Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-06-18

Mr. llllLudu. L W ia Oh Iu0 sugar
schedule.
Mr.. Chandler. May ask the senat-
or from Utah a question:
Mr. Cannon. Certainly.
Mr.. Chandler. 1 heard the senator
speak of robbery little while ago
with reference to the tariff. Does the
senator mean that the farmer has
been robbed all these years by the
tariff? Is that the senator's argument?
Mr.. Cannon. Yes, sir; decidedly.
Mr.. Chandler. When did the senator
first think that the American tariff
system was a robbery Of the farmer?
Mr.. Cannon. Just-so as soon as the
senator gave sufficient attention to
the subject to understand the truth
of it. l advocated republican tariffs
as earnestly and as faithfully in my
humble way as the senator from New
Hampshire, and believe exactly
what l taught. I believe in pro-
tective tariff system in the United
States to-day, because l think that
any nation which will not guard its
own must perish; and believe the
world is engaged at this time in a
fight the result of which will be the
survival of the unfittest if America
does not protect herself; but I am not
disposed any longer to advocate q
system by which one portion of the
population is taxed for the benefit of
another portion of the populat ion.
l think it is unfair to cherish only
one class, anG that the class which
has already the most power of self
protection. If the senator from New
Hampshire will go across the plains
of Kansas, as have gone, and across
the plains of Nebraska; if he will see
the people there who toll from early
morn till dewy eve," seeking to build
up those states; if he will witness
their struggles, if he will see farms
abandoned because. men can not pay
the mortgages thereon, l believe in
him sufficiently to think he will come
back and say that this bill is robbery
of the Am erican farmer.
Mr.. Chandler. Mr.. President,
sympathize with the class to whom
the senator has referred. l have al
ways believed that properly ad-
justed tariff would help them instead
of harming them, but did not know
until to-day that the senator, who
has advocated the tariff all this time,
thought all the while that it was
robbery of his people.
Mr.. Cannon. Why, Mr.. President,
the senator from New Hampshire is
scarcely fair. I have stated that am
in favor of a protective tariff system.
stated that in the guilelessness of
of my soul, being a republican, 1
went out and advocated the republi.
can idea of a protective tariff. never
was brought quite SO close to respon.
sibility concerning it before as I am
to-day. Heretofore. L have discussed
it Oh the'stump, advocating 1t in gen
'feral terms; but as soon as am con.
fronted with responsibility which
obliges me to look more closely into
its application to all the people, AIN
simply dischargiRg my duty when
seek to amend this measure SO that il
shall be honest to all.
The senator ought to know If the
agricultural classes of the United
States do not thrive In good content
nent there is no safety to the repub
lie. There was another nation in It'll
day as mighty as this republic, til,
greatest upon which the Gun ther
shone, and its people engaged in ag
riculture sunk lower and lower, un
til the freebooter who was obliged t.
borrow money had to give a mort
gage not only upon his land but upoI
his crops, and upon himself end hi
wife and his children, and the un
born child in its mothers womb, il
order to satisfy the usurer. Wher
that time came, the Roman eagle
were enclouded in the darkness o
the Middle Ages, and unless we shall
do something to arrest this robbery
say it deliberately, Mr.. President
he robbery of this bill for protective
tariff-we, too, will have our bitter
lesson.