The Portland daily press., 1892-09-12

and they took ground according to the
varying courage of their orators. Some
of them said they were for protection II
it could happen to us by accident; that
they would shut their eyes if some of 1t
could be Struggled in. Others among
them said they wanted tariff for reve-
nue. only. Still others, like Henry George
whose paper has persisted, as his doc
trines on the subject of free trade are
quite likely to do-declared themselves
free-traders outright, openly and man
fully We fought the battle against all
these enemies, and all over this land we
triumphed. We elected a president; we
retained our majority in the Senate ana
we held the House of Representatives,
the direct representatives OF the people
of the United States. [Applause.l 1t is
not for me to tell the story on
The Outrageous Opposition
which was made against the just right of
the majority to govern. 1t is enough to
say that we overcame that obstacle and
addressed ourselves to the question of
the revision of the tariff. Applause
We did it with that unreasonable fear which
all decent man have when they NEEDLE
with subject which so deeply concerns
the business prosperity of SO many mil
lions of human beings; but we did it as
well as we knew how. We thought it
was right; we believed it to be right;
but we knew. as men of sense, that the
only test for a great economic measure
like that is the test of time, of trial and
of experience. That act was met with
an avalanche of falsehood and distor-
tons; but today, after less than two
years of existence, it stands like every
one of the past beneficent acts of the Re
publican party, justified, and almost out
of the mouth of the Democracy itself
glorifed. [Applause.]
Of the general prosperity which has
come up all over this country under Re-
publican protectionist rule | need not
speak. This very audience itself is proof
of the increase of good fortune, the in
crease of wealth, the increase of the COM
forts and the increase of all those things
which go to make up the happiness of
human life. | do not need. as l have
sometimes done to this audience, to ex-
plain the reason why protection produces
all this prosperity. The fact of its ex-
istence is plain and simple. proof of a
prosperous and useful system, for no
other could have led to such tremendous
results. But, my friends, the bill which
we passed was another step forward in
the same direction, for we revised the
tariff upon the principle that the taxes
should fall upon those articles which
compete with those of our own manu-
factrre, and that those articles which
we could not ourselves manufacture
should be free, and we carried out that
principle. On those articles which are
free at least every man must admit that
the consumer pays no tax. He pays no
tax today upon his sugar, and he pays no
tax upon the articles which cannot be
produced here. The taxes which are
paid on those articles which compete
with our own are, in a large measure,
paid by the foreigner as a license to enter
our market. If he chooses to maintain
his cheap standard of labor, there is no
rea son why we should run our standard
down to his. Applause We can man
ufacture in competition with the other
nations if we choose to take their stand
ard of wages. Our men can work as
well as theirs; but, unless we lower our
wages, how is it possible for us to pro-
duce the articles which we need in COM
petition with them? Not only do we
say it, but our enemies abroad say it
themselves. l have here an interview
with the president of the Tinworkers'
Association of Wales, in which he de-
clares, in good set terms, first, that our
workingmen receive twice the wages OF
his own; that the cost of living among
us is no larger than it is with them, and
that, if free trade should come upon us
our wages would be cut in two, and thus
we might compete with him; but, if not,
then never. And say, so far as compe-
tition outside is concerned, If we have
got to pay as price for it the cutting in
half the wages of our working men, L
would rather that not pound of goods
should go across our borders to the out
side Applause How much talk the
Democracy used to make about the mar
kets of the world. They have discov-
cred in some strange fashion by
these reiterated discussions, tiresome
though they may be, that the markets OF
the world are today packed with British
goods, and that the only reason why the
United States are not packed with Brit
ish goods, thus destroying the business
of our working men, is due to the bar
rier which the tariff taxes, which they
despise, have erected against the cheap
labor of other lands. Applause. They
say in their platform and they say in
their newspapers, not only that the Nc
Kinley bill has not raised wages, but they
declare that it cannot raise them. Sup
pose that you and I desired to prove
that the Mckinley bill had raised
wages and increased production; sup
pose that we desired to do in in a
fashion that no Democrat could gainsay,
how would we do it? What sort of
witness would we demand? Of course
we would demand that
The Witness Should be Democrat,
in the first place because a Democrat is
always non-partisan. [Laughter.] You
never knew Democrat to take a parti-
san view of anything. And then it is,
as you know, great principle which I'M
derlies all testimony, that you are to dis
trust the testimony of man having an
interest in the subject concerning
which he testifies, and that you are to
believe in a man who testifies against his
own interest. So then, if we desired to
prove this case, the ideal man we should
select would be Democrat Now, of
course we would want a good Democrat,
and how could we get him? Laughter
and applaus Why, we must have one
selected by the very best Democrat there
is. That is, Democrat who is the good
Democrat by title, and that, of course, is
Grover Cleveland. So then, if we are