The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-15
Two Significant Speeches.

Nothing has more forcibly illustrated
the changes that the war with Spain
has wrought than the speeches of
President Hill, of the Great Northern,
a lifelong Democrat and Senator
Davis, a lifelong Republican the for
mer at the Davis reception and the lat
ter at Minneapolis, where he opened
the Republican campaign, and also in
his response at the reception. They
form one Of the significant indications
appearing on every hand of the subsi-
dence of old issues and the rise of new
ones. No thinking man in either party
can read those speeches and miss their
significance. They indicate conditions
Of public opinion and Of it's drift that
compel every man to restudy politics
and policies in the light Of the present.
At Minneapolis Senator Davis said.
inviting his audience to 'look for a.
moment beyond the confines of our own
country" at the foreign market, with
it's one billion four hundred thousand
consumers: Formerly we were not
able to compete for that; it gave us
all we could do to compete with for
eign production for the privilege of
but it so happens, my fellow citizens
1 am not making eXtravagant state
ments here, but am telling you what
are the recorded facts of the times in
which we are presently living-that.
almost without perceiving it, the
American manufacturer is competing
for the markets of the world" This
is a frank acknowledgment that. what
ever justification there. might have
been for the policy of sheltering our
manufacturers in our market from
foreign competitors, 1t no longer ex-
lists. Democrats will not care to dis
pute with the senator as to the cause
of this condition; they accept his adj
mission that it exists and the logical
deduction that protection by taxation
is obsolete.
Mr., Hill also dwelt upon the world
abroad and it's markets. He. too. faced
present conditions and pointed their
drift. We have, in our soil, climate.
men, implements, mechanical apnIi-
ances on farm, in mill or factory. that
which makes the labor of a man eolraI
10 That of four or five in other ma
TONS said he. ''The cost of produce
ton in the United States has approach
ed point when we can supply the
nations of the world with the articles
which constitute the main commodities
Of commerce" We are indeed. as he
pointed out, sending pig iron to TWEEN
ty-seven European cities; shipping cot.
ton by way of st. Paul to Asia. and
steel rails to Japan; sending steel to
Belfast and the Clyde with which to
build British ships. We have land
transportation at 40 per cent of the cost
on the continent of Europe, and we can
build ships and run them for less than
our competitors do or can. Why. then
do we not build ships now as orr
fathers did in the days before the Civil
war, when our ships sailed every sea:
when 67 per cent of all our imports and
exports were carried in American bot
toms, instead of the paltry go per cent
so carried in 1898? Because our navi-
cation laws, intended to promote, have
strangled our merchant marine. Mr..
Hill found these laws an insuperable
obstacle to building a line Of ships for
trade with the Orient and "we were
forced" he said, "to make an arrange
ment with line Of Japanese boats.
manned by Japanese sailors, to carry
our products to Asiatic ports"
Each speaker made these statements
the basis Of q demand for the expansion
Of our foreign trade; each proved in
contestably that this country has
reached a position, by whatever means
attained, which enables It to challenge
all competitors in the foreign market
for It's trade. It is a natural sequence.
as was urged by Mr.. Hill, that our
goods should go to those markets in
domestic bottoms. If antiquated nav,-
cation laws maintain their obstructive
front, obdurate to their own failure
and changed conditions, as they have.
then it becomes q governmental dutv
to stimulate the transportation Of
products to foreign ports on broader
and more modern lines, and the sug-
gestion of a bounty will now attract
deserved attention.
Each Of these gentlemen spoke for
the present and into the future. Each
addressed himself to those facts which.
as the senator said. present them
selves to us and ask us questions which
we are bound to answer" And future
party policies will depend upon the an
swers given to these questions.
The report that the president will