Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-06-28
PROSPERITY POSERS.

Excerpts from a recent speech in the
House of Representatives by Congress
man Grosvenor of Ohio:
Why, Mr.. Chairman, the gentleman
from Missouri (Mr. De Armond) talks
about the Republican party being I'M
der the domination of the wealthy
classes, and undertakes to point out
that we do nothing here that is favor
able to what he is pleased to call the
masses" Why, if there is any one par
ty on the face Of this continent that
ore nearly represents the aspirations,
the hopes and the interests of the
masses of the people of this country,
surely it is the Republican party.
Now, my friends, | am going to make
a few concise i~nterrogatoTies. Can you
name one thing you said after your in
troductoTy remarks OF Lad es and
gentlemen" or Fellow citizens" in any
one OF your campaign speeches of 1896
that ever became true? Can you? If
you can, l appeal to you, under this
order to print, to put it into the Record
and let us embalm it.
Was there n thing you said-and
you may start at Bryan and go clear
down TO the smallest Democrat or go
up to the largest Democrat, and you
may take all the newspapers ard all
your arguments, and IL you will find
one single suggestion, either afirma-
tive or negative, that came out as you
said, | will agree that | never heard OF
it up to this time. Can you name 1t?
You cannot. Do you want the people
now to take your word that you under
stand this question that is now pend
ing here? Do you?
You said we would have no foreign
trade. We have had the biggest for
eign trade this country ever had in all
its history. You said we would o
have money enough to do business. We
have $500, 900 900 more today than
when o made that prophetic utter
ance, and every dollar Is of equal par
value. But we are here to say that no
contingency shall ever arise, if we can
help it, when you shall undo the work
the people demand shall be done.
Now, one or two more questions. IL
| am wrong, tell me. What caused the
! good times of 1892? | refer you to the
commercial reports of December OF
that year and l refer you to the presl-
dents message OF December, 1892.
What brought it about? Answer that.
1t came right in at the very feet of this
great crime of 1873. We made greater
progress than we had made In the
same number of years before. What
brought it about? Vas it your wis
dom or ours? There was not a statute
on the statute books of the country
which you had put there. There was
not one there that effected the results
that we did not put there.
Answer me the next question. What
caused the country TO go from that con-
| dition in business down into the terri
BILE condition that we found ourselves
in 1896? Explain it, my friends. What
caused the reaction of 1897? Whit wos
it that brought to this country a condi-
ton of prosperity the like of which no
people on earth ever had before? Tell
me that; and tell me why it Is that ey-
cry time the Democratic party gets into
power we go down in the scale of pros
perity, and every time the Republican
party comes back into power we get up
again. Go back to 1887, and come on
down. and the record is all alike and
uniform.