St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-09-08
CRISP HITS The NAIL.
A Vigorous Speech Delivered
at an Atlanta Mass
Meeting.
PROTECTION KILLS TRADE
By Limiting Markets and Put
ting an End to Com
merce.
PROUD OF THE DEMOCRACY
IN Its Work Of Tariff Reform
"A Record Never Ex-
celled.
PROUD OF THE DEMOCRACY

ATLANTA, Ga, Sept. I. A mass
heeting of Democrats was held in this
,ity this evening. The principal feat
lreS were the speeches of Speaker
Crisp and Secretary Hoke Smith.
Much enthusiasm was displayed.
Speaker Crisp spoke as follows:
When the Fifty-third congress met In
August last year.it was confronted with
difficulties which seemed almost insur-
nountable. Trade was paralyZed, manu-
featuring had almost ceased, labor was
IDLE. our banking institutions were
falling, and. confidence. the life and
soul of commerce, was utterly destroyed.
In so far as this deploIable condition
Vas attributable to legislation, the Re-
publican party was responsible. For
more than thirty years that party had
made our financial and economic laws.
Until the meeting Of the Fiftythird
congress the Democracy was without
power. The condition which confront.
ed US. while NOT wholly, was very
largely due to evil legislation. In 1878
the free coinage of silver had been dis
continued. and gold became the stand
ard of value; in 1878 partial coinage was
resumed. lii 1890 this law was repealed,
and soon thereafter coinage of silver
practically ceased. These acts of the
Republican party resulted in so lessen
ing the volume of money of final re-
demption as to decrease the price of all
commodities, increase the burden of all
debtors, and impair the confidence of
the people i'll the power of the govern
ment and of banking institutions to re-
deem their outstanding obligations.
A law and practice which allows
citizen TO pay his obligations to the gov
ernment in silver, and at the same time
permits him to demand of the govern
ment gold in redemption of its obliga.
tion, is manifeStly unreasonable and
unjust, and in the nature of the case
must impair confidence and tend to
produce panic. For thirty years the
Republicans, nave been building up
tariff walls around the country. and in
1880 passed what they termed perfect
protective tariff law. A protective
tariff restricts trade and commerce..
1t limits the Market
In which we must buy and depresses
the market in which we must sell. 1t
is tax upon foreign product which
the consumer here must pay. By tax
Ing his foreign competitor you enable
the domestic manufacturer 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 and pay the duty, it goes into the
treasury, and is called tax" when
you buy the domestic product and pay
the increased price it goes into the
pocket of the American manufacturer
and is called "protecuon." The
location of the manufactory de-
termines the name, but the rate
of the duty determines the price.
Under such a tariff you must buy in
market where competition is denied,
and where scarcity is created by law. You
must sell at prices fixed in market
where free trade and the law of supply
and demand prevails. Trade and COM
merce 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
heavily taxed as to make the exchange
Improbable.
Commerce Ceases
when gain is gone. One cannot buy
less he can buy. Commerce and agri-
culture go hand in hand; when one
ceases the other languishes. The laws
which destroy the one make the other
Improbable. Taxed crude materials
injure and depress manufacturing. 1t
wants the markets of the world, but
under the protective tariff mas not been
able to enter them. A protective tariff
fosters and builds up trusts and monop-
olies. 1t creates no wealth; it only pre-
vents its natural and Just distribution,
Thirty years of such system did much
10 produce conditions existing when the
Fifty-third congress met.
What has that Democratic congress
so far done for the people? The first
matter considered was the financial sit
uation. WHAT should or could be done
Oh the silver question? We had pledged
ourselves against the make.shIft Sher-
man law, and in favor of both gold and
silver as the standard money of the
country. By an agreement arrived at
between Democrats, we determined to
take the sense of the house on the free
and unlimited coinage of silver at sew.
eral ratios. After full debate. a separate
vote was had on each. and on the repeal
of the purchasing clause of the Sherman
act. The result you know. While not
protesting to understand the question
fully, in all its bearings / have always
been in favor of the free coinage of sill
ver-I am in favor of il now. | believe
the fears of our comrades are largely
Imaginary, and believe the enactment
of such law would afford great relief
to the people of the country. So feel
Ing. [ need not say to me personally the
result of the vote on the free coinage of
silver was great disappointment. The
question is not settled. With our great
Struggle for TarIR Reform
you are familiar. Thirty years of class
legislation has built up In this country
, large trusts and large combinations of
capital. All these interests were arrayed