Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-05-21

OF the American people" Capital then sal
to labor: "Go with me into this new fel
| all of you Who like this work best, and "
will share the results Then began ne
industry. Multiply this by hundreds, an
you had community where every man hor
estly minded would get what, on the whols
suits him best, and the nation would get tn
greatest amount of work from the create.
number.
Continuing, Mr.. Reed said: Monopoly
said Horace Greeley, a doctor of laws. an
once candidate of the democratic party fc
the Presidency, monopoly is, perhaps, tn
most perverted and misapplied word in ou
much abused mother tongue" How yer
lame this lsnguage is, l suppose that dur
ing the ten years last pas; have listened i
this hall TO more idiotic raving, more pestit
erous rant Oh that subject than all the other
put together. And yet, outside the paten
office, there are no monopolies in this coun
try, and there never can be. All. but wha
is that see on this far horizons edge. wit
tongue of hanle and eye of fire, serpent
headed and grifin-elawed: Surely it mus
be the great new chimera trust"
Quick, cries every masked member of tn
ways and means. Quick. Let US lower tn
tariff. Let us call in the British. Let then
save our devasted homes. Courage, dea
brethren. be not too much disturbed. The
Lord wiA reign even if the board of mayo
and aldermen should adjourn. When tn,
day comes that this republic cannot save it
self from dozen of its own citizens withou
aid from over the sea, hope to be buried
thousand leagues under some respectable anC
permanent mountain rage.
A dozen men fix the prices for sixty mil
lion free men. They can never do it. There
is no power on earth that can raise the price
OF any necessary of life above just price,
and keep it there. More than that, if the
price is raised and maintained even for a
short while, it means ruin for the combina-
ton and still lower prices for consumers.
That is one of the laws of God working fol-
his children. Compared with one of your
laws of Congress- 1T is as a leviathan to a clam.
But If the revenue reform orator on monopo-
iy Is terrible, like an army with banners,
there Is a theme on which he can take up
the notes of the dying swan. How we do
like to hear him on the impoverished farmer.
Then he is not sublime, but he is pathetically
great. heard him first, ten years ago.
10 me, innocent, untravelled, it seemed as if
the western farmer was the most woebegone,
downtrodden, luckless, unsuccessful dispir-
tied devil on the face of the earth. The
eastern vampire has mortgaged his farm and
thrown his fences, and scattered his sub
stance wantonly to the winds. In the full
ness of time travelled west myself. You
may well imagine my astonishment, who had
never seen ten acres together in corn, to be-
hold fields of that great staple stretching
away out to the horizons edge, to see tracts
of land which seemed to have no boundaries
but the visible sky land SO rich that if we
had an acre of it in Moine, we would have
sold it by the bushel; while on every side
were the great brick houses, such
as only the squire lived in our villages, Af-
ter some days of this, | became sulky.
said, gentlemen, of course we have robbed
you. Your congressman would not lie about
trities like that. But what disgusts me, is
that we did not do it more thoroughly. The
cleaning looks bigger than the harvest. Then
they confined to me that the western congress
men were great orators and did this for
practice. Since then have not been so
much moved by them. Mr.. Reed then dwelt at
some length upon markets of the world,'
and argued that the best market in the world
was to be found where people had the most
money, and that was iii the tnited States,
after u years of prutectonist rule. Con-
cluding he said We have now spent 20
days Oh the dircussion of the Mills bin.
Have you noticed what has been the most
utterly insignificant thing in the discussion !?
The most utterly insignificant thing in the
discussion has been the Mills bill. How do
you account for it? l will tell you. If the
principles you have enunciated are true, it
is unworthy compromise with Satan. If the
principles we have stated are true, it is an
unworthy ambuscade, and you know it. You
mean this merely for one step, You mean
TO cut deeper next time. You mean the
destruction of the system which now exists.
The whole can be put succinctly in few
words. If the principles you announce are
true, you must have direct taxation. If
the dollar you pay the custom house on-the
import is followed by dollar to the manu-
facturer for every like quantity of domestic
goods which your tariff accidentally encour-
ages, then that manufacturer is a misfortune.
1t takes dollars out of the farmer or lawyer
without return. 1t is no reply, under this
government, to say that the indirect collec-
ton of 81, one half of which is lost to the
people, is easier because the poor fools don't
know it, That is the old quotation made
from Colbert by the gentlemen from West
Virginia, Surely in this country you do not
avow that you are trying to get the maximum
of feathers out of the goose for the minimum
of squalling. You don't mean to take feath-
ers out of the American goose and deny him
the privilege of noise. No. if our proud bird
ought to surrender feathers, he is plucky
enough to surrender like an eagle, and if it
is tax alone he has right to see just what
feathers go. The forefathers of these dem
ocrats saw this, and, like the honest men they
were, clamored for direct taxation. They
were right. Why do not you act like them
Why not be bold! Why do you hesitate
1t is because 81 years of knowledge divide
you from them. In your heart of hearts
You may well hesitate. Whoever takes
down the map of 1860 and the map of 1885
will look upon the most wondrous growth
that ever the sun shone on in all its myriad
courses around the earth. 1t is marvelou,
spectacle. 1t is not alone the great cities
born like exhalations, which flash prosperity
over the great lakes, the broad plains, the
mighty fields, rich with verdure or teeming
with uncounted harvest. 1t is not alone the
piled-up billions under which the greates
national debt and war expenditure combined
the world ever saw, has melted like an ice
unutf "A IOpltdi sui IL is HOl dlOHe II
the rejuvenated South turning its face to it,
great future. Nay, it is not even all OF
these combined. 1t is the fact found by tn,
most cultured Englishman of our day that al
this wealth and prosperity has been so shapet
that it seeks the comfort, not of the rich, no
of the lounging owner of fixed income, no
of the spampered minion of governmental
power. but of the plain people whom Abra
ham Lincoln loved, and who are of right tn,
chief glory of this republic.
Mr. Reed finished his speech at 80 o'clocl
and was greeted with rounds of applause
and made the recipient of hearty congratula
tions from his party colleagues. At variou
times throughout the speech he was inter
rupted with applause and laughter, in whicl
the audience in the galleries loudly Joined
As speaker Carlisle rose to reply a storm
of enthusiasm broke out. Cheer followe,
cheer in quick succession, and it was som
moments before he could proceed.
Mr.. Carlisle beg his speech by replyin
to Mr.. Reeds charge of insincerity. II
said he might retort that if protection was
sound doc rine it should be carried to it
logical enthusiastically prohibitive duties
In China the doctrine carried out produce
its logical results. With every resource o
natural wealth and frugal industrious pee
pie the arts and manufactures we're in thei