Rear Platform Remarks in Ohio and Indiana

[1.] WILLARD, OHIO (Rear platform, 3:25 p.m.)

I am more than happy to be here today. I remember stopping here in 1948, and at that time I talked to you about the B. & O. Railroad and that great old railroad man-Dan Willard.

This year I have got a little different purpose ahead of me from what it was in 1948. I am not asking anything for myself this time--I am not even running for office. In less than 3 months from now I will be out of a job. I may be back here trying to get one on the railroad. But when I leave the Presidential office I want to see a man in my place who will work his heart out for the plain, everyday people of America--just as Franklin Roosevelt tried to do, and just as I have tried to do. That's why I am here campaigning for the election of Adlai Stevenson.

Now this is my last trip in this campaign. I guess it is the last time that I shall have the privilege of speaking to you face to face as your President. I don't want to waste an occasion like this. I want to tell you something as honestly and seriously as I can.

This country of ours is a good country. It is a great country. It is a prosperous country, with a great economic future. It is a brave and generous country, too. We have risen to our responsibilities as leader of the free world. We are doing the hard job that must be done, if peace is to be made secure for us and for our children in the next generation.

I am proud as I can be of this great Nation of ours. I am proud of its people, and I am proud of its record of accomplishment--the gains and progress we have made in the last 20 years while the Democratic Party has run our Government for the welfare and benefit of all the people, not just a few.

That is what this election is all about. The Democratic Party believes that government exists to help serve the people. That is what the New Deal was for. That is what the Fair Deal has been for.

I don't want to see this changed. I don't want to see this country turned over to the Republican Party that has proved by its record that it does not know how to keep the country prosperous.

The Republicans led us into the great depression over 20 years ago, and ever since they have been opposing almost everything that the New Deal and Fair Deal have done, to help build prosperity and security for the people.

Just this spring a majority of Republican Congressmen voted against the bill that would increase social security benefits, and against firm price supports at 90 percent of parity. That is just a sample of how they have been voting all these years.

Frankly, I am afraid of what might happen to our country if the Republican Party, with that kind of record, gets control of the Government in this election.

That is why I have come to see you here today. I urge upon you, don't turn the clock back. When you go to the polls next week, there is one thing you must remember. Think of your own interests and the welfare of this great country. You are the Government. When you vote you are voting for yourselves, you are voting for the welfare of the country, for the welfare of the world.

If you do that, I am perfectly sure how this election will come out. Mike DiSalle will go down to the Senate, to fight for you there, just as he fought for you when he was Price Control Director. Judge Steinemann of Sandusky will go to Congress. He will represent you well, as you should be represented. You will reelect your Governor, Frank Lausche, and he will carry on the good work for you here in Ohio that he has done over the last period.

And when you do that, you will elect Adlai Stevenson President of the United States, and we can look forward to 4 more years of good government.

[2.] DESHLER, OHIO (Rear platform, 3:40

I have an idea that you have some notion of why I am here. I am out campaigning for Adlai Stevenson and the Democratic ticket. I want to thank that band. That was a good way to play the Missouri Waltz, and I appreciated it.

I remember stopping here in 1948 when I was campaigning for myself. I talked to you at that time about the progress we had made in agriculture under the programs and policies of the Democratic Party. I would like to talk to you a little bit about the same subject again today.

Most of you know, I think, what the Democratic Party has tried to accomplish in the farm field. We have tried to make farming a good and rewarding way of life. We have aimed at parity between farm prices and farm costs, and we have aimed at parity between farm living and modern city living.

That has been the meaning and the purpose of our program of farm price supports. It is the purpose of rural electrification, soil conservation, agricultural research, and farm credit and home loans--and all the rest of the Democratic agricultural programs. My friends, these programs have been successful. Three-fourths of the farms in this country are owned by the men who work them, compared with a little more than half only 20 years ago. About 9 out of every 10 farms in this country have the blessing of electricity today, as compared with only 1 in 10 less than 20 years ago.

Through our system of farm price supports, farmers who grow our basic crops have an assurance that they can count on fair prices. And if we Democrats have our way, some reasonable assurance is going to be worked out for the perishables and specialty crops, because that is what we say in our platform--and that is what we mean.

Now, you hear a lot of talk from the Republicans this year, about how they are for the farmers, and the farmers' friend. I want to give you just a word of advice. That's the line the Republicans always take in the month before the presidential election. But for 3 years and 11 months out of every 4 years, the Republicans in Congress do their level best to hamper and oppose progressive measures that are in favor of the farmer.

Remember that just this year a majority of the Republican Congressmen voted against continuing farm price supports on basic commodities at 90 percent of parity. And time after time they have voted to cripple rural electrification and soil conservation, and our other farm programs.

The Republicans have a long record of voting against progress for the plain everyday people of this country. If you want to know what they will do if they get into power, you had better look at their voting record, and not at what they tell you around election time.

Go home and think about it. Think about the record. Look at the record. That's all I am asking you to do. The only reason I am out on this trip is because I want you to do a little thinking for yourselves. Then turn on your radios and your television sets and listen to the candidates.

Listen to Governor Stevenson. He is taking a stand on every issue, frankly and openly--without fear or favoritism.

Listen to him, and then you will know that he is a great leader for our country, and a real friend of yours. He stands on the Democratic platform--the best platform any political party ever offered this country in many a day.

Think what that means to you. Do a little praying over it, and then go to the polls and vote for the interests of this great Nation. Vote for your own interests. Vote for the interests of the free world.

And if you do that, you will vote to send Mike DiSalle down to the Senate, and Dan Batt to the House. You will vote to keep Governor Lausche as your Governor. And as President of the United States you will vote for the best Governor that Illinois ever had--Adlai Stevenson.
Thank you very much.

[3.] GARRETT, INDIANA (Rear platform, 5:45 p.m.)

I am glad to be back here in Garrett once more. I appreciate it very much. When I stopped here in 1948 I was trying to get myself elected President. This time I am not seeking anything for myself. I am out campaigning for the Democratic ticket, which I hope you will all vote for on the 4th of November.

You have some very good candidates here in Indiana. Governor Schricker is a man of integrity, honor, and real ability. He will make you one of the best United States Senators Indiana ever had. And Howard Morrison is a good man to represent you in the House of Representatives. You know, I went to school with a fellow named Howard Morrison and he and I, and Charlie Ross and a lot of the rest of us started our first high school paper in Independence, and it was called "The Gleam." "Follow the Gleam," that was our motto, and I have been trying to follow it ever since.

Our national ticket is about the best the Democratic Party ever offered to the voters-Adlai Stevenson for President and John Sparkman for Vice President.

I hope you have been following Governor Stevenson's speeches, because he has been telling you the facts about all the great issues before the country. He has been talking sense to you, just as he promised when he was nominated. He is a man you can trust. He will be on radio and television almost every night this week. I want you to go home and listen to him, and you will know that he is the man we need to lead our country.

Senator Sparkman has been working for the farmer, the wage earner, and the small businessman for years. He is a real friend of the ordinary people, and you can be sure he will continue to fight for your interests when he becomes Vice President.

I understand that you manufacture artificial fish bait here in Garrett. I am glad to know that, because I am sure you people know what kind of bait is good--and what kind is not.

You see, the Republican Party is producing artificial bait this year. They have turned out a new kind of artificial bait. It's very attractive bait, because it has five shiny stars on it, and the Republicans think a lot of unsuspecting people are going to swallow it whole.

Now this is a clever thing the Republicans have put together, and I urge you to look it over very carefully. If you do, I think you will find that new bait has a rusty old hook on it--and the hook hasn't caught anything for 20 years.

If you look very, very carefully, you will find there is a string attached to that hook, and if you follow that string, you will come upon a tired old elephant that can just barely stand on its feet.

That elephant will be looking backward--he always does--and he will probably have his eyes shut, as he usually does. I don't think you should bother the poor old beast--because he will be dreaming about the grand old days back in 1897 when he had a master named William McKinley.

By this time you will know that pretty new bait is just the same Old Guard Republican Party in a new disguise. And I think you know what that means. It means the party that is lined up solidly with the big special interests. It means the party that has opposed just about all the great advances we have made in this country in the past 20 years.
Now I hope you will study this thing carefully. Study the issues in this campaign. You won't hear anything about those issues from the Republicans.

Think whether you want to go backward with the Republican Party, or whether you want to go forward with the Democratic Party into the greatest age man has ever known.

Think which party really has your interests at heart. Consider your own welfare, and above all, consider the welfare of this the greatest Republic in the history of the world. Consider the welfare of the free world.

If you do that--and all I am asking you to do is to do a little thinking for yourselves, I am not asking you to do anything but study what is before you. You yourselves are the Government. You the people decide on whether this country goes forward, or whether we try to turn the clock back.

And if you will just go home and get out the record of the Congressmen and the Senators in the Congress and the Senate, Republicans and Democrats--and see which organization, which party--has been for you, and which party has been for the special interests. If you do that, I don't have to argue with you, because you can't do but one thing: You will go out on November the 4th and you will vote the Democratic ticket. And we will have Adlai Stevenson in the White House, and we will have 4 more years of good government--and this country will be safe for another 4 years. I hope you will do that.