Harper's Weekly

“ Schurz's judgment, and is in fact, the effect of the policy of the former upon its morals and on the morals of the country. Protection, either to infant industries or to American labor, is no longer really an issue, because our industries are no longer infants, and our labor does not now and never did need protection from the less-efficient labor of other countries. ”

“ They mean those who do not vote as a party bids, but as their own judgment approves.
Mr. Schurz's audience is very large, because there are a great many such Americans. They are in parties, indeed, as well as out of them, and they ultimately decide elections. Even if they do not always agree with every view expressed by the orator, they agree wholly with the patriotism, the essential democracy, the wise, practical Americanism of his tone. ”

“ It expresses characteristically and satisfactorily the general view of a very large body of American citizens who are profoundly interested in public affairs, but who are not dragged at the wheels of party. They are, in fact, the tribunal to which all party orators appeal. When members of Congress and party orators speak of appealing to the country and invoking the verdict of the people, they do not mean people who vote according to the label of the package, but according to its contents. ”

“ Protection now has come to be a partnership — it would not be unfair to say a conspiracy — between a limited number of men willing and able to pay largely for legislative favors, and the leaders of the party that has been willing and able in the past to sell those favors, and would like to extend its business. ”

“ It is perfectly clear in statement, resistless in logic, and moderate in tone. It was very effective in delivery, and yet is entirely free from clap-trap. It is remorseless in its exposure of the significance of all the facts which it marshals, yet there is no touch of intentional injustice or misrepresentation. ”

“ The Blaine orators have celebrated the worth and the services of the Republican party, and they have done this as a reason for supporting a candidate whose official conduct they do not attempt to explain or defend, saying either that the charges are old, or that they have been settled, or that they do not believe them. That the charges are old is of no importance if they are true; that they have been settled is untrue, since a great body of Republicans who are perfectly familiar with them do not know of any settlement ”

“ And he shows that the one dominant fact in this contest is that the more closely the Republicans adhere to their essential policy, the worse must be the demoralizing effect, and, per contra, the more faithful the Democratic party is to its avowed principles, the more wholesome and beneficent must be its influence on the country. ”

“ No recent address seems to us to present so well the true American view of the questions which it treats. It is a speech to affect opinion, and when Mr. Schurz had taken his seat, the Reform Club instantly and unanimously resolved to print it for the widest popular circulation. ”