Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-04-10

Congressman Tom l.. johnson, of
Ohio, is the author of the low tariff
plank in the democratic platform.
He is at the head of the largest steel
company in the United States. This
company is to locate its new works
ut Lorain. n village so miles west of
Cleveland. The village will be en-
pected to condemn property along
Black river. so that it can be widened
to 400 feet for four miles from the
mouth. for harbor purposes. The
new company has immense capital,
and the plant will he superb. All
the latest appliances will be used.
and the company owns many new
and valuable patents. A speciality
will be made of the LAYING of street
rails by an electric welding process.
giving practically an unbroken track.
The works will employ thousands of
men. and will turn out n million and
aquarter tons of finished product
annually. and this quantity will be
increased.
Mr.. johnson was invited TO deliver
an address before the democratic
Iroquois club at banquet given in
honor OF Thomas Jefferson's anniver-
sary. In the course of his speech he
spoke a. follows of free trade and its
twin reform. the single tax:
Free trade. Why should we fear
TO announce IL? Trade is civiliza-
ton. The wider trade extends the
faster and the higher the advance of
human progress. Civilized men
must trade. Without trade we should
be savages. Why not. then. trade
freely? A mans right to the fruit
Of his toll is not complete without
the freedom to exchange it. To
abridge that freedom is to limit that
right. To hamper exchange. wheth-
er by n customs duty or n toll gate.
IL to that extent to deny the right of
property, the right Of each man to
his own earnings. II trade be good.
free trade must be good. Free"
The magic of that word has cheered
the philosopher and inspired the
poet. IL has ever been the watch
word of those who stood for right
against wrong. 1t has ever stirred
the heart Of the masses. Why should
those who proclaim the equity of hu
man rights fear free trade? 1t is not
the enemy to dread, but friend to
welcome.
But it will be said: free trade
that would abolish custom houses
and internal revenue taxes would
lead to the single tax" Certainly it
would. And there is its strength.
1t would do little good to abolish
the impediments to exchange. il we
did not also abolish the impediments
to production. The greatest of all
impedimcnts to production, the
greatest of all monopolics that are
impoverishing the many and enrich
ing the few. is the monopoly of land
the primary element of all pro-
duction. Free trade carried to its
logical conclusion. the single tax.
would abolish this Fundamentally mo-
nopoly, and in doing so, solve the
labor question and abolish poverty.
This labor question. this bread and
butter question. this question OF why
willing workers must be fed by char
ity. and advances in the productive
power Of labor lessen wages, is the
living. burning question Of today.
It is on us now. 1t must be met.
Our old twecdlcdum and tweedledee
politics are done. There is room for
an aristocratic party that will stand
for special privileges and vested
rights. But there is no room for a
democratic party that will not heed
the cry of the toilers and voice the
demand for the natural rights Of
man.