If you vote for Palmer it is not to elect him, it is simply to defeat Bryan, and the sure way to defeat Bryan is to vote for McKinley. You have to choose between parties. The new Democratic party, with its allies, the Populists and Socialists and Free Silverites, represents the follies, the mistakes, and the absurdities of a thousand years. They are in favor of everything that cannot be done. Whatever is, is wrong. They think creditors are swindlers, and debtors who refuse to pay their debts are honest men. Good money is bad and poor money is good. A promise is better than a performance. They desire to abolish facts, punish success, and reward failure. They are worse than the old. And yet I want to be honest. I am like the old Dutchman who made a speech in Arkansas. He said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I must tell you the truth. There are good and bad in all parties except the Democratic party, and in the Democratic party there are bad and worse." The new Democratic party, a party that believes in repudiation, a party that would put the stain of dishonesty on every American brow and that would make this Government subject to the mob.
You have to make your choice. I have made mine. I go with the party that is traveling my way.
I do not pretend to belong to anything or that anything belongs to me. When a party goes my way I go with that party and I stick to it as long as it is traveling my road. And let me tell you something. The history of the Republican party is the glory of the United States. The Republican party has the enthusiasm of youth and the wisdom of old age. The Republican party has the genius of administration. The Republican party knows the wants of the people. The Republican party kept this country on the map of the world and kept our flag in the air. The Republican party made our country free, and that one fact fills all the heavens with light. The Republican party is the pioneer of progress; the grandest organization that has ever existed among men. The Republican party is the conscience of the nineteenth century. I am proud to belong to it. Vote the Republican ticket and you will be happy here, and if there is another life you will be happy there.
I had an old friend down in Woodford County, Charley Mulidore. He won a coffin on Lincoln's election. He took it home and every birthday he called in his friends. They had a little game of "sixty-six" on the coffin lid. When the game was over they opened the coffin and took out the things to eat and drink and had a festival, and the minister in the little town, hearing of it, was scandalized, and he went to Charley Mulidore and he said: "Mr. Mulidore, how can you make light of such awful things?" "What things?" "Why," he said, "Mr. Mulidore, what did you do with that coffin? In a little while you die, and then you come to the day of judgment." "Well, Mr. Preacher, when I come to that day of judgment they will say, 'What is your name?' I will tell them, 'Charley Mulidore.' And they will say, 'Mr. Mulidore, are you a Christian?' 'No, sir, I was a Republican, and the coffin I got out of this morning I won on Abraham Lincoln's election.' And then they will say, 'Walk in, Mr. Mulidore, walk in, walk in; here is your halo and there is your harp.'"
If you want to live in good company vote the Republican ticket. Vote for Black for Governor of the State of New York—a man in favor of protection and honest money; a man that believes in the preservation of the honor of the Nation. Vote for members of Congress that are true to the great principles of the Republican party. Vote for every Republican candidate from the lowest to the highest. This is a year when we mean business. Vote, as I tell you, the Republican ticket if you want good company.
If you want to do some good to your fellow-men, if you want to say when you die—when the curtain falls—when the music of the orchestra grows dim—when the lights fade; if you want to live so at that time you can say "the world is better because I lived," vote the Republican ticket in 1896. Vote with the party of Lincoln—greatest of our mighty dead; Lincoln the Merciful. Vote with the party of Grant, the greatest soldier of his century; a man worthy to have been matched against Cæsar for the mastery of the world; as great a general as ever planted on the field of war the torn and tattered flag of victory. Vote with the party of Sherman and Sheridan and Thomas. But the time would fail me to repeat even the names of the philosophers, the philanthropists, the thinkers, the orators, the statesmen, and the soldiers who made the Republican party glorious forever.
We love our country; dear to us for its reputation throughout the world. We love our country for her credit in all the marts of the world. We love our country, because under her flag we are free. It is our duty to hand down the American institutions to our children unstained, unimpaired. It is our duty to preserve them for ourselves, for our children, and for their fair children yet to be.
This is the last speech that I shall make in this campaign, and to-night there comes upon me the spirit of prophecy. On November 4th you will find that by the largest majorities in our history, William McKinley has been elected President of the United States.*
* The final rally of the McKinley League for the present
campaign, was held last night in Carnegie Music Hall, ana
the orator chosen to present the doctrines of the
Republican party was Robert G. Ingersoll. The meeting will
remain notable for the high character of the audience. The
great hall was filled to its utmost capacity. It was crowded
from the rear of the stage to the last row of seats in the
deep gallery.
The boxes were occupied by brilliantly attired women, and
hundreds of other women vied with the sterner sex In the
applause that greeted the numerous telling points of the
speaker. The audience was a very fashionable and exclusive
one, for admission was only to be had by ticket, and tickets
were hard to get.
On the stage a great company of men and women were gathered,
and over them waved rich masses of color, the American
colors, of course, predominating in the display Flags hung
from all the gallery rails, and the whole scheme of
decoration was consistent and beautiful. At 8.80 o'clock Mr.
John E. Milholland appeared upon the stage followed by Col.
Ingersoll.
Without any delay Mr. Milholland was presented as the
chairman of the meeting. He spoke briefly of the purpose of
the party and then said; "There is no Intelligent audience
under the flag or in any civilized country to whom it would
be necessary for me to introduce Robert G. Ingersoll." And
the cheers with which the audience greeted the orator proved
the truth of his words.
Col. Ingersoll rose impressively and advanced to the front
of the stage, from which the speaker's desk had been removed
in order to allow him full opportunity to indulge in his
habit of walking to and fro as he talked. He was greeted
with tremendous applause; the men cheered him and the women
waved their handkerchiefs and fans for several minutes.
He was able to secure instant command of his audience, and
while the applause was wildest, he waved his hand, and the
gesture was followed by a silence that was oppressive. Still
the speaker waited. He did not intend to waste any of his
ammunition. Then, convinced that every eye was centred upon
him, he spoke, declaring "This is our country." The assembly
was his from that instant. He followed it up with a summary
of the issues of the campaign. They were "money, the tariff,
and whether this Government has the right of self-defence."
As he said later on in his address, the Colonel has changed
in a good many things, but he has not changed his politics,
and he has not altered one whit in his masterful command of
forceful sayings.—New York Tribune, October 80th, 1896.
Note:—This was Col. Ingersoll's last political address.