The Portland daily press., 1894-02-02
have convinced the world, nor, what is
much worse, do them seem to have made


agree, and the more the facts of the uni
verse are developed the more confusion
seems to reign among them.
" Meanwhile the world has proceeded
in its own way without much regard for
their theories and their wisdom. do
not mean that studious men have not
discovered great truths and had glimpses
of still greater, but in the main they
have only passed from one inaccuracy
to another, because they have forgotten
that the whole race is wiser than any
man.
You and l, Mr.. Speaker, cannot hope
to do much better than these famous
men, except so far as we view with toler-
ance what great masses of our fellow
men are doing and assume that they are
probably right, instead of assuming that
they are pro badly wrong i'll matters
which SO deeply. concern them.
1t iSsoften said that the truth is the
simplest. That is so, after you under
stand that truth; but when you do not,
A Lie Is Far Simpler.
When Copernicus discovered the
theory of the universe it took centuries
for men to believe it. The Ptolemaic
theory was SO simple that anybody by
using his eyes could see that the sun rose
in the east and set in the west, just like
the moon, and both in the same way re-
VolVeu dfOunu bHe eaflH, anu Goudy iHooo
men accept the Copernican theory, not
on their own understanding, but on the
general belief of mankind.
Il shall not, therefore, in what l have
to say, be able, being as l hope on the
side of truth, to rival the charming SIM
plicity of the gentlemen opposite, or. like
them, to compress the universe into the
nutshell of speech. regret this the
less because I know that many philosO-
obar n nc r,r1t tho world jptn nutshell
only to find that the nutshell contained
world in which nobody ever lived or
moved, or had his being, and conse-
quently world which was of no
human account.
g shall not attempt to deal much with
the metaphysics of this discussion, or to
cite statistics which have no meaning ex
cept to the student, and so often mislead
even him. shall for the most part con-
fine myself to large facts which are
known of ALL or can be ascertained in the
simplest possible way.
Whether the universal sentiment in
favor of protection as applied to every
coutry is sound or not do not stop to
discuss. Whether it is best for the
United States of America alone concerns
me now, and the first thing have to say
is that
After 80 Years of Protection,
undisturbed by any serious menace of
free trade, up to the very year now last
past, this country was the greatest and
m ost fourishing nation on the face of
this EARTH
Moreover, with the shadow of this un-
justifable bill resting cold upon it, with
mills closed, with hundrds of thousands
of men unemployed, industry at a stand
still and prospects before it more gloomy
than ever marred its history, except once,
this country is still the greatest and
richest that the sun shines on or ever
did shine on.
During that period of growth which
lifted US from position SO low that we
actually had human slavery within our
borders to our present condition of free
dom and prosperity, we struggled throuh
dreadful war which desolated one-half
of the country and so strained the re-
sources of the other half, both in money
and in men, that it's impress today is
visible every year on our tremendous
pension roll, although almost obliterated
from our public debt. After the war
ceased Our prosperity was clouded with a
six years. struggle with a disordered cur
rency and the reconstruction OF labor
and industry in the South. No nation in
the worlds history ever passed through
in SO short time two ordeals SO trying
and so severe.
"a In spite of both these misfortunes,
not only have we studded the country
east of the Mississippi, all over with
mills and workshops, factories and fur
naces, covered it with railroads, ex-
plotted the oil fields of Pennsylvania,
Indiana and Ohio, and turned into light,
heat and production the fierce, impas-
stoned
Energy of Thousand Mines
of coal, but beyond the Mississippi we
I, 6,1il fror, ont roll
lines across the Rocky mountains, and
have driven the great American desert
off the maps and off the face of the earth.
"Nor have we in any way exhausted the
future. This country is ten times more
capable today for further development
than it was in 1S60 Let me state one
little item, sample of a thousand. Only
last year at Rumford, in my own state,
was brought under harness waterfalls
which will give to the productive
power for every day in the year. Three
hundred and fifty thousand just such
horsepower runs to waste every day in
NewEngland alone. Whenever our citizens
are rich enough to employ their great
resources my hope is that they will be
rich enough to consume their products
themselves.
$50 utterly undisputed and SO distinct
ly visible to every human being IN this
audience has been our growth and pro-
gress that this hasty outline is all that
is needed to remind you of one great
fact, that whatever the future idustrial
system of this country may be, the past
system is splendid mont nent to that
series of successful statesmen who found
the country bankrupt and distracted and
left it
First on the List of Nations.
"What are the reasons why any change
of principle should be had? OF course
we are not to change the history of the
last thirty years and the principles of
one hundred years because some gentle
men specially gifted with sonorous
voices have distributed epithets. We are
not going to risk our all upon fragments
of ancient platform speeches, upon loud
outcries and abusive language.
Continued on Third Page.