Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Richmond, Indiana

IMMEDIATE RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE REAR PIATFORM REMARKS OF THE TRUMAN PRESIDENT AT RICHMOND, INDIANA, "NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND OCTOBER 12, 1948 - 8:04 A.M., C.S.T. Governor, and fellow Democrats of Richmond: I am happy to be here this morning, and I want to assure you that this is not my first visit to Richmond. I came here once as President of the National old Trails Road Association and helped the Daughters of the American Revolution set up a monument in one pf your parks to the pioneer mother. I understand that the first settlers were attracted to this wonderful place because of the rich farm lands in this area, and since then Richmond has branched out and become one of the leading industrial towns of Indiana. It's known far andwide for the great college which the Governor mentioned awhilejago, Earlham College, which pioneered in higher education in this area. Richmond is a fine example of the balance that we want to see between the farms and the cities. It is a good example of the way that farm, prosperity makes for industrial prosperity, and the way industrial prosperity helps the farmers. The posperity we are enjoying now di not just happen. It was the result of policies started by the Democratic Administration in 1933 under Franklin Roosevelt and continued through the following years. These policies have improved the farmer's position economically, improved the worker's position in the very same way, and have caused a fair distribution of the national income to all the people. But this prosperous condition of all the people of ours has been put in grave danger by the Republican 80th Congress. I can prove to you by the record of the 80th Congress and what it did to the people of the country and not for them. That Congress did its best to weaken the position of all working men in the United States by passing the Taft-Hartley Act. I gave that a good going over last night, and a good analysis. I hope you'll read what I had to say on that subject. The Republican leaders wanted to repeal the Wagner Act but they knewi they couldn't get away with it. They refused to raise the pitifully inadequate minimum wage of 40 cents an hour. They took social security away from nearly a million workers. Now, that's action. There are talking about so mething else this morning. The Republican Congress hit at the prosperity of every farmer of the country. It slashed funds for rural electrification and soil conservation, That Congress nearly wrecked the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Program, which provides a foreign market for our crops. It refused to ratify the International Wheat Agreement which would have given us a five - year guaranteed foreign wheat market. And the80th Congress refused to put the farm price supports on a permanent basis, leaving every farmer in the country in douct as to his future income. And what a boon that situation has been to the speculators! Those exploiters of the farmer are now making a killing on the fact that the 80th Congress did not do the right thing by the farmer. when it Commodity Credit Corporation. They fixed it SO the speculators can control the farm prices, and that's what they have been trying to get for the last two years We have kept them from it so far, and if you do the right thing in November 'll still keep them from it. It wasn't only thefarmers and the workers that the Republican 80th Congress hurt. Every housewife suffers every time she goes to the store for the Republican refusal to pass laws to hold down prices. And every family in the United States that lives doubled up with other families or in city slums or in country shacks suffers because the Republicans refused to pass the kind of housing laws we need. Now, the record of the Republican 80th Congress is a true indication of what we can expect if the Republican Party is elected in N vember. That's because the same backward-looking men would control in the 81st Congress. Don't fool yourselves. You would have the same old mossbacks running he next Congress if you don't turn them out. lover