Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-09-12

states, but with Europe n natiOn as well,
but l do nOt want what we can do to wait
upon what we would do.
There is a great field for the enlarge
ment OF our commercial relations lying to
the south of us. How large that field may
is uncertain, and while l have the greatest
interest, Mr.. President, in the increased
trade Of all branches of industry and its
development to the greatest extent, | say
very frankly that my principal concern is
for an enlargement of the market for farm
products. This is not s%elfishness alone,
but it has become a practical necessity il
industrial class which forms the founda.
ton Of our national character. There are
in round numbers perhaps 100000 of per-
sons engaged in agriculture in the United
States. They are at the bottom of all in
dustry, the source of progress, the parent
of advancement.
Mr.. President, it is not too much to say
that the maintenance of this class in their
old time independence is almost vital to
e%in asfsty Of ss the a ""ti siass They ef 'ta eisizRs sss
in whose hands the treasured ira
ditions of our form of government
have not shriveled or degenerated. Cor
ruption of the ballot has invaded our cities,
has i~nnocula,ed with its poisonous virus
our elective system, but it has left the
country ballot box unpolluted, as strong in
its simple purity as at the origin of the
republic. Guards and locks and inspectors
and officers fail many times to secure a
free expression of an honest ballot in our
urban elections, but with straightforward
directness the farmers of the country reg
lister their will in the old fashion; and it
has been so from the beginning.
With the landing of the Pilgrims we
saw their work of patriotism begun. In
the early morn of the revolution we saw
ing to the defense of the yet untledged ma
ton. We saw them with Boone in Ken.
lucky, with Harrison in l diana, with
Scott and Taylor in Mexico, and finally in
the great conflict for national unity we be.
held the young men and boys of the agri-
cultural sections the first to volunteer, the
last to ask for terms and conditions of en-
liStment. We have seen them often as
good soldiers-always as good citizens
No torch, no red flag is carried by them.
The orphan asylums burned, the riots i'll
cited, the mobs assembled have not been
the work Of farmers.
l presume, sir, a majority of the members
Of this body spent more or less Of their
youth on a farm. 1t is the schoolot Amer
tegrity, the social rock of Chick
amauga, from whose base anarchy, treason,
and all the evils hat menace and atflict
mankind have again and again been beaten
back in dismay. They have never wav-
cred. What does the country owe them ?
What does not the republican party owe
them? In the midst Of its fierce contests
it has often listened to the ominous tidings
of defeat in the centers of trade and COM
merce and crime. In such places the idol
OF yesterday has been the hated of to day.
Passion. S~elfishness, personal ambition
have turned the tide OF victory, have sacri-
feed faithful public servants. have cruel
fled liberty; but that party has only had to
wait to hear the distant guns from the
pralries, from the farms and tireSides east
and west, to learn that whatever the tickle
populace of New York or Boston or Phila-
delphia OF Chicago might do, the men who
till the soil stood by the faith of their
fathers.
Mr.. President, there must be more legis-
lation for the benefit OF the farmers OF this
country. Their representatives must not
speak but act for their relief. If not, then
they will speak and act for themselves.
They are already doing this; their voices
are being heard, and | am glad to know,
are having their effect in this capitol. |
was glad to hear the statement of the sena-
tor from Iowa yesterday M to learn that
so much of he increase in tariff duties
comes from increasing the rates on costly
"AAS A6"Ao tsIu n Z tllu WlllCll
are used only by the rich. There are other
articles on which l should be glad to see
the duty reduced, and others still, like
binding Irvine, and some others, which l
should be glad to see 90 OF the free list,
and then, with the removal Of the duty
uDon sugar, the tax upon which visits
every household, and the adoption of the
reciprocity amendment, this much ma
ligned bill! would become a positive relief
10 the millions.
If there is any way by which the pros
perity of this class can be increased,
justice, common prudence. good policy, re-
gard for the future and gratitude for the
f Ss 5a so Secure speedily E. ryey arr rpd rearj yt;
On the farms and hillsides of this country
to-day the men who, in a decade or two,
shall shape the policy of this capitol. The
men who govern are not the habitues of
metropolitan towns: Nothing is truer than
the words of Jean Rosseau that "cities are
the graves OF manhood" The effemlnate
youth who dance attendance in the salons
of fashion are the weaklings now as they
will be later in the manly race for life.
The boys who breathe the country air,
who are ilnbued with the purity of honest
and humble homes, are the ones who will
advance 70 the front, take the reins of Sc.
rious business, and direct the affairs of the
government lii Iue future as Jney lave Ill
the past.
Mr.. President, the time which we devote
to the upbuilding OF this interest is de-
servedly bestowed. l welcome, therefore,
any proposition which looks to the en-
largement of the market for farm prOduc-
tons, and L care very little from what
quarter the suggestion comes so that it
bears with it a possibility OF an improve
ment in this direction.
What chance lEave we got, not for me-
chanical appliances alone, although that is
important, but for an enlarged market for
our wheat, and corn, and flour, and pork,
and beef, and other products of the farm
in the nations to the south Of us? l must
confess that while hanguine of a success
full attempt at negotiations with the pa
tiOns named, l am not SO sanguine of the
results to be accomplished. But | hope
for much. Some Of those nations are
largely successful in the production of the
very articles Wa seek to sell, but others,
and most of them, are not, and to them we
must turn for relief. We need only a
slight additional demand for our products
to give Our farmers the desired market.
We already consume in our own country
go per cent. at least of our principal pro-
auctions.
An enlarged market which takes in this
surplus, and which grows with the growth
of that surplus, if such there shall be here
after, will supply the crying want now
felt by the agricultural community. The
population Of the states lying to the south