Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-06-01
Extracts from the Speech Of Hon. Jerry
Simpson, in the House Of Repre-
kentatiVeS April 8. 1892.


Simpson, in the House OF Repre-
sentatives April 8, 1892.
speak in the interest of the laborer.
1 can properly speak for him, because 1
have been laborer all my life; having
come in contact with laboring people 1
think know their views and wishes as
well as any lawyer or manufacturer. It
appears to me that when the laborer ex-
changes his labor, although directly he
may exchange it for money, he in fact
exchanges his labor for the product of
the farm or the factory. He wants
something to live on; he wants some
thing to eat, something to drink, some
thing to wear. Now, when you put
protective tariff on those articles what
do you do but increase their cost to
himp And how do you benefit the Ia
borer by increasing the cost of the pro-
ducts of the factory or the farm, or any
thing else for which he must exchange
his labor? Some good republican will
please tell me how the wages of the la.
borer are increased by increasing the
cost of the articles for which he eX-
changes his labor. Mr.. Simpson paus-
ed for reply. No one venturlng to
speak, he proceeded
Further, we hear good deal said On
this side of the house about protecting
American labor against the ''pauper la
Dor of Europe. Now, will some repub-
lican tell me what nation do you want
protection against? DO not all speak
at once.
Mr.. Simpson. After all this gush
over the laborer, can not any of you tell
me what nation in Europe you want to
protect the American laborer against?
[Applause.] Well, gentlemen, if you
were frank you would say Great Brl-
tain. But, gentlemen, the facts are
against you. The cheap labor of Eu-
rope is not in Great Britain. The high
est wages paid i'll Europe to-day are
paid in Great Britain, the nation that
comes nearest to free trade. Oh, no;
If you were not cOnscienceless hypo-
critics, trying to impose on the laborers
of the country, you would say that you
want protection from China.
China, that has had protective tar
if for thousands of years-China, under
a protective tariff such as you are build
ing up, pays the lowest wages in the
world. You can not get away from the
facts. Yet you passed law here the
hof 20
any civilized nation-to protect this
country against the laborers of that
high protective tariff country. It was
in the interest of the laborers of the
State Of California-Cal one of
the grandest States in this Union, al
though her resources are nowhere near
Developments state with the grandest
climate and most productive soil-in
the interest of the people of such a
State you come here asking protection
against the Chinese laborer.
Why, because under this policy of
protection you have allowed monopolies
to buy up, to close in, and to hold out
OF use the larger portion of that grand
State, denying labor access to that
stOrehouse of wealth, so that in self de-
Tense we are compelled to pass laws re-
stricting immigration from other coun-
tries; and l, in defense of the laboring
people, was compelled to vote for that
bill. Oh, you protect labor! In Kan
sas we protect cattle and hogs-we feed
and fatten them that we may eat them.
That is the way you protect labor.
Laughter and applause.]
You have placed great burden upon
agriculture. Why? Simply because
under the existing system of indirect
taxation, the manufacturer, when you
undertake to tax him, shifts his burden
to the middleman; in many cases the
middleman can shift his burden to the
consumer, but at last the shifting pro-
cess must stop, and when it does, the
burden rests upon the back of the agrl-
culturists of the country,
And now, Mr.. Chairman, to show you
how protection protects the laborer,
how it protects the farmer, l will quote
some facts from the twenty first annual
report of the Massachusetts bureau of
statistics and labor. From it we learn
that there are l ,461 such farms, $50 of
which are without buildings, while 772
are supplied with buildings. The ag-
gregate acreage 126 ,5094 acres, the as
sessed valuation being 81 ,076, 1913. There
are some 1900 abandoned farms in the
State of New Hampshire, and under
stand that in the state of New jersey
the report Of the commissioner of labor
shows the same condition of affairs;
that the abandoned farms are so nu-
merous that the governor, looking over
the figures of the statistician, would
not allow the report to go out to the
country, it was 80 damaging.
The republican party, through it's
leaders, has poured out copious streams
of sympathy for poor down-trodden Ire
land, and Iquote the following from
the National Tribune, which hope the
republicans will consider good republi-
can authority. 1t says:
England has mortgages on Irish lands to
| the amount of eight hundred million, at an av-
erage interest of per cent. This would make
an annual tribute of forty million a year from
the little island to the English capitalists. As
the population of Ireland Is 100000, this would
make an andual interest charge of So per head
or $40 per family. No wonder at all that the
people of Ireland are poor"
Now, Kansas can beat this all to piec-
es. According to the last United States
census, ShYlock has mortgages on Kan
sas lands to the amount of S243, 146 ,226.