The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-05-03
MR. HURp's GREAT SPEECH.
The People Demanding am Immediate
Reduction I'm Customs Taxes.

but the complete V1nulcabiOn Oh u great cause,
was achieved by Mr.. Hurd in his speech on
the Morrison bill, delivered in the House of
| Representatives on Tuesday. In the Droadest
sense of the word, and measured by any STAN
dard, it was a great speech, and one of those
events which stand out in the history of Con-
gress as cathedral spires rise above the level
of surrounding objects. 1t was speech that
cannot be entombed in the Record, but will
take a permanent place in our literature. 1t
will be read in millions of homes, and pas
sages of it will be acclaimed by the school
boys of generations that will enjoy the bles-
sings of free trade-of trade free from all
burdens except such as are absolutely neces-
sary to defray the expenses of honestly ad-
ministered government.
The effect of Mr.. Hurd's eloquence on his
hearers was something that cannot be put into
words The friends of the Morrison bill felt
that their hour of victory had dawned. The
advocates of protection knew that their cause
was suffering irreparable injury. But all of
his auditors yielded to the influence of the
moment, and paid due tribute to the power of
the orator-a power based on his sincerity,
on his thorough belief in the righteousness of
the doctrines that he preached. He spoke in
the interest of the toiling poor, pleading the
cause of wage-workers of the United States,
and building a granite wall Of argument,
against which the selfish sophistries of pro-
lection cannot prevail.
During the long speech of Mr.. Hiscock,
with which the debate opened, there was little
interest manifested, for Mr.. Hiscock dealt
mainly with statistics, and did not handle
them with remarkable skill. But Mr.. Hurd
had not spoken two minutes before he had
| the undivided attention of every person on the
floor and in the galleries, and he held that at
tention to the close, and might have kept it
for hours.
While the tariff, he said, was first paid by
the importer, it was ultimately paid by the
consumer. When it was levied for the purpose
of government it was called revenue tariff !;
when it was levied for the purpose of aiding
individuals or business enterprises, it was
called protective tariff. To the first, when
laid fairly and without discrimination, he had
no objection, but to the latter he was unalter-
ably opposed. On what ground should the
Government interpose to help the business of
one citizen at the expense of another? If a
mans business were profitable one, it did
not need the protection of the Government,
if it were Improbable, that was good reason
why he should not put his money into it, but
no reason why he should compel his fellow
citizens to pay two prices for the article he
made in order to make good his losses. If he
we're compelled by legislation to pay $3.50 for
what would otherwise cost 500, then the
seller had been armed with the taxing power
of the Government to take from him $50. He
denied the right of the Government to sur
render the taxing power and allow an indi-
vidual to exercise it. When he earned wages
they were his own, and he had right to ex.
pend them where he pleased. If he could
make better contract with Frenchman, a
Mexican, Canadian or an Englishman, than
with an American, he had right to do it, and
the Government had no right to interpose
except in SO far as the needs of its revenue
we're concerned. If he had, in one day earned
a dollar, it expressed all Of that day to him.
II represented his hopes, his fears, his toll and
his anxieties. With that dollar he went to
purchase what he wanted from a Frenchman,
but the Government stepped in with its power
and said, "You must not buy from French.
man; you must buy from an American.
He went with his dollar to the American, who
said, 81 charge So for that article" He
must 60 back to his toll, and another day
must go out of his life to get the additional
dollar What was the significance of that
transaction? He had been, by the power OF
law, compelled to work one day against his
will for an American manufacturer. All OF
his hopes, all of his tolls for that day were
made the manufacturer In other words, fol-
one day no had become slave. Every dol.
lar of increase In the price OF goods which the
protective tariff occasioned, was an hour or q
day of slavery. He rested his whole case on
this propostion-that subject to the needs Of
the Government, every man had the right to
sell where he could get the best price for what
he had produced, and buy where he could buy
the most cheaply. This was the approved
doctrine of political economy and the plainesi
teachings of Justice. 1t individualized men;
it begot in them u spirit of Independence; II
turped their eyes from the Government to
! a. - Eyat tho honnun rU line hetWaau
Governmental power and personal rights; it
limited the authority ofpubic administers
ton. 1t taught men that there was no arm
so strong for their support as their own, and
no business so successful as that which their
ability and skill had built up; it limited the
Government within its proper sphere and
left individuals free to choose their own ca:
reers, develop their own resources and build
up their own fortunes.
The present American tariff was a high
protective one. It increased the price OF
articles imported into this country more than
forty three per cent, 1t was perfectly mani
fest that its influence on olr foreign CON-
meree could only be deleterious. Trade was
merely mutually of exchange, and foreign
trade was the exchange Of products between
citizens of different countries. Every hind
rance to the importation of foreign goods was
an embarrassment to commerce, for TO the
same extent, it prevented the expectation OF
American goods. The country could not
have large expectation without having a
large importation. Every tariff duty was a
burden on foreign commerce, and it was
doubly 50 because it gave foreign nations an
excuse for keeping out American goods. More
ipjqrj9gs still was this system on the carrying
trade; ana ii zas tie question Of only "a little
time when under this policy the AMERICAN
flag would entirely disappear from the high
seas. The tariff prohibited the importation
of foreign vessels, and American capital,
when it desired to engage in the carrying trade.
must do so under foreign flag. On the ship
building interest protection had been most
disastrous. Nothing was clearer to his mind
than that the destruction of tie foreign carry
ing trade was the result of the prohibition OF
an American registry to foreign built vessels
and the high price of raw material to ship
builders. The oceans were, free to all; any
person might sail whithersoeyer he pleased,
but in this free for all where was America
The skill of the sailor of every nation was
these asserting itself, except ours; fortunes
were being built up for people Of all nations
except ours: and yet this was'aR aeeaH bound
Republic. Every ripple Of the waters on the
seashQre was an invitation to ENJOY the wealth
of foreign aatieIs, and every stormy wave
that beat upon the erags spoke ~ LAUNDERING
| 4tuuuCtdLlpu VI PpiiN9 tHnt. HpHiH Aht'h
America ont of the markets. of the world.
Loud applause. God speed the, day when
the Divine thought Of man's brotherhood to
man would succeed the degrading and AHmil-
iatiRg one of national isolation. and fnreign
exclusion,
What was the effect Of the rHinons system
on the farmer? 1t increased the price Of NIL
articles which entered into bis daily oonsump.
ton, and this increase amounted to an annual
sum of $3.50. OOO, 600. For this there was
absolutely no compensation IN the protec-
tive system. The system operated TO in
crease the price of the transportation OF
grain from the West to the seaboard, and
from the seaboard to Europe. When the
grain Of The American farmer reached Liver
pool, it came in compet;tiGE With the grain of
, every other farmer of the world. The protee-
tive tariff of America was unable to help him
there, and every dollar of increase of price
which transportation occasions to him dimin-
ished the profits of big sales: But the protec-
tive tariff did moro injury 10 Inc falmer in the