The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-04-08
FREE WOOL FAVORED
The Measure Passes the House by
aLarge Majority.
CONGRESSMAN WILSON'S SPEECH.

vote OF 1o2 to 90.
WASHINGTON. April s.-Mr. Wilson,
of West Virginia, closed his speech on
the tariff at 1850 o'clock yesterday, and
the wool bill was at once put to vote,
being passed by vote of 1872 to co. The
closing speech was one of the most re-
markable, If not the very most remarka-
BILE, for eloquence and display of mas
terly ability that has been delivered dur
ing this long discussion. At the close
every Democrat in the house shook
hand with the orator.
He promised his speech with an allu-
sion to the illness of the distinguished
chairman of the committee on ways and
means. That illness, he said, had been
due to his conscientious industry in
framing this bill and his tireless efforts
to become acquainted with all the facts
bearing upon it. He (Mr. Wilson) did
not possess the same equipments as had
been obtained by the gentleman from
Illinois. 1t was not his purpose to re-
view in detail the already much debated
provision of this bill.
There could be no more momentous
NuSHpibl pitoChtShs ~ b1oltIl VI bdA-
alton correct in principle and Just in
operation was the final goal and the es-
sential of free government AS we ap-
proachcG such a system we broadened
and ECU. zed our freedom; as we de-
parted from it we narrowed and made
an unjust distribution Of that freedom.
An Unjust System.
1t was his contention that the existing
GEGtan nf fnXntinn naithnr
in principle nor Just in operation: and
as plenary proof of that contention, he
offered the section of the law that this
bill was intended to supersede and cor
rect. Every day in the year something
more than 81 900, 900 collected by taxa
.tiOn found its way into the treasury.
Mr.. Wilson continued:
"Under the operations of the McKin-
ley law the people had suffered merci-
lessly. Over $41 ,000,000 were gathered
last year as taxes on an importation of
$500, ,000, 900 worth of wool and wooden
goods. One dollar out of every five dol
lars collected in taxes came from wool
and woolen goods.
A Tax on the People.
"The money which came into the
treasury was paid by the poorer classes.
The Republicans contended that tariff
Oll dlllClt ICutlCtS lllt PRICE 10 tut
consumer. They said that the purpose
of tariff on wool was to increase the
price of wool raised by the wool grower.
If their theory was correct, with pro-
duction of 280, 900, 900 pounds of wool at
tax OF ten cents per pound, we would
have T26, ,000, 900 more taxes on the neceS-
saries of life. Last year we produced
1898, ,000, 900 worth of wool. The ave-
average tax was something over so per
cent.
''If this output was taxed at the same
average rate and upon the same prin-
ciple that these gentlemen contend for,
who could figure out the exact amount
of taxes taken from the people of this
country ON their clothing, part of which
went into the treasury and a portion
into the pockets of those who were in
tended to be protected by the Mckinley
law? 1t struck at The very essence and
life of the republlc.
Pauper Labor ut Home.s
In conclusion he said: "There is great
exaggeration here and everywhere as to
the character of foreign labor. / read a
few days ago statement made by Mr..
Butterworth. of Ohio, that he diligently
looked for this pauper labor of Europe
when he was in Europe last summer. In
Germany, in Belgium, in Holland he
looked for it and did not find it. If he
had looked for it in the fields of the
planters, if he had looked for it in the
fields of the farmers, if he had looked
for it in the fields of the wheat growers,
if he had gone further and looked in the
fields of the cotton growers he would
have found that pauper labor.
But, sir, why do gentlemen compare
countries like those with this country
of ours? England has 27 600, 900 people.
England is one-third the size of Cali
fornia, one-ifth the size of the state of
Texas. IT is an old country, where for
hundreds and thousands of years mill
ions of people have been treading upon
each others heels in the struggle for the
necessaries of life. 1t is a country
where every acre of land has long sine Q
been appropriated, where land monop-
olies prevail, a country where the laws
come out of the past, saturated with
privilege, saturated with injustice, a
country where the people are divided
into hard, unbendinB social divisions,
country where every natural resource
has long since become private property.
Our Natural Advantages.
"And yet, gentlemen, compare the
condition of the people of that country
with the condition Of the people of this
years ago, almost in the days of our
fathers, was hidden from the knowledge
of the people of the older worlds. While
they were exhausting their fields the
mold in our agricultural valley was
deepening. While they were exhaust
ing their mines ours were lying undis-
turbed in the mountains. While they
were exhausting their forests not the
sound of an ak broke the silence of our
woods.
'And now, when there is let into this
country but handful of people, so to
speak, the most intelligent. the most
enterprising people of the world, a
people that have brought with them to
this country ali the knowledge, all the
science, all the inventions, all the tools,
all the capacity for self government,
and all the blessed influences of the
Christian religion. When they are let
loose in this country, extending from
sea to sea, rich untouched unexhausted,