Speech #620042657

Is it any wonder that the people. the common people. "the men behind the guns." the people who do things in times of peace as well as in times of war. should become restless when they see on all sides of them the inequalities of existencerich men becoming richer day by day. wealthy men becoming wealthier day by day. and the poor man. be he producer or consumer. becoming poorer day by day. When firms are becoming companies. and companies becoming corporations and associations. and corporations and associations are becoming monopolies and trusts. and competition. the very life of business and so essential to progress. becoming throttled and stifled under unlawful combinations in restraint of trade. while the cost of living soars skyward. when millionaires and multimillionaires are building palaces. furnishing them with the finest tapestries of foreign manufacture. decoratlug their walls with the costliest paintings of foreign artists. building theaters in their mansions for foreign operas. and purchasing outright in the open market dukes and other hightitled "bipeds" for their daughters. while men. women. and children by the thousands. crowded together in tenement houses and hovels in our great congested centers. piteously beg and cry for coal. bread. and raiment during the cold. chill spells of winter. and plead for food and ice water during the scorching summer season. when millionaire women. dressed in foreignmade custumes worth thousands upon thousands of dollars and adorned by jewels of costly make. give "pink teas" to foreignbred poodle dogs. and squander thousands of dollars for their entertainment and comfort. when thousands of children of tender years. without proper sustenance. are tolling their young lives away in the workshops. bake ovens. and " sweatshops" of our great manufacturing establishments for starvation wages. and in the meantime neglecting the educational opportunities the Government affords. When each incoming ship is laden with the pauper labor of foreign lands to take the places of our own workingmen on the farms and in the mines. mills. and factories at still cheaper wages. And watch. if you will. this foreign element on "pay day" stand in line for hours at the banks and post offices. climbing all over each other in their efforts to send their money home. The trouble is that many of our great monopolies ask protection from foreign competition ostensibly that they may be able to pay higher wages to the workingmen. and then. after obtaining protection. import foreign laborers by "hook and crook" and bring them into competition with our own laborers on our own shores.