HARRISON, BENJAMIN. 



411 



terest that a margin for comfort may be added 

 to the necessaries of life. I am sure that none 

 of us are so anxious for cheap goods that we 

 would be willing to admit 'the spoils of the 

 poor' into our houses. It seems strange that 

 we should find a party among us opposing the 

 protective principle when even the provinces 

 of Great Britain are adopting it and finding in- 

 creased prosperity. France and Germany still 

 embody this idea in their legislation. There 

 may be fair ground for debate as to the rate 

 which particular articles of import should bear, 

 or as to whether this or that article should not 

 be on the free list ; but that our legislation 

 should discriminate in favor of our own coun- 

 try, her industries and laboring people, ought 

 not to be questioned. I want no other evi- 

 dence that wages and all the other conditions 



prompt payment of wages in money. I be- 

 lieve that the number of working-hours can, 

 in most of our industries, be reduced without 

 a serious loss to production, and with great 

 gain to the health, comfort, and contentment 

 of our working-classes. I advocated and voted 

 for the law of Congress prohibiting the im- 

 portation of laborers under contracts made 

 abroad, and believe that such legislation is 

 just and wise.'' On the subject of the navy 

 he declared : " I am in favor of putting 

 upon the sea enough American ships, armed 

 with the most improved ordnance, to en- 

 force the just rights of our people against any 

 foreign agressor. It is a good thing in the 

 interests of peace and commerce to show the 

 flag of our navy in the ports where the flag 

 of commerce is unfurled." On the " South- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON'S RESIDENCE. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. 



of labor are better here than in Europe than 

 this the laboring men and women of Europe 

 are coming this way, and they come to stay. 

 Millions of earnings have gone back to the old 

 countries to pay the passage-money of friends 

 hither, but the steerage of the returning ves- 

 sel is empty." On the labor question he said: 

 "If any railroad or other business enterprise 

 can not earn enough to pay the labor that 

 operates it and the interest on its bonds, no 

 right-minded man can hesitate to say which 

 ought to be paid first. The men who have in- 

 vested money in the enterprise, or loaned 

 money on its securities, ought to have the 

 right to stop the business when net earnings 

 fail ; but they can not fairly appropriate the 

 earnings of the engineer or brakeman or la- 

 borer. I believe the law should require the 



ern question" he said, in February, 1888: 

 " The truth to-day is, that the colored Repub- 

 lican vote of the South, and with it and by 

 consequence the white Republican vote of the 

 South, is deprived of all effective influence in 

 the administration of this Government. The 

 additional power given by the colored popula- 

 tion of the South in the Electoral College, and 

 in Congress, was more than enough to turn 

 the last election for President, and more than 

 enough to reverse, yes, largely more than re- 

 verse, the present Democratic majority of the 

 House of Representatives. Have we the spirit 

 to insist that everywhere, North and South, in 

 this country of ours no man shall be deprived 

 of his ballot by reason of his politics ? There 

 is not in all this land a place where any rebel 

 soldier is subject to any restraint, or is denied 



