Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-07-05
SPEECH OF Mr.. GEO. P. MARSH,
ON THE TARIFF BILL.
HOUSE OF REPS. APRIL 30, 1914.

on the bill reported by Mr.. Mckay, from
the Committee of Ways and Means, to
modify and amend the Tariff law Of IS42.
Mr.. MARSH, of Vermont, addressed the
committee as follows:
We have cause, Mr.. Chairman. to con-
graduate the House and the country upon
the temper in which this debate has been
in general conducted The gentlemen who
have participated in it have confined them
selves more closely than is usual to the real
question at ISSUE They have maintained
their respective positions with a cool ear
nestness Of tone indicative of honest differ
ence Of opinion, and no discussion of the
session has called forth greater ability or
exhibited more successful labor of prepara-
ton.
The controversy is indeed momentous-
momentous both in its direct bearing on all
the great interests of the American people
and because 1t has already become the
means of determining concusvely point
OF no small Importance, and hitherto much
disputed. 1t has been asserted at the North
with confident vehemence, that this is no party
but sectional issue; and that the Democrats
ofthe eastern and middle States are as staunch
supporters of the doctrine of Legislative pro-
ltical opponents. But the authoritative
exposition Of the views of the party in the
majority in this House, from the Committee
Of Ways and Means, settles this question
forever Hostility to the principle Of de-
signed protection, whether direct or Incl
dental, is openly avowed, and spite of the
disclaimers ofrebellous individuals, it must
hereafter be regarded as ali established ar
ticle of faith in the creed of the party as
sumng to be emphatically Democratic. 1t
is no longer the question, whether the DOM
inant party on this floor is or is not friendly
to the industrial interests of their country,
but whether certain of its refractory mem
bers can be constrained by the force of po-
litical discipline to bow the knee, and prefer
the supremacy of their party to their own
solemn convictions Of what belongs to their
countrys good. 1t is test Of the stringent
cy of party organization and if, with ma
jority of more than two-thrds, you fail to
pass this bill, you will supply new proof
of what the world already more than half
suspects, that the wand of the magician is
broken, and that the spell hath lost its power
to charm. American industry will begin to
feel that it rests upon a surer basis than the
shifting sands of party ascendency and the
fundamental policy of our country will come
to be regarded as, for time at least res
judicdta. We Of the North shall cease to
fear that the capricious South, having now
outgrown the need of that protection which
has done its office for her great staple, will
a second time be able TO subvert the course
of our trade, and change the occupations
of our laboring community.
II hoe haan m ads. m after IF hOact that tho
citizens of certain southern State, which
has been at different periods within one
generation most conspicuous on both sides
of this great question, are the French Of
America. Gallant they may be, and, for
aught know, gallant also as Frenchmen ;
but if we award them this praise, they must
pardon us for limiting that they are also, like
the French, an pen Uolages, somewhat tickle
Fickleness, in certain sex, and under GER
tain circumstances may be even graceful, but
in legislators and statesman it is, at best, but
an equivocal attribute; and the people of
the South must even bear with our more
phlegmatic tempers, if we now retsh the
diet they prescribed for us, and persist in
acknowledging the value of doctrines which
we first imbibed from their superior wisdom.
That this is a question upon which sec
tional interests and sectional feeIir4 have a
very strong bearing | am not disposed to
deny. Nor do pretend that can divest
myself of their influence. Sir, should be
ashamed if / could dare not assume to
be above the partialities which belong to
humanity and were | insensible to such
considerations should be beneath them. |
cannot, nay, sir, ! will not shut my eyes to
the interests, the claims, of my own region,
of nv own humble State. While | consci-
entiously believe that the policy of protec-
ton is demanded by the best interests OF all
her sisters, to her | know it is vital and so
deeply rooted is this conviction among those
whom |, with my colleagues, have the honor
20 represent, that the very agitation of this
question: question supposed to have been
settled by the great contest Of 1910, when
the nation. with unparalleled unanimity, pro-
nounced upon it in voice of thunder-has
already produced panic, whose influence
upon the price of our only staple will cost
the wool growers of Vermont not less than
half a llion.
We of the extreme North, Mr.. Chairman,
are obliged to contend with physical Difficult.
ties to which the more favored South and
West are strangers. Our territory is noun
tainous-our soil rugged and comparatively
untbankful. The bushel of corn, which the
labor of minutes produces for the western
farmer, costs us the toll of hours Ou'
climate is of even fearful severity the Their
mometer rises to ninety-6ve degrees above
zero, and falls to the congealing point o
mercury. In summer we swelter under the
sun of the tropics, in winter we SILVER annie
Siberian SHOWS. Even now while Oe have