Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-10-27

congress, ana lu thaJ uook stated eA-
phcitiy the unexampled prosperity Of
the United States under the Walker
(.'free trade'1 tariff Of 1916. Heck
planned that IL was an due to the famine
ia ireland. the discovery OF gold in Cali
fornia and the Crimean war. and that
after these alleged causes OF our pros
pcrity under ''frce trade" tariff no
longer existed our prosperity ceased.
This is the assertion OF Mr.. BLAINE.
IL was simple assertion, and the audi
cuce checrcd il. IL was a Republican
audience largely and the Republican
idol, JAMES G.. BLAINE, was speaking.
Because he said il il was so, Of course,
il must be So They required mo- proof,
and Mr. BLAINE dbl not stop to giUe any.
His statement, that after the alleged
causes OF prosperity under the tariff Of
1916 ceased TO exist, that prosperity
ceased TO exist, Is wholly false. II you
do not remember as far back as the Eff
ties, yourself, ask any honest, intelli-
gent man Of your acquaintance wac
does whether Mr.. BrAINE's state
ment is true, OF not The bare facts OF
history are an We need turn 10 10 dis
prove his bold statement. The farmers
and the manufacturers have never en-
ioyed such prosperity, nor have wages
been proportionately so high, since the
repeal Of the low tariff of 1916 and the
substitution of the present war tariff,
which the Mckinley bin has Increased.
Aud those high wages and that pros
pcrity did not cc0Sc TIL
He W0lho torig ,cos fnolyrcpc1lod and
me lrqr tarif substituted And this war
tariff was not levied for protection to
American labor" such a thing was
not dreamed Of 1t was levied % raise
money to carry on the War of the Re
I bellion. Then 10 was levied ON rich and
poor alike. Now 10 is levied ON the
poor alone and has been increased.
The special taxes ON wealth, ON incomes,
bonds, bank checks, ETC., have long
since been repealed by the Republican
party. The protected manufacturers
discovered protection TO American
labor" when they discoecred that the
tariff shut of foreign competition and
that they could combine and put up
prices under it's shelter, and they have
since been bowling for more tariff tim
now, iu time of peace, we have "a tariff
nearly twice as high as the original war
tariff and trusts and combinations TO
keep mp prices I'M almost every branch
~ trade. aud lolrcr lrdJcS, which have
grown lower and lower as the tariff has
grown higher and higher. Under this
system which It's few benefciaric> call
protection % American labor" Amer
lean labor, the workingmen and the
farmers. have grown poorer and poorer
and the really protected manufacturers
have grown richer and richer. But Mr..
BLAINE says:
When the tariff of lSi6 was enacted there
were only 2OugO.oOO people .u the country.
We now have 64.OOO.OOO. -Four years after
the tariff was enacted, according 90 the
census of the United States, we had only
q, OOO.OOO.OOO of property. We now have
AOoO.OOO OF people and S0oOO,O0uOO OF
property Applause
Exactly. and when wc had but eo,-
600, 600 Of people and S1.000.0oO.ooo of
property the S..OOO.O0o 600 OF property
was pretty equally divided between the
twenty millions Of people and the farm
or and the laborer owned his farm aud
his home. And now when We have o.
100000 people (which increase was
scarcely due To- t6c tariff and 500 O0o.-
100000 Of property few milliouaires
own practically an of the sixty billions
OF property and the farmer lives on a
mortgaged farm,
What Mr. BLAINE said in his Tween
Is Years OF Congress, " OF the prosperity
OF the country under the Walker tariff
he cannot explain away now. lie was
not trying 20 make votes for the Iepub-
lican party when he wrote the book.
Now he is-undcr pressure. His speech
40 Canton is simply BLAINE contradict
ing BLAINE and history.
And again We find Mr. BLAINE argu-