Crawfordsville Daily Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 15 October 1892 — Page 4

guishing feature ol modern progress,

(•he was the foremost nation in the

world. Hut at that point she touiul

herself cramped bv the narrowness of

her territory, her supplies and her

market. All she needed in order to

stimulate her productive forces to their

best was more room. And in securing

this bv the adoption of a free-trade

policv she took the course which, in mv

opinion, offered the greatest possible

inducement to her people, as a whole,

to exert their energies to the utmost,

each in his own craft or occupation, to

subdue the earth. As applied to Kn-

gland, therefore, the principles which I

have laid down lead logically to free

trade as the better policv.

E N IT S A E S

In striking contrast is the situation

of the people of the United States to­

day. We have resources within our­

selves which England had not, and we

have no such advantages as she had in

a free-for-all race of commercial com­

petition. So diverse are these condi­

tions of time and circumstance that the

very advantages which England se-

cured by free trade can be secured bet­

ter now ami here bv protection.

Occupied and used to the best advan­

tage the United States is a belter world

within itself for the working out of

human destiny than the big world at its

average, or any other part of it at its

best. The things which directly pro­

mote the advance of society in wealth

are education, invention, subdivision,

specialization and organization of

labor: interchange of products and

liberal rewards to exertion. All these

we can have, and have now within

'and among ourselves in higher degree

than any other nation. We are apt

pupils in all studies, arts and crafts.

We surpass the world in invention.

We have ample supplies of all the

original materials on which human labor

is expended—coal, stone, metallic ores,

fibers and timber. We arc in sight of

a hundred millions in population. We

can subdivide industry among our­

selves to any degree of minuteness,

and we can mass armies of workers

wherever armies are needed for the most

victorious results. We grow cverv val­

uable product of the soil known outside

the tropics. The extent of our country

and the variety of our climate enable

us to secure by domestic exchanges

most of the advantages which other

nations seek in foreign commerce. We

have within our own borders the best

market in the world for every produc­

tion of industry. We live under civil

Institutions which secure to every man

the enjoyment of the fruits of his labor

and open the doors of advancement to

the humblest citizen.

These are the conditions which tend

to stimulate human exertion to its

highest activity and make its efforts

most effective. They have had that

effect in our experience. We work

harder, produce more, consume more

and move on faster than any other

people. And why may we not continue

in the path of that progress indefinitely,

and among ourselves' and within our

own borders cultivate every art and

every industry with such increasing

skill and success that we shall lead the

van forever in that march of conquest

over the forces of nature which is the

high destiny of the race?-'-:-

A S

The commonest answer to such a

suggestion is. that for this ideal devel­

opment of industry we must have a

wider market lor ur products than our

own land affords, and that to secure

this we must have free commercial in­

tercourse with the world. No doubt

our home market, great as it is, is not

sufficient to absorb all that we can pro­

duce of all things. Hut neither is the

market ot the who world able to ab­

sorb all that the whole world can pro-

duce. I.abor-saving invention has out­

run consumption in its possibilities. A'

the same time the market follows,

growing by what it feeds on. Invention

cheapens production cheapened produc­

tion increases consumption: increased

consumption stimulates more invention,

and so on. round and round, to an end

which no one can foresee. Who knows

that chairs will not he made for five

cents apiece, and bedsteads for twenty-

five cents, before this generation shall

pass away? Why h-.av not the bovs

of to-day live to eniov twice the house

room, furniture, clothing, books, travel

and good things generally which their

fatheis know Some increase in their

share of the general income on one

side, and some decrease in the cost of

production on the other is all that is

necessary tc bring it about.

The truth here touched is of exceed­

ing importance. How to find a market

for all that human hands are now ready

to produce is, in one sense, the great

economic problem of the age. It is not

to be solved by any simple process of

finding more buyers: All seas have

been sailed in that search. It is to be

solved by enabling present buyers to

buy more. Good living by the masses

is the foundation of a good market and

better iiving by the masses is the one

condition of its growth. To this con­

dition all the world and every part of it

must submit.

A lid in no part of the world is this

condition so fully met as in the United

States. Every civilized nation is an

industrial partnership among whose

members circumstance and custom es­

tablish definite rights and relations.

In the American partnership the body

of the partners receive larger profits

than are divided by any other firm.

The American workingman's share of

the common income is a better home,

better clothes, better food, and more of

all the comforts of life than are enioved

by the workingman of any other coun­

try. And, what is vastly more impor­

tant, no other workingman is so deter­

mined to better his condition, or so

able to carry out that determination.

The general unrest, the labor unions,

the farmers' organizations, the conflicts

that occur here and there, are taken bv

some to portend dire disasters to society.

On the contrary, they are the throes of

anew birth into abetter order of things.

The working members of the great

American partnership, in field and shop

and car, are fighting for a larger share

of the profits of the firm business. Not

that they are so badlv oft" now. Thev

are, in fact, better off to-day than they

ever were before. Rut that does not

•suffice. They want to be as well off as

they can be, and thev believe that in a

fair division of the profits of all labor

among all laborers, they are entitled to

more than thev arc getting.

We can imagine a condition of things

in which every industrious householder

would have in his home a separate room

neatly furnished for each member of

his family, a piano in the parlor, a

hundred volumes in the book-case, and

other things to match. What a market

would be afforded by a hundred millions

of people living in that style. And

wild as such a dream seems, whv mav

it not be realized The natural forces

and materials necessary for its accom­

plishment are present in abundance. To

transform tlietn to our use is but a

question of skill and labor. And that,

in turn, is but a question of invention,

organization and fair division. In or­

der to bring about such a change the

things which are consumed must be­

come relatively cheaper, and the wages

ot producers relatively higher. Hut both

those things are possible they are both

in progress now, and no one can say

where they must stop.

This stmggle of the masses for a

better living is going 011 and will con­

tinue to go on in the United Slates under

more favorable auspices than anywhere

else. It is supported by the superior

intelligence, courage and resource

hich the habits of freemen have bred in

them. It is supported by an all-power­

ful public opinion that in a free country

every citizen should have within his

reach the comforts of a home and means

to hring up a family ill to succeed him

in the responsibilities of citizenship.

And more than all, it is supported bv

the workingman's ballot. With these

forces behind nothing can prevent its

continuous advance.

As 10 markets, therefore, we are in

this situation. have a better home

market now than any other nation, and

one bound to grow faster than that of

any other nation and one. furthermore,

whit is better in both of these respects

than the markets of the world at large

compared with the production of the

world at large. I shall speak at length of

foreign markets in another connection I

am confining myself now to the essential

conditions of our situation within our­

selves and I sav that our own market is

the best market the world has, or has

e\er seen, because it rests upon the div­

ersified wants of a great and rapidly in-

cieasing population distributed over a

ide country who consume more things

of mote kinds than anv other people,

and whose desires, and wnose deter­

mination and ability to gratify those de­

sires are growing faster than the desires

and abilities of anv other people.

11AI.ANCK OF INIHSTH1KS.

With these unrivaled opportunities

only one thing is wanting to make our

economic situation one of ideal perfec­

tion. and that is. a normal balance of

industries. If enough of us will engage

in agriculture to supply all the others

with food and the materials for other

uses which are produced from the soil,

and enough ol us in mining to supply

all the others with coal and metals, and

enough of 11s in manufacturing tosupplv

all the others with goods, and enough

of us in transportation to maintain

commerce for all of us. and enough of

us in merchandizing to distribute our

supplies among us, and so 011, round the

great circle of employments which com­

plete the intricate system of modern

business, we have it in our power to be

the most independently prosperous na­

tion the world ever had, or has, or can have.

ACKICl'I.TfRE.

All this we are very nearly doing

now. In only one respect do we fall far

short of it too large a proportion of us

are engaged in agriculture. That branch

of industry produces a surplus for which

we have to hunt a market abroad in

competition with the farmers of all

lands. But that defect in our organiza­

tion will soon disappear. We have 110

second Mississippi valley or Pacific

slope. Our fertile and easily cultivated

lands aie substantially occupied. Hence­

forth the rate of increase in agricultural

production is bound to fall otl", while

our food consuming population will

continue to grow. Within a lew vcars

the farmers of the United States will

have all they can do to feed the people

of their own country.

ECONOMY Ol" THIS AIl| I'STM KNT.'

As a result of this adjustment we are

practicing a highly profitable economy

ill tile supply of our wants. Most of

our food is produced near where it is

eaten. Our great factories cluster about ...

their sources of supply of fuel or mater-

ial. Even the cotton mills so long an-

chored in New England are drifting

toward the white fields of the South.

Our minor manufactures are scattered

throughout the land, filling it with lit­

tle cities, each a center of business,

educational, social and literary activity,

a market for the products of the coun­

try tound about, and a constant stimulus

to its life and progress. Hy miracles

of invention we have reduced nearlrall

labor to the manipulation of machinery.

Even the leg-and-hand labor of the

farm, which for generations was sup­

posed to lie beyond the reach of relief

by machinery has been lightened and

diminished. A farmer can now ride

his plow, his harrow, his seed drill, his

cultivator, his mower, his rake, and his

reaper. Husking corn and picking cot­

ton are the only great operations of the

farm done by hand, and for both of

these experimental machines are on

trial, and it is only a question of a few-

years until they will be in successful

operation.

onderful as these results appear,

they are only the beginning of the end.

Invention lies at the bottom of all of

them, and was never more active than

now. The whole number of patents

issued by tile Government prior to 1S60

w.is only .'f'/i.) 1 now they are issued at

the rate of more than jo.ooo a vear

Of course, many of these are for trivial

and unimportant inventions, but manv

others represent as splendid triumph's

I of genius as any that have goni- before.

I Every machine we use—our steam en-

1 gines, cars, looms, printing-presses,

farm implements—everything, big and

little, is in a state ot unending improve­

ment. A loom is one of the oldest, of

machines, anil has been brought to such

perfection that onewould think its fur-

tlier improvement impossible: and vet

an invention came to my knowledge

recently which promises to reduce the

little hand labor now required in wcav-

ing hy twe-ity per cent, or more.

I It E I'KIITS.

We are gathering the fruits of all this

in the homes and lives of the people.

Every want of the body and of the

mind is better supplied among the popu-

lation a( large of the United States

than anywhere else. No other people

eat such abundant, varied and excellent

food, dress as well, or have as ample

and comfortable homes. In schools,

colleges, books, papers, and all the

I means of education and intellectual

growth and enjoyment no other nation

is so well supplied. The American boy

has a wider choice of occupations than

anv other boy born in the world, and

while the American girl is confined to

a narrower field than her brother, her

opportunities, as compared with those

of other girls in the world, are even

more remarkable than his. Nor is this

the result of social customs merely, or

political freedom it is a consequence

of our universal subjugation of the

forces of nature. We have more ma­

chines that a woman can handle than

any other nation. We have made

steam her servant, and taught the tamed

lightning to lake orders from a girl.

A E I A N O N IT I O N S

These are the conditions of life, busi­

ness and society in the United States

in the year of our Lord 1892. Thev

embrace every element and circum­

stance favorable to the largest develop­

ment of man's dominion over the

world he lives in, and thev justify the

remark already made that the United

States is a better world within itself

for the working out of the highest

human destiny than the big world at its

average, or any other part of it at its

best. They exhibit sixty-three millions

of people occupying the fairest heritage

of the earth, and subduing it, and all

the materials and forces in. 011 and over

it with a rapidity, completeness and

splendor unapproached in the history

of the race. They exhibit the most

perfect industrial organization ever

seen, embracing within itself, with only

insignificant exceptions, even- useful

art known among nun. Thev exhibit

a nation so independent in its resources

that it could go 011 in its pathway of

growth and prosperity though every

other nation should perish, and every

other land go down in the sea. Thev

exhibit a people so inventive, so cour­

ageous, so progressive that all that

which thev have accomplished In the

past is only the promise of a still more

splendid future.

THE CONTRAST.

How different our situation from that

of England when she exchanged the

protective for the free-trading policv.

She was cramped in territory we are

not. .she could not feed her people

from her own soil we can. She

could not furnish herself with the

materials of industry we can. She

had no sufficient home market for the

products ol her labor we have. Re­

turning to the fundamental proposition

of this argument, that the commercial

policy best for anv nation is that which

will, then and there, secure to its peo­

ple the best opportunity and the strong­

est inducements to pursue with effect

those studies, arts and occupations

which !ad to the subjugation of the

forces of nature to the service of man,

does it not lead us with irresistible

logic to the conclusion that if it was

wise in England lo adopt free trade it

is wiser in us to adhere to protection.

The room for enterprise which she

sought abroad we have at home the

food which she sought abroad we have

at home: the materials for industry

which she sought abroad we have at

home the markets which she sought

abroad we have at home.

I'Ot.II OK TIIE Il MOCRA'I IC PARTY.

In the face of the unparalleled pro­

gress of the United States under a

policy of protection for thirty years

past, during which period we have

forged ahead in invention, wealth, art,

sciem c, and e\ciy element of prosper­

ity at a rate to break all former records,

the Democratic party has deliberately

and firmly resolved to take the back

track. It has announced to the world

as the chief article of its creed that

protection, in every form and guise, is

unconstitutional. It solemnly pledges

it-elf. if j,laced in power, to repeal the

M( Kinley taritl—not to modify, amend

or 1 educe it. but to repeal it. and leave

American industry naked and shiver­

ing in the northeast wind of Hritish

free trade. In the exultant language

of the New York l'ost. it has cast out

the old protection devil at once and

forever. On this platform Grovcr

Cleveland is again offered as a candi­

date. We have reason to know him

well. He is a man of purposes, and I

do him the honor to believe that if he

is put on the engine with instructions

to do it. he will reverse the lever if it

throws the train off the track.

Now, upon a party which proposes

such a right-about-face in the com­

mercial policy ol a great, co,riirv

ready so happy and prospei I

rests a tremendous burden of

1

f!

demonstrate by the cleans

that the proposed change will

the better. The old I miian's

Has

a lesson for such a time I u-*

I thought to be better: 1 t,„,k

|,is'^.l

in a I a A

sponsihility is at this time a particularly

grave one for the intelligent l)eiii,, -,ji" I

of those Slates where the battle w|i| (v I

close. The Republican partv is pro:.,,,' I

ing no new thing. It stands |, a

icy which we have tested for'

years. That way we know j„

Granting that there may possibly !,t.

a

I

better one, we still know that tlie're''1*-i

safe one. Tile Democratic par'v jf

proposing a fundamental and t.-iV-n-ach'

ing change. It is 110 low tariff, sue!

a

we have had at several periods in

a

history (and always to our great Ins.

but the total extirpation of the

a I

to take all the hazards ol a

which we have never tried lor an 'hot-

and which is diametrically opposed

0

that under which we have attained ou-

greatest, prosperity and glorv Ar-.l

the decision of this momentous

the final, actual responsibility torn!*,

nowhere else so closelv as „i t|•

Democrats in the contested S'iv.

whose intelligence, business

and means of information make '.In

competent judges ol the question.

TK A I A I VTS.

What, then, arc the argument*

which the Democratic purtv proper-

case to lie people? Thev mav be *unr

up as follows first, a naked de'ii

the power ol the Government

•.protective laws: second, that protcc

1

benefits the few at the expend nf

main- third, cheap goods lonrth.

.eign markets fifth, the e\ite:uv

various evils in societv, which, it jt

Mimed, would be remedied bv free tr

The first is expressed in the Chii

platform in these words: "The)'-

eral Government has no constitute

power to impose and collect taritl tii

exccpt for the purposes of revenue":

In answer to winch 1 sav, «i The-

no provision in the Constitution

denies that power to Conyres*:

risdiction over the subject oMor-.:

commerce is express!v given }o

gress bv the Constitution, ami deiac

-the States (3) if Congress lias r,oi

power to protect American indw'

a is a re

the existence of that power incV-HL

has been recognized bv every dep./:

mcnt of the Government trom lilt'

ginning of its existence—bv tiie

Congress, bv all the early, great -IN

dents—Washington, Madison. Jetfer*

Jackson, and by the Supreme

over and over. A man holds his

to buy and sell just as he holds aiSo

rights—subject to such restraint

regulation bv law as the higluM ir.

of society may require. Reason,

dent and usage, the world roiaui

ccnturies establish this principle

firm grounds as exist in the. la*v

imagine that if Marshall l'ieid sh/

establish a mammoth store a mile

side the city limits, and till the

of Fort Wavne with his runner-

wagons scot free of rent and taxc. .r

Democratic merchants ol the city w*.

not hesitate long to apply 1 0 the

mon council for protection, and tha

one would deny the right ol that-1"

to extend it.

Til KOIIIfKK liAKoNS.

The Chicago platform says

We denounce the Republican po.K" of protection as a traud on the °v the great majority of the Ainenca5U pie tor rhe benefit of the iew."^,yv*

Mr. Cleveland, in hi speech ^1

ceptance said

"Turning our eves to the -phut' pie of the land, we sec them hunk as consumers with a taritl" system^ unjustly and relentlessly demand* ir them in the purchases of the neee-:«' a if a a met by the wages of hard and !e..to a from them build up and incnaM fortunes of those for whose hLM.eht injustice is perpetuated. insist that no plan of tarifl legis'at shall be tolerated which has tot it ject and purpose a forced contriiHi from the earnings of the masses ot citizens to swell directly the a»Huit..

1

so a a a prudent solicitude for Ameiican ior any other speeious pretext ol b.• -i olent carc for others to blind tin of the people to the selfish .-cheniy those who seek, through the aid o« equal tariff laws, to gam um' advantages at the expense vt fellows."