Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-10-11

HeT- SUI pluS oAPo vi "HOoei puV al
gentina is coming forward and is now
third in the quantity, at least, export
ed to the European markets | can
not but recall the fact, and | have
stated again and again before the peo-
pie of this country, that the American
tax upon the woods of Argentina had
made them give up their "sheep-walks
and 90 into competition with you in
the production of wheat | say that
it is for you today question of mar
kets, question of consumers the world
over for the products you produce. |
believe so far as the great cereals are
concerned, we produce enough to feed
a population twice as large as our own.
| believe so far as our staple manufact-
ures are concerned, we produce enough
to supply population twice as large
as our own.
The question is, where are we to get
these markets? Upon one system we
have been building up for thirty years
tariff walls to keep other people from
coming in to compete with us in home
market already glutted. We have
now begun to tear down our tariff
walls to let us out with our products
to compete with the rest of the world,
with all the markets of the world,
While | was in the city of London,
about two weeks ago, | was honored
very unexpectedly to myself with an
invitation to a dinner by the Chamber
of Commerce of that city, was sur
prised, | was almost sorry in one sense,
to receive such an invitation, because
l was seeking quiet and rest, and |
knew then, as well as | know today,
that whatever | might say on that oc-
casion before that audience would be
perverted and falsifed before the
American people, and yet | did not
think that | need be afraid to talk to
the people of West Virginia and the
people of the United States. And so
| told them Just what have said to
you today, that il the past we had
been building up our tariff to keep
them out of American markets, and
now we are tearing down the tariff to
let us out into theirs and all the other
markets of the world, and said to them
that not only in the great products of
agriculture, not only in our wheat,
corn, cotton, beef and meat products,
but in the products of our manutac-
tories they might henceforth find US
competing with them in all the markets
that they sought.
We are told by our protection op-
ponents that our attempt to get out
side of the United States and sell
against other people, or to let other
people come inside of the United States
to sell against us, means degradation
of labor and a diminution of the wa
ges of the American working man.
Does not every farmer in this country
know that for every bushel Of wheat
in his own market he must look to the
markets of England where wheat is
sold in competition with the cheapest
agricultural labor of the world? The
farmer in Dakota pays ten times as
much for his labor as the farmer in
India. The farmer in Jefferson coun-
ty pays FIVE to seven times as much as
the farmer in India and three times
as much as the farmer Of Austria,
Hungary and Russia, but he puts
down his wheat in England side by
side with Russia, India and Austria
and through the competition Of ali
three the price Of wheat there is es-
tablished, and is established for him
in the markets of Charlestown and
Baltimore.
We have been told that this phrase,
'The markets of the world, means
nothing and is an empty delusion, and
that there is no market in the world
which can compare with the Ameri-
can market for the American people.
OF course there is a great deal in that.
The home market to every people Is
its largest market. Three-fourths of
all the products produced by the peo-
pie are consumed and must always be
consumed where they are produced.
It is not that we mean to surrender
the home market. Our very ability
to send out and sell in competition
implies our ability to stay at home and
sell them in competition with the same
people and yet, fellow-citizens, let us
never lose sight Of the fact that if we
are to sell our products we must take
in exchange for them the products of
the people to whom we sell. There is
no such thing as one-sided trade be-
tween nations. 1t is the interchange
of product for product. When they
keep out from US the exports Of other
countries, they keep out from us the
price, and the only price, that other
countries can pay for what we produce
If we wish larger markets, we must
accept and seek larger importations to
pay for what we send out. Why, fell
low-citizens, suppose that instead Of in
the year 1894 wool had been put upon
the free list ten or twenty years ago,
the people of the Argentine Confeder-
alton would not be today pressing you
so strong in the wheat market Of Eng
land would they not be sending us
the wool which we excluded from
America, and receiving from us in ex
change for that wool such products as
we make and they need? Because
we taxed their wool at least so per
cent, because we shut her out Of these
markets, because we prefer to make
our neonle nav double price for their |