John Sherman

The rising generation who will bear this burden must remember the immeasurable blessings they enjoy by the sacrifices and services of Union soldiers in the preservation of the Union and in a strong republican government and free…

In the language of Lincoln, 'To bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.' Impressed with this obligation, the Republican party has gone as far as prudence will allow.

There is another measure to which the Republican party is bound by every obligation of honor and duty, and that is to grant to the Union soldiers of the late war, their widows and orphans, liberal pensions for their sacrifices and services…

Their relative value varies from day to day and there is no power strong enough to establish a fixed ratio of value except the concurrence of the chief commercial nations of the world.

No notes should circulate as money except such as have the sanction, authority and guarantee of the United States.

Nobody wants to go back to the old condition of things when it was gold to the bondholders and paper to the pensioners.

They want all their money of equal value, so that a dollar will be the same whether it is made of gold or silver or paper.

Sugar will be greatly lowered in cost to the consumer, while the bounty given to the domestic producer will soon establish the cultivation of beet and sorghum sugar in the United States, as the same policy has done in Germany and France.

And its inevitable effect in encouraging manufactures will give to the farmer the best possible market for his crops.

I know, by my long experience in passing upon tariff bills, that the McKinley bill more carefully and beneficially protects the farmer in his productions than any previous measures of the kind.

It favors, to the extent of the duty, the domestic manufacturer, and will induce the production here of every article suited to our condition and climate.

In the first place it is a clear-cut, effective measure that will make explicit the rates of duties proposed; will prevent, as far as the law can, any evasion or undervaluation.

We invite the strictest scrutiny into the conduct of the present Republican administration of Benjamin Harrison.

We, therefore, can honestly claim that our party has been a faithful servant of the people and is fairly entitled to their confidence and support.

All the opportunities of life, without distinction of birth or rank or wealth, are open to all alike.

Under Republican policy, sometimes embarrassed but never changed, our country has become free, without a slave; strong, without standing armies or great navies; rich, with wealth better distributed, labor better paid, and equality of…

It has, by a policy of fostering and protecting our home industries, so diversified our productions that every article of necessity, luxury, art or refinement can be made by American labor, and the food and fruits of a temperate climate…

It has placed our country, in its relations to foreign nations, in so commanding a position that none will seek a controversy with us, while empires and kingdoms profit by our example.

It has established the true theory of national authority over every citizen of the republic, without regard to state lines, and has forever put at rest the pretense of the right of secession by a state or any portion of our people.

It has conducted a war of gigantic proportions with marked success, demonstrating in the strongest way the ability of a free people to maintain and preserve its government against all enemies, at home and abroad.

Since that day the Republican party has abolished slavery, not only in the United States, but, by its reflected influence, in nearly all the countries of the world.

Such bodies as this are the convenient agencies of a free people to mark out the line of march and to select their leaders.

You are here to speak the voice of Ohio in the choice of the chief officers of the state and to announce the creed of a great party.

My Fellow Republicans:--When I was invited with others to address this convention, I felt that the best speech that could be made was the convention itself.

Men of adverse opinions may be true friends while they honestly differ on great public questions.