People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1894 — LEADERS TALK. [ARTICLE]

LEADERS TALK.

Th© •Closing Speeches of the Great Tariff Debate. Mr. Reed Champion* the Cause of Protection, While Speaker Crisp and Mr. Wilson Urge the Passage of the BilL GIANTS OF DEBATE, Washington, Feb. 3.—Aside from the great attendance and the final vote on and passage of the tariff bilL the features of the session of the house on Thursday were the speeches, closing the debate, of Mr. Reed (rep., Me.), Speaker Crisp,and Mr. Wilson (dem., W. Va.),the author of the measure. Promptly at noon the committee of the whole rose and the chairman (Mr. Richardson), according to parliamentary formula, reported that the committee of the whole had had under consideration house bill 4,864 (tariff bill) and reported it to the house with sundry amendments. The speaker then announced that three hours would be allowed for closing debate. He recognized Mr. Reed, and the republican leader rose amid the wild cheering and hand-clapping of the galleries and the huzzas of his party friends about him. Mr. Reed frowned and shook his head as though the demonstration were distasteful to him. He waited for the applause to cease. Standing in the aisle, clad in a long Prince Albert coat, with head erect and defiant, he looked a physical and intellectual giant. Say* the Bill Satisfies No One. When tbe applause had finally subsided Mr. Reed began his speech. He said: "In this debate, which has extended over many weeks, one remarkable result has already been reached, a result ot the deepest Importance to this country. The result is that the bill before us is odious to both sides ot the house. It meets with favor nowhere and commands the respect of neither party. On this side we believe that while it pretends to be for protection it does not afford It, and on the other side they believe that while it looks toward free trade it does not accomplish it Those who will vote against this bill will do so because it opens our markets to the destructive competition of foreigners, and those who vote for it do it with a reservation that they will instantly devote themselves to a new crusade against whatever barriers are left

‘‘lt is evident that there Is no ground for the hope entertained by so many moderate men that this bill, bad as it - is, could be a resting place where our manufacturing and productive industries, such us may survive, can reestablish themselves or have a sure foundation for the future, free from party bickering and party strife. Hence, also, there can be no foundation for that cry, so insidiously raised, that this bill should be passed at once, because uncertainty is worse than any bill can possibly be. So utterly undisputed and so distinctly visible to every human being in this audience has been our growth and progress that whatever the future industrial system of this country may be, the past system Is a splendid monument to that series of successful statesmen who found the country bankrupt and distracted and left it first on the list ot nations.” Advantages of the American Market.

Mr. Reed eulogized the American market as being the best in the world, owing to the high wages paid here enabling workingmen to purchase largely of the comforts of lite. Instead of increasing this market, he said, by leaving It to the steady increase of wages which the figures ot the Aldrich report so conclusively shew, and Which have not only received the sanction of the members from Ne.w York but of the secretary of th? treasury and the democratic bureau of statistics, by this action our committee proposes to lower wages and so lessen the market and then divide that market with somebody else, and all on the chance of getting the markets of the world. Mr. Reed continued: ‘‘To add to the interesting impossibilities of this contention the orators on the other side say they are going to maintain wages. How can that be possible? All things sell at the cost of production. If the difference between cost of production hero and cost of production in England be not equalized by the duty, then our cost of production must go down or we must go out. Our laws have invited money and men and we have grown great and rich thereby. "To sum it up, if this protection gives us money and men, and our vast country needs both, it may show why we have so wonderfully prospered. If it does I am inclined to think that the way to have two jobs hunting one man is to keep on making new mills and try to prevent the committee on ways and menus from pulling down old ones. But What About the Farmer? “But what do you say about the farmer? Well, on that subject I do not profess any special learning, but there is one simple state-, ment I wish to make and leave the question there. If with cities growing up like magic, manufacturing villages dotting every eligible site, each and all swarming with mouths to be filled, the producers of food are worse off than when half this country was a desert, I abandon sense in favor of political economy. ‘‘lf the hope of agriculturists is in English free trade they had better ponder on the fact that while the wages of artisanshave increased in England $2.43 per week since 1850 the wages of agricultural laborers have only increased 72 cents, and while the Lancashire operatives in the factories live as well as anybody, except Americans, the agricultural laborers are hardly better off than the continental peasantry. England's example will not do for agriculture.' When a Tariff Will Raise Wages. “Here let me meet one other question, and let me make it fairly. We are charged with having claimed that thetariff alone will raise wages. We have never made such a claim in any such form. Free traders have set up that claim for us to triumphantly knock it* over. What we do say is that where two nations have equal skill and equal appliances and a market nearly equal and one of them can hire labor at one-halt less, nothing but a tariff can maintain the higher wages, and that we can prove. "We are the only rival that England fears, for we alone have in our borders the population and the wages, the raw material, and within ourselves .the great market which insures to us the most improvr a machinery. Our constant power to increase our wages insures us also ccntinuous progress. If you wish us to iollow the exampie of England, Isay yes, with alLqny heart, but her real example, and nothing-less. Let us keep protection, as she did, until no rival dares to invade our territory, and then we ma,- take our chances for a future which by that time will not bernnknown.” Reed Gets an Ovation. Throughout Reed's speecit he was frequently Interrupted with applause, and at times the democrats joined in. As his speech closed there was a burst of applause which swelled into a tumultuous demonstration as the enthusiastic galleries gave shouts, hurrahs and sharp whistles which are often heard in theaters but seldom in the halls of congress. Mr. Reed bowed his acknowledgment to the demonstration, and, without resuming his seat or waiting for the many hands extended to congratulate him, made his way back to the republican cloakroom. Half way up the aisle he was met by a page bearing, a huge basket of American Beauty and La France roses. Speaker Crisp Begins His Speech. While the demonstration was going on Speaker Crisp relinquished the chair to Mr. Hatch (Mo.) and assumed the old seat which he occupied in the days before he was elevated to the speakership. When h& arose in his place he received an ovation. As Mr. Crisp proceeded he was given generous applause by his democratic associates on

, the floor, but hie nolnts were ot an arguments tire character, which appealed to the students ot the question rather than to the galleries. He read from the minority report and criticised that feature which declared that the foreigner paid the tax. Not a Benefit to Labor. After hie opening introductory remarks Mr. Crisp declared that an examination of the protective system would show that while it was built up for the ostensible benefit of labor it was in truth constructed for* the benefit of the manufacturing classes. He pointed out that the wages of laborers in protected industries went down and those in unprotected industries went up as a result of the McKinley act This was shown by the statistics gathered by the senate committee on finance. The speaker referred to the artificial condition created by protection. It took men, he said, from their natural channels and diverted them to unnatural channels. The same was true in the diversions made in the channels of trade. Protection was a Chinese wall which not only shut out the world but shut in the United States. Reed's Argument One of Prejudice. Mr. Crisp was greeted with applause when he said that the thirty years ot protection was a period of unrest during which the masses of people had constantly rebelled against the heavy burdens of taxation. The people had always been stilled at the polls’by the republican promises to reduce the tariff, but once successful at the polls, the republican legislators surrendered themselves body and soul to the manufacturing classes. The speaker declared that the gentleman (Mr. Reed) had throughout his speech refrained from the arguments of reason and had used only those ot prejudice. He pointed to the Chinese as an example of what bad resulted from a protective policy of hundreds of years, which had sought to make China rich by trading with itself Mr. Crisp said that for twenty-five years the democratic party had been trying to get into power. It had told the people that if given power it would reduce the burdens of taxation. The people had accepted this promise and given the party power. This tarifl was a redemption of these pledges to the people. It was not a perfect bill, but it was a step tn the right direction. Cheers for tbe Income Tax. I In referring to various features of the bill he spoke of an income tax, which brought out long and loud applause from the strong incometax element in the house. He cited a spceeh of Senator Sherman delivered twenty years ago to the effect that a tax which fell heaviest on consumption and did not bear heavily on tie wealth and incomes of the country was intrinsically wrong. Mr. Crisp supported the income tax In vigorous terms. He said 530,000,010 of tax on accumulated wealth was but a small tribute in return for the benefits it received.

Mr. Crisp closed with an eloquent appeal to his democratic associates to waive minor objections and to look at the great democratic principles involved. “Let us stand together,” he said. ‘ Let us pass this bill and it will bring gladness to the consuming masses, to the farmer, to the laborer and to the American people.” There was a triple round of appiause as the speaker closed. A page walked toward him with a large potted plant with red flowers above, surrounded with white roses below. The applause continued for more than a minute, during which Mr. Crisp was warmly congratulated. He left the body of the house and returned to the speaker's desk. Mr. Wilsou Closes the Debate. Mr. Wilson at once arose to close the debate. He was greeted with great cheers. Mr. Wilson eloquently portrayed the advance of freedom. This bill, he said, was but one of those advances. No McKinley bill could stem the advance of human progress. Great causes could not ba laughed or ridiculed away, and the gentleman from Maine could not draw from his armory ot sarcasm and wit in order to stop the advance of this cause of lightening the burdens of taxation.

Mr. Wilson then related the story of the English herring merchant who wrote to Sir Robert Peel that he did not want free trade as to herring, as it would let in Norwegian herring, but that on other goods he was a thorough free trader. Mr. Wilson appealed to his fellowdemocrats not to allow any herring arguments to impede the movement toward the overthrow of the protective system. Denies Charges of Sectionalism. Referring to an Income tax Mr. Wilson said he had not wanted it attached to this bill, but once so attached, he supported it with all the loyalty at his command. There was continued applause as Mr. Wilson denied the charges of sectionalism in the bill. He said that the animating feeling of those who had framed this bill was to make this country one in which one man would not bo taxed for another, one in which religion, science, culture and education would go hand in hand as the common, un taxed heritage of every citizen. Mr Wilson closed with an eloquent appeal to his ffiUow-demccrats. He told them that the record ot the house would permanently record no passing event, but a great epoch in American history. He wanted every democratic name recorded on that historic roll In that case, he said, the day would be a proud and happy one for him. His closing words were: “In the name of honor, in the name of freedom, I summon everv democrat to vote for this bill.” Wilson Carried Out in Triumph. Mr. Wilson's glowing peroration aroused the democrats and the galleries to the highest iftch of enthusiam, and the demonstration v Inch followed his last words has seldom been equaled in the house. The whole democratic s.ilo rose to its feet; books and records were thrown into the air; cheer followed cheer; the people in the galleries joined with voice and hands in the tribute. Before Mr. Wilson could sit down three of the democratic members, bubbling over with enthusiasm—Messrs Johnson (O.), Tucker (Va.) and Bryan (Neb.)—rushed up the aisle, lilted Mr. Wilson upon their shoulders and carried him in triumph to the rear of the hall, where for ten minutes he listened to the words cf praise that were showered upon him. It was tv remarkable demonstration in every respect.