The Iola register., 1890-10-31
pLuMs.s posrr,oN.E
First Speech of the Senator Since His
Return. lt

/ Speech
| Return. !t
WICHITA, Kan, Oct 25.-An immense
concourse of people gathered Thursday
night to hear Senator Preston b
! Plumb's first public utterances since his
return home from Washington, and Ii
was several minutes after his introduc-
tion before he was allowed to commence,
so hearty was his welcome. He touched
| lightly on the financial policy of the
Republican party, on pension matters
and on the results of the Silver bill as
passed, showing that the latter had inn
mediately released 500, 00o, 900 from the
Treasury and placed it in the channels
Of trade, besides providing for perma-
nent output of silver, having for its eff
feet to increase the value of every prod
uct of labor in the United States
Personally he had worked for free
coinage bill, but he believed now that
the present bill was the better measure,
though could bill have been passed
providing for the free coinage of all the
silver presented and the replacing of it
later by currency he would have pre-
| ferred it.
Mr.. Plumb showed how the Disability
act gave $50, 600, 900 year to the sur
vivors of the war, but even this he con-
sidered did not go far enough, and if
the people would only realize that their
| friends were in power succeeding ses-
sions of Congress could do no more for
| them.
The tariff, the speaker thought a
| fruitful topic. He believed wise protec-
ton necessary to the we'll being of the
country, but thought it should be
adopted in such a way as to make the
importer pay the bulk of the Govern
ment expenses. He wasn't there to say
the tariff wasn't tax, but ifit were so
distributed as not to be a burden no
self-respecting man would desire to es-
cape some of the expense of aintaining
the Government The real question was
whether we should have a tariff for rev.
enue only or for protection and revenue.
The Democratic idea was to place an
impost on such articles as tea, coffee,
sugar, etc, as are used by the bulk Of
the people, and the consequence would
be that the prices of these necessities
would be raised and the poor man would
pay as much of the tax as the million
aire. The tax placed on cotton and
woolen goods was not per capita tax
and was so levied as to fall more heavily
on the rich than the poor, for the reason
that most of it was paid by the
foreign exporter who was obliged
to ship his surplus stock over
here and yet could not add the
tax to the cost of the goods, for
the reason that the same manufacturers
were protected on this side so that they
could compete with all comers. The
tariff gave more employmentand higher
wages and had resulted in a greater
diversification Of industries. The
Speaker had his own ideas as to what a
tariff bill should be and had fought for
the demand of his constituency: but in
this as in all other things the majority
had to rule. 1t was long stride in the
right direction. He stood with Senator
Sherman, who thought all the taxes
necessary for protection should be i'm
posed, but not penny for monopoly In
Mr.. Blaine's reciprocity plan he saw the
best means to enlarge the markets for
American products.
The speaker in referring to Kansas
politics said this was no time to en- bark
on new sea of experiment with new
party, as a catastrophe would surely re-
suit Kansas had stood nobly by her
self and her men in the past and would
soon reap the reward. No man, he said,
who sought the welfare of his country
could affiliate with the Alliance, an
cmanation from the rebel South.