The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1912-10-03
OHIO PROSPERITY :
IS ENDANGERED
RECALL EFFECT DEMOCRATIC
TARIFF IN 1892 AND ITS
SOUP HOUSES.
FREE. TRADE AND HARD TIMES
Beecher W. Waltermire, Candidate
for Lieutenant Governor, Mayor of
FindIay in 1894, Speaks FeeIinuty
of the Effect of a Revenue Tariff.

for Lieutenant Governor, Mayor of
FindIay in 1894, Speaks FeeIInaly
of the Effect of Revenue Tariff.
My Fellow Citizens: Politically
| speaking, we have fallen upon turbu-
| lept times. Men are running hither
and thither crying: What shall
do to be saved?" That same feeling
| of unrest which prevails throughout
the civilized world is pervadng the
atmosphere of this, the most pros
! porous nation on the face of the
globe; but let us not despair 1t is out
of the turmoil of life that we advance.
| This is, indeed, a restless age, but
every age which ever accomplished
anything was a restless age. 1t is
not that the age is restless that
| need give us cause for alarm; but
rather the fear that this restlessness
be directed into improper channels.
| That same restlessness which, in
| France, under the guidance of Rous-
seau and Marabeau, and Madam Ro-
|
was disgrace to mankind under
| the guidance of a Washington or
| Lincoln, might have produced a re-
| public which would have been the
| envy of the nations of the earth. 1t
| is the province of the thoughtful,
| conservative man, who loves his
country not to attempt to stay the
tide of healthful restlessness, but
rather to do his part to prevent the
idle dreamer, the visionary sophist,
| the designing politician, the down
right demagogue from diverting this
restlessness into improper and dan
| gerous channels.
What's the matter with this coun-
| try anyway? Was there ever
time when the farmer received such
prices for his products? Was there
ever time when labor was in such
demand at such wages? Was there
ever time when the factories and
| furnaces were run with such uni
| formity? Was there ever a time
| when the millions of laborers were
! crowding to our shores from the four
| quarters of the globe in such num-
bers, to participate in our prosperity?
| Then why is the voice of the calam-
| ity bowler heard above the hum of
| industry, drowning the music of
turning spindles and the rattling of
| the looms?
Our Democratic friends do not at
/ nt fn hof
| are at the nigh tide of prosperity;
but they say the cost Of living is so
high. And they tell us that it is be-
cause of the tariff, and that the rem
| edy is to be found in free trade.
If this is the issue they raise, if
| this is the gauntlet which they
throw down to us, we welcome it. !
| know the cost of living is high, and
you know, my fellow citizens, if your
memory is sixteen years old, that it
was cheap enough during the last
| national Democratic administration
In 1892, when the prosperity of the
country was second only to that
which prevails today, they were
] handing out to the voters the same
| arguments they are advancing now,
and promising to reduce the cost of
| living if they were placed in power;
| and they kept their word. They sent
wheat down to so cents, and corn to
| II cents per bushel They sent
armies of laboring men down the
streets beFging for work, and eating
at free soup houses. God knows they
made things cheap, and by the same
method they now propose. II you
are too young to remember these
things, or if your memory is too
frail go to any newspaper office,
care not what its politics and ask
permission to look through its files
from '92 to '96, and run your eye
hastily over the headlines of the
various news items and see how
swift the transition from a paean of
prosperity to wall of woe. History
is but repeating itself. No sooner
do we build tower of prosperity
than sophists begin to sap the foun-
dation stones.
During the dying hours of the last
congress, the floor leader of the
Democrats side of the house deliv-
cred himself of a very pathetic ap-
peal. He saia Under the present
oppressive tariff. the laborlns man
returns at night from his toll. clad in
wooden suit taxed at rs per cent
shoes taxed at u per cent, stockings
and underwear taxed at 70 per cent,
and cotton shirt taxed at SO per
cent" and he traced him on into the
house, where he clasped his wife in
his arms encircling dress taxed at
some per cent, and sat him down to
a table where the dishes, cutlery and
silverware were taxed at some per
cent and evidently thought he had
made a telling argument which the
laboring man could not see through;
but in this age and in this country,
the laboring man is competent to
reason for himself. This brilliant
orator might have gone on down the
line and followed the laborihg man
to the end of the week, and sent him
off on his half holiday on an excur
sion to the lake side, over steel rails
taxed at some per cent, In a palace
car taxed at some per cent, and
plunged him into the bathing posi in
bathing suit taxed at some per
cent. and still kept within the abso-
lutte truth. Thanks to the memory
s. William MoKiRlsy the working