Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-10-12
Mr.. Blaine Replies to Postmaster
General Dickinson's Statements
Concerning New England.
He Disproves the Latter's Words and
Substantiates His Assertions
With Cold Figures.
Incidental Comparisons on the Bene.
fits of a Protective Tariff
Over Free Trade.
New England and the West.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Oct. S.-Mr.
Blaine's railway trip to this place was a
continuous ovation all along the line. He
this afternoon addressed crowd of work.
men in Hartman hall replying to Post
master General Dickidson's declaration
that "New England selfshly puts her
bands on the body polite absorbing the
wealth and giving nothing in return. We
buy OF New England at an extortionite
price kept up by the tariff, while at the
same time we sell her nothing" 10 which
Mr.. Blaine replied: :As soon as read tina
statement by Mr.. Dickinson set myself to
work to procure some statistics and l shall
give you the benefit of these. In the first
place find that New England takes be-
tween 100000 and 100000 tons of grain an
nually. She raises only per cent. of the
wheat her people need for bread stuffs and,
as said, she takes between 100000 and
$4,000 tons of grain from the west [cheers1.
Next there are annually raised in this
country 9OO,O0O,O00 pounds of wool. We had
only 6O,OOOO0O pounds of wool grown an
nually by the farmers of the country when
the
FREE TRADE TARIFF
was in operation just before the war. Un-
der the effect of protective tariff we have
increased the amount of wool grown al
most wholly in the west to S0O,OOO,OOO
pounds annually and it brings vast ag-
gregation of nearly 800, 900 [cheers] to
the farmers of the country. Mr.. Cleveland
recommends the duty on that be repealed
and that we shall put the wool grower of
west q QC a
grower of Australia and Canada. The re-
publlcans say No. and New England, of
Which MIR. Dickinson speaks so disrespect-
fully, takes every year half of that entire
wool crop and pays the west $45OO0 900
year for it [cheers]. Besides. as New Eng
land needs bread for which she pays the
west $2O,O 900, 600 year, she needs also pro-
visions which includes all forms of meat,
and for that and poultry in addition i'm
ported from the west New England pays
the
FARMERS OF THESE WESTERN STATES
$55, 100000 year [cheers]. Moreover, the
people of the east want some butter to
spread on their bread and they do not
make enough at home [lau .hter and ap
plausel and they pay the west over $3,OOO,-
600 year for that Then New England
make good deal of lumber-hardwood
and pine-and there are just three states
here from which she gets it-Michigan,
Wisconsin and Minnesota-and she takes
$1OO,0O0,O0O year of western lumber, prin-
cipally from Michigan. Then of copper
and lead and salt and hides and lumber
which are taken from the western states,
in the aggregate $50,OOOO0O more The
aggregate, you will observe, is we'll up to
$500, 100000. We all know that Mr.. Don
Dickinson belongs to an administration
that can afford to lend bankers $6O,OOO,OOO
a year of government money without in
terestt SO that he probably thinks that
$500, ,000, 900 is not much of a sum [cheers
and laughter], but to those of us in the
east who pay it and to those of you in the
west who receive it it does somehow or
other come very handy in settling our
balances at the end of the year."