120 Years Ago: McKINLEY TO COLORED MEN- He Makes Forceful Address to the L'ouverture Rifles

A (mostly) daily posting for those interested in history and the day to day news, politics and culture of a bygone world; the full edition of the New York Tribune from today's date in 1896 (digitized).

I wish I had the time to transcribe it, but you’ll have to read it for yourselves.

Bitte schön!

HE MAK – A FORCEFUL ADDRESS TO THE L'OUVERTURE RIFLES

THE MAJOR ELECTED TO BE THE FIRST HONORARY MEMBER OF THE COMPANY – THE DOLLAR OF 53 CENTS AND THE DOLLAR OF 100 – NEW CLUBS ORGANIZED

Canton, Ohio, Aug. 18. – Major McKinley is in the best of health and spirits since he returned from Cleveland.

"I never felt better in my life than I do today," he exclaimed, when he stepped out on his veranda this morning. He had been reading a number of cheering letters and that fact, coupled with his satisfactory talk with Mark Hanna, may have had something to do with his excellent spirits.

Major McKinley took a drive with General and Mrs. Stewart L. Woodford this morning, and they remained at the home for luncheon. Shortly after 11 o'clock a large delegation of colored voters from Cleveland called on Major McKinley. In response to their spokesman, he made a short speech in which he complimented the colored people of the country upon their steadfast devotion to the principles of the Republic party, and then gave utterance to some epigrammatic sentences on the subject of protection and sound money.

The L'Ouverture Rifles, a handsomely uniformed, well-drilled military company, composed of colored men, came on a special train from Cleveland with a large number of their friends to call on Major McKinley early this afternoon. They marched behind their own band from the station to the McKinley residence, and were freely cheered by the spectators on the sidewalks and complimented upon their handsome appearance. H.C. Smith, a colored member of the Ohio Legislature, addressed Major McKinley on behalf of the visitors and presented him with a certificate of honorary membership in the Rifles, the first one ever issued. Mr. Smith is a speaker of force and eloquence, and his pertinent, vigorous remarks called from Major McKinley a spirited response, which was momentarily punctured with lusty cheers and long-continued applause. It was one of the most enthusiastic meetings that has been witnessed in Canton. Major McKinley was in excellent form. Replying to Mr. Smith and acknowledging the compliment of honorary membership in the L'Ouverture Rifles, he said:

Mr. Smith and my fellow-citizens: It gives me extreme pleasure to meet and greet this company of rifles and my colored fellow-citizens of the city of Cleveland and of Northern Ohio: and I rejoice to learn from your eloquent spokesman that your race this year, as in all the years past, stands faithfully to the Republican cause, which I believe is the cause of our country. (Applause.)

I do not forget – no man can forget – that whether in war or in peace, the face which you represent never turned its back on the glorious old Stars and Stripes. (Great applause and cries of "Hurrah for McKinley!")

When that great civil war began no man could tell what its outcome would be in regard to its effect upon your race. There were those who believed that it must result in the abolition of human slavery. There were those who believed otherwise. The result was the immortal proclamation of emancipation by the best friend you ever had – Abraham Lincoln. (tremendous applause), whose name you will cherish and revere forever and forevermore. James G. Blaine once said that the first instinct of an American was equality – equality of right, equality of privilege, equality of political power. That sentiment long ago found expression in the Constitution of the United States, and the people of this country placed it in that great instrument where it had never been before and where under God it shall ever remain, civil and political equality to every citizen everywhere beneath the flag. (Applause.)

I congratulate you, gentlemen, upon the splendid progress that your race has made since emancipation. You have done better: you have advanced more rapidly than it was believed possible at the time: you have improved greatly the educational advantages which you have had. Your people everywhere, North and South, are accumulating property, and to-day you stand as among the most conservative of the citizens of this great Republic. (Applause.) I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart on the advancement you have already made, and I sincerely wish for you and your race, fellow-citizens of a common country, the highest realization of your hopes and of your prayers. (Great cheering.)

We are now engaged in a political contest, and your presence in such vast numbers here to-day evidences the interest which you have in the public questions that are now engaging the attention of the American people. We have a great country, and we must keep it great. The post which the United States must occupy, both in wages and industries and in the integrity of its finances and currency, must be at the head of the nations of the earth. (Loud applause.) To that place of honor the people of the country must restore it this year. They have the opportunity that they have wished for since 1892: will they meet it in this year 1896? (Cries of "They will.") We want in the United States neither cheap money nor cheap labor. (Great cheering.) We will have neither the one nor the other. (Applause.) We must not forget that nothing is cheap to the American people which comes from abroad when it entails idleness upon our own laborers. (Tremendous applause.)

We are opposed to any policy which increases the number of unemployed in the United States, even if it does give us cheaper foreign goods; and we are opposed to any policy which degrades American manhood that we may have cheaper products made either at home or abroad. (Great applause.) Having reduced the pay of labor, it is now proposed to reduce the value of the money in which labor is paid. (Laughter.) This money question presents itself to me in this homey fashion: If free coinage of silver means a 53-cent dollar, then it is not an honest dollar. (Applause.) If free coinage means a 100-cent dollar, equal to a gold dollar, as some of its advocates assert, we will not then have cheap dollars, but dollars like these we now have, and which will be as hard to get; in which case free coinage will not help the debtor or make it easier for him to pay his debts.

My countrymen, the most un-American of all appeals observable in this campaign is the one which seeks to array labor against capital, employer against employed. It is most unpatriotic, and is fraught with the greatest peril to all concerned. We are all political equals here – equal in privilege and opportunity, dependent upon each other, and the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the other. (Great cheering.)

It is as Mr. Lincoln said to the committee from the workingmen's association of New-York in the campaign of 1864: "Property is the fruit of labor. Property is desirable; it is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let no man who is homeless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus be example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."

I thank you, my fellow-citizens, for this call of greeting and congratulations. I thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me in electing me the first honorary member of your organization. I assure you it will give me pleasure to meet each one of you personally. (Great applause.)

General and Mrs. Stewart L. Woodford, of New-York, who have been here since last evening, left Canton this afternoon for the East. Major McKinley drove them to the station.

General Woodford says the most effective campaign literature the people are getting this year are the speeches which Major McKinley makes to the delegations which come to see him at his home in Canton.

Major McKinley received a number of invitations to speak this morning in various parts of the country. To all of them he made answer that he had no present intention of going on the stump. [...]

Regards,

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