great admiration for the fighting capabilities of their Korean allies .... Nevertheless, all of the Americans questioned felt that the Koreans were not yet ready to assume full responsibility for holding the line against a tough and aggressive Chinese foe."

Now these men are right. That is what makes the Republican candidate's statements about South Korean troops so ill-advised. He talks as though we were not already doing all we could to use South Koreans. Actually, there is now a South Korean army of 400,000 men, we have built up from scratch in just 2 years. We are increasing it just as fast as we can. But it takes a lot of time and training to make a good modern army. Just as these men say, the South Korean forces are not ready yet to take on the whole job alone.

Now, the Republican candidate for President ought to know this as well as I do. The generals who are guiding our effort in Korea are his old comrades in arms. He has available to him plenty of good information as to what goes on there. There is no excuse for him to be inaccurate about it.

Now, there is one more thing in this New York Times story I wanted to read to you. It says, "A great majority of the soldiers could not understand what benefit could result from a personal visit by General Eisenhower to Korea if he were elected President."

Now this is the article that was written at the front. I am still quoting from the article written for the New York Times--which is for Eisenhower.

"Most of the interviewed were puzzled by, rather than opposed to the Eisenhower visit. They could not see what General Eisenhower would accomplish if he were to come here personally, and were worried that he might come, settle nothing, and leave with the United States prestige and bargaining positions considerably weakened by a fruitless visit .... The officers interviewed, all of junior rank, also were outspoken in ascribing Eisenhower's proposal to political motives." They were right, too.

I have read you this article so you would know what the men who are doing the fighting think of the statements on Korea, which the Republican candidate for President has been making so widely and loosely these days.

I urge you to contrast the General's statements with what your own great Governor has been saying in his capacity as Democratic nominee for President. He has made no easy promises. He has held out no false hopes. He has been honest and direct and clear-minded about this whole problem. He has been as honest with you as he is honest with himself.

My friends, the contrast between these two men on this vital issue is a good example of the difference in the way they have approached all the great issues of this campaign. It is a good illustration of why the voters of this country should reject the professional soldier in his bid for the highest civilian office in the land--and vote instead for an experienced and wise civilian leader, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.

The only reason I have been going up and down the country laying out the facts and the issues to the people is because I want them to do a little thinking for themselves. I want them to think about the welfare of the free world--and that is ourselves and our allies. I want them to think about the welfare of this great country of ours, whose whole existence is at stake if something goes wrong.

Then I want you to think about your own situation. Back here in Danville, I read a 20-year-ago column from a Danville paper-which hates me like the devil hates holy water--and it quoted accidentally alongside a column where it said you ought to have a change in Washington. It said that this day--October 26th, that was--on the Chicago market in 1932, wheat reached the all-time low of 44 cents a bushel. And what the paper was saying in the other column was, let's go back to that.

They didn't like it very well, when I got through with what I was saying. And that is what I want you to think about. I want you to think about your own condition-how you were fixed--how you were fixed when these Republicans had control of the Government. And how you are fixed now.

Give those things thought, and remember that all we are working for is to maintain the prosperity of this great Nation, and to maintain peace in the world and keep the world from going into an atomic war which would destroy us all.

Then you can go to the polls, and I know you will vote for what is right--you will vote for Dave Beggs of Decatur for Congress, you will elect Sherwood Dixon for Governor, and you will send Adlai Stevenson to the White House and we will have 4 years of good government.

[5.] TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS (Rear platform, 1:47 p.m.)

You know, I certainly appreciate that greeting. I know you have been doing some thinking. I am sure that you have been reading my speeches, and believing them-and that is what I want you to do.

You know, this is the last day of my campaign tour. I have been about 18,500 miles, and I have made 206 appearances, and I believe we have done a little good for the Democratic Party.

I have been traveling up and down the country for the last 6 weeks, doing everything in my power to make sure that the people understand the issues.

Next Tuesday you will be making one of the most important decisions of your lives. You will be deciding whether or not this country is to continue on the road to prosperity and lasting peace. The issues are just as clear and just as simple as that.

For 20 years now the people of this country have placed their faith in the Democratic Party, and we have not let them down. We have developed programs which have led this Nation to the greatest prosperity in its history. We have joined with the free countries of the world in a stand against Communist aggression. Our leadership in this struggle is the last hope for world peace. Almost every single one of the gains we have made over the last 20 years has come about only after we have defeated the determined opposition of the reactionary leaders in the Republican Party--the same reactionary wing of the Republican Old Guard which is in control of the Republican Party today. If these Republicans gain control of our Government, the programs which have meant so much to the workingman, the farmer, and the small businessman may be wrecked.

Now I am particularly anxious that the farmers should consider their condition. You remember in 1948, I came up and down this part of the great State of Illinois and told the farmers just exactly what was happening to them as a result of the actions of the 80th Congress. The 81st Congress cured that action. But no longer ago than just recently, in this last Congress, the Republicans made a sincere effort to go back to what the 80th Congress had done to the people in the farm belt. Now, if they had succeeded in doing what they proposed to do, your support price for corn in this part of the world would have been $1.28 instead of $1.60. They say how much they love you--how much they want to do for you--but if you let them do it--as I said before--you ought to have your heads examined.

Now, what we have tried to do, and what we have succeeded in doing, has been to balance the income of this country so the workingman got a fair share of it. He has been bargaining collectively with the biggest of the employers to get fair wages. The farmers have received fair prices for their crops, and the businessmen have all been prosperous. Our national income is at $277 billion--the output of the manufacturers, and the farmers' output is at $340 billion. Never was anything like it in the history of the world.

But the Republicans--if they get control, they will fix you, all right.

I was reading a paper back here in Danville, Illinois. It had a 20-year-ago column in it next to an editorial which said how bad I am and there ought to be a change in Washington. But right along parallel was this 20-year-ago column which said on that day--which was October 26th, just 20 years ago--the lowest price on wheat had been reached on the Chicago Board of Trade at 44 cents.

Now, if you want a change and want to go back to that, why that's your funeral. I am just warning you.

Now, today we are fighting in Korea alongside of our allies so that we may never have to fight within our own borders in a third world war. But if the Republicans have their way, we may be left without a single strong ally in the struggle against Communist aggression.

The American people do not have to take a chance on the Republican Old Guard. They can continue to place their faith in the Democratic Party, the party that has worked unceasingly in the interests of all the plain, everyday people. They can put their trust in the men of proven ability who head the Democratic ticket--John Sparkman and your Governor, Adlai Stevenson.

All I ask you to do is look at the record. That is what I have been going up and down this country for, to get people to think--to look at the record. Study the votes of the Republicans and the Democrats in the Congress. Compare the qualifications of the candidates, and then vote for the welfare of this great Nation of ours--and for your own interests, in your own interests.

And if you do just that, I have no doubt of the outcome. Peter Mack will continue his fine work for you in the Congress, Sherwood Dixon will be your next Governor, and Sparkman and Stevenson will go to Washington, and we will have 4 years of good government.

[6.] LITCHFIELD, ILLINOIS (Rear platform, 2:32 p.m.)

I certainly do appreciate this most cordial greeting. I understand this is the first time in the 99-year history of Litchfield that you have been visited by a President of the United States. I hope you won't be too badly disappointed.

I am out campaigning for the man who is going to be the next President of the United States--your own good Governor, Adlai Stevenson.

I am on my way home. This is my last day of whistlestop speaking in this campaign. I want to say, though, that I don't intend to fade away. I am going to keep right on fighting for the welfare of the common people. After Adlai Stevenson is elected President, I will do whatever I can to help him to carry on the great principles of the Democratic Party, of the New Deal and the fair Deal.

I have come to the conclusion that I have had every honor that the Democratic Party can give to a man. Therefore, I feel it is my duty to do everything I can to help the Democratic Party. That is the reason I am out campaigning for the election of Stevenson and Sparkman.

Tonight I am going to make a speech in St. Louis, which will set forth the reasons why you should vote for the Democratic Party--the party which means prosperity and progress in the interests of the average man. I hope you will have a chance to tune in on my St. Louis speech.

During the past 2 months I have traveled 18,000 miles, made over 200 speeches. I believe that this is the most important election since the Civil War, because your future safety and the peace of the world are at stake in this election. Your own pocketbook and paychecks are at stake in this election.
A vote for the Republican candidate is a vote for letting the Old Guard Republicans take over Congress. These men are political mossbacks. They have shown by their record in Congress that they do not believe in social security, in full employment, in fair farm price supports, and all the other Democratic measures which have brought this country the greatest prosperity it has ever known.

The Old Guard Republicans have shown by their record in Congress that they are isolationists. They do not believe in strengthening our allies against the Communist aggression. Time after time those isolationist Republicans have voted to cripple the Democratic Party programs--the programs to strengthen and unite the free world against the threat of Communist aggression.

Don't vote to turn the clock back, my friends. Move forward with the party that believes in progress--and that is the Democratic Party.

The other day, someone sent me a copy of your local newspaper, the Litchfield News-Herald. As you know, 90 percent of the press is against Governor Stevenson, and the press is fighting him just like they fought franklin Roosevelt, and just like they fought me all along. If they didn't fight me, I would know I was wrong.

So it is very, very refreshing to see a newspaper like the one you have here in Litchfield. And I want to read you a few sentences from a fine front-page editorial in the Litchfield News-Herald, October 28.

"Continued prosperity among the workingmen and the farmers--our readers--depends upon political philosophy more than one might realize .... The farm depression of the 1920's and early thirties was not a happenstance. It was the direct result of the political philosophy of the party then in power, and which seeks a return to power this year .... We in Litchfield have been fortunate in being able to measure the administrative abilities of Governor Stevenson over the past 3 years and 10 months. Noticeable achievements in State government have been attained during his administration .... Only once previously in our history have the people of Illinois had the opportunity of sending a fellow citizen to the White House. At the time of his campaign, none considered him a leader of men nor a national hero like his opponent .... Yet humble Abraham Lincoln, the man with the deep-rooted convictions of the Prairie State, saved the Union and the Nation is still in debt to Illinois."

Now that is what your good paper had to say about it--and it makes good sense. That editorial makes good sense. When you go to the polls next Tuesday, use your heads. Remember that your interests are at stake. Remember that the interests of this great Nation of ours are at stake--and the free world. The welfare of the free world will be at stake. When you go to vote, you yourselves are responsible for the kind of government we have.

That is the reason I have been going up and down the country trying to get the people to think. If they will just think--think of the welfare of the country, and think of their own welfare, you can't do anything else but send Carl Johnston to Congress, elect Sherwood Dixon for Governor, and send your great Governor, Adlai Stevenson, to the White House, and the country will be safe for another 4 years.

[7.] GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS (Rear platform, 3:40 p.m.)

I certainly do appreciate this wonderful reception here in Granite City. I know I am among real friends in Granite City. You came through for me in fine style in 1948, and I want to tell you I needed it then. I know you are going to do even better this time for the man who is heading the Democratic ticket this year--your own great Governor, Adlai Stevenson.

This is a very special occasion for me. This is the last whistlestop speech I shall make from this campaign train. It is the last time when as President of the United States I shall talk to the people in "whistlestop" crowds like this about the issues in the election. I kind of hate to give it up.

Let me tell you something else. I don't want the Republicans to get their hopes up too high. This is far from the last time that I shall be campaigning for the Democratic ticket and the Democratic Party. My party has given me every honor it can bestow upon a man, and I am not the kind of person who gets everything he can out of a party and then goes over to the other side, like some of them do. You know, I have known people who have had every honor that the Democratic Party can give them, and then when the Democratic Party needs them they will go out with the rich boys and see if they can't help themselves on the other side and let the Democratic Party go "flooey." I don't like it--I don't like it.

So long as I have the strength to do it, I shall go on fighting for the Democratic Party and the things it believes in and stands for.

You know, I started these whistlestop trips over 4 years ago for one main reason. I knew that if I could only get the facts to the people, they would do the right thing in their own interest. That is just what happened in 1948. The people got the facts, and they voted for the Democratic Party--the party that has always worked in the interests of all the people.

My experience in 1948 proved something I have always known in my 40 years of politics. If the people get the truth, they can be trusted to look out for their own welfare, and the welfare of their great country. That is the basic principle I have followed in my 7 years as President of the United States.

And my faith in this principle has been mighty important to me in the difficult years that I have spent in the White House. The Democratic Party has always relied upon the good sense of the American people. It is willing to place the record of its accomplishments before the people and let them use their judgment.

That is just what the Democratic candidates have been doing in this campaign. They have gone across the country talking sense to the people, and telling them about the record of the Democratic Party--and they are telling it by chapter and verse, and by the record.

But, my friends, the Republican candidates do not dare campaign on the record of their party, because it is just plain bad.

On the domestic side, the Democratic Party can point to a record of accomplishments which have brought the country the greatest prosperity in history. We have developed sound programs for the workers, for the farmers, for the small businessman, and as they have prospered, the entire country has prospered, and everyone has had a hand in that prosperity and a part of it.

The Republican record shows a long line of stubborn opposition to the measures of the New Deal and the fair Deal--the programs that have brought such great returns to the American people.

In the international field, this country under Democratic leadership has mobilized the free nations of the world in a determined stand against Communist aggression. The hope of all civilization rests upon the outcome of our efforts.

But the Republican record shows they have tried time and again to kill or cripple the programs that have meant life or death for our allies in this great struggle.

And my friends, the Republican campaign this year is being run by the same reactionary Old Guard which has built up this long record of opposition to everything that is good for the people of this great country of ours. It would be bad enough if these reactionaries were given a chance to wreck the programs that have brought prosperity to our country; but it will be an even greater tragedy if these same reactionaries were put into a position where they could ruin our efforts for world peace. We can work for peace only if the free nations of the world continue their opposition to Soviet expansion. That means building up our own strength and the strength of our allies. And it means continuing our efforts to oppose aggression, as we are doing in Korea, without getting involved in a third world war.

But the Republicans just don't understand those policies. If they had their way, we would not have a single strong ally in the world today. And I say that with conviction, and I know what I am talking about, for I have been sitting where I could find out the truth.

That is why I consider this election one of the most important elections in history.

Next Tuesday the voters will be deciding whether or not this country is to continue on the road to lasting prosperity and world peace. Bear that in mind, now. That is what I want you to think about.

For 6 weeks I have been traveling up and down this country, doing all in my power to make the people understand what is at stake. I want them to do a little thinking on their own account. I want you to use your heads. And if you do that, you will be safe.

I have been urging them--just as I urge you now--to look at the record and find out which party has been working in the interests of all the plain, everyday people. Study the votes of the Republicans and the Democrats in the Congress. Compare the qualifications of each candidate for the greatest position in the history of the world. The Presidency is the most powerful and the greatest job that ever has happened in the history of this world. And this country is responsible for the welfare of the free world. And we must have somebody in that Office who knows what it is all about.

If you do just that, if you will do what I am telling you--do a little thinking, study the record, study a little history--the Democratic Party will win a great victory next Tuesday.

Mel Price will continue to give you real representation in the Congress. Sherwood Dixon will take over the Governor's chair in Springfield. And the country will have 4 years of good government under Adlai Stevenson and John Sparkman.