Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-03-14
"WHY HE FLOPPED."
The Address of Hon. Joseph c. Sibley
Before the American Protec-
tive Tariff League.

Congressman Joseph O. Sibley was
one of the prominent guests and speak
ers at the annual banquet of the Amer
lean Protective Tariff League, held in
New York. In responding to the toast,
ga Democrat Who Flopped-Why He
Did It." Mr.. Sibley said:
''Mr. Toastmaster: Some time since,
reasons being demanded for the change
in my political beliefs, and the charge
being made that l was 'fopper,' it
seemed proper to state impelling reas.
ons why not alone myself, but every
other erring sinner, blindly cropping in
darkness along the pathway of perdi-
ton, should, in the full blaze Of the
twentieth century sunlight, choose
other and safer courses; seek pathways
trending not downward, but upward;
pathways whose borders blossom with
the flowers of prosperity and peace,
and whose ends reach upward to the
very SUBMITS of eternal truth.
''Mr. Toastmaster, however far from
the ways of truth my erring feet did
stray, however wide from the mark my
political shafts were aimed, it is to me
a source of profound qualification to
recall the fact that never sank so deep
into the bogs of the dismal swamp, was
never so forgettul of my duty to my
fellow men, my country or my Creator,
as to imbibe the fallacies or preach the
doctrines of the Free-Trader. Given
boy within whose breast loving moth
er has implanted the germs of truth,
though wandering far from the polar
star of duty, he will still possess the
impulse for the higher and better life;
so am l taught by my own experience
that, given man within whose mind
there have been laid, deep and broad,
the foundation principles upon which
as very corner stones we have as q ma
ton reared in fair, harmonious and
majestic proportions our temples of
American industry, though the shocks
of time which shall try the solidity,
through fire which tests the purity and
worth of mans creations, will destroy
the wood, the hay, and the stubble, yet
the work shall abide which is built
thereon
During the present session of Con-
gress these queries have been upon the
lips of some faithful members, though
often careless observers: Has not the
Protective Tariff outlived its usefulness?
Should it longer be defended and its
policy promoted? Mr.. Toastmaster,
the seed so carefully planted, the
growth so anxiously watche, so faith
fully tended, has grown with the life of
the Nation from the seed into the ma
jestic tree, which, though often shaken
by rude blasts and nipped by untimely
frosts, has strengthened in the storm
and tempest, and though late in its
bossoming, is now seen in the full per-
fection of its fruitage. Shall we, who
rest beneath its ample shade, who are
healed in its LEAKAGE, and who now
taste the perfection of its fruitage, be
asked to lay the axe to the roots there.
of? No, thousand times, no! The
of the Protective Tariff is ac-
complished only when all our great
resources of soil, of forest, and of min
eral are fully developed and dedicated
to the use of man. Your mission as a
league is unaccomplished until Ameri-
can genius and industry shall have
conquered the markets of the world,
and this Nation shall have become the
great financial center, the great indus
trial center, wherein shall be fabricated
and wherein shall be distributed to the
world the creations of our genius and
of our civilization. The age of the
spear is passed; the age of the hammer
is here. Not upon the field of Mars,
but upon the forge of Vulcan; not in
fash of the sword, but by stroke upon
stroke of the hammer, shall link by link
be forged that glorious chain which
under the blessings of Providence shall
bind all men closer in the bonds Of
brotherhood, and make of one kin all
the family of man.
Mr.. Toastmaster, when the efforts of
your organization in behalf of Ameri-
can industrial supremacy shall be
when your achievements in
behalf of national development are
closely scrutinized and impartially re-
viewed, future generations, if not the
present. will rise up and call you
blessed"