The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-02-07
THE FIPTIETH CONGRESS.
Riddleberger Partially Suppressed-Senator
Piatt the Presidents Message.

Piatt the Presidents Message.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6-Mr. Hoar from the
select committee the celebration of the CEN
tsnnial of the Constitution. reported joint res
olution providing that, sIn addition to such
other celebration as may hereafter be provided
for, the two houses OF Congress shall meet In
the hall OF the House of Representatives; that
the Chief Justice or the United States shall de-
liver an Grafton, and the President of the United
States, the justices OF the Supreme Court, the
members of the Cabinet, the executives of the
several States and Territories, and sucn other
persons may hereafter be determined upon,
shall be invited to attend"
Mr.. Hale asked Mr. Hoar whether there was
anything in the resolution by which Congress
could be considered committing itself in any
form TO agree to the industrial exposition in the
city OF Washington.
Mr. Hoar replied that the committee had not
come to any conclusion on that subject and had
not even considered it.
Mr. Riddlsberger took the floor and stated
that an international matter having been re-
ferred to- it was. perhaps, in order to discuss his
resolution for consideration in open session of
the British extradition treaty. He held that
treaty in his hand, but could not refer to it
without violation of an injunction of secrecy If
the Senate foreign relations committee proposed
An important amendment to that treaty, the
public was entitled to know what 1t was and who
favored it. He asked the chairman of the
foreign relations committee whether he would
answer that question
Senator Sherman replied that he might as
well be asked whether he would pick pocket
as a Senator and gentleman. He would call
the Senator from Virginia to order.
The chair announced that any reference to
executive business was violation Of the rules
Nfrk
cautioned Mr. Riddleberger not to transgress
further
Mr.. Riddleberger replied by personal attack
on MIR. Sherman and a reference TO his letter
to a political club announcing the vote which he
intended TO cast in secret session on the Lamar
nomination He said that he would accept tho
decision OF the Chair, although the country was
entitled TO the Information which he had sought
TO bring out in open session.
The constitutional centennial resolution wss
then adopted.
Mr.. Salisbury called up and addressed the
Senate tho resolution relati ng to international
coinage The resolution went over.
The educational bill was laid before the Sem
ate, but was laid aside temporarily. and Mr..
Platt took the floor for a speech upon the Presi-
dents message. Is the President fres-.rader9
he asked. If he was, he ought TO be willing to
be called one. He has sent to Congress At its
opening the most remarkable paper ever sub
mitted to any Congress by a chief executive.
At first by the whole Democratic
1roe-IrAQe QOcumGnL,
the press rang with statements that the Pres-
dent had forced this issue of free trade versus
protection to the front, and made it the issue of
the next presidential campaign. The Republic
ans thought they were going for once to have
fair fight in which there was 10 be evasion,
platform which was not to be made to serve
two purposes; that they were not going to have
n cam pagn in which the Democratic party, look
ing South, was TO wear free-trade face, while
toward New York. Connecticut and New jersey
it was to n protection mask. The Repub-
q hnyy
ever, had passed since Congress assembled, and
the exultation of the Democrats was somewhat
Gratis. after the first eush of admiration for
the President, had begun to realize that
something had hit them; they did
not know exactly what it was
There doubt as to what the presidents
would be understood to mean In the Southern
and Western States but 1T was seen to be neces-
New York. New Jersey and Connecticut, that
after all the Presidents message not a free
trade message, but pretty good protection
document He challenged any of the thirty
eight Dem ltc Senators to rise in his place
and say that the President Of the United States
was. in ilr opinion, protectonist. The Presi-
dent had referred TO the import duties as
scheme for the benefit of manufacturers The 4
Protectionists denied it, and they insisted that
whenever duty was laid which protected the
American manufacturer, competition among
producers always had brought down, and always
would bring down, the price OF the domestic
article to the price of the foreign article less the
duty. The President should have known that.
Did the President, or his better half. ever buy
calico, and if So did he not know that, while the
duty calico was cents yard, the American
article could be bought at less than that in
tail stores in the city of Washington Had the
President ever heard of the manufacture of
steel rails2 Did he know that the duty on steel
rails was $17 ton, and that steel rails had been
sold in the United States as low as S28 so, which
made the price without duty SILL 80 ton; and
steel rails could not be bought abroad at less
than double that price, practically 500 So it
was, also, as to clothing, and even to blankets
which seemed to be the terror of the free
traders. Medium quality blankets could be
bought in this country, notwithstanding the
enormous duty laid on the foreign article, as
cheaply as they could be bought anywhere in
the world He understood that there
standing offer in q protectonist newspaper Office
In New York to any free-trader, to show that
clothing is not as cheap in the United States as
In England The truth was that everybody OK
cept the dude and millionaire could be clothed
cheaper in this country than in England, and in
wooden clothing, too, and he took 1t for granted
leRisate for the benefit of the dude and the
millionaire. il anybody but the Presidents of
the United States had made such statements
were contained in the message, he Mr.. Plattl
would apply to him a characterization which it
would not be proper to apply to the President
The President had rolled '.as a sweet morsel |
under his tongue what he called the immense |
profits OF the manufacturer" This attack on |
the manufacturers of the country was too open |
too plain: too severe to be allowed to pass in 81
lence. Were the manufacturers realizing inn |
mense profitsi Were they the miilionaires of |
the land2 The manufacturers who had accumu- |
lated fortunes equal to million dollars might |
be counted on the fingers. And in nine cases |
out OF ten, these men. their fathers had |
struggled up from the bottom. Who had ever |
1eard manufacturer called king? Yet they |
heard of 'cattle kings" and wheat kings and |
iron kings" and cotton kings" and railroad
kings so, too, they had heard of trusts"
and the President had referred to them But |
were they manufacturing trusts2 There was
the Standard Oil Trust, the great Gogebic
Iron Trust, and the Coal Trust. And
vet there not dollar of
protection anthracite coal, or oil, and none
on iron ore that would lead to the formation of |
q trust" If the sugar trust was manu-
trust il was the only one in the United
States This was not the way manufacturers
were developed. They developed from |
humble beginnings, by hard persistent labor
and enterprise. Dir. Platt declared, with a full
of what he said. that either the
President in his message intended free trade or
else he WAS not dealing fairly with the American |