St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-24
Cy wellington Lays Bare the
Fallacies of Senator Da-
Wis Speech.
Out Of His Own Mouth the
Senator Stands Condemned
Before the People.
How and in What Way the
Mckinley Tariff Bears Upon
the Working People.
A Renegade Democrat Roast
ed to a Turn by Fifth Ward
Citizens.


filed last evening by citizens DESTROYS
of hearing Cy Wellington's reply to
Senator Davis speech on the tariff. The
reply was thorough one. Mr.. We'll
lington took up Mr.. Davis speech in
sections, and in every case showed the
absurdity and falsity of the position
taken by the senior senator Oh the tar
if question. The audience reyeied in
applause as the holloWness of Mr.. Da-
vis' position was eloQuently shown up,
and the intelligent appreciation dis
played when Mr.. Wellington denounced
the Mckinley law was a very happy
omen for the success of the Democratic
candidates on election day. The people
are alive to the enOrmities of this tariff
legislation. and, after the meeting last
evening il was the one subject dis
cuSSed by citizens as, in twOS and
threes. they wendell to their homes. MIR.
Wellington must have been we'll
pleased with his audience. 1t was
representative one. All classes of citi-
zens were there. and quite
sprinklihs of Republicans were
to be SEEN There was an
entire absence of formality in the pro-
ceedings. Dan Aberle suggested that
Gen. Il. V. Johnson should be called
to the eiiaia-a suggestion which was
Immediately acted upon. Gen. johnson
did not burden the meeting with any
remarks, and at once Mr.. Wellington
was introduced. He spoke for an hour
and half.
Mr.. Wellington first enlarged upon
the history of the monarchical govern
ments on the European continent, fol-
lowing up with the broad statement that
Oh the Western continent tae problem
of free government had to be fought
out. He followed this up with
The question for you to decide and for me
to discuss is whether the present enormous
development of this magnificent domain, of
these unequaled advantages is due 10 a GER
tam number of words written upon parch-
ment or printed upon statute book, or is
due 10 the innaie energy, the unconquerable
will. the persistent determination of man
who has come over here, and by the force of
those characteristics has dug from The earth,
hewn from the earth all of this wealth that
we are now possessed of. lApplause.]
His contention was that it was beyond
the power of man by anything he might
do in the form of law to create 81 of
wealth. While we could not create by
law wealth, while that must be The prod
net of labor. nevertheless the mis-
chievous interference of man with the
natural law of supply and demand and
the natural law of distribution might
work untold misery, untold injustice to
those whose labors had produced the
wealth upon which that law operated.
Continuing
/ say the question is not one of protection.
1t is one of distribution. 1t is not that we
produce the wealth. but who has done it,
that we are called upon to pass Now, if the
effecL OF this thing they call protective
tariff is TO interfere with this natural law of
supply and demand under which wealth is
most equally distributed. and by an artificial
force introduced into the body polite or into
the economic theories of a nation divert that
wealth from its natural channel into the
pockets of the few to the detriment of the
many, we do not want such law, do we?
lApplausej.
Hts Tax.
He referred to the origination of the
word tariff. a good many people said
it was tax, and undoubtedly it was
it was form of taxation. Admitted we
could not run government without
money. The question to determine was
the best way OF raising this money.
The government originally agreed to
put duty on imports. This method
was adopted. not for the purpose of pro-
tecting one industry at the expense of
another, nor for the purpose of building
a WOODEN mill in New Ha1HDShire or
cotton mill in Massachusetts. They
simply did it for the purpose of raising
money to defray the expense of govern
meht. Republican speakers claimed
that the financial crash Of 1851 was at
tributable to comparatively low tariff
They never mentioned the financial
crash of 1878. under the benefcent in
fiuence of high tariff. Reference was
made to the decadence of the American
shipping under this protective system,
and MIR. Wellington turned his atten-
ton to Senator Davis. He paid a trib-
ute to his intellectual abilities and said:
care not how able a man may be- if he has
not his feet placed upon the bedrock of eter-
nal truth, his strength is but weakness and
his logic is bntsophistrles. [Applause.]
When they were investigating this
question of competing with the labor of
the world, what were the answers given
to the various committees? Mr.. Well
ingtOn proceeded:
Let me tell you. First the cutlery manu-
facturer was brought before the committee,
and he was asked: "Can you compete with
England?''
Certainly we can, under certain condi.
TONS"
DO you now?''
Yes: we undersen her in the markets OF
Australia
What do you want protective tariff for?''
1.-The trouble is you go to work and put this
tariff on steel. If you take The tariff off steel
the raw material we work-we will drive
England from the markets of the world.
The manufacturer of steel. however,
claimed that he could not afford to compete
against England unless he could have free
ores-Spanish ores free of duty. Il can meet
England ON that basis. am not afraid of it;
can do it." But the man who owned the
iron mines said: You do this and you rum
me-
And thus these manufacturers rea-
Soned before the committees, who finally
ignored all the logic, Jumping the whole
together. and passed the bill. But the
reason why Senator Davis supported
the Mckinley bill was this: He did it
for the purpose OF protecting American
labor-that if we reduced the tariff it
the laborer of America front to front
with the underpaid, underfed, i'll
housed laborer in Germany, in France
and in England. Senator Davis action
in regard to free binding Irvine was
illustrated TO show his consistency. MIR.
Davis worked hard to obtain free bind
ing Irvine. He did so because it was in
the interests of his constituents. But
what did the manufacturers of binding
Irvine say? They claimed that with
Binding Irvine
on the free list 1000 men would be
thrown out of work, upon whom were
dependent A. 600 women and children.
And yet Senator Davis, who supported
the Mckinley bill because of the amer
lean laborer, ignored the Irvine manu-
facturers' plea, and eloquently pleaded
for cheaper Irvine. Senator Davis po-
Sition was:
Tariff is an almighty good thing on wooden,
cotton and multfarious articles tnat enter
into the general consumption of the Ameri-
twine. Laughter and applause.l
Senator Davis claimed there were no
increases on the schedules of the Nc
kinley bill upon necessary articles; all
the increases came upon what might be
Inv