The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-03-09


be more absurd. The industry that could
not stand alone without spoon-feeding,
did not deserve to stand at all He did
not know why it should be necessary to
argue the matter of Free Trade" before
the American people. (Applause.) Every
instinct of the American nation should
be in the direction of "Free Trade"
| (Applause.) The idea of the government
was that no favor should be shown to any
man because of his birth. Every man
should stand by his merit, and and there
should be free track for all comers, and
let the best nan win. (Applause.) To il
lustrate, the lecturer instanced the liber-
ty of the press, sometimes amounting TO
license Allow it, like powder, to flash
without being confined, and no harm
would result; but con fine it by law and
then what an explosion there would be !!
| (Applause.) America was sensible in al
lowing liberty Of the press. Ifthe press
said what was wrong let them set up an
other against it that would tell the truth.
So it was with Free Trade" There
should be no confinement of compei-
tion.
The lecturer next alluded to the syste'
matte stealing of lobbyists and others.
Taxation in the long run fell npon pro-
duction, not on capital. In the times
when paper money was flush, people.who
thought they were making vast deal Of
money appeared careless whether the
rogues stole little or not. But the hard
times have changed all that, People
would now look at the matter more close
ly. 1t was used as an argument, in favor
of Protection, that the working men of
the United Safes were receiving high
wages and could not afford to compete
with the pauper labor of Europe. Ifit
was fact that they were earning large
wages, where did they come from2 The
product of their own laborP Il this were
SO, how could they be diverted to other
industries which did not pay so wellP
They could not take up newspaper
nowadays without meetingin its columns
something alike disgusting in social or
in public sense. Pecuniary inddelity
appeared to have become national sin,
and honesty, on the contrary, appeared
to be regarded as a jest-a very sorry jest
luuCSu' lulS CNll udu DGCOluO bO SOllCldl
that it was disheartening to contemplate.
But why was it? Was it because the
American people talked more about such
things than any other? Was it because
the American people were more dishon-
est than any other,peopleP He did not be-
lieve it. The evil was in great meas
ure attributable to the use of paper mon
ey. Allow merchant to trade with pro-
tested paper-a lie on its face-and you
can imapine the result. Let man deal
with false dollar-a dollar which is not
which is lie on its face-and he loses
respect for sucL money. He feels that he
is doing what is false, that his money is
not money representing gold basis, but
false and hollow This bred feeling of
contempt for honesty. When the ma
tional currency itself was dishonest, how
could it be expected that local politicians
could be honest? The fact of our false
money had bred an immoral disease
among our American people. This in
some measure explains the gross and
general corruption of our civil service,
the lamentable business failures and
bank defalcations and the other demor
allzations common in the country.
Looking abroad upon the American
Continent they beheld. approaching the
Centennial, a magnificent territory, but
they did not create that; a multitude of
furnaces, tried and untried, but they did
not create them, But when the boat was
on their lips they should pause and look
back, They should remember that the
honor of America was on trial to-day.
They should take by the throat these
mighty financial questions-it was not
now question of war-these evils which
required an energy and devoted patri-
otism such as the war called forth. Zap
plause,) They could not fling the re-
sponsibility of government on any but
themselves. They had undertaken to
govern themselves, and popular govern
ment, through them, was on its trial be-
fore this generation and before its poster
ity. If the two years that have passed
should have the effect of reminding the
American people of their duties as citi-
zens, so as to avert future evil, he would
consider them the best years of the Re-
public. (Applause.)