The Helena independent., 1892-08-03

which preceded the nr4NEZA n.
governors speech. Ali Ns6fl1SsSEY
along the line of march @V
tho buildings we're deo-
GRATED and the parade GOV. M'KINLxy.
and demonstrations we're the most elabor-
ate ever held in the state. The governor
said, in the beginning, that tho latest na-
tional democratio platform is bolder rec
oRnition Of free trade than any Of its prede-
cessors. and analysed it at length,
quoting points reported by the
committee and stricken out before
the platform was fully adopted. Al to the
charge that protective tariff is unconsti-
tutional. tho governor said its constitution
ality has not been seriously questioned in
more than hundred years. The policy
was recognized in the second act ever
passed by the congress Of the United States,
congress participated in by many trainers
OF the constitution, If = protective policy is
a violation Of any constitution il il not that
OF the United States. It ID manifest vio-
lation of the constitution Of the confeder-
ate states. Possibly that il what they mean.
Happily. however, We do not recognize that
instrument and never did, and we are not
operating under it.
I'VE cannot have free trade in this country
without having free trade conditions. The
democratic platform demands it upon these
conditions and is bound to have it ct any
cost. The world knows what those condi.
tions are. The farmers and workinpme en-
OF England know what they are. Thou
sands OF men who work on both sides al
the ocean. and under both systems, know
these conditions. and know that to intro
duce them here will brine, corresponding
discontsnt and IevolutiGhiEo valnes. il
would be self destructive. Cleveland Joined
the onolr OF calamity IN his speech of ao-
ceptance.
Il fear," said tho speaker" TINT he has
not consulted the markets since 1890. He
had in mind cam paign prices then prevail
ing and seems to have been unadvissd OF
what has occurred since. He had not then
read the report Of the senate committee
appointed to investigate the effect of the
new tariff law upon the consumer and the
producer and the wages of labor"
This report was unanimous. and McKin-
Icy asserted that it showed decline in the
retail price of 2l4 selected articles of COM
fort and necessity. "Ihe report shows in
every port" he said, "a constant tendency
to lower tho prices Of the necessities of life
and its comforts. The report also shows
that while the cost of living has decreased
here. it has. during the same period in
England, increased. As to wages, it ap-
pears that wages in tho special industries
selected averaged in the United States n
per cent. greater than in Great Britain,
which is under democratic free trade rev
enue tariff.
''As to the farmers, to whom Cleveland 10
plaintively refers, this report says the aver
age price of all agricultural productA ex-
cept fiaxseed, when put At proper elative
Importance, were 1857 per cent higher in
September. 1891. than in June, 1889. May I
not, in the light of this report, and the
facts everywhere observable. remind Cleve-
frontsd BY a condition and not theory.
The truth is. the protective tariff has
oheapened evsry manufactured prod
uct. Not by cheapeninR labor, but
bv its high rewards, securing from labor
its highest efficiency. Substantially every
thing which protection directly Affects has
been reduced in price, except labor. Un-
der the new tariff old industries have been
stimulated and many new industries started
which are now estimated to give employ
mont to from zoo, 900 to 1900 persons. It
10 . fact, we'll established by reports from
all countries that at this time. while dspres-
sion and anxiety exist in their industries,
alone.
Notwithstanding the cry that under pro-
tsctive tariff we cannot sell abroad if We do
not buy abroad, yet during the last fiscal
year We sold abroad nearly $203. .O00, 900 more
than We bought abroad. This was the ex.
CESS in our favor which foreigners paid to
to US, and which we have at home oirculat-
treasury shows that dutiable merchandise
decreased under the operation OF tho new
law from $47a.674,S44 for the fiscal year
ended June 80, 1891, to $369, 399. 100 for tho
year just passed, a decrease of $109, 234. 705.
The free list in the same time increased
$91, ,759, 1893. more than half the value of ali
our products absolutely flee. The value of
our exports of merchandise during the last
fiscal year was l,030, 1886, ,626, an increase Of
$145 1854 SIG, over the previous year, u
wonderful increase of our foreign trade
under the law, which was to close foreign
markets to US. Our exports never before
reached this point in given year in all our
history"
Mckinley quoted figures to show that
under the free trade revenue tariff from
lS47 to 1861 the balance of trade against us
was more than $43l, 600, 600. In the fifteen
years from 1876 to 1891, with protection, the
balance of trade in our favor WAS $1.649.-
tation of the democratic assertion that the
farmers would be benefited by a revenue
tariff. and said p' otsction 10 positive ben
eft 10 the farmers of this country; that no
class of citizens are more certainly ad-
vantagsd by it.
what the farmer wants 10 consumers
and more consumers and fewer competitors.
lie wants those consumers steady and reg
ular, aud he has such in the 65, COX, 600 of
consumers in this country. who are the best
aud fnost profitable consumers on the globe.
The demoosatio leaders Of to-day seem
to think there IL some peculiar sanctity
about the foreign consumer that doesn't
attach to the domestic. l don't. l prefer
the domestic consumer, because he 10 the
best; he consumes more and has mora money
to pay for his living than any other con-
sumner in the world.
1.-The RRrioulturists of this country do
not want more farmers; they want more peo-
pie who do not raise their own food, and
whom they can supply. Every now indus
try inofsasea the farmers homo market and
furnishes him with what he most wants
profitable conditions, II 10 NO faulA of the