Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-08-02

not compete with European manufacture, and
part Gu ar.y with the manufacture Of England.
Many reasons conduce to this end. such as the
larger Accommodations of capital in the older
countries, the longer and more permanent eS
adjustment of their manufacturing institu
tons. the lower rate which capital commands
in ar old country; but the important and the
chef reason why the European manufactured
can undersell the American is the cheapness OF
labor on that side OF the water We can not
compete with them in the production OF many
articles unless the price Of labor in America is
reduced TO the European standard / am not
in favor OF protecting any interest which does
no. require protection, nor am l in favor OF
protecting any industry which We do not have
natural facilities FOR m a!ntaining. would not
be in favor of helping any man or set of men
by law TO grow coffee and tea in hot-house.
So largely does the wages OF labor enter into
the price Of manufactured articles in this coun-
try that conceive il would be impossible 10
maintain the great lines OF our manufactures
without a substantial protective tarif upon for
eign goods.
Furthermore the moment we allow our home
manufactures to be broken down, the so-called
''monopolies'' and trusts upon which the
free-trader loves to descant are only removed
to the other side OF the Atlantic ocean We
would in that event soon learn by sad expe-
rience, as has been learned by several countries
trying the experiment, that we would be re-
quired 10 pay more for the manufactured arti-
cles than they cost under the policy Of protec-
ton.
The President does not even suggest the fact
that there is nothing at all to prevent any per-
son among our GO, 000,0O Of population from en-
gaging in any manufacturing enterprise prom
Using large rewards. Money is plenty in the
market to be loaned at six per cent, and even
a less rate. II manufacturing enterprises
promise to capital such large rewards under
what the President is pleased to term our
vicious and illogical" tariff laws, why will
capitalists who are certainly as shrewd and
farseeing in money matters as the President
himself, loan their money at four, five and six
per cent:
It will be found in almost every instance that
the prices Of protected articles now as COM
pared with four years ago have been reduced.
Wooden goods of nearly every description are
cheaper now than they were in the good old
Democratic days Of free trade. A wooden
blanket worth g before the war can now be
bought for five, and the price Of almost every
article Of clothing in general use among the
laborIng classes has been reduced in like pro-
portion. Salt, one Of the most necessary arti-
cles OF life, we are told, is required to pay
heavy duty in order to build up monopoly in
the manufacture of that article at home; and
yet salt is as cheap, il not cheaper than 1t ever
barrel Of salt from your city merchant about as
cheap as you can hire drayman to fill bar
rel at your nearest sand-bank and deliver il In
your back yard. We have reached these con-
ditions, not through foreign competition, but
by competition arising at home among our
own manufacturers; and when we manufacture
all We need at prices as low as the article can
be made for at home, then We have reached as
favorable condition as the natural advantages
OF our country will warrant. To cut lower than
this must inevitably be done at tine expense of
the mechanics and the laboring men.
The Democratic party has been six years in
control of that house of Congress in which
under the constitution all revenue laws must
originate. 1t has been in control of the Execu-
tive Department of the Government more than
three years. Yet with large working MAORI
ty in the lower house, with its President in the
chair, that party has originated and passed no
single measure to relieve the burden of uunec-
essary taxation which just now is the slogan
and the war cry OF the Democratic campaign.
I do not say and I do not believe that the
present Tariff law Is perfect. The Republican
party long ago set the example of revising the
tariff, and may be relied on to correct all its
present and its future inequalities. But there
is one matter in which 1 am firmly persuaded
that the good sense of the American people as
whole Will constrain them TO agree with the
Republican policy and principles, and that is
that the doctrines of the English free-trade
school, under which American manufacture
would inevitably be confined to such opera
lions as saving wood and mending shoes,
should never be permitted to gain ascendency
upon this continent Men who can only view
he tariff question through the free-trade Cog
yles Of Richard Golden and from the stand |
point occupied by the English manufacturer,
whose desire in the matter is his own selfish |
gain, will never be permitted by the voters of |
his Nation to lag their unwashed and ignorant |
lands upon the citadel of American industry. |
Fellow citizens, should feel that had been |
ecreant to my sense of duty if / failed to call |
ton that lies at the foundation of our free in
and compared with which all others |
link into nothingness. refer to the political |
condition of the colored race in the South. |
Nearly twice as many members of Congress as |
constitute the present Democratic majority in |
the lower house hold their seats by counting in |
the enumeration of electors a DISTINGUISHED |
a race beyond the Ohio is
robbed of a constitutional right by fraud and |
7iolence. This 1 know has been said many
times, but even at the risk of provoking harsh |
criticism and bitter vituperation it ought to be
laid and shouted and proclaimed in the face of |
Heaven until just God hears the cry Of the !
and the fact ceases to exist
Twenty-three years have elapsed since the |
"A
with faces toward the rising sun
ire already on the stage. The passions and |
bitter hates engendered by war are gradually /
giving way before the bright sunlight of peace.
No one reioices at this more than do 1 |
would not wantonly revive the bitter memories
Of bitter war or stir up the angry pass ons of |
men. Let the dead past bury It's dead But
this is not question of the dead past but of
he living present; and tura which way we VIII |
z a 4 n 1.Nff l.kaG
Those responsible for these crimes are the |
men who are enacting laws which our citizens
North and South, including the State of Hi
10 s. are required TO obey. These are the men
who have been unan nous in their vote to
seep South Dakota out of the Union, Terri
ory nearly one-third larger than that of Illi-
lois with a population of 10000 people, |
greater thpn the combined popula- |
alton Of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. Michigan and
when they were admitted into the
Union. This Territory, filled as it is with in
diligence and wealth and all the progressive
IDEAS of the North is kept out simply for the
rhine of being Republican, and that, too, by
men who are in Congress with the broken
avs OF their country under their feet. The
Nation is ruled to-day by the solid South, and
territory within cannon-shot OF the city hall /
n the city OF New York What a spectacle is
lere presented TO the American people. BY
hese influences Cleveland was elected N 1884.
IND by them he expects to be reelected in No
'emoer. II this condition of things was
brought about by fair and untramm eled ex-
PRESTON OF opinion at the ballot box there would
De no Just ground for complaint; but We know
is not. We know tits the result of frauds. of
OF intimidation, and sometimes of
murder. The facts were first denied until
proofs rendered further denial useless. Now
he crime is by some boldly avowed, and by
liners ana the best OF the beneficiaries con-
lived at and spologized for Think of man
having the efrontery to set up as reformer
whose own election to high ONCE is the fruit
4 a crime against that right preservative Of all
lights, the ballot.
Senator Wade Hamnton of Soufh Carolina |