The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-09-19
The Party's Record.

Speaker Crtsp Istts Whot tne De''1o'
cratic Party has accomplished. An
able Speech, Full Of Facts That Viii
Not le Relished By Populists.
A mass meeting of Democrats was
held in Atlanta, Ca, on the night OF
September eth at which Speaker
Crisp and Secretary Hoke Smith
were the speakers. The speech Of
Mr. Crisp was particularly valuable as
it was forcible and truthful sum.
mary of the work of the democratic
party during the last year. Space
does not permit the publication in
full cf the speech, but the following
is an excellent summary sent out by
the Press Association to the daily
papers:
When the SD Congress met in
August of last year it was con-
fronted with difficulties which seemed
almost insurmountable. Trade was
parslyzed, manufacturing had almost
ceased, labor was idle, our banking
institutions were failing, and con-
fidence, the life and soul of COM
merce, was utterly destroyed. la
SO far us this deplorable condition
was attributable to legislation the
Republican party was responsible
For more than thirty years that party
had made our financial and economic
laws. Until the meeting of the SD
Congress the Democracy was with.
out power The condition which
confronted US, while not wholly, was
very largely due to evil legislation.
In 1878 the free coinage of silver
had been discontinued and gold be-
came the standard of value. In 1878
partial coinage was resumed. In
1890 this law was repealed and soon
thereafter coinage Of silver practl-
cally ceased. These acts Of the Re-
publican party resulted in so lessen
ing the volume of money of final
redemption as to decrease the price
of all commodities, increase the
burden of all debtors, and impair the
confidence of the people in the
power of the Governor and Of bank.
ing institutions to redeem their out
standing obligations. A law and a
practice which allows citizen to
pay his obligations to the Govern
ment in silver, and at the same time
permits him to demand of the
Government gold in redemption of
its obligations is manifestly unreason.
able and unjust, and in the nature OF
the case must impair confidence and
tend to produce panic. For thirty
years the Republicans had been
building up tariff walls around the
country, and in 1890 passed what
they termed a perfect protective tariff
law.
A protective tariff restricts trade
and commerce, it limits the market
in which we must buy, and depresses
the market in which we must sell.
1t is a tax upon foreign product
which the consumer here must pay.
By taxing his foreign competitor
you enable the domestic manufactures
to increase the price of his wares
to the extent of the tax, and this
too, the consumer here must pay.
When you buy foreign goods aud
pay the duty it goes into the treasury.
and is called ''tax;" when you buy
the domestic product and pay the in
creased price it goes into the pocket
of the American manufacturer, and is
called "protection -
The location of the mandatory
determines the name, but the rate Of
the duty determines the price.
Under such tariff you buy i'll a
market where competition is destroy
ed and where scarcity is created by
law. You must sell at prices fixed
in a market, where free trade and the
law of supply and demand prevails.
Trade and commerce is the exchange
of commodities. A protective tariff
prevents us from exchanging our
surplus of cotton. corn, wheat. meat
and other farm products for the surplus
of manufactured goods abroad We
freely export our product, but that
for which we exchange it is SO heav
lily taxed as to make the exchange
unpro6table. Commerce ceases when
gain is gone; one cannot buy unless
he can sell, nor can he sell unless he
can buy. Commerce and agrlcul-
ture go hand in hand !; when one
ceases the other lapguishes. The
laws which destroy the one make the
other improbable Taxed crude mate
e. oS,..,