Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-04-08
t3 Il Il + Il Il Il
Clark !, S y
II Tariff Speech In II
Which Grospenor and
Hepburn lire Laid Ont II
~ r. II 81 ~ Il II.
4 II II Il y Il Il

United States? In 1902, the last year for
which i have the figures, we produced
lb22,519.S9 bushels; exported 2S.osS.esS
bushels; imported only 723s bushels.
Think Of the American farmer fearing
competition in corn raising with such
showing as that! In 1901, in which there
was a bumper crop Of corn, the figures
show much greater disparity between
production Of corn and imports thereof.
That year we produced 2.1Oe. 102.el6 BUSH
els; exported ISL, 4O5, 473 bushels; imported
only 5,l69 bushels There is scarcely
quarter section In Colonel Hepburn's dis
trict or mine which will not produce that
much corn in any fair crop year. Last
year one Of my constituents had eleven
acres Of corn which produced an average
Of 13s bushels and a fraction to the acre.
and 1t wasn't an extra good season for
corn. On thirty-nine and a fraction acres
he could have raised as much corn as we
imported in 1901, and yet farmers are ex-
pected to whoop 1t up for the Republican
candidates because they are protected
from competition with foreign corn raisers
After using the words which I have
quoted the gentleman from Iowa proceeded:
ION the LIST day of last October there
were $3.50, 900 Of deposits in the little banks
Of that county. Ninety-five per cent of
those deposits belonged to the farmers
and they amounted to more than hun
dred dollars for every man, woman and
child in the county"
All Of which he attributed to the tariff.
utterly ignoring the sunshine, the rich
soil. the rain. the delightful climate, the
favorable geographical location and the
labor of Democrats and Republicans alike
in that great county. His Is the post
hoe ergo proptcr hoe argument by which
any fallacy can be seemingly established.
The gentleman's memory was unusually
H>~l L. oo1o ra1 hat
for nearly seventy-two years. meaning
from 1883 to 1861, both inclusive, 1.-The
country experimental with your meth
DDS" meaning thereby Democratic meth
DDS. II the departed spirits of the mighty
dead take any cognizance of debates In
this house I wonder what Henry Clay.
father Of the american system" 30 CALL
ed-a palpable rnisnomer for a system old
even in medieval times-thought of that
declaration by Colonel Hepburn? What
does anybody who has read even hand
book OF American history think of IT.?
Certainly 1t was most reckless state
ment-very wide Of the mark. Surely the
Democrats ought not to be charged with
what happened or failed to happen from
1879 to 1SO1-twelve years-for Washington
belonged to no party, and old John Ad-
ans was a rank Federalist, fierce hater
Of Democrats. 1t was under his admins
istration and for words written about him
T! that that immortal Democrat Mathew
! Lyon-the only man ever elected to the
house Of representatives from three states,
the maternal grand6ire of Colonel Hep-
burn-was clapped In jail under the sedi-
ton laws. Would to God that brave old
Matthew's Democracy had descended along
with his splendid talents to his distin-
guished grandson. When Colonel Hep
burn rebels against the Republican pro-
gramme Of unrighteousness, as he some-
I &c thn ,nroHN Ia 0,N{ri
Of Mathew Lyon, the bosom friend OF
Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson,
stirring within his breast and refusing to
DO entirely exercised.
Surely John Quincy Adams. William
Henry Harrison. John Tyler. Zachary
Taylor and Millard Fillmore. with their
administrations, should not be charged to
US. So that by that measurement the
gsntleman's seventy-two years dwindle to
forty-eight.
No fair statement Of the matter will
Il take from Henry Clay and charge =
Democrats what happened. good or bad
under his various protective tariff acts
" to the passage Of the Walker act in
1896.
The Walker act, Democratic measure,
gave such satisfaction, the country sc
fiourished under it, that in 1855 no party
mentioned the tariff in Its platform, and
Mr. Blaine In his book accounts the pc.
riod from 1886 to 1861 as the most prosper.
Gus long stretch of years in our annals.
4 In that same speech of the gentleman
from Iowa [Mr, Hepburn there occurred
the following dialogue with the gentleman
from Mississippi [Mr. Williams]:
Mr.. Hepburn-Ah, compare prices. TIL,
gentleman from Mississippi Is exercised
because of the shelter that is given by tn,
protective tariff to the steel trust Why
steel Is worth s24 a ton now. When 20,
had your way about it, when the Democ
racy gave us our tariffs. when steel wal
introduced into this country under tn,
Walker tariff, what did we pay for 1t
One hundred and sxty-five dollars pc
ton in New York for steel rails. Tha
was the price until encouragement t.
manufacture was given by the Republican
party.
/ Mr.. Williams of Nississippi-Can I asl
the gentleman question?
4 Mr.. Hepburn-~Certainly.
Mr.. Williams of Mississippi-Has no
that same comparative reduction in thu
price of steel rails taken place in Grea
Britain and everywhere else in the world
Mr.. Hepburn-Surely Applause on tn,
Democratic sde] But 1t is the competi
4 ton Of the United States, and the superior
methods of the United States, and tn,
greater intelligence of the workmen Of tn,
United States stimulated by Republican
tariff, that have brought this reduction II
price loud applause on the Republica,
side.]
Once more the Republicans furnished
the loud applause" because they didn
know what they were doing.
The idea that Colonel Hepburn reall.
intended to convey until Mr.. williams O
Mississippi cross examined him was tina
the Walker tariff was responsible for stee
selling at $165 per ton prior to the civi
war and that the Dingley bill Is response
BILE for Its selling as low as $24 per tol
now. Clearly the gentleman from low.
was presuming on the ignorance Of hi
hearers. and, Judging from the vociferou
applause on the Republican side of tn
house. his presumption was well founded
Il Is perfectly apparent that II steel ha
gone down all over the world-gone dowi
lower in Europe than America. as Colone
Hepburn admitted when prodded by Mr.
Williems Of Mississippi-then It must b,
| plain to even the dullest intellect that tn
lowering in price was not produced b.
American tariff laws, but by some caus
| operating generally throughout the world
| When catechised by Mr. Williams o
Mississippi. Colonel Hepburn tried to ge
| out Of the hole by asserting that the fall
ing of in the price of steel was caused b.
1.-THE competition Of the United States, ant
the superior methods Of the United States
I and the greater intelligence of the work
men of the United States, stimulated by
| Republican tariff
That bald assertion may satisfy Repub
lican members Of congress and caus
them to applaud. but it will not deceiv
| any intelligent man elsewhere, for every
body that knows anything of the subjec
knows that the principal element in tn
reduction Of the price Of steel Throughout
1 the world was the invention in 1864 of tn
! Bessemer process Of making steel, which
the Scientific American editorially de
clares was and will ever be the creates
invention in the history Of iron and steel, :