New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-28
uYcr ro1OS TO VORKINGMEM


General Harrison's addresses to the dele
cations that are visiting him from nearly every
county in Indiana are informal and UMPIRE
,ont;ons but most effective Simplicity and
sincerity, which are characteristic traits OF ,he
man. shine through these speeches. Al tne
same time he reduces public questions TO 'helr
SIMPLEST terms and deals with them compre-
hensively, with lucidity OF style and sagaoi'y
If Judgment. As an advocate at the Indiana
bar he has won great reputation by his power
Of discerning the essential and determining
eloments of case under argument. In bis
short speeches to the county delegations ne
avails himself of this professional habit. lie
reaches the centre of every subject which ne
discusses: and he does this without affectatlon
Of manner or any of those signs OF seh-con-
seriousness which are apparent whenever the
President condescends to instruct the people
in relation to their political duties and his own
recognition of the supreme importance OF the
Executive office.
The speech addressed on Thursday to the
miners of Clay County illustrated at once 0eh,
eral Harrison's grace of manner ana Vigor Vi
thought. He desired to impress upon this
delegation of workingmen one or two wclgh'S
considerations in favor of the maintenance Oh
the protective tariff from their own point Oh
view. A lab ored economic argument wouiu
have been ont of place, and he refrained lronn
wearvinp them with statistical citations ana
controversial matter. lie contented himself
with clancing at two phases Of the question
which they could readily understand. Inc
first was the fact that the condition OF inc
American workman under the protective sys-
TEN was superior to that Off European WORK
men. and the proof was the swinging inward
of the gates Of Castle Garden. From every
| country in Europe men who have barely Kept
soul and body together through unremunerauVe
toll "know the good land Of hope as well as
tho swallow knows the land of summer"
American laborers are not seeking better
country than their own and this fact suthces
to prove that the masses here are not crushed
| impoverished and ground down to inc ear'h
by what Democratic demagogucs denounce as
"the robber tariff" This, indeed, was the
testimony which Matthew Arnold gave in his
last Word about America: that the working
classes here lived better, had more of the COM
forts and even uxuries, and had superior
chances of gcttlng on in the world, than the
laboring people of any other nation. What
intelligent motive then, can they have for
revolutionjzing the economic system OF the
country?
General IIarrisons second and even more
conclusive point was the necessity for protec-
ton in order to secure steady employment ana
the best wages for workingmen. He contend
ed Justly that free trade, by transferring work
from American TO foreign mines and factories,
would deprive men of employment here and
inevitably tend to depress wages. The great
| advantage of protective tariff so far as work
ingmen were concerned lay in securing the
largest amount of work on American SOIL Sc
as to provide them with steady employment
here at the best wages known anywhere ms
word " employment is the one on which Ten
eral Harrison rightly lays full stress Even
il it were possible to increase the purchasing
power of wages by policy of unlimited i'm
portations, the working classes would not bene-
fit by it if they were earning nothing. The
purchasing power of wages is as high in Eng
land as it is anywhere, but there is a great
army of the unemployed in every town wht
cannot find employment, and who in sheer
despair are emgrating to America. Genera
Harrison presents this element Of contlnuou
employment by the Investigation and pros
perity of home industries as the core OF tint
whole question of protection, so far as thu
working classes are directly interested in it
The free-trade Democracy is bent upon givin'
employment to the working population of Eu
rope at the expense of American workingmen
Protection stands for steady work and goot
wages.
Contrast the sympathetic spirit in which
General Harrison addresses the working people
of America with that displayed by the free
trade orators of the House. Mr.. Hemphill, o
South Carolina, declared in the tariff debat
that pauper labor in Europe only interested
America in humanitarian sense-that paupe
labor with which hundreds Of thousands o
American workmen would have to compete i
the markets here were thrown open to tn
world. Mr. Hare, of Texas, sneering at tn
argument that tariff safeguards labor, ex
claimed in the House, "What is the differ
ence between earning 81 per day or 0 cent
per day, if the result is the same, namely
sufficient to eat to preserve life and suffcien
to wear to protect the body?' Heaven he'll
the working people of this land if the polio
of the Government is to be directed by states
men who talk in this heartess strain about
mans earning 0 cents day under free trad
and being happy and contented!
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