Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-10-23
BRIAN SAID 1T.

wage eaIueT.
Il BRYAN SAID 1T.
Minneapolis Journal: Some one
who does not see fit to sign his
own name writes to the Journal,
stating that good many of the
.Populists challenge the authenti-
city of the extract from one Of
lBryan's congressional speeches
quoted in the first column Of this
page. For the benefit of those
who doubt the correctness Of that
statement we refer to page 2134,
Congressional Record, proceedings
of the house, for March Is, 1892.
Under the head Of "What Produces
Lower Prices, the official record
of the house represents Mr.. Bryan
as saying:
eve must attribute it, rather,
TO the inventive genius that has
multiplied a thousand times, in
many instances, the strength of a
single arm, aud enables us to do
today with :. one man what fifty
men could not do fifty years ago.
That is what has brought down
the price in this country, as every
where, and so far from the pro-
tective tariff helping it. it has
stood as a bar and prevented us,
step by step, from taking advantage
Of the inventive genius of other
countries" ~ I.
There are two propositions in
this quotation that are deserving
lot the attention Of voter at this
time. One is that four years ago
Mr.. Bryan was preaching low
prices, and was attributing the re-
|duction Of prices not to the ap-
probation of money, or to the gold
standard, or to the ''crime of '73, "
or any Of those things which he
talks so much about nowadays,
nut to those things which have cut
7 i large figure in the reduction Of
prices, and chiefly the cheapened
processes of manufacture and the
reduced cost of transportation.
You cannot make Mr.. Bryan be-.
lieVe that now, or, rather, you can
not make him admit it.; It would
not serve his purpose to do so. He
is fishing with different bait now
adays. He has discarded free trade
because he knows that that has
been a failure, and he dare not
open his head in favor of it, but
has balted his hook with free sill.
yer, thinking he can catch more
gudgeons and fool the people a
second time. .... =. -.
The other point is his attitude
toward the protective tariff. 1T
has stood as bar and prevented
US, step by step, from taking ad
vantage Of the inventive genius Of
other countries. What does he
mean by taking advantage of the
genius of other countries?" II
must be that he means that the
protective tariff has shut out the
products Of the inventive genius
of other countries and preserved
this market for the inventive
genius Of this country. In Other
words, the products Of American
labor, equipped by the inventive
genius Of America, has, under q
protective tariff, been given. the
advantage in America, and the
tariff has been bar. against the
products Of foreign labor equipped
by the inventive genius of foreign
countries. This is no doubt true.
That is what is claimed for protec-
tion-that it discriminates against
foreign labor and in favor Of
American, and that IS what Mr..
Bryan complains of. He thinks it
great hardship that the products
of foreign labor should not be al
lowed to come in free competition
with American. And, if he had
his way, he would turn out of en-
ployment the men whose votes he
is now soliciting by removing the
"bar Of protection which has
been preventing him from taking
advantage" of the cheaper results
Of cheaper labor, equipped by the
inventive genius Of other coun-
tries.
Are there any other points in
b t d