Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-10-15

speak. At his first word however. the
house became quiet and the closest atten-
ton was given during the entire address.
Mr.. Mills began his address by explaining
the relative positions of the two great
parties as they exist today, in the matter
| of a system of tariff. He maintained that
the democratic party recognized the
power OF the government to tax it's peo-
pie. but that that power must not be carr
| ried beyond reasonable limit-collect
| enough to carry on the affairs of the gov
| eminent when wisely administered. On
| the other hand the republican party
claimed that it was necessary to check
| importation in order to protect our home
| industries.
The Two Parties Contrasted.
These he gave as the positions of the
| two parties, and said he would first speak
on what effect the latter conditlon would
| have on the farmers of Illinois and
Iowa. in which he very effectively
showed up the absurdity of the 2 O'Clock
stories that are being passed out to the
farmers telling them of the benefits they
derive from protection. He said that in
1881 we had $3.50. 600, 600 worth of sur
plus products. but as the country was
constantly developing, we certainly had
at least $500, 600. 900 worth now. He
commended that it was the surplus that
controlled the market price, as a surplus
of anything always does. Forty per
cent Of the people of this country live by
farming. 1t is the industry out of which
all live. The average consumption of
wheat is five bushels per head. and the
balance is suplus. This surplus
goes to the foreign market to
consume, the pro Lise of a home market
to consume being left unfulilled. The
speaker then mentioned that the average
yearly wheat crop Of the country is $685.
600, coo bushels. At the rate OF five bushels
per head consumed would leave sur
plus of 26S. 600, 600 bushels to find mar
ket for each year. The idea that was adj
vanced by republican leaders was to bring
enough people here from foreign coun-
tries by closing the ports against foreign
manufactured articles to consume this
enormous surplus, and he showed the Ut
ter folly of such an argument by demon
strsting that to do this it would be nee
essary to bring $1,000. 600 of people the
first year, which feat could not be ac-
com plished by the combined men-of. war
and merchant marine of the world. The
idea of the democratic party, MIR. Mills
said, was to modify the existing tariff
laws, making the tariff just enough to
support an honest administration Of the
governm entail affairs and not tariff for
for the farmer and laborer instead of for
the monopolist
| The Democratic Idea.
What the democratic party would do
he said would be to exchange the enor-
nous surplus of agricultural products III
the markets of the world. for what is
trade but exchange? exchanging your
surplus for that of another country. If
man is farmer he does not sell that
which he needs. be simply sells the pros
duct that he cannot bia self consume So
when the republican party tells us that
we cannot exchange goods in the open
markets OF the world they force our own
J surplus back upon u.s." He then in un-
mistakable language showed the weak
ness of the opposition argument, and the
folly Of the proposition made by repbli-
can leaders to exchange our surplus pro-
ducts to other countries for gold and sill
ve-, demonstrating to the satisfaction of
years for US to amass all the silver and
gold on the face of the globe land then
said the speaker ''whst would we
exchange our products for9 1t is all the
yeriest nonsense; protection is q fimsy
structure, builGed upon pedestal of
fallscy and sophistry. Men do not trade
for loss but for profit. and the demo-
cratic party maintains that to sell ones
labor is natural right. aud of what
value is free labor if we cannot sell it
where we please2 The laboring man la
bors nine parts out of the 10 to satisfy the
wants of others, and not of his own A
! shoemaker, perhaps. uses one pair of
shoes a year and two or three for his
family, but what would he do with the
balance of his hand " rk if he had no
market in which to dispose of it." He
!, next spoke of the democrats attempt to
reduce the tariff by passing a bill which
!, afterward went to the senate, where he
said the voices of such men as Henry
Clay had Numbered in defense of the
constitution, and from these same halls
l