Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-05-16

partisan politics should be put aside.
1t is question of great danger II left
in the hands Of those who seek to
make personal or partisan capital out
of it. In dealing with this question,
and, in fact, with any great economic
Question, the endeavOr should be made
to do the greatest good to the greatest
number."
Great Britain is an example of q
great commercial nation. Her ships
go out on every sea; to every cline;
her commerce is as wide and extend.
ed as the ocean; and yet Great Britain
has within her domInions q degree of
wretchedness, of poverty, among her
toiling millions that no American
desires to see among our e0untrymen
Commerce enriches the few, builds up
great cities; 1t makes merchant princes,
builds up vast wealth in the hands Of
those who engage in it. But in the
main it is agriculture, manufactures,
the mechanic arts that give employ
ment and comfort to the many. I am
willing 10 do all honor to those of cur
countrymen who engage In commerce
and with other maritime powers in
carrying trade OF the world.
But, sir, believe that true economy
requires OF US to remember the quiet
homes in which dwell the laborers of
the country and there families, those
who produce the wealth of the land;
for it Is mot that which we buy that
lenriches US, but 1t is that which we
produce" The wealth of the world
af-l, - Iak l.
earned in the sweat of mems faces.
And while, as have said, / would do
all honor to those engaged In com.
merce, in trade, in barter, i believe 1t
to be our highest, our first duty to look
to the welfare of those who mainly
produce the great wealth of our coun-
try.
i am willing and should be glad to
see our commerce flourish, to see
American ships carrying America n
products to every sea and to every
country upon the Globe. But will
not vote to build up commerce or trade
at the expense Of our home industries.
In them lie our greatest strength; in
them we have independence.
The gentleman from New York. the
chairman OF the committee says in his
opening remarks:
We must encourage and promote the adop-
lion OF such relations with other nations as
will open up the markets Of the world aud
make the whole universe contribute to our
prosperity.
do not agree with the gentleman
from New York or those who believe
with him that, because we can buy
wooden fabrics, cotton fabrics, iron,
steel, glass, and other Eecessaries of
| life cheaper in Manchester and Birm-
ingham than we can make them in LO-
we'll or inPittsburgh, we should abandon
our industries, throwing out Of eInp ploy-
ment the thousands of men, women,
and children engaged In them, and
Carry across the ocean our raw material
and barter it for the manufactured
lcommodity. believe that in the long
run we are the l. ser5 by such traffic
and that in such barter we are paying
tribute rather than collecting it.
This question, Mr.. Speaker, seems
to some extent Ia assume patty as
pect, and the laoorers of the country
again find the democratic party, as in
1916, holding up to their gaze the
beauties of the Walker tariff. Is it to
be understood that the democratic
party, as it comes into power in this
Government, Will abandon the in
,iustries that have been fOstered and
that have so greatly hourished and
enriched the country in the past six
teen years? Is this the friendship they
are about tU show to the labor Of tho
country, and are the vast SUMS Of
money that have been invested by the
rich and poor alike in establishing
system that may be truly called
American, one that makes US indepen
dent, to be abandoned for the old order
of things? II SO, let US understand il
now; let the people take warning, and
II democracy means free trade, If dem
ocracy means competition without
protection between the American
lsborer and his family and the lsborers
of Europe, let 1t be known, and in my
Judgment, the party that proposes it
will receive from the wOrkingmen of
the country such rebuke as they de-
serve.