The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-03-15

o.
TO guess. The Forest Oak Literary
and Debating Society OF Midtown
gathered all the courage possible in
order to meet the Falkland Lyceum's
debaters In debate on The question.
.'Resolyed That Wrong Legislation Is
the Cause OF Agricultural Depression, +"
on Friday evening.
The evening opened with music by
Mr.. and Mrs. James Brown and Miss
Lizzie Brown, vocal and instrumental
Miss Amy r. Piser read selection on
the farmers mortgages.
Considerable time was consumed In
selecting the judges of the arguments.
r.. w. Cook, Lemuel Crossan and Wat
parties. They accordingly occupied
the quarters previously arranged. that
they might not engage in converse
ton with the audience The debaters
| were placed in such position as to face
| the audience and judges while speak
Ing. The question then arose as to
the amount OF time a speaker would
be allowed to occupy the floor, which
was decided to be fifteen minutes.
The debate then opened with Albert
Bedford in the affirmative for the For
est Oak. He spoke OF the conditions
OF the roads OF this country, and what
4 uEu " buppOlL
them, which was very little in COM
parison with the amounts expended
by the governments of Franco and
Italy. He also explained the fax i'm
posed on the former, and the tariff i'm
posed on wool. Isaac Finn for the
home lyceum, expressed the opinion
| that he had seen better times among
| the farmers, in few words.
Joseph Derickson was the next to
| take his place in defense OF the Forest
Oak. He stroked his beard few times
brought forth hisspectacles and made a
dive in his overcoat pocket and pro-
duced little encyclopaedia He ex.
planned how delicate the debaters of
his society had been and that he had
the headache and could not read much.
nevertheless he consumed the larger
part of the time allotted him in read
ing Governor Pattisons speech deliv-
cred ut Harrisburg. j. b. Price's
speech, the amount paid for the Home
wood farm during the war, $4,000 and
how the value of ii had decreased 10
$500 few days ago, on account OF
wrong legislation. He concluded by
saying that he could not express the
silver words used by college graduates
and that speaking from experience
they had and would often get "a lick
Of the blather-stone.
Rev. John d. Blake for the Lyceum
explained fdlly the amount of tax
paid, namely, that the farmers owned
one-iifth of the real estate of the coun-
try and paid bat one-tenth of tho tax
derived from the whole. Western cit
les, he said, had built up in the very
midst of the agricultural district and
were in prosperous condition. Grass
hoppers and other pests were inju-
rious to farmers. These were not caus-
ed by wrong legislation. In conclu.
sion he explained the cooperation in
existence between laboring classes and
mechanics and how they demanded
and received their prices. This was
not the case with the farmer, instead
NJ working together they were cutting
one another's throats, and until some
thing was done in this direction, the
farmers would not advance their inter-
ests and could not blame wrong legis
Iation for their own FOLLY.
Charles g. Dempsey up to time for
the negative. lie sprung his favorite
quotation. j. o., that the speaker Just
seated had wasted twelve mimi ties OF
his time in talking about grass-hop-
pers and the like, and that no had only
spoken three minutes on the question.
81 am very much interested in this
question and will talk of the wrong
legislation in our own State and not
go roaming over the world. That is
the reason / came here this evening"
putting emphasis on the latter SEN
tenee. The patent system, he said, was
an imposition on the farmer, and ex-
planned his views OF it.
DR.. l.. Ii. Ball explained that there
were 90, 000000 working people in the
United States. That office holders
were primarily at fault and not the
law; they imposed the assessments.
ieet. cat this iuneture the affirmative
side were fond to be doing and Mr..
Derickson was obliged TO interrupt
the speaker, please repeat that last
sentence in order that he might
catch the points,. The speaker in
conclusion stated that as the patent
was such IN injury to the farmer Gas
advanced by Mr.. Dempsey that pat
entleyer might be invented to keep
the affirmative debaters awake while
points were being advanced by the
negative.
In the second speech Of Mr.. Bedford
he read in part the report of Secretary
Rusk as to the condition of the far
mer in this country, in comparison to
that of European countries. There
Is Il want OF wrong legislation he
said, evidently by a slip of the ton
que" He explained the imposition on
the farmers made by the Pennsylva-
MIA Railroad company in the freight
charged the Delaware producer. while
those of Maryland received all the adj
vantage.
Mr.. Films speech was short and
sweet.
Mr.. Derickson explained that there
wpra 65 600 600 paDpla in the Ilnitpd
States, and that 50. o00, GOO Were tramps
and 15,o0o,0 600 persons would work If
they could get anything to do. There
is property valued at 500, ,0O0 in
the vicinity OF Pittshnrg owned by
four capitalists. Ii tho President OF
the United States desired to receive
the income alone, from this large
amount, his wife would be compelled
to take in sewing and washing at the
White House. He changed the sub
ject then, to doctors min sters al d
men of profession, concluding his |
last speech by saying that odd Hutch, y
the millionaire grain dealer OF Chicago,
WAS OF 10 use to this country.
Considerable confusion was caused |
when Rev. Mr.. Blake arose and stated |
he was surprised that man should |
arise and explain to an audience that |
there were 50,000,000 tramp3 in this |
country. Mr. nerlckson suddenly |
arose and stated that he had made a |
mistake, and that he should have said |
81 600. Mr.. Blake then proceeded to |
answer the few points advanced by the |
affirmative.
MI. Dempsey, as last resort, again |
began to wiring the rag The judges. |
Disguised at the chestnuts, were COM |
PEELED to turn their backs for comfort. |
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