"Will this Nation succeed in keeping its prosperity? Will it preserve its high standards of living next year, and the year after, and the year after that?
"I know of only one way to get assured prosperity. That is by cooperation of agriculture with labor, cooperation of agriculture and labor with business, large and small.
"When these groups work together in a common cause, this country can achieve miracles. We saw that during the war. We saw it before the war. [...]
"So long as the farmer, the worker, and the businessman pull together in the national interest, this country has everything to hope for.
"But it is terribly dangerous to let any one group get too much power in the Government. We cannot afford to let one group share the Nation's policies in its own interest, at the expense of the others.
"That is what happened in the 1920's, under the big business rule of the Republicans. Those were the days when big corporations had things their own way. The policies that Wall Street big business wanted were the policies that the Republicans adopted. Agriculture, labor, and small business played second fiddle, while big business called the tune.
"[...]
"You remember the results of that Wall Street Republican policy. You remember the big boom and the great crash of 1929. You remember that in 1932 the position of the farmer had become so desperate that there was actual violence in many farming communities. You remember that insurance companies and banks took over much of the land of small independent farmers--223,000 farmers lost their farms.
"That was a painful lesson. It should not be forgotten for a moment.
"[...]
"The Wall Street reactionaries are not satisfied with being rich. They want to increase their power and their privileges, regardless of what happens to the other fellow. They are gluttons of privilege.
"These gluttons of privilege are now putting up fabulous sums of money to elect a Republican administration.
"Why do you think they are doing that? For the love of the Republican candidate? Or do you think it is because they expect a Republican administration to carry out their will, as it did in the days of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover?
"I think we know the answer. I think we know that Wall Street expects its money this year to elect a Republican administration that will listen to the gluttons of privilege first, and to the people not at all.
"Republican reactionaries want an administration that will assure privilege for big business, regardless of what may happen to the rest of the Nation.
"The Republican strategy is to divide the farmer and the industrial worker--to get them to squabbling with each other--so that big business can grasp the balance of power and take the country over, lock, stock, and barrel.
"To gain this end, they will stop at nothing. On the one hand, the Republicans are telling industrial workers that the high cost of food in the cities is due to this Government's farm policy. On the other hand, the Republicans are telling the farmers that the high cost of manufactured goods on the farm is due to this Government's labor policy.
"That's plain hokum. It's an old political trick. 'If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em.' But this time it won't work."
-- Harry S. Truman, 1948-09-18
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