The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1884-04-18
The Literary Entertainment.

The meeting of the literary and debating So
cety in the Congregational church last Monday
evening was probably the largest gathering
ever seen in Hope, all the seating capacity in
the church being occupied. On this occasion
the Hope Brass Band made its first appearance
in public, which was also the time set for the
debate on the tariff question. The meeting
opened with selection by the band, followed
by an interesting recitation by Miss Lee, which
was SO highly applauded that she came for
ward and recited ''Curfew shall not ring
tonight" in very effective manner. The
band then rendered another of its selections,
which was followed by the debate. The
judges chosen were Messrs c. V. Bush, D. P.
Baldwin and E. P. Wright The subject:
''Resolved, That Free Trade would be more
beneficial to the masses than Protective Tariff"
was discussed by c. j. Paul, H. H. Wasem and
M. Cavanaugh OH the affirmative, and Z. J.
McMahon VIM. Venable and P. S. Mackay on
the negative.
Mr.. Paul, being tho leading disputant Oh the
affirmative, came forward and made very
favorable argument in behalf of his hobby,
and showed plainly that he had not been nap
ping for some time previous to the debate.
He had sifted pretty thoroughly nearly every
thing coming before the public recently Oh this
great question which is to-day agitatlDg the
minds Of the smartest men America possesses.
Mr.. Mcmahon followed on the other side
with an array Of figures from sources which
were convincing, and showed by comparison
that protective tariff was pretty good thing
after all.
Mr.. Wasem arose, and in the first round
knocked the spots off the arguments Of the
| speaker preceding him. His eloquence was
above the average, and stimulated by the
| thorough committal to memory of very flow
sery speech on free trade, intermingled with an
occasional nugget of originality, as if to trim
with rustic work, that it might be more in ac-
| cordance with the rustling ideas Of the Dako-
| taian, it was accepted as one of the most high
| ly polished, if not the most meritorious, speech
| our citizens have had the pleasure of listening
| to in Hope.
Mr. Venable then came forward, and though
| unprepared, not being aware Of tile fact that
he would be called upon to take part on either
side, commenced in a quiet off-hand manner,
by saying that he did not wish to offer "ine-
spun reflections Of the thoughts Of other men
more wise" He argued that from 1887 to
1912, Van Buren's time. when there existed
the lowest trar1ff, everything was most depress-
ed, then it was that skilled laborers were only
too willing to walk miles that they might Sc
cure work. though at the low price Of 50 cents
per day, which was the average Of wages then
paid. The affirmative argued that just pre-
vious 10 the rebellion, labor was better paid
than it is to-day. The speaker argued as a
reason that the demand for war ships, guns,
clothes for the soldiers, ETC., was such that high
wages must be paid to secure their manufac-
ture. He thus agreed with his opponents that
neither free trade nor protection had anything
to do whatever with the natural law Of demand
and supply. Another favorable point offered
by the speaker in the way of an Offset to the
above high wages plea of 1860, offered by free
trade advocates, was that then wheat only
| brought or cents a buslel. During the war
100000 soldiers were killed and crippled, and
the Indebtedness of the United States was five
billions of dollars He rightly argued that it
requires something to run this country. Eng
| land is willing, but are we read! free trade9