National Republican., 1888-02-10
THE Home MARKET CLUB.
BANQUET OF THE DISTINCTIVELY
AMERICAN ORGANIZATION.
A Brilliant AssembiaEe at tho Festive
Bosrd--Senator Sherman Gives New
England a Practical Talk on the
Tariff.

BosToN, Feb. 0.-The dining halls OF the
Vendome were filled TO overlooking this
evening, II being the occasion OF the BAN
quet given by the Home Market Club.
There were present over 400 prominent men
from various sections OF the country. After
the cloth had been removed, President
Timothy Merrick, OF the Home Market
Club, arose and, In brief words, alluded to
the fame Of the clubs guests, concluding
by introducing Senator John Sherman.
Upon rising Senator Sherman was greeted
with cheers that resounded throughout the
entire building. When order had been re-
stored Senator Sherman spoke as follows:
GENTLEMEN: have, first of all, to thank you
stranger str @ % rom distant state, % but n stranger ~
akin to you by many ties OF association, and,
more than oil, by hearty sympathy with you
more than any other 70 develop the esonroes
and to promote prosperity OF our common
that describes your principles; it is a creed in
itself; home market for home productions. IL
has the flavor OF patriotism. When you use the
S 40 tet mesa Or
chutetls. but your whole country from ocean
TO ocean. from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
ne MARKET you reIer 10 IL tue lnterCnanIe OF
the products of sixty million of people, the
most free, intelligent, and prosperous OH the
globe, engaged not merely IN manufactures,
but agriculture and commerce, and embrac.,
Civilized '''' man. ~ You p''' use rseA' the the
phrase ",home market" to distinguish 1T from
The foreign market, not to. exclude the for.
eign market, but to emphasize your preference
for the home market as infinitely greater,
more valuable, more productive than the
foreign market.
The home market deals with over ss. 900 OOo.-
000 annually of agricultural products aud
s6,000,0000 600 OF manufactures, while the for.
exports and imports annually, aud more than
half Of these are home products. This Is not
all. Every. part of the capital ana labor en-
ployed In the productions Of the home market
Is American labor and capital. These produc.
tions are by American farmers and workshops,
and they are transported on American rail-
roads, steamboats,, and wagons. They are ex-
changed for each other by American mer-
chants, tradesmen. and middemen, and more
than 90 per cent. OF them Is consumed by the
American people. It is the home market that
gives employment, life, strength, health,
wealth, and comfort to the people of the
United States. 1t Is this home market that
take 1t, you wish to foster. protect and di
on the other hand. our foreign market is
conducted entirely by foreigners. Nearly one
half of tits In foreign products made by foreign
labor, largely by people whose daily wages
would not buy the food, saying nothing about
clothing and shelter that is consumed by tho
American workingmen, and yet the price Of
all food is confessedly cheaper here than In
Europe These products are transported In for
eign vessels, they are consigned mainly TO
foreign agents as device to secure underyal.
uation, and to a large extent are consumed as
articles Of luxury and ornament. The aggre-
gate of imported goods in the highest years OF
importation is less than 6 per cent. OF home
products. More than. one-third of this the
great body that enters into the consumption Of
our people, Is free of duty and the rest Is only
charged such reasonable duties as will incite
mr. nfntif inn Ntutfh hnnt rnutn hNp
industries
AS to our exports, mostly of food. when they
leave our shores they are carried in foreign
vessels, and are only taken to supply absolute
wants They are taken by our European
peighbors as we take sugar from the West
Indies and coffee from Brazil, because they
must have them. All the while they are trying
tOget cheaper wheat from India and Russia and
in the way OF food is less than per cent Of
Dur production, while the home market con-
When think Of the contrast between our
home market and our foreign market in mag
nitude and proportions, the universal benefits
OF the one and the comparative unimportance
OF the other, am led TO wonder why so many
gentlemen Of education and character are
ment Of our home industries to increase our
Skoreign commerce. l can excuse such profess
cTes sasde % Psrsya sSa wnS 9ss daS aS
upon the universal good OF man. The most
distinguished professor of this school of philos.
Opny that Know OF ls MTs -ielyby, who de.
voted herself to the good Of mankind, and es-
pecially Of Africa, to the neglect of her mousse,
her husband, and the little Jellybys. believe
the best we can do for mankind Is to do the
best for our country. l suppose that in Con-
gress at least, we are to legisate for the United
States, and that on the QUESTION of home
market or foreign market we are to be guided
by the interests of the people of the United
States.
When you invited me to speak to the Home
Market Club learned that there was another
N ROlfnn M pegap 10
Reform League, and that lis members had
banquet here recently at which there were
many distinguished guests and speeches, so
naturally thought that here, ut least, might
find O statemt mt of the benefit of the foreign
market and what is meant by "tariif, re-
FORM" ! carefully read all, these speeches,
and confess my surprise to find so little on
economic questions affecting our home indus
try and so much about politics. II is like Fal-
stan's bill OF fare-so little bread aud so much
Take Mr.. Lowell, for instance, a gentleman
for whom / have always entertained the
highest respect. He is known as on accom-
pHcome representative of this country at the
48Ef cou!(, He was the president of the
qcSasssn and faye tone and dlrsctio1 to it.
marks, but good deal about Mr.. Cleveland.
He says: personally confess that feel my
best repre- entative Of the higher type @ Of
Americanism that hat we have seen since Lincoln
II.
a great party witk Its confidence and trust,
places Mr.. Cleveland above Grant, the great
soldier of our country; above Hayes who GER
lent administration, and Mr.. Lowell himself
above Garfield, one of the most accomplished
cf American statesmen, and above Arthur in
every respect model gentleman and pru.
Now, for what has Mr.. Cleveland been dis
tinguished d to justify this eulogy2 Two things,
and he has practiced the most general, sweep,
government was established. He found 1859
presidential postmastcrs in office. and he has
removed or changed 2, COO OF them. His POST
master General, out of $1,000 employees under
him has removed a, 40 oGS. Ont Of thlrtythreee
or changed thirty-two; large proportion of
whom are men distinguished In the war
against the Union. Out Of 81, COO places he has
$4,000 there are not fifty Republicans among
the. appointees. No wonder the witty but
cynical Mr.. stearns, one OF these appointees.
says "Civil service reform received no aid
from any public man TO amount to anything
until the advent Of Mr.. Cleveland" But 1T is
the civil service that turns ne, out all the ips"
civil service reform practiced by Mr.. Cleve-
land, and yet he Is extolled by gentleman
who places civil service reform above all other
The other ground named to justify this
eulogy Is the recent message of the President
recommending that all taxes now existing on
home products be continued and duties on i'm.
ports be largely reduced, The Inevitable ef-
feet OF this policy is to increase importations
at the expense and loss OF our home market,
and especially to reduce the wages OF all en-.
gagged In industries competing with foreign
production. The message creates alarm among
business men at home and gives JOY and hope
to every market In Europe. have had oeca
sion recently TO answer this message, and do
not care to repeat 1t here, but wish TO reply TO
other remarks of our friends in the league.
Mr.. Lowell says: "Never before has a Pam
dora's box SO full of the germs of infectious de-
moralization been offered to any people as our
growing surplus"
This Is not true. A surplus is great deal
better than a deficit, and this surplus is not
new. II has been growing since the close of
the war. IT has enabled us TO perform the