Year: 1869




We are building custom-hOuses and


post offices and improving our rivers
and harbors all over the United States
and our own official records, which


were not carried into the Commits
sioner's table, so far as l have been
able to examine them, all verify the
statistics of the Commissioner. l hold


in my hand also one of the leading
papers published in New York only a
few days ago, in which the editor
says:


"There are few men in this taX-rid-
den country who are more familiar
with the cause or who more clearly
see the unfortunate tendency of the
unnatural style of living which pre-
walls at the present day than Mr.. Da-
vid Wells, the Special Commissioner
at Washington, from whose reports
We have previously taken much that
was interesting and instructive. In
his opinion these are unhealthy times
for individuals, and many of us can
heartily indorse that opinion. We
are, to be sure, getting on an average
better pay than in other days, but how
about our expenses? Look at houses,
coal, flour, butter, milk, eggs, wood,
cloth, and leather; they are no better
| than they were ten years ago nor less
plentiful, but their cost vastly great
! er; so much greater, in fact, that rents
are positively eXtOrtiOnate, and the
absolute necesSaries of life beyond the
| reach of thousands in this very city,"


This is the opinion of journalist
who is speaking of affairs in his own
city and speaks of his own knowledge.
But the gentleman from Phlladel-
phia has given US anew and remarka-
bic revelation about the year 1850. 1t
| is the first time / have ever heard it
said by a responsible gentleman that
the year 1860 was disastrous one for
the American people.


The gentleman stated, wrote down
| his words-that lS60-6I was the dark
est period ever seen in this country;
and he went on to exhibit how hard
it was for labOring men TO find en-
plOyment. Now, Mr.. Speaker, 1 diff
fer widely from the honorable gentle
man. / remember very we'll that the
distinguished chairman of the Com
mittee of Ways and Means Mr.. Nor
rilll some three years ago referred to
the year 1860 as the most prosperous
year which this Republic ever saw
and he gave his reasons for the state
ment. 1t was q year of plenty, of
great increase. ] remember, more
over, that it was year of light taxes.
There was but one great people on the
face of the globe so lightly taxed As
the American people in 1860. Now
we are the most heavily taxed people
except one, perhaps, on the face of the
globe; and the weight of nearly all
our taxes falls at last on the labOring
man. This is an element which the
gentleman seems TO have omitted from
his calculation altogether.


The gentleman says that at thepres-
ent time labOrers are doing better than
in 1860. l ask him how many strikes
there was among laborers in lS69-6l?
Were there any at all? And how
many were there in 1865? Will the
gentleman deny that strikes exhibit
the unsettled and unsatisfactory con-
dition of labor in its relations to capi-
tai? In our mines, in our mills and
furnaces, in our manufacturing estab-
lishments, are not the labOrers every
day joining in strikes for higher wa
ges, and saying that they need them
on account of the high price of pro-
visions or that the capitalists get too
large share of the profits? | want
to say, in this connection, that l be-
lieve the condition of the labOring
man in the West is better than in the
East. The element of transportation
does not enter so largely into his
cost of living. l confess that l was
somewhat surprised at these statis-
tics of the Commissioner, for if / had
been asked 1 should have said that
the labOring men of my district were
doing nearly as well and perhaps in
some cases better than they were do
ing in 1860 but still | cannot impeach
the array of facts he has exhibited
They refer to the eastern portion of
the country, however, and the local
conditions may be different there.


But let me advert for moment to
another point in the statement of the.
gentleman. He speaks with great
triumph of the amount that is depOsi-
ted in savings banks by labOring men
now as compared with 1860. Why,
/ Mr.. Speaker, il seems to me that the
facts lead to exactly the opposite con-
clusion from that which the gentle
man draws. What does it mean? 1t
means that in this country, and espe-
cially in the East, in the unsettled
state of our commerce and of our
currency men dare not invest their
/ little earnings in business, and they,
therefore, put them into savings
/ banks, where they are lightly taxed,
! to await solid values and steady times.
I In the West it is not generally So
1 a man can buy land and improve it,
and thus can work for himself and
have his profits as well as his keep,
while he is laboring. / think that
will explain the reason why savings
! banks are more patrOniZed IN the
East than in the West.


The gentleman has referred to rail-
road iron and the vast amount recent
ly brought into this country. Sir,
that is the most natural thing in the
: world. During the war the building
of railroads was almost wholly sus-
pended. The work has revived and
greatly increased since the war, and
in 1866 the new roads were ready for
their iron. Hence the unusual de-
mand and the large importation of the
rails to which the gentleman refers
The gentleman must remember that
railroad iron has the least protection
of any form of iron. 1t bears a tariff
duty of but seventy per cent, while
the next higher grade of iron bears n
tariff duty of one hundred and twen-
ty-five per cent.


Another fact: while speaking of
rolling-mills in this country would
ask the gentleman from Pennsylva-


MIA TMr. Kelley and my friend from
the JOhnstown district, Mr.. MOrrell1 I


if they knew of any railrOad-iron mill


in this country that has not all the


business it can do? Does he know
such a mill in this country that this


day has not more orders than it can


fill? | say this to show that even the


heavy importation of English rails


have not broken down our manufac-
turers.