The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1897-01-08
THE VIEWS OF DINGLEY
He Hopes For a New Tariff by
July 7.
THE COMMERCIAL DEPRESSION

AnE NOMMGhCA.tE I'LL hESSlUN.
To Thinks We Arc Nearly at the End of
tho Panic Period and Says the Great
Trouble Now Is Lack of Purchasing
Power of tho People.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7.-[Specinl. Coy.
ernor Dingley of Maine, present chairman
of tho ways and means committee of the
house, and without doubt tho next secre.
tary of the treasury. Is very interesting
INN. Among all my acquaintance in
pubic life do not know another man who
has such a logical mind rs that possessed
by tho distinguished leader of tho Rcpub-
licans in tho house. MIR. Dinglcy abhors
man who cannot think and talk in log
ical manner. 1t is n curious study to sec
him during Il debate in tho house. If n
man gets UP and starts II speech and shows
mt the outset that he is neither master OF
his subject nor capable Of telling tho little
he does know in logical and impressive
way, Mr.. Dinglcy's faco takes on an OK
preston of pain. He listens few mo.
mcnts more, and then no fees from the
hall. lie cannot endure to sit and lision
to Il disconnected, rambling, bungling cf-
fort, no matter who the porpctr;itnr IS. 1t
follows, as u matter OF course that Mr..
DinSlcy is not much in his seat wnilo do.
batcs arc on.
DinElcy's Opinions.
just now tho governor Is II very busy
man. He is hard ut work upon the prep
mration of tho now tariff bill. l asked him
today what tho outlook was for tlio meas
urc and whether or not it was going to
help he country TO get Il greater measure
OF prosperity. His reply was interesting,
HON Il.
lection and distinctvcly Republican Wow
Of things, | feel surc my readers will he
glad to know his opinions.
Yes. we arc going to pass Il tariff bill. >"
said Governor Dinglcy, and am OF the
firm belief that it is going to help tho
country To prosperity. We arc not only
going to pass Il bill, but wo are ,oin, &c
pass it in reasonable time OF tho house
there is of course, no question. We can
push tho bill through at our end as fast ms
we wish. Tho senate is anothcr sort OF body,
and the Republicans there arc still scant
of votes. But | havc information which
leads me to Il strong belief that we shall
have no serious difficulty in passing our
bill after a reasonable debate. The policy
of the Democrats thcrc, as understand it,
is to analy2c the bill, point out their oh
jcctions to some of its "Details make the
Republican party wholly responsible for 1t
ana It's effect upon tho prosperity of the
country and then let it pass without fac
tious opposition or improper delay. l soc
no reason why we should not have the
ncw tariff measure upon the statutes in
tirc To 90 into operation by the Isl of
July vixen the noT government fiscal year
begins.
Discounting the Future.
In order to ascertain whether or not
IN s,iX- b., ,tr.-
measure Of prosperity by means of our
tariff bill, continued Governor Dinglcy,
1T Is first necessary to inquire what was
the cause of the recent commercial deprcs-
sion. II was To some extent an inevitable
condition, duo to tho temperament OF our
people We are hopeful people, II self
confident people, an optimistic people In
normal times we build very fast. We con-
struct many railways, build many shops,
produce much, borrow much, speculate
much ovcrstran our credit discount the
future. There must come n time of settle
mcnt, II time of rest and recupcration, Il
timo of catching up. These periods are
panics. The weak are shaken out The
insecure find thcir footing gone
The IiDnd Issues.
Iii my Judgment we were approaching
some such period when the election of 1882
gave an impetus to the danger. The coun-
try WAS carried in that year by IL party
which threatened revolutionary tariff leg
islatiOn. The threat of revolutionary tariff
legislation is often worse than the reality
III that ease not as much was realized as
had been threatened, but the mischief was
done. When the new tariff law itself was
put in operation it failed to bring in
enough revenue for the needs OF tho gov
crnmont, and Il deficit helped to unsettlo
n,,t, H.
whole difficulty was accumulated and en-
phasizcd by tho bond issues.
Nov we have como nearly to the end
of this period of panic. We are Mt the end.
if reports from all parts of the country
may be believed. In the nature Of things
business will get better if there hc no leg
isation by congress But Just ms the nat
ural conditions which were tending to
bring about panic were given an impo
tuS by unwisc tariff legislation, so the nat
ural conditions which AFRO tending 10 brinc
about recovery may he aided by wise leg
islation. That is rrccisel. what we hope
To do We do not dclUdc ourselves with
the idea that BY law we cam do the tling
itself but we can help.
Lcsscncd inra!,nsirc: Power.
Tine great trouble with tic people now
is that thcy laci. l,rthnsnr rover. n ac-
curatc statistic" Il" 10 tac :c,.ucni pl;rclia5-
ing Power Of the rcol 10 Codid b. gathered,
they would make Il startling; 'hartc. 81
tho people do not earn. ,iicy viii Iio: huy.
Some stop buying on cl.rta. expenditures,
through necessity, others through caution
and Sympathy. The people o! CHS country
arc now buying - per cent less OF farm
products per capita than they bought in
1892. They are buying only onc-half rs
much woolcns, and so with cotton In
addition 10 lcssened power of purchasing.
which means reduced consumption, we
have under the present tariff law imported
too much The foreigner has had moro