Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Huntington, West Virginia

TREMER "NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE" IMMEDIATE RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT ON THE STAND AT THE RAILROAD STATION IN HUNTING TON, W. VA. OC C TOBER 1, 1948, 4.35 PM EST Thank you -- thank you very much. Senator Kilgore, I apprec- iate that introduction most highly. Senator Kilgore and I had the pleasure of serving in the Senate together through a very crucial'period. The Senator, in my opinion, is one of the ablest in the Senate. And I am happy to hear that West Virginia is going to send another able Senator to the Senate, Matt Neely. I am well acquainted with both of these gentlemen; and I am here to toll you that if WG have Harley Kilgore and Matt Neely in the Senato, things will be a little bit different in the next four years. I am delighted -- cortainly delighted to be here in Huntington on my first stop in West Virginia. This is a crusade to let the people of the country know just exactly what the issues are; and the way they are turning out, I think they are interested. I have been in a great many States since I left Washington -- Iowa, Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Misscuri, Illinois, Kentucky; and the turnout at every place wes just like this one -- not quite so many in some places, I have to admit, but everybody is interested in these issues, and they are coming out to hear what the President has to say about them. That is a good sign that the people are ready to take the Government back into their hands, that's what I think. Huntington has a great many vital industries, and Huntington made a very great contribution to the war effort. Nobody knows that botter than Harley Ailgore and I, for we made some visits here to see what you were doing for the war effort. Huntington has the advantage of a great many cities. Huntington has a groat river port, and when you have a great river port, you can almays make these fellows behave on freight rates. One of the chief difficulties now is high prices and inflation. The farmers are getting good prices for their products, the laboring men are. getting good wages; but the special interests were very careful to soe to it that we did not get the necessary laws to control inflation. So, those increased wages and increased prices are usually eaten up by tho inflationary prices for the things you have to buy. I did my best to get things stopped, but I had no luck with this 80th do-nothing Congress. For the last two years I have tried to get this Republican 80th Congress to do something about high prices, but they refused to considor my demands because the Republican Party is not interested in the welfare of the people as a whole. The Republican Party is a special interest party, and it always has been. I do not need to toll you, and I cortainly do not need to tell you housewives, that prices are going up -- and up -- and up. And these Republicans don't care how high they go, so long as they can get their rake-off on them, these special interest follows. Since the second half of 1946, prices have been going up faster than the wages of most people in the country. But the Republicans have been trying to cut down the living standards of workers even more. They have been trying to weaken labor unions so that unions no longer can fight for botter wages and working conditions for their members. That is why the Republican 80th Congr SS passed the Taft- Hartley Act. Don't let anybody tell you that the Taft-Hartley Act was passed to protect union members a ainst their own people. The Taft- Hartley Act was passed to strongthon the hands of the employers and to weaken the unions. Senator Taft, one of the authors of that Act, and the Republican leader in the Senate, says so himself. He said, and I quote Senator Taft: "This bill is not a milk-toast bill. It covers about 3/4 of the things pressed on us very strenuously by the employers." OVER