The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1912-10-03
No. i3,

that not a single one of these articles
were made in America in sufficient
quantities to supply the market until
they were protected by the tariff,
which our eloquent friend is pleased
to call a tax? Do you know that it
was the so-called taxing of these
things, and building up of great in
dustres here, which has made this
the greatest labor market Of the
world, in so much that the laborers
are coming by the million from the
four corners of the earth to share
in our prosperity?
How often does the average man
buy these articles enumerated. A
suit of clothes perhaps twice a year.
Suppose that the five pounds Of wool
in suit of clothes were taxed
at 10 cents pound, and that
it were added to the price,
which it is not and that his suits
really cost him dollar year
more because OF the tariff Suppose
he bought cutlery and dishes two or
three times during a lifetime, adding
| another dollar year, what does he
get in return? He jets a job, in his
own land, 300 days in the year, at
good wages, toiling, perhaps. In one
Of the mills or factories where these
same articles are made. But suppose
he were but a digger of bitches in the
city, or brakeman on a railroad
train, or a hod carrier or a street
sweeper, then where does he derive
any benefit from this tariff? What Is
1t that makes cities, and builds
houses, and extends railroads and
makes sewers and street sweeping
necessary? The great industries
which give employment to vast
armies of men But for these we
would still be an agricultural people,
depending wholly upon the soil, and
with no market. for our produce
All, but they say they are going to
reduce it gradually. They purpose to
let the life blood out OF our indus
tries so gently that they will not feel
it ebb away until it is gone. The
very suggestion is a confession of
the fallacy of their position. They
made that promise in '92
But | want to return to that pic
ture which the Democratic floor lead
er so graphically drew Vote for a
revenue tariff, close the mills and
factories as you did in '92, and let me
draw picture of this same laboring
I
the street He is not going home. He
knows there is nothing but want and
wretchedness there. He knows that
that dress Is worn and faded, and
that there Is no prospect of replacing
it. He has that haunted look He
is hunting employment at any prize
to keep starvation from the door. He
goes down past free workshops and
factories-tfree from blazing forges-
for the fires have gone out; free from
the hum of turning spindles, for they
are hushed and still, free from the
coiling smoke, for the forge is silent;
free from the laugh and hilarity of
fellow workmen, for they too are pass
ing down the street | see him with
haggard brow and wan cheeks, enter
ing free soup house, sitting up tC a
free counter, eating a free lunch,
thinking OF that same wife at home,
wondering how he shall keep her and
the children from the poor house, and
cursing himself that he permitted a
sleektongued sophist to betray him
wit nh
drawn the picture? Is your memory
16 years old Have you forgotten
Coxey's army, and the long caravans
of men who marched the streets beg
sing for bread? God knows, | want
never to see it again in my day
Yes, living is high, and it can be
made cheap. My fellow citizens, be
not deceived. You can't get some
thing for nothing. It's the game the
world has been trying to play from
time immemorial. It's the trick of
| the gamester. You can't have labor
| high. and produce high, and living
| cheap al one and the same time. He
who tells you that you can is but a
| demagogue. If YOU want prosperity,
| you must help to pay for 1t. If you
want others to maintain a condition
| that will help to keep your business
| afoat you must help to create a
condition that will keep the flag float
| ing above their enterprises. You can't
get something for nothing by legisla-
| ton any more than you can out in
the world CT endeavor.
There are those who are going
about just as they did in 49, saying,
let US have change; it will do no
harm to try the experiment" All, my
friends it is much easier to tear
| down and destroy than to build up
and sustain. 1t takes long while to
build up a great Industrial system to
give employment to labor and a mar
ket to the consumer; but few short
weeks of bungling administration
can tear it down. Beware how you
experiment with a nations prosper
! ity
My fellow citizens trust not the ad-
ministration of your affairs to dream
ers, who stand in an imaginary
world. 1t takes more than visionary
dreams to create prosperity. 1t re-
! quires more than resolutions to give
labor to the man of toll, and a mar
ket to the producer. The meeting
together in halls, passing denuncia-
'ory resolutions, singing salvation
songs, interspersed with rag-time
melodies, and slandering those both
living and dead, who have helped to
make the nation great, will not suf-
fee Follow these dreamefs, and
soon you will have no cause to COM
plain of the high cost of living. They
will soon lead you where the prod