Gloucester County Democrat., 1906-01-18

be1nOcrallc senate ana signed Dy DeIno-
cratic president
Truth to tell. il may be said to have
been passed by common consent of all
parties. and it was so passed, because on
the 80 day of March, 1857, the country
was enjoying unbounded prosperity, and
there was a full treasury. Among hands
they cut the rates too low for good
revenue measure, and when the evil days
came in the fall Of 1857, produced, as the
Globe-D Democrat says, by wild specula-
tons in western lands and in building
superfiuous railroads, it did not bring in
enough money to run the government.
How any well informed or candid person
can claim that that bill of 1857, non-Demo-
cratic though 1t was produced the panic
In the autumn of 1857 is puzzle, for hard
times extended at that time over the face
3fethe entire civilized globe, and certainly
10 man who has any reputation for wis
dom or veracity to lose viii jeopardize
1t by asserting that any tariff law passed
by us can create hard times all over the
world.
The only difficulty about the tariff bill
Of 1857 was that. hard times coming on un-
expectedly, it did not raise revenue
enough to pay the expenses of the gov
ernment.
The Balance of Trace.
Colonel Hepburn interrupted to as
sert two propositions-O that the bal
ance of trade in our favor is the best
Indication of prosperity and that the
balance of trade has been generally
against us under Democratic tariffs
and in our favor under Republican
tariffs; (2) he contended that the Mex
ican war, Crimean war and the dis
coveries of gold in California and Aus
tralia were the main factors in the
prosperity from 1916 to 1857. Answer
ing both his contentious at once, said:
Now. to answer the gentleman from
Iowa [Mr. Hepburn], whose question is
serious one, the balance of trade may or
may not be a test of prosperity Holland
is one of the most prosperous countries
under the sun, and the balance of trade
is generally against her. Germany pros.
pers like tree planted by the rivers of
water; nevertheless there is a large bal
ance of trade against her. I will put Mr..
Blaine's statement as to prosperity OF
these years as fact that cannot be con-
tradicted. There are two universally ac-
cepted standards of prosperity-increase
of population and increase of wealth; not
in the aggregate, but by percentages-and
the statistics show that judged by per-
centages of increase of wealth and popu-
lation, any one of the eleven years of the
Walker tariff bill was more prosperous
than any one of the nine years of the
Dingley tariff bill. In no one of the eleven
years of the Walker tariff did we increase
in population as much int the aggregate
as we have in any one of the nine years
of the Dingley bill, simply because 10000.
600 of people Go not propagate as many
children as S0.0O0,000 of people. In no one
of the eleven years of the Walker bill did
r,iJe n ofx in
the aggregate as in any one of the nine
years of the Dingley bill, because 30,000,00G
of people cannot make as much wealth as
SO, 000 900 of people, and we now have all
of these labor saving devices which SO
much multiply the wealth producing ca
pacity of a people. But judged by per-
centage in increase Of wealth, we increas-
ed as much in any one year of the Walker
bill as in any one year of the Dingley bill.
Tariffs and Prosperity.
But what ] started to say was that,
granted the Mexican war and the Crimean
war and the discovery of gold helped
along the prosperity and I do not desire
to deny it-how does that apply to the
present situation? Now. the gentleman
from Iowa MIR. Hepburnl is no ordinary
congressman. He is a veteran statesman.
He is one of the three or four great Re-
publican debaters in this house He claims
that there has been greater prosperity
under the Dingley bill than there ever
was before. Every Republican claims
that and that the Dingley bill produced it.
But, If the Mexican war and the Crimeau
war helped to increase the prosperity in
1916 and for the eleven succeeding years.
how does it happen that the Spanish wal
and the Philippine war and the Boer war
and the Japanese war and the
greatly increased production OF gold in
recent years should not be credited with
part of the great prosperity that has come
to the American people under the Dingley
tariff bill? Why, as a sample. when the
Spanish war began the very best mules in
Missouri were selling for SIS to s10(
apiece. These wars consumed the worlds
supply of mules. The consequence is that
a good pair of mules in Missouri now sells
for $500 to $500. and yet that, according to
the Republican logic, is credited up to the
blessings of the Dingley bill which didn't
have a bit more to do with it than had the
Ten Commandments. Every man from the
south who raises sugar and cotton knows
that mules have gone up from the days
when the Spanish war began, and IL we
had that great European war they are
talking about the price of mules would &C
soaring out of sight.
Another thing about it: Suppose the
gold production did help to bolster up
prosperity from 1916 to 1847--and man
would be an idiot to deny it-what has
helped to bolster up this prosperity but
the new discoveries of gold that have
brought $500, 100000 of gold into this coun-
try? That is how much more you have
now than in 1896. Also discovery of a
new and cheap process of extracting gold
out of the ore, which brought in another
third of it, in round numbers. When that
process was discovered it did not pay to
work gold that did not run SO or SIS
ton; now you can work it with profit
where it produces less than a dollar q
ton. Where does the other third come
from? l will tell you. In 1897 and 1898 and
1899 and 1850 we had the finest crops that
ever grew out of the ground and they
had a crop famine In Europe and Aus
tralia, and those hungry people had to
pay our farmers practically what they
wanted for their products, SO that it sent
a stream of gold like the river Pactolus
flowing into this country, into the arteries
Of commerce, quickening and fructifying
the whole American commerce. And it is
poor rule that does not work both ways.
No Duty on Necessities.
quoted from President Roosevelt's