Evening star., 1897-03-24
The Return Of Prosperity and the
Tariff.
A PLEA FOR PROTECTION 10 LABOR
Benefits for sugarl Wool and
Other Farm Products.
RECIPROCITY FEATURES

the Dingley bill today by referring to
the necessity for speedy action in the mat
ter of tariff legislation. Going over the
ground relating to the bankruptcy of the
treasury, the enormous expenditures in eX-
cess of the receipts of the government and
the undesirabilty of borrowing money in
time of peace to carry on the government,
he drew parallel between the condition
of the country on the 1st of November,
1892, and on the 1st Of November. 1896.
He referred to the reports of Dun and
Bradstreet and the message of General
Harrison to Congress in December, 1892,
and he declared that never in the history
of this country nor yet of any other coun-
try had the people been so happy and so
prosperous as in November, 1892 He de-
clared that there was not at that time one
unemployed man in the United States who
wanted TO work. Work was plenty, wages
remunera tive and business prosperous
Coming to November, 1896, he declared
that never in the history of the United
States was there much of terror fore
boding and doubt in the minds of men as
on that date. The Industries of the coun-
try had been paralyzed and the vast body
of laboring men idle. seeking employment
but hnd1ng none: property everywhere un-
saiable, enterprise at a standstill, doubt
fear. uncertainty everywhere He declared
that this great calamity had come upon
the country substantially by reason of
the single act of democratic Congress
the repeal of the Mckinley law
The Issue of Protection.
He declared that the issue of 1896, upon
whlch the battle had been fought and the
victory won, was the issue of protective
tariff. He declared that he would not stop
to ana1yze the figures of the election, but
said that every intelligent man who par
ticipated in the campaign and went from
one state to another was conscious now of
the TACT that more than a million voters
who had been humbugged by the specious
cry OF the communists. of tax upon wealth,
and enterprise. and the hope for the bet
ter times through debased currency.
nevertheless voted for William Mckinley
because of his position the tariff ques-
ton.
1T was the Mckinley law misrepresented
and misunderstood" said Mr.. Grosvenor.
that aided our overthrow in 1892; but it
was the Mckinley law, with the blessings
we received from it during its short life
that became the talismanic word that
swept Mckinley into nomination and car
ried the country in 1896. From ocean to
ocean and along the mountain tops and
over the prairies. from the pine woods of
Maine to the golden shores of the Pacific
the battle cry of protection. coupled with
the promise of sound money, called Nc
kinley from his home in Canton to be the
leader of new proclamation of an old doc
trine- Thus 1t was that the discarded Nc
kinley law of 1894 became the battle cry
OF a triumphant people In 1896 and the
stone which the democratic leaders re-
fused has become the head of the political
and economical corner
ObeyinE the People.
I'VE are here to execute the peoples de-
mands. We are not here to haggle about
It, We are not here to discuss principles
The men who argue against protection as
the proper policy of this government of
ours are not men to be criticised unkirdly
not to be sneered at, but men to be pited
and sympathzed with. They have been
left stranded. The boat had left them and
they are out on an island, and on the
wrong side of the island, where ships never
pass, and they waving a flag at an
imaginary ship in the mirage of the ocean,
and they can sing the song for all time of
the ship that never came.
Why, said Mr. Grosvenor the cry of
the people. the demand of the intelligent
for protective tariff system today comes
not from partisan utterances 1t comes
from the men of all parties and from every
section OF the country. The fruit grower
OF California, robbed and ruined by the
Wilson bill. cries loudly to republicans for
assistance. and from Alabama and Georgia
and conspicuously from Louisiana. comes
the earnest demand for the passage of this
bill. II the members of the republican side
of this House should see fit some fair morn
the letters they have received from the
democratic states of the south, the cotton
growing states of the south. the hemp and
tobacco growing states Of the south in
favor of this legislation, the capacity of
that newspaper would have to be enlarged
and surprise and astonishment would be
upon the faces of the men who, with their
backs to the rising sun, are seeing nothing.
hearing nothing. knowing nothing, but the
inadequate Bourbon doctrine of bygone
days
NOn-EmplOymenta anl Bankruptcy.
What, then. is the great necessity of
this hour? Two deadly evils are upon us,
unemployed labor and bankrupt treasury
There can be no business confidence in this
country when the treasury of the United
States is without funds to meet its current
obligations. Men may cry peace, but there
will be no commercial peace in this country
without an assurance of national solvency.
How idle the proposition that prosperity
has not yet come! But Mckinley was
elected last November, and yet, says the
cursory thinker. the imperfect student. the
absurd partisan. where Is prosperity?
that violation of law always merits and
always receives punishment. man can
not violate the law of his physical nature
and not be punished, and the punishment
will continue longer shorter in propor-
ton to the degree of his excesses. man
cannot degrade his moral nature and drag
it into the mlre of crime and not be pun
ished for it, and the length of time neces-
sary for him to emerge clean man. with
Il clean conscience. depends somewhat up
on the debris to which he has subjected
himself
The country that would turn its back
upon the prosperity of 1892 and descend in
to the blunder of 1894 must expect punish
ment. 1t is sure to get it, and the degree
of that punishment will depend largely
upon the degree of degradation to which
the country sank.
Why Prosperity is Slow.
There is no better doctrine in all the
range of human thought, no higher de-
velopment of laws to govern human action,
and the result Of human conduct, than the
grand proposition that WREN man or
people repent the blessings that follow re-
pentance come only when works meet for
repentance have been done
There stands upon the statute book of to-
day the accursed law that was put there
by the blindedness of Bourbon democracy.
While it stands there the curse will
main. The curse Is ;ightened. however. by
the prospect that works meet for repent
aEce' will be accomplished. and so from
Maine to California there comes the cheer
ing sound of improved conditions but