The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-02-07
Passed the House.

The closing of the tariff debate in tn
house OF representatives was famou
occasion for that favored part of tn
American people whose privilege i
was to be present, and greater occa
sion for the leading orators to whom
was accorded the honor of closing tn,
long debate. From the point of view
occupied by the believer in the repub
lican policy of protection, Hon. Thoma,
b. Reed of Maine was easily the hero
of the closing contest. To him belong
the honors of the superior oratory, the
distinction of the broader and more
statesmanlike survey of the entire field,
the argument conclusive in its weight
and completeness.
No mere synopsis can give an ade.
quate idea of the power of Mr.. Reeds
final argument against the Wilson bill
or of the strength and eloQuence of his
plea for American industry, and the
length of his great speech forbids its
publication in these columns. Mr..
Reed finds no ground for that hope,
entertained by so many moderate men,
that the Wilson bill, bad as it is, could
be resting-place where the manufac-
turing and productive industries of the
country, such as may survive, can 1e.
establish themselves and have sure
foundation for the future. Hence, he
says: "There can be no foundation for
that cry, 30 insidiously raised, that this
bill should be passed at once because
uncertainty is worse than any bill can
possibly be-" Were this bill to pass
both houses of congress at once, uncer-
tainty would reign just the same. De-
spite the professions of the advocates
of the bill that it opened new era of
prosperity to manufacturers, the bill
could be defended on no other ground
than the principles of free trade.
Whether or not the sentiment in ia.
vor of protection as applied to every
country is sound, Mr.. Reed did not
stop to discuss. What alone con-
cerned him was whether it was best fer
the United States of America; and the
first thing he had to say on this point
was that " after thirty years of protec-
ton, undisturbed by any serious men
ace OF free trade, up to the very year
now last passed, this country was the
greatest and most flourishing nation on
the face of this earth. Moreover, with
the shadow of this unjusti6able bill
resting cold upon it, with mills closed,
with hundreds of thousands of men I'M
employed, industry at a standstill, and
prospects before it more gloomy than
ever marked its history-except once
this country is still the greatest and the
richest that the sun shines on, or ever
did shine on" Hastily outlining the
marvellous advancement of the country
since the end of the war and the abo-
lition of human slavery, he reminded
his opponents of the one great fact
" that whatever the future industrial
system OF this country may be, the past
system is monument to that series of
successful statesmen who found the
country bankrupt and distracted, and
left it first on the list of nations"
Ending an argument that was con-
elusive beyond successful dispute in
The point and force and diversity of
evidence and statement, Mr.. Reed said:
. We know, my friends, that before
this tribunal we all of us plead in vain.
Why we fail, let those answer who
read the touching words of Abraham
Lincoln's first inaugural, and remember
that he pleaded in vain with these same
men and their predecessors. Where
he failed, we cannot hope to succeed.
But though we fail here to- day, like our
great leader of other days, in the larger
Held, before the mightier tribunal,
which will finally and forever decide
this question, we shall be more than
conquerors; for this great nation, shak-
ing off, as it has once before, the in
huence of a lower civilization, will go
on to fulfill its high destiny, until over
The South, as we'll as over the North,
shall be spread the full measure of that