The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-06
JUDGE KELLEY.

On Saturday last Judge Kelley accepted the
nomination rendered hun by the Convention
Of the Fourth Congressional District. In
reply to the committee who waited upon him,
the Judge, after referring to his past acts,
said--
New issues have arisen, and they are as
grave as were those we have thus happily
settled. The great question with which we
have to deal is not national but an inter
national one. The parties are not 80 be sum-
moned by bugle-call, or marched to the music
of the rolling drum or ear-piercing fife. Their
movements will be determined by the average
rates of wages for labor, and the measure of
education and chances in life offered to the
children of the laborers. The future hsto-
rian of the current decade will dwell less
upon armies, navies, and ministerial changes
than upon the apportionment of taxes and
impost duties the ebb and flow OF emgra-
tiop, and the relative development of the
material resources of the countries of which
he shall write. The contest is for CONNER
cial independence or supremacy.
The imminent question for the statesman
is how to cheaper all that contributes to the
support of human life, while enhancing the
value Of life by increasing the rewards of
labor. This WILL in my judgment, be the
best accomplished by that nation which by
the weli-paid labor of its people produces most
of its supplies from raw materials found
within It's limits; or which, in the language of
a quaint old English writer, ''sets at work all
the poor of the country with the growth of
ito own lands" Controlled by this theory, 1
have labored to reduce the schedule of inter-
nal taxes with which our industry, enterprise,
and capital are burthened; to reduce the duties
on tea, coffee, and Spices which we all consume
but none produce, and to put on the free list
every species of raw material for manufac-
lures which we do not produce. Much of
this has been DONE The Senate is still en-
gagged upon the bill, but it has gone far
enough to justify me in assuring you that
you will, by the legislation of this session, be
relieved of at least SIC, 100000 OF taxes.
The recent experience of England is giving
new and startling confirmation to the theories
1 embrace. Till within quarter of century
size was the most protective of nations and
had long justly enjoyed the proud titles of
Mistress of the Sea" and "rle Workshop
of the World. Keeping her people employed
on her raw material, she found market for
her COAL limestone, iron ore, wool, and the
labor that had wrought them into articles of
utility in every land. But, captivated by the
glitteripg sophisms Of free traders, she re-
pealed her protective duties, and subjected
her industries to competition with those of
France, Belgium, Prussia, and Austria, whose
workmen are paid little more than half the
wages received even by the under-paid
British artisan.
The experiment has been fatal to many of
her Industries. Observe this pile of recent
books and pamphlets, each of which bears the
imprint of London or Manchester. They are
eight distinct and intelligent protests against
a system which in twenty-five years has re-
duced England from her commanding posi-
tion to that of q mere carrier and exporter Of
skilled acOrlt1nell, raw wool and coal and manu-
factures but little advanced, such as yarn and
pig iron. There are men who would force
free trade upon this country and compel our
mechanics to compete with those whose in
adequate wages have enabled their employers
to undermine almost every branch of industry
in England, low as her wages are in compari-
son with those received by the American
So regardless of the rights of our laboring
people are the free traders that they would
PROSTATE several hourishing and leading in
dustries by repeating the duties on coal, salt,
lumber, pig iron, etc. They would do this,
they say to give the workman cheap coal,
salt, and other commodities. To the unem-
ployed workman whose rent Is due, and who
has not the means to buy meal it is of not
much importance whether the price of a ton
of coal or salt is a few cents more or less.
What he wants is steady work and fair wages.
Without these his life is waste and his
family burden, though he loves them ever
so tenderly.
Let me, as an illustration, consider the
coal question for moment. We have more
coal than all other civilized nations combined
1t measures straight across the continent from
Rhode Island and North Carolina to Mount
Diabolo, near the Bay Of San Francisco, and
the shores of Puget's Sound. 1t also abounds
in the British provinces on to the coast. It's
production aud transp portation are among the
great industries of our countrV and give en-