Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1902-08-13

IS THE ISSUE
Extracts From the Notable Speech
of Senator Galinger Delivered
in the Senate.
ERA OF GREAT DEVELOPMENT
Facts and Figures Showing the I'm.
mense Strides Made Under the
Protective Tariff.
Continued from last week.

Continued from last week.
| Prices.
| Mr.. President, | have shown many
OF the blessings, benefits. and advant
ages of living under the DINGHY tariff
Are there any disadvantages? Al
once | hear the free trader cry, How
about prices? Isn't ii costing us
more to live than We can make in in.
creased earnings?" | answer, No.
The savings banks deposits of $780,.
100000 a year answer, No. The S4OO..
100000 annual premiums on life in.
surance answers, No! The mort.
cages released answer, No! The in
stallments paid on the homes and
furniture answer. No! The luxurie S
enjoyed answer, No! And all these
come out of the surplus after the
necessaries have been provided.
When We have low prices and low
wages and no wages, there is no sur.
plus and there are no luxuries. It Is
hard enough scraping to get the
necessaries. But prices of many
things have risen while prices of 9TH
er things have fallen. And right here
let me emphasize the fact that the
prices of the greatest and most ex-
pensive commodity in the land, a
commodity that comprises 80 per
cent of all production-American Ia
bor-has increased since the Dinghy
law went into operation at least so
per cent.
| have shown that the railroad en-
ployees of the country are getting so
per cent more pay than in 1856.
| have shown that the workingmen
of all classes in Massachusetts, are
getting from 40 to so per cent more
earnings than in 1896. have shown
that the farmers of the country are
getting from so to 100 per cent more
for their products than in 1896. And
so believe that the income of the
people of the United States today is
much more than so per cent greater
than it was in the summer of 1896
when one of the trainers of the VIII.
son-Gorman law, under which we
were then trying to exist, was asking
the people to make him president in.
stead Of William Mckinley.
No; we are not living in cheap
times. Protection does not breed
cheapness. 1t tends to make prices
equitable to both producer and con.
sumer. but the millennium has not
yet come, and so We find an OCCASION
al wrong and injustice, and sometimes
the price of single commodity will
De exorbitant for a period until the
abnormal conditions are adjusted by
the inexorable process of demand,
supply and competition. Sometimes
II is one thing. sometimes II is anoth'
er. 1t may be coal or meat. or ii may
be ice or eggs, but whatever the COM
modify or cause. 1t is only temporary.
But suppose steel rails are IS or
$40 ton more than they were In
1896. Is the railroad passenger pay
ing any more for his fare? No; they
are paying less, and the dividends TO
stockholders are greater.
Protection is the great leveler; but
1t levels up, not down. In this con.
nection | want to quote from an ad-
dress delivered by t. z. Cowles, edi-
tor of the American Economist. be-
fore the Society of Political Inquiry
at Morristown, N. j.. April II, 1902.
Speaking of prices, Mr.. Cowles said:
"The American wage-earner is not
finding very much fault. Jealous
friends of the free trade side are do
ing their utmost to convince him that
he Is being crucified for the benefit
of the trusts. and that the cost of
living has far exceeded any gain made
in the shape Of better wages. but they
are not making very much headway
in carrying that conviction to the
mind of the wage.earner. In reply,
he has only to point to the enormous
increase of nearly 100 per cent In the
last FIVE years of deposits in the saw
inings ganks throughout the country
and to an equal increase OF invest.
ments in building and loan associa-
tions. That certainly would not seem
to indicate that the wage-earner was
getting very greatly the worst of the
situation.
zone thing the wage-earner knows
that 1t is not so much the price Of
an article as the ability to pay the
price that concerns him. II he can
buy a suit Of clothes for "a and does
not have 81 in his pocket. the price
is OF very little consequence to him;
but IL the suit Of clothes costs IS and
he now has Sc In his pocket, he can