Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-06

not be allowed to put our we'll fed
laboring men out of employment
The DemocreCi tariff policy pro-
vides tariff for revenue only-it
means the destruction of the protec-
tive feature of the tariff.
Brings Memory to Aid
I'll appeal to my memory-not his
tory-and tell you few things that |
recall. Well go back to 1892. 1t was
the golden age in our country Benja-
MN Harrison was president; Repub-
lican congress was in control. A pro-
tective tariff bill was in effect then.
We presented to the world a spectacle
of peace and conte1tment The sky
was filled with the smoke Of factories;
the land hummed with the musical
whir of machinery and the clang of
the FORCES. The workers were happy
they had homes and little children;
they were enjoying level of living
And let me say here that no nation
can be prosperous unless the wage
earners are advancing uphill to the
level of living. It's the second great
rule in economics.
"The people had advanced to a con
dition of comfort and plenty that no
people Of mankind Lad ever before at
tanned. Then the presidential election
of 1892 came around.
Bryan, a "MellifIuous Voice."
Then there rose away off in the dis
lance voice, telling of laborers and
workmen being ground and impover-
ished by heavy war-tax. That voice
was heard from Lincoln, Neb. 1t was
a beautiful voice, mellifuent and melo-
dious. 1t sounded sweetly to the peo-
PERTAINING. 1t said that the only safe
ty lay in a tariff reform. The voice
went on and ONT has never been
quiet since.
1.-THE people were so happy they
were careless. They were just like a
lot of children glutted with two big
dinner and plum-pudding on top A
calamity happened-Cleveland WAS
elected president. But even a worse
calamity befell the people-a Demo.
cratic congress upholding their tariff
reform views came into power. What
happened?
"The skies were the same skies,
just as blue-but the smoke disappear
ed. Fires were dumped from the fac
tory furnaces. Capital went into hid
ing. The pleasant h n and whir Of
machinery died out of the air to make
room for a clamor of voices rising
from a moo of starving workingmen
out of employment.
Memory, Not History.
ic INV prinnIc
not history" the speaker continued in
an earnest voice that pierced the sill
ence of attention Heads were nodded
here and there aff1rmatively. Older
men glanced at their neighbors signi-
ffcantly, recalling the time mentioned.
Kendall went on, "You remember 1t
well. You would like to forget it
the Democrats want us to forget it
but some things, no matter how I'M
pleasant, won't be forgotten. You
bought papers to read ofnew failures,
of banks going to the wall, of factor
les closing down; to see how far
Coxseys army had marched-how far
kelly's men had sailed.
IF you had a horse to sell, good,
blooded horse with head up and lots
of life in him, you might induce some
one to give you $50 for him. If YOU
had good COW, coming in fresh, you
might persuade some man to part him
self from SIT for her. You might pos
sibly get 21ac a pound for your
corn fed hogs--that is If they were
respectable and had been raised in 4
Republican farm.
ooh, those were glorious days" He
no ch n OF q
audience: my friends, haven't we
had enough of, those glorious days?"
Four Years an Eternity.
Those years, while only four in
number, we're an eternity. Like a man
in a certain story speaking of his
years of welded life-they seemed
longer. They were an eternity, say,
to the impoverished farmer; an eter-
nifty to the broken laboring men who
had buried their children because Of
lack of money to hire medical aid and
buy proper food; an eternity to gray
headed bankers and manufacturers
who saw the earnings of lifetime
dwindle to nothing The people of the
country were still divided on many
things-but they agreed on one thinA
They all said, We are bad off,
well, election finally came round
again in 1896. Various parties and
their leaders came with panaceas for
the country's ills. Again arose that
beautiful voice from the Platte river
still talking platitudes-hut this time
he did not say free rade, but free sill
yer. believe that the word free, ap-
piled to Democratic policies means ST.
100000 to the party every year. At
least they always use it tackled on
somewhere, or rather stuck up before
something.
THAT voice came with the PROPOSE.
ton that the way to double the money
in the United States was to divide it.
Bryan said that If the American peo-
pie would make their money bad
enough that it would be good enough
to cure financial difficulties.
Caught Peoples Fancy.
"He came, with this seductive ap-
peal to broken laborers, impoverished
farmers and poor bankers. Strange.
" enough, 1t caught the fancy of the
American people for time and
firmly believe that if the election that
year had been held in June and Will
Ian .JpnninoG Prvan Un,,1J 1,oua hoan