Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-03-31
TENDING TO PLUTOCRACY.



Their Consequences In New York, Last
Week.
Hon. Thomas Il. Bayard. said the New
York Times of last Wednesday, sounded n
note of warning last evening against the
tendency of this government toward pluto
crazy, and large number Of influential
men of affairs listened to him with much
interest. The distinguished publicist ad-
dressed the Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Asso-
citation Of New York upon the topic, "Gluts
and their Consequences"
Mr.. Bayard alluded ut the outset to the
frequent occurrence of COMPOSITIONS in
trade, and said that nothing could be more
mischievous. There was nothing more
distressful than safety. Ease became
disease under the burden Of excess. and
the cure could not be effected merely by
rejecting the excess. The evil of ove--
production was not so much in the wasted
product as in the inadequate compensation
1t rendered to the producer. II was the
effect upon the price of commodities that
made glst so disastrous. -
Mr.. Bayard told of the efforts Of the
whisky distillers-of this country to get rid
of the burdenef withdrawing all of their
manufactured product from bpndJ few
years ago, us was required by law, and re-
marked that their experience furnished a
good object lesson as to the consequences
of glut. The revenue tax on whisky was
90 cents a gallon, and the cost of manu-
facture was 10 or Is cents a gallon. The
distillers represented that to take out all of
the whisky which the government held in
bond would not only entail upon them q
large expenditure of money but would pro-
duce a glut upon the market that would be
disastrous to their industry. They satisfied
members of Congress that it was not a
mere question OF their cnrtailing their
products. They were under contract with
cattlcmen to feed large numbers of cattle.
Those cattlemen were under contract to
supply shippers and butchers with meats,
leather dealers with hides, phosphate and
button factories with bones, glue manu-
facturer with hoofs, &c. There were
various industries dedendent upon the
running of their distilleries.
These distillers needed immediate re-
lief" said Mr.. Bayard. They had a
limited market for certain class of unre-
fined alcohol in Europe. They exported
in bond--paying no excse-large stocks Of
these spirits to get rid Of the surplus here.
They sold them for what they would bring
iii Europe and make up the loss by sub
scription among themselves. They saved
their home market from the break that
must have ensued and which would have
Frustrated their business with all of its
allied industries, which in turn would
have pulled down in II common ruin the
banks and many other branches of trade
not apparently connected with their own,
that would have caused such loss to the
public revenues as would have made other
and additional taxes necessary. In other
words, they spent S750,U00 in cash in order
to save primarily 10 times that amount
and ultimately | will say, hundred times
that amount. This teaches us the meaning
of glut and its consequences and the inter
| dependence of the different branches OF
trade in this country"
Continuing, Mr.. Bayard said "That a
serious danger threatens the welfare OF all
classes in this country in the demand for
an increase in the volume and II degrada-
tiun i'll the standard of value of our cur
rency cannot be doubted. And while such
unwise and dangerous schemes should be
met and resisted at every stage and by all
means that self-preservation can suggest,
wisdom and common prudence will sug-
| gest an examination into the causes which
| havegiven rise to the distress which blindly
seeks such remedies. If, US believe, the
currents Of our legislation have tended to
weaken the individual and drive him for
safety into consolidated associations by
which wealth commands power over lcgis-
lation and shapes the national policies
through the taxing laws so as to bring