SPEECH OF JOHN G. M'HENH
Issues of Campaign Forcibly
Presented by the Com
ing Congressman,
An Eloquent Address to the vr'•
ers of the Sixteenth District
by One Who Will Serve
; Them Faithfully and
y™' .J'L Well.
The following speech was dellvemd
by John G. McHenry, Democratic j
nominee for Representative in Con- |
gress for the Sixteenth District of j
this State at Dushore. Sullivan county
on Monday evening, October 15:
Mr. Chairman, Ladles and Gentlemen:
I greet you tonight not as demo
cratic or republicans but as earnest !
fellow citizens seeking an honest so
lution of political problems some of
whlrli have become a menace to the 1
fundamental principles of a free gov
ernment and the prosperity of our
poop! ■ The predominant question (
at i sue during the campaign is not
wh< her our state and national gov- •
erin out shall be tilled by the demo
cra : party or the republican party j
l,u; whether we shall have a govern
nu by the people, of the people, I
a or the people, or a government
ii;. . illroads corporations, and trusts, j
coli our government was pure and >
honest because it was operated in the ;
interest of humanity and for the equal
gootl of all. Since their day there
has sprung up now political methods
and a new form of being, an artificial
man. It has neither heart nor soul
nor conscience, yet is recognized by j
our government with all the rights j
and powers and privilege of citizen- j
ship without the burden or responsi
bility which personal citizenship car- j
lies with it—the corporation. So
great has Its concentrated power
grown that every farm, hamlet, town J
and city feels its blighting influence 1
either directly or indirectly in the j
tribute it levies upon the necessities j
:4 life,,and the activity which it (lis
play in nearly every local. County, <
State and National election. So
wonderful has this corporate being
grov.n in strength and power that it
now controls and directs the destiny
of the American people. A legiti
mate corporation Is a business ne
cessity and a good thing when hon
estly conducted, but when any cor
poration assumes the role of a mono- j
poly and taUes from the people and
upon Itseir the functions of govern
ment it then exceeds its limitations j
and becomes a dangerous element in I
our social, business, and political J
life The paramount question Is, i
shall the people be controlled by the
corporations or shall the corporations
be controlled by the people. Shall
we have a government by the people
or a government by political corpor
ate Bosses.
Three Kinds of Representatives.
One kind represents the trust di
rect, with brazen effrontery and with
out apology—another kind represents
the trusts indirectly by obeying or- .
ders of the political Boss who in ev- (
ery Instance is a trust Representa
tive. Still another kind is the kind ,
that Lincoln meant, who chosen by
the people, becomes acquainted with
the people, learng to know them—
knows their thought and wishes and j
honestly strives to reflect that j
thought and wish through the me
dium of his voice and vote In
the state or national assembly. I j
believe in the people and believe that
you can trust them.. I do not believe
In centralized power either in govern
ment or in the realms of business and
I do not believe that the business in- 1
terests of this country or the man
agement of our government is safer
in the hands of a few men than In
the hands of all the people where J
self interest would secure a square
deal to all. To admit that It Is would
be to admit that our Jury system Is
at fault and that Justice would be j
meted out wlih more uniform fair- i
ness and less free from prejudice in
the hands of one man than in the ,
hands of twelve men —or to agree |
that we would be more prosperous
and happier If instead of trying to :
manage our own affairs we would
turn them over entirely to John D. j
Rockefeller and his associates. We
have a wonderful country and a great
government and you will vote on No
vember 6th to determine whether
you want to continue to have a vest
ed interest in your country and a
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voice in the contm! niuf tnunagpnient
of your povernmenf or wlicth* 1 you
will vote it out of your possession
for all time.
! For I tell you my friends with its
■ history of graft, political debauchery
j and wrong; doing fresh before us
j and with the recent examples in both
State and National legislatures of the
| evils of political Bossism and Gov-
I ernmental favoritism as exemplified
j by the republican state machine and
I the subservience with which the
| Pennsylvania delegation at Washing
j ton has bowed to the will of this ma
I ehine if it does not now deserve
and receive a fitting rebuke at the
polls, justice will have miscarried and
( American citizenship and American
: patriotism become but an empty
: thing.
The Centralized Power of the Trusts
• For years we have decried the cen
i tralization of political power within
1 the hands of a few men, but not with
! standing our watchful alarm we have
seen this mighty octupus grow, and
grow and grow until it now hangs
like the shadow of rebellion over a
land of free people. Free in person
al liberty, free to breathe the air and
drink the water that God has given
us, free to eat if w can work long
enough hours to buy the food, but un
der a political bondage which neith- j
er hegLrs nor know any voice but.
the voice and command of the trust
and a financ-ial bondage which now
has the power to determine how
much each man may earn and how
much each man shall spend—the
power to say to the working man we
will advance your wages 10 per cent,
and the cost of your tood and clothing
and household supplies 20 per cent.
The power to say to the farmer and
home owner you must pay the
taxes to support our schools and poor, I
and defray the expenses of govern
HI FFLEMEiM 1 TO •
D ".;"'i/ILLE, PH.; FRIDHY, 2, 1906
JOHN G. M C JI RNK V.
permitted togo comparatively frer cf
Luxation, The power to say to the
wage earner, accspt our terms or we
will apply the law by injunction and
if that don't work we will call out the
Russian State Constabulary and shoot
you. Look where you will you will
find the area of citizenship becoming
narrower as the scope and power of
the artificial man and the political
Ross becomes greater.
Who Can We Trust?
We realize that gross wrongs have
been committed in the past and all •
honest men of all parties agree that, i
these wrongs must be righted in the
most speedy way possible. But who
shall we trust with the stewardship
of reforms already begun and those
till more important yet to come? j
Shall we trust the men and party
who by base political treachery has
betrayed th« people and brought
;l • at the very condition of which we
complain? If by-way of illustration !
ou wanted the Standard Oil Trust j
' -.I would ><u appoint John D.
•hoos > as sptc i! commissioner to do
work? If your wanted unfair
Railroad transportation chanced
would you choose a railroad president
> readjust the railroad rules? If
you wanted the tariff laws revised j
would you choose a Trust president j
whose corporation is a direct benefi- •
ciary of said tariff law? If you feel j
that we should have equalization of !
taxes would you choose one to revise
our taxation laws who is profiting un
der the present system or would you '
choose one of your ftwn kind of men 1
who have felt and still feel the bur
den of ;lass legislation? In brief
it. is not reasonable to expect of the '
average man and much less to ex- (
pect of this soulless, artificial, cor
porate man that he will vote and I
wnrk against his own. interests.
Vote For Your Own Interests.
Sri ij co,i.-id« ring the piollticnl re
' •n, which niv now'tinder-debate it
resolves iiself into vJ a question of
choosing; the njefl to represent you
instate and national legislation
whom you believe will represent
your best interests and who will not
be dominated and controlled by the
i Trusts and political Bosses. The
j time is hire for absolute selfishness
: upon the part of all voters to cast
their votes for what they believe will
be for the best for themselves and
families. When this is accomplish
<-d and the power of the political
Boss overthrown, we will once more
! have a government of the people, by
'he people, and for the people.
The Tariff.
We are not so much in need of new
laws as we are in need of the cour
ageous enforcement of 'laws we now
; have and of the revision of certain
i laws to moot new and changed condi
tions. The merchant, manufacturer,
mechanic or professional * man who
iH the business or prefes
'T, 1 i < Mi ids of fifty years aero in
" • at !• business, woiild find him
-1 vnv in the advancing tide
of modern progrt ss. So., in the ad
ministrate n of our government which
is but one gigantic business enter
prise, and the same care should be
vorclsed in its management as your
Representative would exercise in the
management of his own personal bus
iness and whe n it is clearly proven
that under certain laws or regula
tions or s; stems our government as a
: .vfcole or the American people as Indi
viduals arp losing money then that I
law or rule should be changed and
changed quickly If by such change (
the loss of the Government or the
[people can be stopped. Take for in- I
112
| stance our present tariff laws. Born
j in (heir inception of n desire to pro
| tect certain home industries and to
j provide revenue to meet the running
expenses of Government we find in
many instances that changed condi
tions have converted what was ori
ginally thought a blessing into a bur
den. Let me cite you briefly to one
or two specific cases which show
such a flagrant abuse of Governmen
tal protection in the interest of a fa
vored class as against the whole peo
ple, of sufficient importance to be an
issue in this campaign and sufficient
to illustrate the need for tariff revis
ion along certain lines
Lumber.
Ten years ago we were buying
hemlock lumber on board cars at the
mill for SIO.OO per thousand. Today
the ruling price is $20.00 per thousand
on car at the mill for the same kind
of lumber. We find by comparison
! ihat the average wage rate paid tt>
mill men and woodsmen to be prac
tically the same in wages as it was
;en years ago, with exceptional cases
I of advance in wages that do not ex
< i><l an average in wage rate
lof 10 per cent. Now who pays this
increased cost and who receives this
•normoiis sum of money represented
by an Annual sale of thirty-five thou
and million feet and a clear profit of
•>350,000,000.
' Monopolies of Our Natural Resources.
In all countries there are three di
rect sources of natural productive
wealth. The coal, mineral and oil
underneath the earth's surface; the
farm production and real estate Tal
lies of the earth's surface, and the
virgin forests of standing timber. In
fach article we find a necessity —we
must have fuel, we must have oil, we
must have food, we must have lum-
I ber to build our homes, our mills and
our towns and cities and we find la
nearly every case with the exception
of Tarm products that the ownership
1 an-! control of these necessities have
passed Into the hands of allied money
intrrcsts with the power to charge
such prices as their avarice an 1 wreed
may determine. The only reason
'hat farm products are not controlled
ny Wall Street is because each year
produces a new crop- the supply la
inexhaustible and cannot he corner
j ed, but in the case of coal and oil
and timber it is different. If the
j financial interests buy all of nature's
stores they can of course cantrel the
price and us nature's Biipply dimin
j ishes and our population increases It
| fallows with inevitable certaiity that
j i still higher price ran lie charged
■ttid we must buy these products sad
pay the price demanded for we can
not buy them anywhere else aid must
| have them.
I The People. Not the Trusts Should
Control Our Government.
We cannot prevent rich men from
'■>:ying up these' natural resources If
they want to do it and which they
have a right to do and have already
done but we ought neither give nor sell
our government to these same finan
cial interests to be used as addition
al, weapons against us. Let us sea
how your Government Is leading its
lid to the timber trust and aiaking
you pay the bill. The first wave by
the trust was to buy all the timber
in the country then hare a nrehlbl
tivo tax placed upon all imparted lum
ber to prevent foreign fempetitiea
so that if a man needs lumber he
must buy it from the timber and lum
ber trust. On dressed lumber there
s a tax of $2.00 per thousand, which
dded to the heavy transportatien
'targes prevent lumber comiag frem
anada or Mexico or foreign ceun
tries because it cannot be delivered
to compete with our prices aad pay
his additional tariff and transperta
tion charges So the timber truot
adds this additional cost to their awn
prices and keep the prices up te the
| point just a little below the price
| ivhich the foreign competitors could
| offer 1 want to explain what I mean
| by allied interests and I want you te
! ''arry this thought home with yon
and think it over. The same finan
cial interests which control the tim
ber trust also controls the railroad!
•112 the country So the Government
■ s presenting the timber trust with
>2.00 por thousand through its m
regulation while through the rail
road trust thg foreign rates from im
port points are male so high that
foreign lumber can not be brought
into this country or if it Is the rail
road people make such a large prof-
It on the transportation charges that
they don't care. .
Farce of Government Tax on Lumber
Think of the absolute folly and un
tenable position for our government
in spending vast sums of money to
preserve our forests upon the one
hand and upon the other hand Inv
posing an import tax of s2.*o per
thousand feet to prevent foreign lum
ber from coming into thia country.
Impoverishing our people to the ex
tent of these unlawful million* which
the timber trust ii annually collect
ing from the people and at the same
time helping to denude our foreet* In
stead of drawing upon the foreetry
reserves of foreign countries. Twen
ty years ago there were untold mll
lions of feet of standing timber In
Pennsylvania. Today there la
scarcely a decent saw-mill tract left
and every tract of timber In Peansyl
vanla of any considerable she Ic
owned by the timber trust. You may
think that this matter does not con
cern you because you do not expect
to buy any lumber, but don't forget
that the consumer Is the man who al
ways pays the price and when you
see these enormous fortunes built by
the artificial corporation man yoi
must know that this money has beet
drawn from the pockets of the people
and the centralization of this same
money into the one supreme bea4
gives it additional power while weak
ening the power of resistance vpoa
the part of the people. Whether you
own a home or rent one you are pay
ing direct tribute to the timber trust
And I will venture the assertion that
there is not a mechanic or working
man living in this Congressional dis
trict today who rents a home whe
has not had his rent advanced any
where from 25 to 40 per cent, iurlag
the past five years.
How Timber Tax Affects the Peeple,
How does the Government timber '
tax affect the people? One werklaf J