The Russellville Democrat., 1893-08-31
REEDS SPEECH.
He Does Not Hold the Sherman Law All
 R sponsible.
HE PAID A COMPLIMENT
ro the Bank Managers of This Country He will Vote For ,h- Repeal Thinks We Need For
 eign Capital.

Mr. Reed confessed doubts as to the wisdom of the house to deal sat isfactorily with the question before it but expressed his comfort in be- ing able to fall back upon the well established belief in the wisdom of decisions in congress. If crisis like the present, he said, were insepara- ble accompaniments to all human progress, which is a series upward starts and falls almost it's proportionate length, the former may be charac- terized in tLe word "con6dence, ," the latter in another word "dis- trust These fluctuations occur alomst simultaneously, always sym pathetically, the world over, so close ly is business allied by telegraph and railroad. Because of the fact that the drain of gold from the United States since the passage of the Sher
 man law in 1890 carried out of the country an amountequal to the value of the purchase of silver under the law, people saw in it the cause of the loss of gold and dis trust engendered and season of hoarding and depression set in, and to-day the country is suffering from all these calamities, with restricted circulation in the midst of an abundant supply or money. "This, then," continued MT. Reed, lis the situation in which we find ourselves. I have thus been narrating the out ward circumstances which attended our present position, but failed to state what, after all, according to my judgment, is the underlying cause of the present condition of affairs. At the last elec- tion the Democratic party was brought into power by a curi ,us combination of circumstances as result of hundred causes, not with careful and candid deliberation, but as the result of a hundred causes in large measure to the apathy of tre American people. The vote shows what 1 declare, and the recollection of every individual to whom 1 am speaking can be appealed safely to. While this thing has not been specially manifested during this discussion, and while there has been little talk with regard to it, nevertheless the consciousness of this fact underlies our entire situa- ton. do not intend in alluding to this fact in any way to refer to party politics. 1 do not undertake to raise any question as to whether the system of protection is wise or not. do not undertake to dispute the proposition on the part of the Demo cracy that protection is tax wicked and iniquitious. For the purpose of discussing, and for that purpose only, ] am quite free to admit that protection is a fraud, and virtue resides only in revenue tariff, but there remains, even if it be admitted that the propositions of the Democratic plat form are righteous, every one, there remains the fact that the system upon which the manufactures of this c untry have been regulated for thirty years is threatened with
 total change, and whether that change is to be for the better or not no man can know" do not undertake to dwell on this at this present time for l do not want to confuse the issue upon these un- fortunate parts of the Democratic programme which is at present in abeyance like an establishment of state banks and other financial measures which we may possibly have to struggle with. 1 can characterize in a single phrase the cause of the present con dition of affairs. It is undiscover- able as to the uncertainty of the future, both as to the currency ques- ton and to the questions of protec- ton and revenue tariff. it can be seen from what have said that l do regard the Sherman act as in itself alone responsible for our present condition of affairs.
 What believe to be one of the causes of our present disaster un- derlies that. 1t was the necessary stoppage of hundreds and thousands of mills all over this country. This is at the bottom of our disaster. Nevertheless dc believe the Sher.
 man act, in the accumulation of gold in the treasury, was the earliest indicator of disaster which
 we were approaching, and it played it's part not
 entirely unfortunate in warning us that we can be saved from still
 further misfortune and doubt. Pass
 ing then to the consideration of the
 question of repeal Mir. Reed said
 while he was in favor of it
 he did not think it would be the inn
 mediate cause for revival of pros
 perity in this country. Neverthe-
 less he would vote for the repeal for
 two reasons. First, because whether
 justly or rot the Sherman law was
 believed to be the cause of the un-
 reasonable boarding of currency throughout the country. In this
 connection Mir. Reed paid compli-