York Town Square

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GOP candidate Warren G. Harding made whistle stop in York

The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily reports on Warren G. Harding’s visit to York in 1920. The pending visit was relatively low key, spread by word of mouth just hours before the stop. Background posts: During York visit, former President Taft glad to be in ‘this great hive of industry’ and In 1934, FDR made rolling visit to York and Teddy Roosevelt in York: ‘I know York county farmers are prosperous. Their barns are bigger than their houses’.

Presidential candidate Warren G. Harding gave a brief speech during a stop at York’s railroad station in September 1920.
He opened his speech by introducing his “boss” – his wife Florence – to the cheering crowd of 1,000… .


He had noticed York’s burgeoning post-World War I factories.
“In an industrial city such as yours,” The Gazette and Daily quoted the future president, “you who work for wage want to know the permanence of your employment and of the compensation which it brings to you. You can’t have the present high level of wages unless you give high efficiency in return. Do that, it is your duty to your country.”