The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-08-20

on Mr.Hale' s resolution as to the rel
alive merits of protection and
tariff for revenue only" and in re
spouse to the speeches of Messrs
Hale and Aldrich.
He said that it had been the unan
imous opinion of the economists ant
statisticians that for many years il
all the great industrial countries o
the world, the prices of commoditieI
were decreasing and the wages of tn,
working people were increasing.
The tendency toward an advanc,
in the price of wages was, in his judg
ment, the necessary result of improv
ed methods of production, transpor
tation and exchange.
He had never been able to appre
ciate the proposition that people
could be made happy and prosperou,
by taxation whether to defray extrav
agant expenditures on the part o.
the Government or to increase The
prices which people pay for what they
ate, drank and wore.
Any one who contemplated thai
high prices of commodities were bene
fetal to the community at large was
at war with the spirit of the age, al
war with the genius of discovery ano
invention, which had within the last
fifty years, as never in any Other
equal period Of history, ameliorated
thecondition of mankind bringing al
THE NEcEssARIEs OF LIFE
and many of its luxuries within the
reach of every man who was willing
to work.
II high prices were conducive tc
the general welfare, then steam ano
electricity ought to be dispensed will
and stage coaches and dirt roads a.
gain adopted; and the most primitive
methods of production and distribu
ton resorted to. That would pro
ducc high prices.
Every shackle on commerce, every
restriction of honest trade, every in
reference with the free exchange Of
products in the markets of the world
increased prices and deprived the
people of the benefits which they had
a right to enjoy, and which they other
wise wonld enjoy, resulting from i'm
proved commercial and industrial
methods.
In a passing allusion to the Nc
Kinley act, Mr.. Carlisle said that in
November, 1890, it's author and sup.
porters had been swept from The
House of Representatives by ma
jority of more than $4,000 votes
Never in the history of the countr,
had there been such storm of popu
lar indignation against single act
of legislation as that which over
whelmed the advocates of that meas
ure in 1890.
And now, as result OF that storm
the Senator from Rhode Island anc
the other friends of the protective
system were confessing that higher
prices were not beneficial to the PEG
pie, and that the original, avowet
purpose of the Mckinley act wa,
wrong.
In other words, they were contend
ing that that act had been success
because it had failed to accomplish
what it was intended to accomplish
If higher prices were injurious to thu
community at large, and if
Low PRICES WERE BENEFICIAL.
then everything which interferet
with and arrested the natural ten
dency toward decline in the prices
of commodities and a rise in the wa
ges of labor, anything that tended t.
make it harder and more expensiv,
for the masses of the people to livt
( whether it were war, pestilence, fam
inc or Mckinley act), was a public
calamity to be deplored by every mar
who loved his country
His purpose was, he said, to show
that the tariff act of 1890 had inter
fered with the natural tendency tt
a decline in the prices of commodi
ties and to the rise in the rates o
wages, and that it had made it hard
er and more expensive for the masse
of the people of the United States t,
live. All that he had said up to tina
point was, he said, merely prelimin
airy to the discussion of that subject
That subject was SO large, and it,
discussion involved the discussion o
SO many facts and statistics, that h
scarcely knew how to approach it, o
how to conductit. He was very mucl
embarrassed by the fact that the Sen
ator from Rhode Island was not il
his seat.
That Senator has laid down fou
propositions.
The FIRST was that the prices o
commodities and the cost Of Twin,
had decreased during the period Gov
cred by the investigation, whicI
meant according to that Senator
conclusion a saving to the people 0
the United States of 1926, 100000 pc
annum.
The second was that the ratio @
wages had increased during the pei
iod covered by the investigation.
The third was that the cost of liy
ing in England had increased 8 l
Per cent. during that period.
And the fourth was that that dc
cline in the prices of commoditie
and that increase in the rate of wa
ges in the United States were the re
suit of the Republican policy of pre-
lection.
Referring to Mr.. Aldrich's state
ment that the committee had foun
that the cost Of living had increase
in England during the period covel
ed by the investigation l 9-1O pc
cent, Mr.. Carlisle stated that til
committee had made no investigated
whatever concerning the cost of Ii,
ing in England, and had made no r,
port on the subject.
The committee has caused the r,
tail prices OF certain list of article
to be taken in England on the fir.
of June, 1890, and on the first Of Sci
TENDER, 1891, but it has caused b
investigation to be made as to I'll
proportions in which those article
entered into the consumption of IL
people.
Asto Mr.. Aldrich's statement tti,