The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1886-10-23
MR.. BLAINE'S SPEECH
Delivered at the Academy of Music, Phila..
on the Evening of Oct l6, 1886.


On the Evening of Oct. l6, 1886.
one of the Most Enthusiastic Republican
Meetings Ever Known in Pennsylvania
was the Ovation just Given MIR. Biain.
by the Republicans of Philadelphia "A ne
Vicinity.
MIR. Blaine bowed in response to the
greeting, and finally raised his hand tC
secure attention, which was Instantly
given, and he said:
lyon make it very difficult for me to
lind language To suitably express my feel
lngs 10 ward you for this most generous
reception. In no State and from no
other people could it be SO gratifying as
from citizens of Pennsy lvania. am op-
pressed with the sense that in nv re-
marks shall make but an inadequate re-
Spouse to the enthusiasm with which YOU
have greeted me. Ia political discussions
the first requisite is an agreement uDon
facts, and, ii The opposition will not adj
NIT the facts, to be able to prove them
conciusively. We may honestly differ as
to conclusions, but not as to facts. do
not intend tonight to dwell upon the
record OF the Republican party, for no
party can live simply in its past record
any more than a man can live merely by
claiming an honorable ancestry. Let us
dwell not upon what the Republican
party haS done, hut what it ,rW do. In
approaching the dividing line between
the two great parties, feel ike carrying
C 'als to Newcastle, in discussing protec
ton before Pennsylvania audience, es-
pecially in the presence Of the Congress
sional Nestor of protection, Judge VIM.
ID. Kelley. Political economy is not an
exact scieuse, but matter of expert
ment, and is so admitted to be, except by
authors of free trade books. We have
lived nearly hundred years under the
Federal Constitution, and by this time
should have mad sutfi ;ient experience to
be lamp uuto our feet Our free trade
opponents, driven to d poilt where there
Is no retreat, say that there are other
considerations to be discussed and thus
avoid the real issue. The value of pro-
lection to the working people is shown
III the millions on deposit in the savings
funds. The six leading manufacturing
States have thousand millions to the
credit of l,boring men, against four hun
bred millions for all the wage-workers of
Great Britain aud Ireland. From the
time of the Declaration cf Independence
to the Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln
the foreign shipments from this country
amounted to about $1,000, 900, 900, of
which in the twenty years under a pro-
lection policy the exports reached $l2,-
DOC, 600, 900. Could there be a stronger
| illustration than that, while we are un-
able to control the policy of foreign ma
tions, we should of necessity have con-
trolling policy of our own? The free
traders claim that, while Eastern manu-
featuring States are becoming wealthy
and fattening, the Western States do not
possess such advantages, but are grow
ing lean, and, consequently, that protec-
ton does not benefit all alike, and that
what is "a source of profit to the + tst is
loss to the West. To illustrate their ar
gumeut they, unfortunately for them
selves, took the State of Illinois, which
when the Republican party came into
OOO,O 900, and now has s., 200 600, 900, not
III banks, but representing the value in
vested III broad acres and rich farms. |
read the speech of Mugwump from
Massachusetts yesterday giving his for
NAL adhesion to the Democratic party
his informal adhesion had already been
accomplished. He said that importatious
would and could only iucr ease when this
miserable doctrine of protection was abol-
ished. Take New York State alone,
which represents both commercial and
manufacturing interests aud progress,
and statistics show this: That from 1870
to Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration, a
period of II years, all deposits represent
ing the work and wages Of laboring men
were but two hundred aud eighty million
dollars, while the savings since that tina,
for twenty years, aggregate one hundred
Since 1861 We have spread over a con-
tinental area as large as Europe, with
millions constantly increasing. We ex-
change without let or hindrance, tax,
custom dues, Or any obstruction what
ever. Where is there a parallel in the
world? where a PHILADELPHIA. manufac-
turer can send his product through
thlrty-eight States and nine Territories,
without single penny of tax. England
has no such free trade, They levy duties
on her in Canada, one of her provinces.
She hasn't absolutely free trade even in
Australia and Ireland. If there be virtue
in free trade, We have it. If there be
virtue in protection, we have it; and
there never was a nation in the world
that was so fitted for a protective policy
as the United States. If it was not for
the protective system ten thousand men
who are now artisans would be obliged
| to turn to toll in the soil Where are we
going to sell our productions if We do
not have laboring class to consume
them. The Republican party stands on
the doctrine that whatsoever can be as
well made here as in other countries
| shall be made at home.
"a great distraction is sought co be in
troduced in Pennsylvania, which would
work great disaster to the country. Ii
anything should happen to the position of
Pennsylvania upon this question of pro-
| lection, Pennsy lyania, which has borne
| the fight upon her broad shoulders, in
discouragements and triumphs, there is
no man living in its broad borders capa-
| bic of estimating the damage to the
| United States of America Those who
are propagatng this heresy are the in
| temperate men, who are attempting to do
| it III the name of temperance. We had
that issue in Maine. For nearly thirty
| years Maine has maintained prohibitory
law. That has been the deliberate judy
ment of her people by decisive majorities
The average citizen of Maine thought
that after thirty years of experience that
| they knew something about that ques