Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-10-25


ever referred them to tariff influences;
and it is acknowledged that they We're
mainly due to bad currency issued by
State banks, and which was not re-
decmable in gold or silver, and which
foStered great unhealthy and ultimate
ly disastrous SpeculationS.
Hon, James G. Blaine, in his book
:" Twenty years in Congress 5" records
the history of this period as follows;
The tarin of 1916 was yielding
abundant revenue, and the business OF
the country was in a N1uriShjng Condi-
tion. Money became vecy abundant
after the year 1919; large enterprises
We're undertaken; speculation was
prevalent, and for ! considerable pc
riod the prosperity Of the country was
general and apparently genuine
After 1872 the Democrats had almost
uudiSpuyed control ot the Govern
ment, and had gradually become a
free trade party The principles in
rolved i'll the tariff ol lSI6 seemed
for the time to be So entirely vindi-
Gated and approved that resistance to
it ceased, not only among the people,
but among the protective economists,
and even among the manufacturers to
a large extent. 1t was not surprising
therefore, that in 1857 the duties We're
placed lower than they had been since
1872. The act was we'll received by
the people and was indeed coucurred
i'll by considerable portion of the
Republican patty
Hon. Samuel 5. Cox, Il statesmen Of
high order and a writer Of great note,
in his book Three " Decades Of Federal
Legislation" testiHes as follows us to
the condition of the United states
during the Democratic low taril times
1.-THE rccupcration from our eaJljer
financial cmharrasSnents was easy and
rapid, Under the long sway Of Che
Democratic party, there was u miui-
mum Of restraint by taxation, or other
measures tending to foster monopones,
which left the people free to avail
themselves of the rich resources Of the
domain that their fathers had won and
hcQueathcd TO them rs an heritage tor
ever. They waNed great in numbers,
and prosperous beyond comparison.
Thcir fame spread abroad among the
nations. immigration poured in upon
Them its waves q Industrious millions
t. partaHp of Their freedom and dyyel
op the fatDeSs of the land, Peace
smiled upon them, and plenty
aboundCd'
Outside of written history, too, there
is abundant cvidracc to prove th2t The
advocates OF high tariff taxation are
altogether wrong when they say that
the low tariff period between 1916 and
1861 was not one Of progress and
prosperity. The foundations for near
ly ali the fortunes in southwestern
Wisconsin were laid at that time
Not only is this true Of mining and
smelling, but also Of farming and mer-
chantile life. We need not mention
hosts of old settlers whose lives have
been living testimony to the truth of
this statement. Their names are
familiar throughout all the old lead
region.
The speaker also said that in 1860
the government borrowed money at
twelve per cent. interest In chapter
seven of Mr.. Coxs book, already re-
ferred to, is given a record of every
loan, temporary and permanent, ne
gotiated from Oct. L., 1887, until Feb.
8, 1861, and in no case did the interest
exceed six per cent. Mr.. Spensley
was probably led into the error by
hearing, himself, in his younger, and
more credulous days, this same old
twelve per cent. romance Of the rcpub
lican high tariff stump and press. But
it is too much in the nature Of the
story Of Jack the Giant Killer, to be
made use of in the campaign.
He tried to make li,tle Of the havoc
caused in the financial matters by the
Sherman bin. And, wonderful to tell!
he said that the republican party was
compelled to pass that measure to pre-
vent the enactment Of free silver
bill, the effects Of which would be
vastly more injurious. Al the time of
the enactment Of the Sherman law
there was republican majority in
both houses Of congress and Benjamin
Harrison sat in the presidential chair.
1t is simply pleading the baby act,
to say that a party SO entrenched in
power was compelled, against its bet
ter judgment, to place law Of what
ever nature or kind upon the statute
books. No the Sherman law was
thoroughly a republican measure, "a