Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1894-10-19
BLAINE'S PROPHECY.
The Prediction that Great States
man Made Eight Years Ago
and Its Remarkable
FulflIment,

Fulfillment
Mr.. Blaine was not only brilliant
and forccful man, he had at times
the gift of prophecy. Seven years
ago, just after the delivery of Mr..
Cleveland's famous tariff reform
message, and while Mr.. Mills, in his
capacity as chairman of the commit.
tee of Ways and Means, was formu-
lating the tariff bill of 1888, Mr..
Blaine addressed q vast assemblaye
in Boston, apropos of what was then
as it is now, the palpitating question
OF the hour. In the course of his
remarks he said:
love my country and my countr-
men. | am an American and rejoice
every day of my life that l am. I
enjoy the general prosperity of my
country and know that the working.
men of this land are the best fed and
clothed of any laborers on the
face of the earth. Many Of them
have homes of their own. They are
sorrounded by all the comforts and
many of the luXuries of life. shud.
der, however, at the thought that
the time must come when all this
will be changed, when the general
prosperity of the country will be
destroyed, when the great body of
workingmen in this land who are
now so prosperous will hear their
wives and children cry for bread
That the day must come when the
great factories and manufactures Of
this land will shut down, and there
will be the silence of the tomb. And
the reason why it must be 50 is this:
The great Southern wing Of The
Democratic party arc determined to
establish the doctrine of free trade
In this land. They will be assisted
ny their northern allies. The linht
IS now on. There is great BODY of
visionary but educated men who are
employed day by day in writing
free trade essays and arguments in
favor Of that doctrine, which find
their way into every Democratic
newspaper in the land. The great
body OF our people Eave never ex-
perlenced, themselves, the sufferlnys
which always result when the pro-
tective principles are laid aside,
Poisoned and excited by the wild
statements of these writer's and tho
demasogue appeals of Democratic
speakers, the result will be that. in
The very near future, these forces
which are now working will be strong
enough to defeat at the polls the
party advocating the doctrine of
protection. 1t must inevitably fol.
low that uncertainty and doubt will
ensue. The business men of the
country, fearing the restriction, will
decline to engage in business; con.
sequently mills will shut down and
the workingmen will lie thrown out
OF employment. The people will
then see, as we have never seen be-
tore, that they cannot be prosperous
and have work while this principle
Is threatened. In the midst of this
suffering they will learn that the
only way that they can be prosper.
GUS and happy is to vote for the
party that will build up the indus.
tries by which they have gained a
llyelihood-because they can see
clearly that when a manufac.orv is
shut down there is no demand for
the thing which they have to sell.
and that is their labor. /
The picture drawn hy Mr.. Blaine
In 1887, and accepted them as a mere
burst of eloquence and a trick of
metaphor, is now before us. a stern
and chill reality. IF he were alive
to-day lie could not draw it with n
firmer hand in truer lines or with
more startling color.