The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-11-20
Mr.. Reed'slSpeecn.

hon. In0maS B. Reed OF Maine, was the
last speaker, and was given an enthusias-
tic reception. Mr.. Reed said:
FelLo,o citizens, ladies and gentlemen:
Major Mckinley was kind enough to
give me credit for going to Ohio. don't
quite deserve it, was driven there by my
district and the State of Massachusetts, for
never met man ia either place who did
not want to know when l was going to
Ohio. don't say that because 1t is at all
necessary to make Major Mckinley feel
at home In New England, for if he does
not appreciate the reception he received
here tonight, and deserves, he must during
his life have been greatly favored by
many mercies.
am going to confine myself to a dis
cussion, or rather few suggestions, in re-
gard to home matters, for |
confess l feel quite at home in Boston. l
noticed, on coming here today, lamenta-
bic decay In the moral tone of the inde-
pendent Democratic newspaper of Boston
rightness, the straightforwardness the de-
votlon 10 a gold standard which
was manifested was something which
did more than do my heart good. 1t car
ried very large balance to the credit of
the past also. incidentally recommend
ed Mr.. Mills to the Democrats for the
speakership, and it was very handsomely
received. l said. however, simply
that he was the best Democrat. and
that is not high praise you perceive. 1t Is
tribute to the blindness of any kingdom
when One-eyed person becomes king.
[Laughter.l While L gave Mr.. Mills the
full mead of praise which he deserved,
took occasion to point out that by his own
unmistakable language he was earn
estly, vigorously and violently in favor of
free silver coinage and that he was backed
up by applause on the Democratic side.
AT that time, the esteemed Herald, an in
dependent newspaper of Boston laughter |,
was showing how deficient we Republicans
nad Deen In standing by sound money and
now good and virtuOus the Massachusetts
delegation were going to be in repudiating
everybody In favor of free silver coinage,
or VINO should refuse to hunt silver coinage
to the death. You remember the great
neral attitude which all Of them reached
to you the Massachusetts delegation
commencing life by voting for the Demo
cratic nominee You can imagine my sur
prise on reading in the herald today that
Mr.. Mills promise on the silver question
which was a declaration TO the whole
world that they are determined to press
free coinage Of silver-waS perfectly accep-
table.
L want to take that for text for short
discussion. Did you ever see Democrat
who was not good man week before
election, and did you ever see Democrat
a week after election that hadn't fallen
from grace? When questions are pending
there is nobody on earth who can come
forward and make declarations of. piety
and virtue, like Democratic orator, un-
less It be a Democratic elector. and after
the election Is over one and both return to
the condition which is normal to them. l
am glad that my two friends who have pre-
: ceded me nave discussed with you part
OF the question of raw material. There
was a time when the great principle of
raw material was harnessed in a double
team with the other great principle of the
markets OF the world" The markets Of
the world have utterly disappeared from
all manner Of human discussion for more
than three years, and now there is left us
only the raw material.
What Is raw material?" Why, some
bodysdefnesit as something upon which no
human labor has been bestowed. Ii you
are going to protect labor In one condition
you must protect labor In another. You
cannot lower the wages of one class of
men without lowering the wages OF other
classes of men. There is no method of
stopping. 1t must be protection for the la
borer wherever found, and II raw material
is something upon which no labor has been
bestowed, where under the moon and stars
and shining sun Is there such thing as
raw material? Is there anything ON earth
that is of value upon which no labor has
been bestowed, absolutely none?
1t has seemed to me most singular attl-
tude which some Massachusetts, manufac-
turers have assumed that whatever went
into their mills was OF be free, as they
called 1t, of tariff taxation, and whatever
went out was to be protected by tariff taxa
tion. When l was last here, l put to gen.
ileman at the head of the Lowell carpet
mills the plain question: "Are you, who
are In favor of free wool, also in
favor Of free carpets ?" and while he has