The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-09-10

find them where we are now. Laughter and
applause. Inasmuch as they admit In All al
rectiOns, though somewhat crudely from lack
of practice, that the principle of protection is
a sound one and that the doctrine Of free
trade is to be avoided in all editorials and
elsewhere except in communications from
outside persons, 1t may not be worth while to
spend much time upon the main argument of
the subject. But 1t may be worth while in
order to understand what the exact issue is
that is before us today, to give some account
of the way in which that issue was present
ed.
You are aware that the only body in this
country having the right to originate tariff
bill is the House Of Representatives. You
are aware, also, that the House OF Repre-
sentatiyes now is. and has been for some
time, Democratic. / make these statements
which deem to be necessary, obvious as
they are to intelligent persons, because when
open certain newspaper l always find
that the real reason why the country suffers
from anything Is because the Republican
minority OF the House of Representatives
did not effectually take control of that body.
Laughter and applause.l IL becomes, there
fore, necessary for me to add another thing
which has always seemed to be obvious,
namely, that there is no method known to
our present system of governing the House
OF Representatives whereby the lesser num-
Der can be figured out as the greater. Such
a. AOouAt 10 OCtdolOudllJ dLldlUtu III some OIL
the States south Of Mason and Dixon's line,
laughterl but the practice has never reached
tne House OF Representatives itself. III you
VIII bear that In mind you will fnd a solu-
tlon Oh some OF the terrible questions which
are occasionally asked.
A tariff bill, from its very nature, is sweep
Ing In its provisions. The Democratic orator
very often tells you that there are four thous-
and articles in the tariff, and then calls upon
you, on hand, to revise it Of a morning. But
= Pru Ia 1n ENAka e Al
Der probably twelve hundred will cover the
llst, Dut twelve hundred articles of luxury
ana comfort, manufactured in various places
an over the country, nelp to consti-
tute tue Immense business of sixty
millions ofDeople. In order to maintain
that business upon the principles of pro-
lection, and even the gentleman who can
never be governor of Massachusetts and
whose voice last re-echoed in this hall adj
mlts that II must all be done under a princ-
pie OF protection mixed with miscellaneous
ana an unknown quantity called revenue
reform; every one of those items must be
carefully scrutinized. Did it ever occur to
you that many Of those items involved all
lifetime? Who would undertake to run a
cotton mill off-hand? Who would under
take to run woolen mill without knowledge?
ana yet, whenever you touch the tariff in
respect OF the article OF cotton, whenever
you touch the tariff in respect of the article
Oh Woolens you are bound to possess your
self enough knowledge of the business To
at least not hurt it by your maneuvre. Mul-
slply THIS necessity by two hundred or three
hundred and you will at once see the intriea-
the task. Va
NOW Democratic House entrusted this
business 10 certain gentlemen from Texas
from Arkansas, from West Virginia, from
anuiana, from Tennessee and to gentle
man from Pennsylvonia deeply interested in
twenty thousand miles of railroad not in
Guiding the Canadian Pacific You all know
that the correct method of arriving at the
truth is to inquire Of those who know 1t, and
hao tn oIuer 70 pe sure that they may not have
Deen carried away by their interest, the
soundest method Of making the truth GER
taln, lis to submit the matter to careful
cross examination. From this you will at
once conclude that whenever we have Ocea-
Sion 10 arrange tariff bill we would invite
before US those whose knowledge on the
supJect Is exhaustive, and that we would
submit the statements made to the cross ex-
animation OF those who are opposed. either
70 the principle or the detail of the bill.
1ou can have no doubt about it, because Won
are sensible, intelligent men, with business
sense. was that the system adopted in ar
ranging the Mills bill? Why, my friends.
nobody knows today how that bill was pre-
Parsu. pared Inc Dem9cratic majority. after lin
gerlng mysteriously for weeks, suddenly pro-
uuced TINS Dill. We said, let us have hearings
IN order that we may see what those who
Know about this business, and whose inter-
ests are deeply affected by it, think of its
provisions; let us hear from the working
men as to how it will affect their wages: and
Wlth unanimous voice, without word of
discussion, both of those propositions were
utterly rejected. Thereupon the various
lnellDerS OF the minority, as item after item
OF the Dill came up, asked the reasons for the
changes that were made, and they were met
with stony silence or with the insolent dec
laratl0n-which was not very effective as il
came from the smallest one Of the lot laugh
terl-that they cared nothing about Satisfy.
Ing us. They preferred to vote, and the bin
went through the committee without word
OF explanation. When 1t came into the Housa.
as you VIII lind by consulting the debates, it
was M very seldom that they consented to give
reason. HOW did they amend 1t? Amend
ments were also made with defiant refusal OF
reasons. There was the article of wood
screws. Early In the session some Demo-
cratic brother had proclaimed that among the
the tariff upon wood screws; it was
a monopoly. Now the word s'monop
0iy IS the most dreadful word in the
English language, in the mouth of Demo-
cratlc orator. M Laughter.l 1t is as good as
one Of those expressions which, although
scrlpturai In their illusions, are not scriptu-
raj In their tendencies. The Democratic or
ators Ike to use that word when they fall
snort snort q an other words and of all argument.
therefore, they declared that the wood
screw monopoly was the most dreadful mo-
nopoly that ever existed upon the earth
why. they said, these Connecticut wood
screw people have actually paid to the Hon.
time the earnest friend of the present adj |
mlnistration that he is now-S20,OOQ year |
not 70 Import wood screws made by the |
British into this country. Why, they said.
LOOK az tnls horrible monopoly, which not |
only surrounds the United States but actual |
ly pays money out of the profits with which |
IL Is gorged to the British statesman to keep
wood screws from coming into this country.
BUT when they came to look it all over they
ao1nu a.,. II was going to cost them Connectl-
cut member, and straighway they forgot all |
about the hideous monopoly of wood screws
ana made change so as to save the member
from that State, as they thought, but think |
we we snall get MIN, all the same. [Applause.] |
Ihe succulent article of licorice was treated |
precisely in the same way. When they came |
TO glass,-all of 1t coming out of the cOnsum- |
er you know, that is the way they argued |
an important modification was inserted in |
order to save a Missouri member. Why. |
time would fail me to explain what an inter. |
estlng way they had of distributing the IA |
vors OF business for the benefit of Demo- |
cratic citizens. Wedidn't get any. Laughter |
1 saw the other gay that the really wicked |
tnlng which the Republicans were RESPONSE |
Dle for were trusts. They are responsible |
tor them, suppose, on account of having |
minority in the House of Representatives. / |
suppose the Republican minority has neg
ioOtcu sOhle way Ol cOnLfOlllng the Democrat
lc House. Why, they said. see, they have |
actually shut up the sugar refinery here, and |
the infamous conduct of the Republicans Is |
what has done 1t. True, they are in the mi.
nority. but some how or other they have
done it. Well, now, it is a very curious his |
tory, that of the tariff on sugar. The low |
tariff ranges-if my memory serves me-to |
No. 16, Dutch standard of color, but the |
American wants better sugar than that. so |
In actual practice the sugar all passes |
through the refinery, because above l6 |
Dutch standard the tariff is very high. BY /
reason OF the tariff being so high on refined /
sugars, we do not import foreign su- |
gars OF a high grade. Now, when the orig |
inal Mills bill was introduced, that standard /
OF low tax was raised from No. 16 to 20, and |
the tariff thereby so altered that we could |
import high grades of foreign sugars; and /
had II been carried out to its fullest extent 1t /
would have absolutely wiped out, not mere |
ly the Portland refinery, but every other re- /
hnery. That would have done away with /
the sugar trust; there is no doubt about 1t. IL /
not only would have destroyed the parasite, |
but 1t would have killed the dog. Laughter |
and applause.l Mr.. Hav emyer, who Is at |
the head of tnat great trust, came forward /
and had a conference with some of the ma
jority Of the committee. A private, secret |
conference; their conferences were all pri- /
vate We did not know what they WERE /
and l do not know today, but as a conse- |
quence of that conversation with Mr.
Havemyer, or to eOntine myself exactly to /
what / know after that conversation. the /
tariff was put back to its old schedule ar /
so that neither the parisite nor