Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-04-07


other things, | said:
Mr.. Chairman. by accident or design
two of the ablest Republican debaters in
the house sit side by side-the gentleman
from Ohio. General Grosvenor, and the
gentleman from Iowa. Colonel Hepburn.
They are veteran representatives, each
having served in congress almost fifth
of a century,
$50 they grew together,
Like to a double cherry. seeming parted,
But yet union in partition
Two lovely berries nodded on one stem,
So with two seeming bodies. but one
heart.
They are luminaries of the first magni.
tude in the congressional galaxy, high
priests in the temple of protection. Con-
sidering their high standing in their party
and their great influence over Republican
members each might without exaggera-
ton or bad taste adopt the descriptio per-
sonse which the centurion gives of him
self in the eighth chapter of the gospel
according to st. Matthew. which runs in
this wise:
For I am a man under authority, hav-
ing soldiers under me- and / say to this
man, Go. and he goeth, and to another,
Come and he cometh, and TO my servant.
Do this, and he doeth it. :"
Consequently they are heard here gladly.
who have neither time nor opportunity
for independent investigation accept their
statements and conclusions without cavil
and with pathetic credulity. This is not
the language of fiattery, but is only fair
exposition of the status of these two con-
spicuous statesmen We are all proud of
their skill in mental pugilism-none more
so than myself-even though many of us
bear scars as testimonials of their PROV
ess.
Lord Bacon took all knowledge for his
province. Our two friends are not so ann
bilious. The gentleman from Ohio, Gen
eral Grosvenor, takes prophecy as his pc
culiar domain, occasionally dipping into
history as Silas Wegg dropped into poetry,
while the gentleman from Iowa, Colonel
Hepburn, usually confines himself to his
tory, with now and then an excursion
into the realm of the imagination.
The truth or falsity of prediction cam
not be ascertained till after the event:
therefore the gentleman from Ohio is on
less dangerous ground when essaying the
role of Elijah and Isaiah than Is the gen
tIeman from Iowa when speaking in his
capacity as the Tacitus, the Sismondi, the
Gibbon or the Macaulay of our country.
A celebrated dictum of Aaron Burr was
this:
whatever is boldly asserted and plau-
sibIy maintained is law.
Our two friends appear to think that
whatever Is positively stated and forci-
bly, reiterated Is argument.
0ecasionalig these two statesmen fail
afoul Of each other, but their spats are
merely lovers qBarrels. They soon kiss
and make UP again continuing 70 fight in
pairs.
On the LIST day Of December. 1908, the
gentleman from Iowa. Colonel Hepburn.
in fine burst of eloduence, said:
~ H.
used to pride ourselves ON the fact that
we produced II. 100000 tons of pig iron. 1t
used to be said that the production of iron
indicated the status of a nation in its civ
ilization and that those nations that were
capable of the greatest production stood
highest in the plane of civilization. We
boastfully used to say: Look! Eleven
million tons!' Last year." continued the
gentleman, 1--WE produced 1900 900 tons of
pig iron, and this year Q90S) 1t is esti-
mated that the magnificent results in the
production of iron will reach the stupen-
dous sum of As 100000 tons, result, say,
direct and clear of the protection that we
have had the wisdom to give to our labor
in that direction.
The Congressional Record discloses the
fact that that gorgeous passage was re-
ceived with loud applause on the Repub-
lican side And no wonder. for 1t was
wild enough to arouse the least emotional
person to enthusiasm.
He says that we produced 1900, 900 tons
of pig iron in 1902. His Republican friends
who applauded him will be astounded to
learn-perhaps he will also-that in 1902
we produced only 1882, S07 tons of pig
iron, instead of 1900, 600, and that he over
stated the amount by 26, 1884, 9S tons, there
by multiplying our output of pig iron by
more than two and one-half times what it
really was.
Jonah's gourd vine has been considered
the ne plus ultra of fast growers ever
since he was ordered to start on his jour
ney to Nineveh. Hereafter when any one
desires to indicate the most rapid growth
of any particular thing he will compare it
not with Jonah's gourd vine, but with
Colonel Hepburn's pig iron.
This is the day of watered stocks, and
Colonel Hepburn simply fell into the evil
habit of the times and watered his pig
iron statement liberally-so literally, in
fact, as to qualify himself for membership
in the defunct shipbuilding trust.
Did he do it with intent to deceive? Of
course not for he is an honest man. He
did it from lack of Overwhelmingly
that and nothing more. Likewise those
enthusiastic but benighted Republicans
who furnished the loud applause" did so
for lack of information. 1t was a clear
case OF the blind leading the blind and all
tumbling into the ditch together.
The figures as I give them are taken
from the Statistical Abstract and from a
well considered editorial in the Scientific
American.
The gentleman from Iowa owes it to his
own reputation and to the country to rise
in his place and frankly confess that he
inadvertently overstated our output of pig
iron in 1902 by 26.178,307 tons; otherwise
hundreds of Republican editors and ora
tors who regard him as an oracle, will be
quoting his inflated and erroneous figures
as arguments during the impending cam
paign thereby deceiving the unwary
voter.
In that same glowing and amazing
speech Colonel Hepburn said:
81 live in county of $4,000 people, a
farming community There is not pro-
tected industry in that county,.
thank him for that last sentence.
There is not a protected industry in that
county,, BY that one declaration, unwit-
tingly uttered, no doubt, the gentleman
from Iowa answers completely all the Re-
publican speeches, editorials and essays
as to how the high tariff helps the farm