The record-union., 1896-09-15

IS truly astounding, and calls for ser1-
GUS consideration and prompt remedy,
II one can be found, and the only rem
edy we have in the United States IS
py the ballot, and If it is protection you
want you know what party carries the
banner of protection. Enthusiastic
cheering and cries of Whats the mat
ter with Mckinley? He's all right.C
Prior to the enactment Of the Wilson
tariH law you had enjoyed almost with
out interruption, from the beginning OF
the Government, a. tariff on your
product to protect you from the compe-
tltlon of the cheaper lands and the
cheaper labor of other countries. BY
that Act your product was made free,
and opened up to the unrestricted COM
petition of all the wool of the world.
what makes that Act more indefenSl-
bie is, first, that 1t was wholly unneces-
Sary, and second, that it was singing
out one Of the greatest industries of the
country for immediate sacrifice, leaving
other industries having no greater claim
upon the consideration of the Govern
ment practically unharmed. (Cries of
That's right'O
NO class of our citizens have suf-
fered so much from that tariff law as
the wool-groWerS of the United States,
and none were more deserving of gen.
erous treatment than they. So mex
Cusable was this Act that President
Cleveland, who favored a reduction In
the tariff all along the line, and who
believed in free raw materials, was un-
willing to sign the bill, and used these
characteristic words against it: 1t may
well excite our wonder that Democrats
are willing to depart from this free
raw material doctrine), the most Dem
ocratic of all tariff principles, and the
inconsistent absurdity of such proposed
departure should be empha sized by the
suggestion that the wool of the farm
ers be put on the free list and the pro-
lection of tariff taxation be placed
around the iron ore and coal of corpora
tions and capitalists
But this did not avert the fatal blow.
Less organized than other industries in
the country, you We're unable to secure
the recognition to which you were justly
entitled, and your great product was
made the victim of free trade. (Cries of
That's right.'o The platform of the
National Republican party upon which
we stand this year, much to my grati-
hcation, singles out the wool industry,
and makes of it special mention as en-
titled to full protection under our reve-
nue. laws. loud applause and cries of
Good, good.'O This is the language of
the national platform: TO all our pro-
ducts-to those of the mine and the field,
as we'll as those of the sheep and factory
to hemp, to wool, the product Of the
great industry of sheep husbandry, as
we'll as to the finished Woolens of the
mill, we promise the most ample pro-
lection. lApplause) And what the
Republican party promises it is in the
habit of performing. (Cries of That's
right.o 1t does not make promises to
be broken. 1t says what it means, and
means what it says. If clothed with
power in all branches of the Government
1t will give TO this great industry fair
and just protection with all other in
dustries Of the country.
But, my fellow citizens, what we
want, whether we produce wool or any
other agricultural product, is to pre-
serve the splendid home market to our
own American producers. Great ap
plause) 1t is the best market in the
world. There is no other market like
it, and upon every principle of justice
and fair play it belongs to us and to no
body else before US. applause and cries
Of That's right.O
Protection to the farmer has been
recognized from the beginning of the
Government until now. AS showing the
Importance of our industry, it is only
necessary to say that in 1892 there We're
100000 wool growers in the United
States-1O0, 900 people whose chief oc-
cupation was that of wool-growing
There were probably one-fourth as
many more who were owners of small
fiocks of sheep in the United States.
This industry employed, besides those
who owned the f1ocks, it is estimated, at
least half a million laborers, represent
ing, with those who were dependent
upon them, nearly 100000 people
There were 100000 farms, averaging
$50 acres each, devoted to this industry,
and the mountainous regions and the
vast plain of the great West, which are
not adapted to other kinds of farming,
have been utilized In this great industry
and made valuable. Every one of these
farms comprising 100 acres Of land,
112000 900 acres in all, have been seri-
ously injured by placing wool on the
free list. In one of the agricultural pa
pers Of the West / have seen the state
ment that in Oregon, Utah. Washington,
Idaho and Western Montana there were
G,710, 746 sheep which were in 1892
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