National Republican., 1888-01-24

the free traders, apparently With all his
heart In fine, he was satisfied that all the
Democratlc leaders agreed with the Presi
dent, except that they had not the Presl-
dents boldness or honesty. II, however,
by cheating the people in the next election
lease OF power and obtain control OF the
United States Senate, then the people might
bid farewell to every principle Of protec
tion. The Republicans took up the Presi.
dents gauntlet OF free trade with great
pleasure and joined issue with the Demo.
Gratis. The Republicans declared that, In.
stead OF the tariff being Vicious, Illogical, and
lnequitable, II increased marvelously the
prosperity OF this country; and that, instead
OF q duty being tax paid by the consumer,
no instance could be found In which the
duty had not decreased to the consumer
the coet OF the article consumed. The
Republicans further declared that the
future prosperity Of this country (for
twenty-five years at any rate) depended alb
solutely on the benign Influences Of protec.
tive tariff. He admitted that this country
possessed many advantages over competing
nations; but yet he declared that, with all
those advantages, II could not compete in
manufactures with the European nations,
because It was Handicapped In the matter OF
wages. On this point, and on the addi.
tional point that the price OF all manufac.
protective system, Mr.. Frye supported his
argument with numerous illustrations,
many OF them drawn from his own observa.
tions In Europe. AS to the surplus, It was
Democratic incapacity (he said) which
caused It; and now the country had to look
out that the same Democratic incapacity,
In administering medicine, did not give
poison and kill the patient. Hewas as much
against the surplus as the President was,
but he wasnot frightened at It. He would
rather have a surplus than a deficit. IL
there was any honest purpose to get rid OF
the surplus 1t could be done without the
slightest difficulty. In the first place some
OF 1t ought to be expended wisely In coast
defenses, in increasing the navy, In build
ing up the merchant marine. and in edu.
eating the people as proposed in the bill OF
the. senator from New Hampshire lMr.
Blair.)
The senator from North Carolina (Mr.
vance, had indicated q way to prevent o
surplus,t tand the senator fiom Georgia (Mr.
Brown had proposed way which would
do 1t beyond all manner Of question. That
was repeal Of all the internal revenue
laws. But his Democratic friends and their
allies, the distillers and brewers and saloon
keepers, had recently developed a wonder
full regard for temperance, and had become
great temperance champions, protesting
against whisky being made cheaper. But
he told them that the temperance sentiment
OF the country was rapidly crystallizing into
the opinion that the sooner the tax on whis-
Ky was repealed the better and quicker the
the principles Of temperance would be sub
served. He could see, however, one or two
objections to its repeal and one of them was
that so much revenue could not be spared.
AS to the duty on sugar, he declared him.
self In favor Of taking 1t of, but he would
not kill the sugar industry Of the country,
feeble as It was. He would give bounty
equivalent to the present duty on sugar;
but II the purpose Of the Democratic party
was TO destroy the tariff and to cripple
many, and absolutely destroy some, Of the
industries OF the country the Presidents
method would, of course, do that. Amerl.
can workingmen could be reduced to the
degradation almost OF the workingmen and
women Of Europe. But here was splen-
did country perfectly marvellous in its
possibilities. Why. he asked, should
this country lead the whole world
In pure, lofty civilization, In religion, In
education, In temperance, in the arts, in
literature, and in material progress Who
doubted that it would do SO If. In the ad-
ministration Of its affairs and In its legisla-
tion they undertook, in honest purpose to
provide In the best possible manner for their
own people
As Mr.. Frye concluded there was con-
siderable applause from some OF the gal
leries (which were well Glled), and he was
congratulated by several senators.