Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-10-12

OF the UnlCou OtdteS! HAS ~ AASAo"'S>A
their wages? How many men. who were
employed in 1892 are idle today? How
many men are receiving the wages TO-DAY
they received in 1892? Workingmen OF st.
Paul. answer me. Workingmen of Min
nesota, how many of you who were en-
ployed at remunerative wages, are idle to-
day? IA voice: ''Two thirds."] IAN
other voice: "More than that."] And.
nv fellow countrymen, whether it be one
third or whether it be two-thirds, let me
submit another question:: ''How many of
you who have employment are getting as
GOOD wages today as you got in 1892?
MANY voices. Mcneil I venture to
,ay, not 10 per cent of the workingmen OF
Minnesota, or of the cities of St. Paul or
Minneapolis, are getting as good wages
in 1894 as they got in 1882. Voices:
you're right.'1
Better than the law of 1890? Why,
under the operation of that law every in
dustry in this country was working to its
fullest capacity Not only was every in
dustry working at it's fullest capacity, but
every man in this country who wanted
work could get work at remunerative
wages. New industries were builded up
under that law, and they were built up In
the United States.
Under the stimulus of the law of 1894, ii
the representative of the Commercial club
of London, that banqueted Mr.. Wilson,
can be relied upon, the law of 1894 has
stimulated English industries.
The Dinner Pail Incident.
While on this stand a workingman
brought me this tin pail-this bucket. He
told me it was American tin made from
American steel, and that steel made by an
American workingman, and this tin pail
made by an American citizen here, in the
city of St. Paul. One week ago today
every tin-plate factory in the United States
closed down. Why? Because the tariff
law of 1894 had so reduced the duty upon
the foreign product as to make 1t lmpos-
sible for those manufactures to produce
and pay the scale of wages they had been
paying under the law Of 1892, and 10000
men last Saturday night were put out on
the streets as the result of the law of 1894.
Not only the 10000 men engaged in the
immediate industry, but the 10000 more
men that were making the steel ingots and
rolling them into the sheet steel to dip
them for tin plate were reduced in their
employment by reason of the shutting
down of those mills.
When l was in the city of Lincoln, Neb.,
day before yesterday, in the great street
parade there was the representative OF
what was said to be the largest brick COM
pany in that state, and the head of that
firm WAS Democrat-NOT NOW-and
printed across the banner carried by the
idle workingmen was this inscriptions:
"Twenty-two million brick in 1S92-not
one in 1893 or 1894"
And that is the story of every city of this
country, and in some line of industry or
another.
Better than the law of 1890? Why, I'M
der the law of 1890 we collected from GUS
toms and from internal revenue enough
money every day of the two years and
half it was in operation to pay the ex-
pcnses of the government, the interest on
the public debt and pensions to the SOL
diers of the country. And since 1892, when
the new administration went in, and the
decree had gone forth that the policy that
had been in operation for thirty years,
under which our Industries had been
builded up and to which everJ delicate
fabric of enterprise has been adjusted.
from that time down to this hour, the gov
eminent of the United States has not COL
lected, any day of any week of those 10
months, enough money to pay the every
day expenses of the government. And it
has been compelled to go out and borrow
$50 900 and issue the bonds of the
government-which has not been done
since the days of resumption. Not only
been compelled to go out and borrow fifty
millions of money, but it has drawn upon
the gold reserve in the treasury-that has
been sacred ever since John Sherman es-
tablished it down to the inauguration of
President Cleveland, and fifty millions of
that gold reserve has gone, to meet the
current expenses of the federal govern
ment.
Democratic Times of Long Ago.
But it is only history repeating itself.
The last Democratic administration be-
fore the war was an administration of
loans and deficits and distress in business,
and the first full Democratic administra-
tion since the war is an administration of
loans and deficits and of universal distress
to the country.
Better than the law of 1890? There were
mistakes in the law-no great bill with
5000 items could be passed without hav-
ing some mistakes-but, my countrynen,
whatever mistakes were in the law, what
ever errors crept into that law, every one
of them was in favor of the American
home, the American citizen, the American
factory, the American farm. But of the
$50 blunders discovered in the law of 1894
not one of them is in favor of the Ameri-
can people, They have not even, by acct
dent or blunder, made any mistakes in
favor of American enterprise, American
Industries or American homes
All, but they say: "Our tariff law is
better than the Republican law because it
reduces duties" So it does reduce duties
Governor Mckinley then explained,
clearly and simply, that reduced duties
meant greater imports, and every article
imported displaced a homemade article,
and when home production decreased,
workmen became idle, business became
stagnant, and hard times speedily re-
suited.
When you diminish the tariff you do it
for only one purpose-that is, to encour-
age importation. That is what it is done
for. That is the objection they make to
the law of 1890, that we discouraged i'm
portation. Well, We did. We discour-
aged the importation of every product
that we could produce at home that we
might find employment for our labor at
home, and give to the farmers of the
United States consumers of the products
of their farms.