The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-04-02

moraliZation of industry that results.
This is the evil which the Republican
party has vainly sought to remedy
through its protective legislation.
In 1890 the Ways and Means Com
mittee, of which Mr.. Mckinley was
chairman, conducted an Investigation,
which showed that there had been a
general fall i'm the prices of commodities
of about II per cent in the preceding
eighteen months, and in the report that
accompanied the Mckinley bill its
author declared that there was wide
spread depression, especially in agri-
culture, frankly avOwed that falling
prices was the great evil that afflicted
the. industries of the country, and that
it was the purpose of his bill to arrest
this downward tendency. If, in the
campaign which followed, the Republi
cans were able to show in some cases
that prices had not advanced in proper
ton to the increased rate of duties, it
was simply confession that law
ayOwedly intended to raise prices was
pulling them down.
Mr.. Chairman, ] agree with the gen.
tlemen who framed and reported the
Mckinley bill, that falling prices must
inevitably depress the industries of the
country; but this is an evil that can not
D6 IGdCHcu VI I6ul6ul6u ny IdIlll laws
The economic law that the prices of
commodities are determined by the vol
ume of money can not be repealed and
reversed by any statue or any Congress.
The most that can be done by high
tariff is to aggravate the evil by suspend
ing the downward tendency as to few
selected articles while leaving it in full
force and effect as to all others. So far
as the great body of the people, and es-
pecially the agricultural classes, are
concerned, no amount of sophistry can
bring them under the alleged benefits
of this or any other protective measure.
The farmer must sell his products in
open and free competition. The price
of every bushel of wheat and of every
pound of cotton sold in this country is
fixed by the price of the surplus in
Liverpool and by the competition of the
most degraded pauper labor on earth.
No tariff law can prevent the competi-
ton of the Russian peasant, the Indian
ryot, and the Egyptian fellah with the
American producers of the field and
farm. The farmer, while thus COM
PEELED to sell in open competition with
all the world, must buy the necessaries
of life in market where protection
laws exclude competition from abroad
and trusts and combines have strangled
competition at home. He is thus
ground between the upper and the
neither milestone Of competition and mo-
nOpoly, and crucitied between the for
eign pauper and the American thief
Laughter and loud applause on the
Democratic side.
1t is vain, Mr.. Chairman, to talk to
the American farmer about the great
blessings of the "home market" with
the fact of his growing dependence
on foreign markets constantly before
| him. Do gentlemen on the other side
think to delude the farmer with the
hope that by this proposed law you car
give him market at home for every
pound of his cotton and every bushel Of
his wheat? Sir, we have had this bless
ed system of protection for nearly forty
years, and year by year we see grea
and increasing surplus of our produc tt
going abroad for market; and there
are millions of acres of land yet to bC
subjected to tillage and to pour theil
wealth of wheat and corn and cottor
into the markets of the world.
Is it possible, Mr.. Chairman, for any
sane man to even hope for the time
when all our agricultural products viii
be bought and consumed at home? BY
what process is this to be accomplished
Gentlemen tell us that by fostering
American industries" by encouraging
the building of mills and factories, W.
will increase the number of consumers
of American farm products. But ,thert
is limit beyond which we can no
pass in this matter of creating con
sumers by developing manufacturers
The manufacturers themselves mus
find consumers for their products, ant
whenever they reach the point tina
| hnx nd tbax a oh
ed the limit of their own capacity t.
consume the products of others.
believe it is true that in nearly all tn
great branches of industry in this coun
try there is capacity to produce in sil
months more than the American peopl
can consume in twelve months. Sir
American industry has already grow
so great that it can grow no more unit
it breaks down the walls that confine
to one country and goes out upon tn
sea. Applause. We are sometime
told, Mr.. Chairman, that we are un
patriotic or un-American, in that we d
not fully appreciate the greatness o
our country and its ability to live with
in itself. Those who say this them
selves underrate the mighty force O
American genius when they seek t
bind it to single contenent.
The people of this country are indee
great to consume; but they are incom
parably greater to produce. If Their
are 75,000,000 mouths to be fed and rs
100000 bodies to be clothed, there ar
l5OOO0,O00 hands to supply the clothin
, and the food. Our "home- market
: friends are fond of telling us of tn
greatness of our country, of its 75,000,0C
people, of its vast eXpanse of territory
Mr.. Chairman, this is a great country
1t has vast territory; but, vast as it i
it is not vast enough to contain tn
people. Applause As have said, |
almost every branch of industry tn
productive capacity is far greater tina
the capacity of all the America
people to consume. Thus we hav
shut-downs. Thus we have lockout
Thus we have mills and factories rur
ming on half time, and thus we hay
> American industry with one hand tie
} behind it, lest with both hands en-
. ployed it produces more than it can Sc
, or consume. Sir, trusts and other form
> of monopoly to limit production an
! arbitrarily fix prices and constant
increasing number of idle workingme
are the inevitable results of system
t laws that confines the industries of tn
9 country to a market too narrow f
} their capacity. -. .,-.
! Mr.. Chairman, as have shown, I'll
. American people, despite the prou
: boast of the "home marketers,' al
large exporters of staple farm product
and must continue to be. II the pr
= tectionist dream could be realized an
= every product of foreign labor shou
= be excluded from our soil, let me as
2 who would buy our exported produc
and how would they be paid for? I
You suppose thew cOuld be maid for