Evening star., 1897-03-24
Helping the LabOrer,

THE policy of this bill has been and is
and will be if it should pass into law to
give to the labor that degree of employ
ment in the United States which will cause
to be expended in this country every dol
lar that Is expended for such products of
the soil. of the mine. of the shop and of
the factory that We can produce in the
United States on equal terms with the for
eign producer. In no other way We
reach the markets of the world. Our reci-
procity Pre- visions will be of value They
will be more or less adequate to the re-
suit which we seek. but after all if we
would induce the nations of the earth to
be anxious for our markets We must be
ready to supply our own markets We
propose that the United States of America
shall not be found disarmed and poWeress
in the face of foreign enemy in case of
war. What do you think of country with
all its boundless possibilities of sheep cul-
ture which produces less than :5n.UW.G}o
pounds of wool per annum when its con-
sumption in time of peace must he ,I,0,Ns,,- =
600 pounds? We propose that this country
shall put itself upon a war footing for
the purpose of maintaining itself. We pro-
pose that 1t shall be in a position 10 pro-
duce it's own sugar and its own wool and
its own commodities of every character
that God in His wisdom has made it pos
sible to produce on this continent
My countrymen, the gentleman from
Alabama. Mr.. Wheeler, eulogiZes the demo-
cratic party and states that be proposes TO
witness the demise of the republican party
as he has that of the whig party and the
sreenback party and other parties, which
have :prung up from time to time and en-
numbered the earth. My countrymen. it
was the democratic party that in 1861 stood
powerless and paralyZed in the presence of
great national crime, that failed to find
in the Constitution any power to save the
country, and stood for four long years
without a national utterance or protest
nt,,~f a1a11 csio Aba
democratic party thus impotent that
brou ght ruin and desolaton and death upon
our country. 1t was the democratic party
that in the hour of reconstruction failed to
conceive tf at great development that the
war had brought: failed to see that there
must be embodied in the Constitution three
or four great principles that had been
settled. The right Of secession had been
denounced; the equality of all the cti-
zens before the law. the sacredness of the
war debt, the tabOoing of the rebel debt
the conferrng upon all men political as
well civil rights, 1t stood paralyZed in
the very presence of the momentous growth
of liberty and the rights of manhood. 1t
stood paralyzed while mighty people
moved forward across the chasm of war
to stand upon the promised land of equal
rights and equal conditions. 1t was the
democratic party which denounced all these
measures and made reconstruction sub
stantially impossible. 1t was the demo-
cratic party that caused distress upon
grew up the great heterodoxy OF irredenm-
able paper money. 1t the democratic
party that refused to place our currency
at par with gold. 1t was the democratic
party that fought against resumption and
fought against it and denounced it in the
same language that we hear upon this
floor today. 1t was the democratic party
which in the hour of oar struggle last year
forsook the faith of it's fathers, abandoned
the landmarks of the Constitution, fed
from the teachings of Jefferson and Jack
son and the great ancestors of its politi-
cal fame and went after the strange gcds
of cheap money, broken credit and Under
upon a par in its financial principles and
it's financial conduct with China and the
heather rations of the world. And 1t is
the democratic party here today repre-
sented by a heterogeneous mass of con-
flicting political opinions that prey upon
no policies for the future, no pride OF po
litical ancestry. no hope of political pos
terity. but a wandering mass committed to
no course.
"a wandering mass Of shapeless fame
pathless comet and a curse
MY countrymen. it was the republican
party that raised the Union Constitution 20
loyalty; that went to war to save the
Union, and, aided by its democratic allies
cesions, 1t brought back the flag and Con-
stitution and Union unimpaired. 1t was
the republican party that put in the Con-
stitution of the United States the clause
that declared for liberty and honor. that
took the imperfect instrument of our IA
theirs. made imperfect by the lapse of time
and the change of conditions, and placed
the capstone of liberty and freedom and
equal rights on the beautiful temple that
has stood SO many years unfinished. and