The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-09-09
ALTGELD'S GREAT SPEECH,


Confined from First PaRe,1
was being framed the leading manufac-
turers of the country went to Wash
ington to lobby, and it is now a matter
OF history that they got a bill framed
just how they wanted it. Mai. Mckinley,
who had the bill in charge, practically
allowed the manufacturers to write it
themselves. The argument used was
the protection of the American labOrer
On this theory the duties were made so
high as to almost stop importations in
many lines, and yet the ink of the pres
ident's signature had scarcely became
dry when over 800 of these large manu-
facturers went home and reduced the
wages of their operatives.
That was in 1890 The country is ia
.miliar with the reduction in wages
which took place and with some of the
labor disturbances which followed, so
that the first effect of the Mckinley act
was in many cases to lower instead of
raising the wages of the men, and when
the WOrkmen protested or went out on a
strike their places were filled with men
brought over from the pauper districts
or Europe, under cOntract-men who
worked for wages on which the Ameri-
can laborer could not support his family.
This importation of foreign as a substi-
tute for the American laborers was car
RED on to such an extent that Mr.. Pow
derby himself, a Pennsylvania, and
we'll posted in that regard declared that
almost every native born and every nat
uralized American citizen had been
driven out of the ships and mines of
pennsylvania, and his place flied by
pauper labor brought over from Europe
DEFICIT UNDER THE LAW OF 1890
ASSERTED.
1t was while this law was in force,
during the spring Of 1892, while Mr.
Harrison was president, that the great
Homestead labor riots in Pennsylvania
occurred. This law was in force until
near the beginning of the year 1895, and
for the fiscal year ending June &c. 1894,
it produced deficit in the United States
treasury of S70,000,000. This was due
to the fact that the tariff was in many
cases so high as to check all importa-
ton. So that while the Mckinley law
brought the labOrer no comfort and no
bread, it impoverished the United States
treasury.
During all the time that it was in force
prices kept falling, labor disturbances
increased, business kept shrinking, stag
nation spread, and the distress Of the
country kept Increasing. 1t was appar-
ent all the time that the trouble of the
country was due to some other cause,
and that cause was steadily at work day
and night during the whole of the time
Although the Mckinley law was enacted
to arrest the downward tendency of the
times, it was found impotent for this
purpose, and it was in the spring of 1893,
while the Mckinley law was in force,
that the final crash came The strain
had begun more than 10 years before
and had steadily increased until finally
it became so great that the collapse
came.
After the Mckinley tariff had proved
failure in this country men looked
more carefully into the effects of tariffs
in other countries, and they found that
they had produced the same relative re-
suits everywhere as here They in
some cases enriched the manufacturer
but nowhere helped the laborer, because
there was no tariff on labor. The en-
ployer could bring cheap labor from any
part of the earth at any time 1t was
found that those countries in Europe
which had the highest tariffs were the
very countries in which were found most
OF the pauper labor. and it was also
AOUAiA CiAeat VII WdScS Ill Tree LrdU0
England were low, they had more than
| abolished her tariffs, and further, that
they were now higher than in any of the
protective countries of Europe.
MONEY QUESTION TAKEN UP.
On further studying the situation it
was found that the distress which was
spreading over our country was not To-
cal to America, but that it was at the
same time spreading over Europe
spreading over countries where they had
high protective tariffs, and over coun-
tries where they had low tariffs, and over
countries where they had no tariffs. 1t
became apparent that this paralysis in
the activity. enterprise and industry OF
the world had no connection with the
tariff, but was due to an entirely differ
ent cause, operating throughout the civ
ilized world, and that cause was the re-
duction Of the standard and measure of
values Of the world
In other words, the falling prices were
caused by the arbitrary wiping out by
law of one-half of the primary REDEEM
ption money of the world This was
done, not only by the government of the
United States, but by the governments
of Europe, and produced the same re-
suits that it did here-that is, it pro-
duced rise in the purchasing power of
gold, SO that it took more property,
more products and more labor thereafter
to get dollar than it did before.
Wages and the selling price of prop
erty go together. Labor produces prop
erty. When property sells at a high
price, then it is possible to pay high
wages. When it sells at low price
wages must be low. When it cannot be
sold at all, then there is no work
Let us consider the money question in
it's relation to the hard times. There
are fundamental and immutable laws of
! finance just as there are laws of physics,
and they are not difficult to understand.
Many Of you have never studied what
are called sciences. You have never talk
ed learnedly about the laws of nature,
but you know enough about them to an
swer all practical requirements You
know that water will run down hill; YOU
know that an apple falling from a tree
will go to the ground; you know that
sparks fly upward and fire will burn.
Just so with the financial question
HARD TIMES AND SCARCE MONEY.
You know that a scarcity of money
! means low prices, and that low prices
means hard times. You know that
when there is plenty of money in the
country, when farmers are in a condition
to buy freely, then there is activity, then
there is prosperity. You know that it
takes more money to do business of two
men than it does to do do the business of
one man. You know that if the amount