Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-10-15
COMMON SENSE
IContinued from lst page

ton of the many for the one, but merely
method of securing to everybody in America
the markets of the country, Is the bt ST
method of distributing among the peol lie
the God given gifts of enterprise. of which
our country is so full I should not be for
it. If did not believe that protection as
only method of making this country, IN
the admirable language of Senator Jon 8,
"do all its own work." should not demaI
its retention. 1t is perfectly true that pros
perity of any kind leads to large fortun's
for those who have the genius to organize
great enterprises. but this is the case ever!
where.
The more prosperity there is, the MOI
there is to distribute, and there is tn.
chance that the worker, whether with
brain or muscle, has to wrest from his
EMPLOYER his share. | am not the auth
of this ides it came from Il Pennsylvania
workingman who declared before the COM
mittee of ways and means that if Congress
would only pass laws which would enao
enterprise TO make profits the woikingmen
would see that they got their share. And
this very day. ia the strike which Is OF
was going on in Massachusetts 'he
very basis Of the argument on both
sides is the price of goods, and ire
consequent profits. The orators on the
other side have always declared that strikes
would cease when they had power, but
they have not passed away yet. On the con-
trary, more looms in the future than we
have ever had in the past. Strikes are al
WAYS unfortunate things, but not always
bad things. Their success consists not IN
their victories, but in their existence. Men
who see their way clear to profits will not
refuse recompense to those they employ,
when the great DISCRIMINATION of strike
is possible, under sense OF injustice on
the part of organized labor. TO borrow
again Mr.. Evarts's illustration, the wit OF
which is only equaled by its wisdom, the
NY way thus far discovered to distribute
eorsumable and enjoyable wealth is first to
give the chance to create it, and then let
each side struggle for its share.
What makes the market the motive
power of production is not the large contri-
buttons of the few, but the small cotrltu-
ions of the many. This large market alfo
ms kes legitimate chespness, | say legitl-
mate cheapness, for a cheapness with no
money % buy is "a mcckery to the soul,
while cbea pness wi h good wages is the de-
light of life. The broader and richer the
market the mere of each article will be con-
sumed, and the more there is consumed
the cheaper such will be made. Machinery
has its foundation on this. Yon would not
build machine to make a single axe ham
die. You could make it infinitely cheaper
by hand. A machine means half million
ave handles. Most manufacturers realize
these things, and the great fact that good
wages so far from beng hostile to their
nrogress is it's very foundation. When
manufacturers all see their interest that
wav we shall witnees the happy death, fer
this country at least, of that old political
economy doctrine that profits are dependent
on low wages. Business prosperity Will
then come from extension of business and
not from the diminution of wages.
But if protection tends to division OF
the wealth of the country, why have the
W orkinpmen voted the Democratic ticket;
why have they who are most concerned
failed to see this great advantage to the m
of which you preach? My friends. this hui
man nature of ours ia queerly made up. "A
nan cares infinitely more for q little thing
v hich is present than for great thing
Al. r off, and. as he thinks, contingent. A
maj will be act wild by sand in his shoes
and give no thought to the question OF
final L lace O. rl.ishment for the wicked.
u \
Therefore, believe that the working
man this year and hereafter will say to
his employer, you AMI l will adjourn our
fight, we will go together and get something
to divide, for we can 10 longer fight when
there is nothing to fight for.
Another thing which led this whole coun-
trv into the error of 1892 was the history of
the last 80 years. During all that time we
had been prosperous. Wages had increased
so all parties agree-in the ratio of from
81 to Sl.75, and that bought nearly as much
as So did when the world was 30 years
Younger. The generation which lived I'M
der X. J. Walker and James Buchanan had
passed away. A new generation had come.
Having lived all their lives in prosperity
18th increasing wages, people came to feel
IN 1t prosperity was natural thing, some
tbi1 q born of the climate, perhaps, or of
the .oiI, and utterly disconnected with gov
ernm. nt For the last IS months it has
slowly crept into the minds of all the peo-
ple that there may have been some brains
mt into the government of this country
during its 80 years of prosperity, and that
all this happened not by luck and chance,
but by good management and sounl ideas.
! am not got going to enter into any pane
yy:ic of the Republican party. 1t is party
hike another with many good deeds and
some bad ones. but, on the whole, the
friend of sound currency, of honest living,
of bu.i ness prosperity and fair interpre-
ter of the peoples wishes, giving them as
good gov arnment as they wanted, and
often better. Virtue in this world is com
parative. We never get perfection. All
we can say is that one man is better than
another, and that it is wiser to c"oos" the
better.
This country has had enough of prom
ises. What it wants is character.
There is no reason why the Democratic
leaders should stop issuing promises 20
long as the public will take them.
One striking example Of the effect of ex-
perience is seen in the very bill before us.
You all remember how tin plate was haw ke
about the land as "the eliminating outrage
of class legislation" as direct attack npCn
the dinner pail of the working man. No"
what did Democracy Go with this? They
did not protect it, but they tried to do it
Instead of abolishing all duti,s 6, as they
tried to do in the Fifty-first Congress, or
even restoring the duty of 1888, they raised