The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-08-05
On Raw Materials,

Representative Bailey, of Texas, has
been the leader of the Democracy on
the floor of the House during the past
! session. He too is a young man and
is gifted with much cloQuence. He is
opposed to free raw materials for the
manufacturer and protected materials
for the consumer:
Why should the manufacturer who ships
his woOen goods to other countries and ex-
changes them for raw wool be allowed to
bring that wool into this country free of
duty. when the wool grower who ships his
wool to other countries and exchanges it for
WOODEN goods is compelled to pay high
duty on the woolen goods which he brings
home? If anybody needs an advantage in
the export trade of this country II Is not
the manufacturers. who furnish less than
30 per cent. of our exports, but it Is the
farmers. who furnish more than 30 per cent
of our exports; and it is Illogical and inde-
fenSible for Democrat to insist that those
who furnish but one-fOurth of what we shin
to foreign countries shall be permitted to
return with their exchanges free from taxa
tion. while those who furnish three fourths
shall be compelled to pay tax on almost
everything for which they exchange the
products of their land and labor. Why
should the MANUFACTURED he permitted to buy
the farmers wool free from duty, while the
farmer Is compelled to pay the nauufac-
tnrer Il high duty on the goods made out of
his free wool? The manufacturer is not
compelled to buy his WOOL and only buvs If
for the sake of the profit which he can
make out of it by manufacturing it into
woolen goods: the people are compelled to
buy woolen goods, and yet we are asked to
increase the profit of buying wool by in
creasing the cost of buying clothes. Mr.
Speaker. we might with Justice demand that
those who buy wool for the sake of profit
should be taxed. and that those who buy
clothing for the sake of comfort should go
untayed. but we do not demand this. All
that we demand is that the men who buy
wool for the sake of profit shall be COM
PEELED to contribute toward the support of
the Government equally with those who buy
woolen clothes for the sake of comfort. For
twenty years | have heard protection de-
nounced as IL species of favOrtiSm to manu-
facturers, and l have heard manufacturers
described selfish and rich beyond the
dreams of av2rice, and, sir. | was astOunded
when our old leaders suddenly changed their
position and proposed system which they
openly averred was more favorable to the
manufacturers than that of the Republican
party.
as prosperous we have been taught to
believe, then, sir, it is an objectionable
crime to exempt them from taxation, and
thus increase the burdens of the patient and
multitude. l cannot find Ian
guage strong enough to denOunce a policy
that would lift the burden of this Govern
ment from the great manufacturing estab-
lishments and lay it with crushing weight
upon the farms 1 know the agricultural
people of this land, and / know their un-
selfish devotion to their country. | know
too. that it is as true in the economic as 1t |
Is in the physical world that all things rest |
upon the earth. and when those who culti-
vate the soil are made to suffer the nation |
must suffer with them. The farmers are |
the most useful and the most conservative |
Of all our citizens. Their labor supplies us |
with food and clothing. and to them we turn |
when the riots and bloodshed of our cities |
render the future Of the republic gloomy |
and uncertain. From the bitterness OS class |
lntagonismS. from the greed of the rich who |
)ppreSS the poor, and from the desperation
IF the poor who would despol the rich. we |
urn to the r1ral homesteads of this land, |
md there we find rugged independence
with n reverence for the law which
Constitutes the nations best and wisest
safeguard. Around those humble firesides
wen in this age of selfishness and greed. the
second only to the fear of God. a republic
which practices injustice against homes like
heSe, which multiples their burdens and
lriveS their impoverished and discOntented
occupants to the already OvercrOwded towns
md cities invites its own destruction.
l do not plead for special privileges for
he farmers; | only plead in defense of the
Democratic party for having said that in
lealing with this question it will keep its
pledge that none shall enjoy special favor
Tor shall any suffer special burden, but
hat all shall stand equal before the law.
Applause.) To establish and maintain the
qual rights of men the great mission to
which its founders dedicated the Democratic
'arty a hundred years ago and to which we
econsecrated it last year. If we adhere
teadfastly and faithfully to this the most
ital of all our principles. the American peo-
lie will reward our fidelity with their con-
lence, and we can reward their confidence |