The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1888-06-02
THE TARIFF DEBATE.
Extract nom speech ofAIr Wilson, olives, Val
LABOR CONDITIONS.

tlemen compare us are those of the
Old World, crowded with population,
burdened with debt, deyoured by
standing armies, and stratifed by So
eial distinctions wrought into their
laws orinto unyielding customs. Gen.
turies of class government have massed
into privileged hands most of their
wealth, of their lands, of their honors.
Employment is in most places boon
to the laborer. which he is expected to
receive with due humility and thank
fulness. Ours is new country of
freemen under equal laws. Ours is
country in the making, where enter
prise is always alert to achieve wealth
and employ labor, where railroads are
building-l2,000 miles in single year
cities are springing up, where there
are mines to explore, rivers to bridge,
uOuulhlue W tuuuCt, AuiVsts W lClia hhu
lands to subdue. Everywhere we be-
hold the energy and activity that be-
long to such an era in the life of apeo-
pie, with all the demand and opportu-
nifty for labor that accompany II, and
above all with that genuine respect for
labor that is born of equal citizenship.
No other people enjoy the. same va
riety of climate and production, the
same freedom of exchange and of
movement over great area. Sir, it is
objectionable, 1t is scarcely less than
criminal for the beneficiaries under our
tariff system to seek to intimidate the
laboring men of this country into sup
port of their bounties, by telling them
that they owe their superior condition
not to these natural and moral adyan-
tages of their country, but TO tho pro-
lection of the tariff.
THE FARMER.
But, sir, there is one class ofour labor
ing men as to whom these advocates of
protection clearly see the difficulty and
weakness of their position and that is
the American farmer.
My friend from Missouri (Mr. Bland
excited some criticism on the other side
of the House by his statements as to
the mortgages on the farms in this
country. do not wish to make any
statement that Is not sustained by the
facts, and SO | have obtained the last
report of the Labor Bureau of thu
> State of Michigan, which covers an in
vestigation into the mortgages upoi
> Michigan farms, and which present.
some striking figures. stand here to
day and say that have not the slight
est doubt that the Michigan farmer i
as Industrious, as hardworking, as in
. telligcnt, as the farmer in any othe
section of the country, and yet this of
= fetal volume shows that 47.4 per cent
of the farm lands In Michigan are GOV
y cred by mortgages, and that the mort
. cages are 46.S per cent of the assessed
valuation of the farms mortgaged
i Compare the condition of the unpro
tccted Michigan farmer with the con
dition of the protected owner o
copper mines in Michigan, the ont
piling up dividend upon dividend, mil
lion upon million out of the privilege
granted him by Congress to tax th'
people of this country, and the othei
working early and delving late ant
piling up mortgage after mortgage
upon his estate. lApplause on TIN
Democratiu side.
Now, If protection is such a goot
thing for the American farmer, why,
ask again, is the value of American
farm lands depreciating2 Why is i
that in the magnificent Shenandoah
|, Valley, situated between the beautiful
: Blue Mountains, and SO faithfully rep
resented here by my friend before mi
/ MIRO O'Ferralll why is 1t that that val
!, ley, with as noble population al
3 can be found anywhere under the sun
i, with natural advantages unsurpassed
by any section of the country-why II
i It the people of that valley are fighting
hard and cherries fight to-day
Why is it, as Mr. David A. Wells telli
= us in the last number of the Popular
Science Monthly, that in New England
n agricultural lands not remote from
. large centres Of population can offer
, be bought for smaller price than fifty
4 years ago would have been regarded
n as a fair appraisal, and even less thar
q the cost of the buildings and walls al
g present upon them?'
Why is it that since the last decen
:, NAL census lands in the State of Ohio
:, with probably better diversified indus
!, tries than any other State of the Union
!. have gone down from 25 to 80 pei
/. cent?
= The statement / have made as t'
= the farm lands of Ohio was not mad'
upon my own responsibility. | hav'
r here, to support me, the exact word
n of Gov. Foraker. In his inaugural al
= dress, January /, 1887, he said since tn
4 last decennial assessment of real estat
). in 1880:
% "There has been heavy decline
Is Farm property is from % to so pc
I cent, cheaper to-day than it then was.
II HOME MARKET.
ts Now, Mr. Chairman, we have hear
: on this floor time and again the "old
story" of the "home market" | hav