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Update: We passed the half-way mark late this morning and things are looking a lot better than they were 24 hours ago. My most heartfelt thanks and admiration to all of you who have donated so far, including my colleagues at Crooks and Liars, you are all amazing. We're not out of the woods yet, and there is still a ways to go - not as far as yesterday at this time, but we still need to get the other half in order to save the Archive from destruction and Newstalgia from becoming extinct. Any amount you can afford to give will be appreciated beyond words. The donation amounts so far have run from between $1.00 to $100.00 and they are ALL gratefully appreciated. Any amount of money is money desperately needed at this point. I cannot thank you enough, to those who have donated so far. I cannot tell you how much your support means, to those who haven't yet. We're a lot closer to making this happen, and with your continued support we will succeed!

If you've just run across Newstalgia for the first time, please take some time to scroll down the page and check out the some 3,000+ posts, running the gamut from historic speeches (like this one) and historic events (like 3-Mile Island) to weekly Jazz, Rock and Classical concerts and everything in-between. It's all about history, all about information and all about our world.

I ran across an article about Eugene Debs the other day. Considered by many to be the first Socialist leader four-time candidate for President in the early 20th Century, firebrand labor leader and one of the more notable figures on the political scene from the 1890's until his death in 1926.

Here is an address, which has been attributed to an actor (Len Spencer) at the time, recorded shortly after he originally gave it in 1904.

Debs was renown for his public speaking, and his dramatic addresses were legendary. Although this is most likely not the real voice of Debs, Len Spencer was well aware of Debs' oratorical skills and was said to have captured the spirit of a Debs address quite accurately. Obviously, that isn't anything anyone can actually verify in 2012, so we'll have to take their word for it.

Here is the transcript of that address, as the original cylinder and recording techniques make it hard to understand at times:

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(William Howard Taft - One term President - rumored to be a 1908 version of a RINO)

Continuing our look at people whose names may sound familiar but whose voices don't - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States. One term Republican who was thought to be a shoe-in for Trusts, Big Business and Wall Street but later instituted anti-Trust laws (not the mention the 16th Amendment which gave us Income Tax) and essentially bit the hand that fed him. Subsequently he tossed the Republicans into a state of disarray which made it possible for Woodrow Wilson to assume the office after the election of 1912.

Aside from his massive girth (over 350 pounds and why oversized bathtubs were named after him) and being the last President to sport facial hair, Taft signaled a wave of anti Big Business feeling that was slowly overtaking the country just prior to World War 1. Monopolies were putting a stranglehold on free enterprise and Taft sought to break that lock.

Here is a speech he recorded in 1909 titled "What Constitutes an Unlawful Trust".

William Howard Taft: “In the proper operation of competition, the public will soon share with the manufacturer the advantage in economy of operation and lower prices. When however, such combinations are not based on any economic principle, but are made merely for the purpose of controlling the market, to maintain or raise prices, restrict output and drive out competitors, the public derives no benefit and we have a monopoly”.

Needless to say, it didn't endear him to the Old Guard Republicans (the base of 1908). And when re-election came in 1912, his old friend Teddy Roosevelt broke ranks and formed the infamous Bullmoose Party which splintered the Republicans even further. Out of the wreckage emerged Woodrow Wilson.

Has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it?