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Remarks of the President at the Carlinville Amtrak Station, aboard "The Honest Abe" [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7346280
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Remarks of the President at the Carlinville Amtrak Station, aboard "The Honest Abe" [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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1976-10-16
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1976
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Digitized from Box 32 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 16, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Carlinville, Illinois)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE
CARLINVILLE AMTRAK STATION
ABOARD "THE HONEST ABE"
5:30 P.M. CDT
While we are waiting for the news media, I want
to introduce some of the special guests that have been
riding with Betty and me on the train all day long. Let
me say it is great to be in Carlinville. It is wonderful
to be in Illinois. We have had a great day, and I thank
all of you very, very much.
I like that sign, "Carlinville Welcomes President
Ford," and I like that sign there, "The Findley Trail-
riders like President Ford.'
It is wonderful to be here in the company with
your great Senator, Chuck Percy. It is wonderful to be
in the district so ably represented by Congressman Paul
Findley. Send him back for your good, for Illinois'
good and for the good of the United States.
We have had Jim Thompson with us. Jim Thompson
will be a great Governor on November 2. Make darned
sure you elect him as your next Governor of the State of
Illinois.
Now let me make a comment or two. Betty and I
have had a great day, starting with Joliet, coming here,
ending in Alton. We are here in Illinois because Illinois
is a very important State in this election November 2.
We want your help. With your help, we can carry
Illinois. With Illinois we can win the election on
November 2, and you will have Jerry Ford as your President
for the first four years of our third century.
In the last two years, as your President, we
have done three things that are good for America. We
have restored trust that is necessary in the White House.
The American people know that we are open, we are candid,
we are straightforward. The American people know that
they can trust the White House under President Ford.
Number two, in the last 18 months we have turned
the economy around from the worst recession in the last
four years so that we are now on the rise. I won't be
satisfied until everybody who wants a job has a job. We
will get it under our program for prosperity in America.
MORE
Page 2
Number three, I am proud of the fact that we are
at peace and that not a single young American is fighting,
dying anyplace on this earth today, and we are going to
keep it that way under President Ford.
I am proud of the fact that I have a record of
performance, and I ask you, as voters, to lay that record of
performance alongside the promises made by Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter will tell anybody anything anywhere just
to get to be President of the United States.
Let me illustrate. When Jimmy Carter is in
California, he tries to sound like Cesar Chavez. When
Jimmy Carter is in Chicago, he tries to sound like Mayor
Daley. When Jimmy Carter is in New York, he tries to
sound like Bella Abzug. Then, when Jimmy Carter comes down
to this great farmland in the area of Carlinville, he
tries to make you believe that he is just a little old peanut
farmer from Georgia.
Jimmy Carter wanders, he wavers, he wiggles
and he waffles. I think the voters of Illinois will take
my record of performance over Jimmy Carter's promises any
day.
Let's take the issue of taxes. I believe the
best tax reform is tax reduction. I submitted to the
Congress a recommendation to increase the personal
exemption from $750 to $1,000. The middle income taxpayers
of this country have been shortchanged, and the Ford
program will restore equity to those middle income taxpayers
who have got short shrift.
Jimmy Carter, he said -- quoted by the Associated
Press -- that he would increase the taxes for all people
in the medium income tax bracket. Jimmy Carter is saying
to the taxpayers of this country that he would raise the
taxes of 50 percent of the American people.
Who do you want, a President who promises to
give the middle income taxpayers a break or do you want
Jimmy Carter, who is going to add to the tax burden of
the middle income taxpayers? I think you will take
Jerry Ford.
Anybody that likes Jimmy Carter likes taxes.
Don't buy him. Let's talk about spending. In the two years
that I have been President, I have tried to put the lid on
Federal spending because when you have more and more
Federal spending, it will mean more and more inflation.
Jimmy Carter has embraced the platform that he
helped to write, which calls for 60 some new programs, and
if those programs become law, it will add anywhere from
$100 billion a year to $200 billion more in Federal
spending. I think the American people want the Federal
Government to spend less, not to spend more.
MORE
Page 3
Jimmy Carter has said that he is going to reorganize
the Federal Government. Let me tell you what Jimmy Carter
did when he reorganized the government of Georgia. In
the four years that Jimmy Carter was President -- I mean
Governor of Georgia -- Jimmy Carter increased the number
of State employees by more than 12 percent. In the four
years that Jimmy Carter was Governor of Georgia, he
increased the spending of the State of Georgia by more
than 50 percent. And, as Governor of the State of
Georgia, he increased the bonded indebtedness of that
State by over $200 million.
Now if you take that record and he became
President, I don't think you would want him reorganizing
the Federal Government, I believe you will vote for
President Ford because he is making the Federal Government
more responsible and more responsive, and he is going to
keep the lid on Federal spending.
Then let me take a minute to talk about
agriculture. I know in this area -- this is part of
that great breadbasket of America, I know that you
have produced corn and soybeans and wheat. I know that
you are a great contributor to the bounty of America. If
you look at the farm policy of this Administration against
the promised farm policy of Jimmy Carter, I believe in
expanded production, record exports, the use of the free
market. I believe that under our policies we have expanded
agriculture and we are going to continue to keep the
farmers making the decisions and keep the Government
out of your pocket and off your farm. That is what I
think you want.
Now let me talk for just a minute about national
security. We have a wonderful country. This country is
strong internally and America is strong. We are number
one.
Jimmy Carter, on two occasions, has said if
he became President he would cut the defense budget by
$15 billion. Let me tell you what that will do. It sounds
good. Of course, he doesn't know where he would do it,
but it sounds good. If we were to cut the defense
budget we would strip the Army, the Navy, the Air Force
and Marines of the necessary weapons that they need to
keep America number one.
America is at peace because America is strong.
Jimmy Carter would undercut the strength of our military
and make this country weak defensively. I think America
wants a strong defense. America wants peace. You want
Jerry Ford to be your President so we will stay number
one in the next four years.
MORE
Page 4
Last week, Jimmy Carter said, "America is not
respected any more. If you look around the world, if
you talk to the leaders, whether they are in the free
world or whether they are on the other side, they respect
America. They know America is good. They know America
is strong. And when Jimmy Carter says America is no
longer respected, he is slandering America.
I am proud of America like you are, and let's
keep America strong so we can continue to be proud of it
and be respected around the world.
END
(AT 5:43 P.M. CDT)