Norwalk weekly gazette, Friday, September 9, 1892 · page 2

 

 

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Mrs. Amanda. Paisley

For many years an esteemed communicant of
Trinity Episcopal church, Newburgh, N. Y.,
always says ‘5 Thank You ” to Hood’s Sar~
saparllla. She suffered for years from Eczema
and Scrofnln sores on her face, head and
ears. making her deaf nearly a yea r. and affect-
ing her sight. To the surprise or her friends

Hood’s Sarsaparilla

Has effected a cure and she can now hear and
see as well as ever. For full particulars of her
case send to C. 1. H001) 8; Co., Lowell, Mass.

 

HOOD'S PILLS are hand made, and are per.
feet in condition, proportion and appearance.

 

 

Fw~-‘—-

HABRISON’S LETTER."

Accepting the Republican Nom-
ination for President.

Wksumcrox, Sept. 3.
Hon. William McKinley, J r., and others,

Committee, etc.:

GENTLEMEN—I now avail myself of the
first period of relief from public duties tc
respond to the notification which you
brought to me on June 20 of my nomina-
tion for the office of president of the United
States by the Republican national conven-
tion recently held at Minneapolis. I accept
the nomination, and am grateful for the
approval expressed by the convention of
the acts of the administration. I have en-
deavored, without wavering or weariness,
so far as the direction of public affairs was
committed to me, to carry out the pledges
made to the people in 1833.

If the policies of the administration have
not been distinctively and progressively
American and Republican policies, the fault
has not been in the purpose, but in the exe-
cution. I shall speak frankly of the legislao
tion of congress and of the work of the ex-
ecutive departments, for the credit of any
successes that have been attained is in such
measure due to others—senators and repre-
sentatives, and to the efficient heads of the
several executive departments—and I may
do so without impropriety. A vote of want
of confidence is asked by our adversaries,
and this challenge to a review of what has
been done we promptly and gladly accept.

The great work of the Fifty-first congress
‘has been subjected to the revision of 2
Democratic house of representatives, and
the acts of the executive department to its
scrutiny and investigation. A Democratn
national administration wassucceeded by 2
Republican administration, and the fresh
ness of the event gives unuSual facilities for
fair comparison and judgment. There has
seldom been a time, I think, when a change
from the declared policies of the Republic-
an to the declared policies of the Demo
cratic party involved such serious results tc
the business interests of the country. A
brief review of what has been done and 01
what the Democratic party proposes ti
undo will justify this opinion.

The Republican party during the civi.
war devised a national currency consisting
of United States notes, issued and redeem-
able by the government, and of nationa
bank notes based upon the security of Unitec‘
States bonds. A tax was levied upon the
issues of state banks, and the intended re
sult that all such .issues should be with-
drawn was realized. There are men among
us now who never saw a state bank note
The notes furnished directly or indirectly
by the United States have been the only
and the safe and acceptable paper currency
of the people. Bank failures have brought
no fright, delnyor loss to the bill holders
The note of an insolvent bank is as good
and as current as a treasury note, for thz

credit of the United States is behind it.

Our money is all national money—I might
almost say international—for these bills am
not only (finally and indiscriminately ac-
cepted at per in all the states, but in some
foreign countries. The Democratic party
if intrustcd with the control of the govern
ment, is now pledged to repeal the tax or
state bank issues, with a. View to putting
into circulation again, under such diverse
legislation as the state may accept, a flooc'
of local bank issues. Onfy those who it
the years before the war experienced tht
inconvenience and losses attendant upoz
the use of such money can appreciate what
a return to that system involves. The de
nomination of a bill was then often no in
dication of its value. The bank detectm
of yesterday was not a safe guide today a:
to credit or Values. .

Merchants deposited several times during
the day lest the hour of bank closing shoulc’
Show u depreciation of the money taken if
the morning. The traveler could not use it
a journey to the east the issues of the most
solvent banks of the west, and in conse
quence a money changer’s office was the fa-
miliar neighbor of the ticket office and ths
lunch counter. The farmer and the laborei
found the money received for their product:
or their labor depreciated when they cams
to make their purchases, and the wholc
business of the country was hindered anc’
burdened. Changes may become necessary
but a national system of currency, safe and
acceptable throughout the whole country
is the good fruit of bitter experiences, and
I am sure our people will not consent to the
reactionary proposal made by the Demo
cratic party.

Few subjects have elicited more discus
sion or excited more general interest than

that of a recovery by the United States 0: ,,

its appropriate share of the ocean carrying.
trade. This subject touches not only om
pockets, but our national pride. Practically

4 all the freights for transportation to Eu

rope, the enormous annual supplies of pro
visions furnished‘by this country and for
the large return of manufactured products
have for many years been paid to foreigr
shipowners. Thousands of emigrants an.
nually seeking homes under our flag hav:
been denied the sight of it until they en
tered Sandy Hook, while increasing thou
sands of American citizens bent on Euro
pean travel have each year stepped into a
foreign jurisdiction at the New York docks

The merchandise balance of trade, whicl
the treasury books show, is largely reduced
by the annual tribute .which we pay for
freight and passage moneys. The great
ships—the fastest upon the sea—which are
now in peace profiting by our trade, are, it.
a secondary sense, warships of their re
spective governments, and in time of war

-. would, under existing contracts with those
gqvggnments, spgedily tgkegn the guys for

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Which 9.1.1:: mass are actually prepared and
enter with terrible efficiency upon the
work of destroying our commerce. The
undisputed fact is that the great steamshi}
lines of Europe were built up and are now
in part sustained by direct or indirect gov-
ernment aid, the latter taking the form 01
liberal pay for carrying the mails, or of at
annual bonus given in consideration 0)
agreements to construct the ships so as t(
adapt them for carrying an armament and
to turn them over to the government or
demand upon specified terms.

It was plain to every intelligent Amer
ican that if the United States would have
such lines a similar policy must be entered
upon. The Fifty-first congress enacted suck
alaw, and under its bencficent influence
sixteen American steamships, of an aggro
gate tonnage of 57,400 tons and costing
87,400,000, have been built or contracted to
be built in American shipyards. In addi-
tion to this it is now practically certain
that we shall soon have under the Amer-
ican flag one of the finest steamship lines
sailing out of New York for any European
port. This contract will result in the con-
struction in American yards of four new
passenger steamships of 10,000 tons each,
costing about $8,000,000, and will add to 0111
naval reserve six steamships—the fastest
upon the sea.

A special interest has been taken by mt
in the establishment of lines from our soutt
Atlantic and gulf ports, and though my
expectations have, not yet been realized at
tention has been called to the advantages

possessed by these ports, and when theT1
people are more fully alive to their inter-
ests I do not doubt that they will be able to
secure the capital needed to enable them to
profit by their great natural advantages.
The Democratic party has found no place
in its platform for any reference to this
subject, and has shown its hostility to the
general policy by refusing to ex tend an ap-
propriation made during the last adminis-
tration for ocean mail contracts with Ameri-
can lines.

The patriotic people, the workmen in our
shops, the capitalists seeking new enter-
prises must Wide whether the great ships
owned by Americans which have sought
American registry shall again humbly ask a
place in the English naval reserve; the great
ships now on the designers’ tables go to for-
eign shops for construction, and the United
States lose the now brightening ‘opportu-
nity of recovering a place commensurate
with its wealth, the skill of its constructors
and the courage of its sailors in the carry-
ing trade of all the seas.

Another related measure as furnishing an
increased ocean traffic for our ships, and of
great and permanent benefit to the farmers
and many manufacturers as Well, is the
reciprocity policy declared by section 3 of
the tarifi act of 1800, and now in practical
operation with five of the nations of Central
and South America, Santo Domingo, the
Spanish and British VTest India islands, and
with Germany and Austria, under special
trade arrangements with each. The removal
of the duty upon sugar and the continuance
of coffee and tea upon the free list, while
giving great relief to our own people by
cheapening articles used increasingly in
every household, was also of such enormous
advantage to the countries exporting these
articles as to suggest that in consideration
thereof reciprocal favors should be shown
in their tariffs to articles exported by us tc
their markets.

Great credit is due to Mr. Blaine for the
vigor with which he pressed this view upon
the country. We have only begun to real-
ize the benefit of these trade arrangements.
The work of creating new agencies and ot
adapting our goods to new markets has
necessarily taken time, but the results al-
ready attained are such, I am sure, as to es.
tablish in popular favor the policy of recip-
rocal trade, based upon the free importation
of such articles as do not injuriously com-
pete with th roducts of our own farms,
mines or fa ice in exchange for the free
or favored introduction of our products
into other countries.

The obvious efficacy of this policy in in-
creasing the foreign trade of the United
States at once attracted the alarmed atten-
tion of European trade journals and boards
of trade. The British board of trade has
presented to that government a memorial
asking for the appointment of a commission
to consider the best means of counteracting
what is called “the commercial crusade oi
the United States." At a meeting held in
March last of the associated chambers of
commerce of Great Britain the president
reported that the exports from Great
Britain to the Latin countries during the
last year had decreased 823,7 50,000, and this
was not due to temporary causes, but di-
rectly to the reciprocity policy of the United
States.

Germany and France have also shown
their startled appreciation of the fact that
a new and vigorous contestant has appeared
in the battle of the markets and has already
secured important advantages. The most
convincing evidence of the tremendous
commercial strength of our position is
found in the fact that Great Britain and
Spain have found it necessary to make re.
ciprocal trade agreements with us for their
West India colonies, and that Germany and
Austria have given us important conces-
sions in exchange for the continued free im-
portation of their beet sugar.

. A few details only as to the increase of our
trade can be given here. Taking all the
countries with which such arrangements
have been made our trade to June 30, 1892,
had increased 23.78 per cent. With Brazil
the increase was nearly 11 per cent; with
Cuba. during the first ten months our ex-
ports increased $5,702,193, or 54.80 per cent.,
and with Portn Rico $590,959, or 31 per
cent. The lilac-r -l participation of our farm-
ers in the benrti :s of this policy is shown
by the following report from our consul
general at Havana, under date of July 26
last: .

During the first half year of 1891 Havana re
ceived 140,056 bags of flour from Spain and
other ports of the island about an equal amount,
or approximately 280,112 bags.

During the same period Havana received
13,976 bags of American flour and other ports
approximately an equal amount, making about
28,000 bags.

But for the first half of this year Spain has
sent less than 1.000 bags to the whole island.
and the United States has sent to Havana alonc
168,487 bags and about an equal amount to other
ports of the island, making approximately
337,000 for the first half of 189.3.

Partly by reason of the reciprocal trade
agreement, but more largely by reason of
the removal of the sanitary restrictions
upon American pork, our export of pork
products to Germany increased during the
ten months ending June 30 last $2,025,074,
or about 32 per cent. ,

The British Trade Journal, of London, in
a recent issue, speaking of the increase of
American coal exports and of the falling ofi
of the English coal exports to Cuba, says:

It is another case of American competition.
The United States now supply Cuba with
about 150,000 tons of coal annually, and there is
every prospect of this trade increasing as the
forests of the island become exhausted and the
use of steam machinery on the sugar estates is.
developed. Alabama coal especially is securing
a reputation in the Spanish West Indies, and
the river and rail improvements of the southern
states will undoubtedly create an important
gulf trade. The new reciprocity policy, by
which the United States are enabled to import
Cuban sugar, will of course assist the American
coal exporter even more effectively than the
nailing of railwgyun '

 

 

The Democratic platform promises a re-
peal of the tariff law containing this pro.
vision and especially denounces 'as a “sham
reciprocity” that section of the law under

which these trade arrangements have been .

made. If no other issue were involved in
the campaign, thisalone would give it mo-
mentous importance. A the farmers of
the great grain growing 8 es willing to sur-
render these new, large aud increasing mar-
kets for their surplus? Are we to have
nothing in exchange for the free importa-
tion of sugar and cofiee, and at the same
time to destroy the sugar planters of the
south and the beet sugar industry of the
northwest andof the Pacific coast, or are
We to have the taxed sugar and coffee,
Which a “tariff for revenue only” necessa-
rily involves, with the added 1053 of the
new markets which have been opened?

As I have shown, our commercial rivals
in Europe do not regard this reciprocity
policy as a “sham,” but as a serious threat
to a. trade supremacy they have long en-
joyed. They would rejoice—and if prudence
did not restrain, would illuminate their do
pressed manufacturing cities—over the new;
that-the United States had abandoned its
system of protection and reciprocity. They
see very clearly that a restriction of Ameri-
can production and trade and a correspond
ing increase of European production and
trade would follow, and I will not believe
that what is so plain ts than can be hidden
from our own people.

The declaration of éthe platform in favor
of “the American doctrine of protection”
meets my most hearty approval. The con-
vention did not adopt a schedule, but a
principle that is to control all tariff sched-
ules. There may be differences of opinion
among protectionism as to the rate upon
particular articles necessary to effect an
equalization of wages abroad and at home.
In some not remote national campaigns the
issue has been—or more correctly has been
made to appear to lie—between a high and
a low protective tarifi, both parties express-
ing some solicitous regard for the wages of
our working people and for the prosperity
of our domestic industries. But under a
more courageous leadership, the Democratic
party has now practically declared that it
given power it will enact a tariff law with-
out any regard to its effect upon wages or
upon the capital invested in our great in-
dustries. The majority report of the com-
mittee on platform to the Democratic
national convention at Chicago contained
this clause:

That when custom house taxation is levied
upon articles of any kind produced in this
country, the difference between the cost of 1a-
bor here and labor abroad, when such differ-
ence exists, fully measures any possible bene-
fits to labor, and the enormous additional im~
positions of the existing tariff fall with crush
ing force upon our farmers and working-men.

Here we have a distinct admission of the
Republican contention that American work-
men are advantaged by a tariff rate equai
to the difference between home and foreign
wages, and a declaration only against the
alleged “additional impositions” of the ex-
isting tariff law. Again, this majority re-
port further declared:

But in making a reduction of taxes it is not
proposed to injure any domestic industries, but
rather to promote their healthy growth. * * 1
Moreover, many industries have come to rely
upon legislation for successful continuance sc
that any change of law must be at every step
regardful of the labor and the capital thus in.
volved. .,

Here we have an admission that many or
our industries depend upon protective du'
ties “for their successful continuance,” and
a declaration that tariff changes should be
regardful of the workmen in such indus-
tries and of the invested capital. ‘

The overwhelming rejection of these
propositions, which had before received the
sanction of Democratic national conven-
tions, was not more indicative of the new
and more courageous leadership to which
the party has now committed itself that
the substitute which was adopted. This
substitute declares that protective duties
are unconstitutional—high protection, low
protection—all unconstitutional. A Demo
cratic congress holding this view cannot
enact or a Democratic president approve
any tarifi schedule the purpose or effect 01
which is to limit importations or to give
any advantage to an American workman or
producer. A bounty might, I judge, be
given to the importer under this view 01
the constitution, in order to increase impor
tations, and so the revenue—for “revenue
only”—is the limitation.

Reciprocity of course falls under this de-
nunciation, for its object and effect are not
revenue but the promotion of commercial
exchanges, the profits of which go wholly
to our producers. This destructive, un-
American doctrine was not held or taught
by the historic Democratic statesmen whoss
fame as American patriots has reached this
generation—certainly not by Jefferson 01
Jackson. This mad crusade against Amer
ican shops, the bitter epithets applied ts
American manufacturers, the persistent dis-
belief of every report of the opening of a
tin plate mill or of an increase of our for.
eign trade by reciprocity, are as surprising
as they are discreditable.

There is not a thoughtful business man it
the country who does not know that the en-
actment into law of the declaration of the
Chicago convention upon the subject of tht
tariff would at once plunge the country int:
a business convulsion such as it has neve:
seen; and there is not a thoughtful work
ingman,who does not know that it woult
at once enormously reduce. the amount 0'
work to be done in this country by the in
crease of importations that would follow
and necessitate a reduction of his wages t
the European standard. .

If any one suggests that this radical pol
icy will not be executed if the Democrati
party attains power, what shall be though
of a party that is capable of thus triflin,
with great interests? The threat of 5 cl
legislation would be only less hurtful this)
the fact. A distinguished Democrat rightl;
described this movement as a challenge
to the protected industries to a fight of ex
termination, and another such rightly ex
pressed the logic of the situation when h

' interpreted the Chicago platform to be an

invitation to all Democrats holding ever
the most moderate protection views to gi
into the Republican party.

And now a few words in regard to the ex-
isting tariff law. We are fortunately able
to judge of its influence upon productior
and prices by the market reports. The day
or the prophet of calamity has been suc
ceeded by that of the trade reporter. A:
examination into the efiect of the law upor
the prices of protected products and of the
cost of such articles as enter into the living.
of people of small means has been made by
a senate committee composed‘ of leading
senators of both parties, with the aid of the
best statisticians, and the report, signed'by'
all the members of the committee, has bee:
given to the public. No such wide and

careful inquiry has eyer before been made
These facts appear from the report: '

‘ First—The cost of articles entering int:
the use of those earning less than $1,000 pe:
annum has decreased up to May, 1892, 3..
per cent., while in farm products there ha:
been an increase in prices, owing in part tc
an increased foreign demand and the open

~ing of new ”markets. In England, during'

the same period, the cost of living increased
1.9 per cent. Tested by their pov'ver to put
chase articles of necessity, the earnings or
our working people. have never been a

‘ggvided for, $87,000 .‘

 

great as they are now.

Second—There has been an average ad
vance in the rate of wages of .75 of 1 pa
cent.

Third—There has been an advance in th.
price of all farm products of 18.07 per cent
and of all cereals 33.59 per cent.

The ninth annual report of the chief ‘ o
the bureau of labor statistics of the state 0:
New York—a Democratic officer—very re
cently issued, strongly corroborates as tc
that state the facts found by the senate
committee. His extended inquiry show:
that in the year immediately following the
passage of the tariff act of 1890 the aggro
gate sum paid in wages in that state was
$6,377,925 in excess, and the aggregate pro
duction $31,315,130 in excess of the preced
ing year. ‘

In view of this showing of an increase it
wages, of a reduction in the cost of article:
of common necessity, and of a marked ad
vance in the prices of agricultural products
it is plain that this tariff law has not im
posed burdens but has conferred benefits
upon the farmer and the workingman.

Some special effects of the act should be
noticed. It Was a courageous attempt tt
rid our people of a long maintained foreigx
monopoly in the production of tin plate
pearl buttons, silk plush, linens, lace, etc
Once or twice in our history the productior
of tin plate had been attempted. and flu
prices obtained by the Welsh makers‘would
have enabled our makers to produce it at a
profit. But the Welsh makers at once out
prices to a point that drove American be-
ginners out of the business, and, when this
was accompl shed, again made their own
prices. A correspondent of The Industrial
World, the official organ of the Welsh tin
plate workers, published a‘ Swanson, in
the issue of June 10, 139.2, advises a row
trial of those methods. He says:

Do not be deceived. The victory of the Re
publicans at the polls means the retention of
the McKinley bill, and means the rapidly no
cruing loss of the 80 per cent. of the export
American trade. I-Iad there been no Demo
cratic victory in 1890 the Spread of the tin plats
manufacture in the United States would have
been both rapid and bean. tide. * * * It is
not yet too late to do something to reduce the
price of plates. Put them down to eleven shill
lings per box of I C 14 by 2;), full weight basis
Let the workmen take half pay for a. few
months and turn out more. Then let the mas
tors forego profits for the same time.

And again that paper says: .

It is clearly to the interest of both (employer
and workman) to produce tin plates, tariff 01
no tarifi, at a price that will drive all competi
tors from the field.

But in spite of the doubts raised by the
elections of 1890 and of the machinations oi
foreign producers to maintain their monop
01y the tin plate industry has been estab
lished in the United States, and the alliance
between the Welsh producers and the Dem-
ocratic party for its destruction will not
succeed.

The official returns to the treasury de
partment of the production of tin and terns
plates in the United States during the last
fiscal year show a total production of 13,-
240,830 pounds, and a. comparison of the
first quarter—820,922 pounds—with the last
—8,000,000 pounds—shows the rapid devel
opment of the industry. Over 5,000,00t
pounds during the last quarter were madt
from American black plates, the remaindez
from foreign plates. Mr. Ayer, the treasury
agent in charge, estimates as the result 0.
careful inquiry that the production of the
current year will be 100,000,000 pounds, am
that by the end of the year our productior

will be at the rate of 200,000,000 pounds pei

annum.

Another industry that has been practi
cally created by the McKinley bill is tht
making of pearl buttons. Few articles com
ing to us from abroad were so distinctively
the product of starvation wages.

But without unduly extending this lettei
I cannot follow in detail the influence oi
the tariff law of 1890. It has transplanted
several important industries and establishes
them here and has revived or enlarged a1
others. " The act gives to the miners pro
tection against foreign silver bearing lea:
ores, the free introduction of which threat
ened the great mining industries of tilt
Rocky mountain states, and to the woo
growers protection for their fleeces ané
flocks, which has saved them from a further
and disastrous decline. The house of repre
sentatives at its last session passed bill:
placing these ores and wool upon the fre:
list. The people of the west will know how
destructive to their prosperity these meas
ures would be.

The tariff law has given employment t(
many thousands of American men and
women, and will each year give employ
ment to increasing thousands. Its repea
would throw thousands out of employment
and give work to others only at reduces
wages. The appeals of the rec trader t(
the workingman are largely ddressed it
his prejudices or to his passions, and not in-
frequently are pronounced communistic
The new Democratic _leadership rages at
the employer, and seeks to communicate his
rage to the employee. I regret that al
employers of labor are not just and con
siderate, and t at capital sometimes take:
too large a share of the profits. But I dc
not see that these evils will be ameliorated
by a tariff policy, the first necessary effect
of which is a severe wage cut and the sec
and a large diminution of the aggregate
amount of work to be done in this country
If the injustice of his employer tempts tht
workman to strike back he should be very

sure that his blow does not fall 11 on hit

own head or upon his wife and chil en.
The workmen in our great industries are
as a body remarkably intelligent and art
lovers of home and country. They may bf
roused by injustice, or what seems to then:
to be such, or be led for the moment b
others into acts of passion, but they "

, settle the tariff contest in the calm li ht 01

their November firesides, and with so 6 ref-
erence to the prosperity of the country 01
which they are citizens and of the home:
they have founded for their wives and chil-
dren. -.No intelligent advocate of a protect-
iveutarlfi claims that it is able of itself to:
maintain a uniform rate of wages without
regard to fluctuations in the supplfiaud de-
mand for the products of labor. ut it is
confidently claimed that protective duties
strongly tend to hold upwa es, and are the
oily, amer against a re notion of the
European scale.

The. southern states have had a liberal
participation in the benefits of the tarifl
aw, and though their representatives have
generally opposed the protection policy 1
rejome that their sugar, rice, “ooa , ores,
iron, fruits, cotton cloths and other prod-
ucts have not been left to the fate which
the votes of their representatives would

have brought upon them. In the construov

tion of the Nicaragua canal, in’. the new
trade with South and Central Ainerica, in

the establishment of American steamship

lines, these states have also as ‘ecial inter;
oats, and all these interests Wll' not always
consent to be without representation at
Washington. :' *

Shrewdl , but not quite fairly, our adver-
saries spea only of the increased duties im-
posed on linen, earl buttode and othel
articles by the cKinley 'l, and omit
altogether any reference to 0 eat and

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

beneficial enlargement of the so, ist. D111”,

ing the last fiscal ear $458, ,772,worth of
merchandise, or 9 .35 per 09 of our total
impgrt’s, came-in free (the la st percent
age 1n our history), while in the pen

. centage of importation was My 34.42 per

cent. The placin of sugar I: the free
list has saved to _t econsumer 'n duties in
fifteen months, after ' t ,e bounties
'_ relief has

household
of ‘ the

 
 

11 substantially felt in eve
upon every Saturd

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favored aid b
the publicfic

(5601‘ the favorite arguments against a

. protective tarifi is that it shuts us out from

a part' icipation in what is calledfiwith swell-
ing emphasxsf‘the markets of the world.”
If this View is not a false one how does it
happen that our commercial competitors
are not able to bear with more serenity our
supposed surrender to them of the “mar-
kets of the world?” And how does it ha pen
that the partial loss of our market c bees
foreign tin plate mills and plush factories
that still have all other markets? Our nat
ural advantages, our protective tariff, and
reciprocity policy make it possible for us to
have a large participation in the “markets
of the world” without opening our own to
a competition that would destroy the com-
fort and independence of our people.

The resolution of the convention in favor
of bimetallism declares, I think. the true
and necessary conditions of a movement
that has, n on these lines, my cordial ad-
herence an support. I am thoroughly con.
vinced that the free coiua e of silver, at
such a ratio to gold as wil maintain the
equality in their commercial uses of the twa
coined dollars, would conduce to the pros-
perity of all the great producing and com-
mercial patrons of the world. [he one es
sential condition is that these dollars shall
have and retain an equal acceptability and
value in all commercial transactions. They
are not only a medium of exchange but a
measure of values; and when two unequal
measures are called in law by the saint

name commerce is unsettled and confused,
and the unwary and ignorant are cheated.

Dollars of unequal commercial value will
not circulate toget er.
withdrawn and be mes merchandise. The
true interest of all our people, and es 9-
3ially of the farmers and working peop e,
who cannot closely observe the money mar-
ket, is that every dollar, paper or coin, is-
sued or authorized by the government,
shall at all times and in all its uses be the
exact equivalent, not only in debt paying,
but in purchasing pOWer of any other dol-
lar. I am quite sure that if we should now
act upon this subject independently of
other nations we would greatly promote
their interests and injure our own.

The monetary conditions in Europe within
the last two years have I think tended very
much to develop a sentiment in favor of a
larger use of silver, and I was much pleased
and encouraged by the cordiality, prompt-
ness and unanimity with which the invita-
tion of this government for an international
conference upon this subject was accepted
by all the powers. We may not only hope
for, but expect, highly beneficial results
from this conference, which will now soon
assemble. When the result of the confer-
ence is known we shall then be able intelli-
gently to readjust our financial legislation
to any new conditions.

I51 my last annual message to congress]
83.1 :

I must yet entertain the hope that it is pos
sible to secure a calm, patriotic consideration of
such constitutional or statutory chan cres as may
be necessary to secure the choice of the officers
of the government to the people by fair appor-
tionments and free elections. I believe it would
be possible to constitute a commission, nonpar-
tisan in its membership and composed of patri-
otic, wise and impartial men. to whom a. con
sideration of the question of the evils connect.
ed with our election system and methods might
be committed, with a good prospect of secur-
ing unanimity in some plan for removing o;
mitigating those evils. The constitution would
permit the selection of the commission to be
vested in the supreme court, if that method
would give the best guarantee of impartiality.
This commission should be charged with the
duty of inquiring into the whole subject of the
law of elections as related to the choice of offi-
cers of the national overnment, with a view
to securing to every e ector a free and unmo
lested exercise of the suffrage and 'as near an
approach to an en ualitflof value in each ballot
cast as is attaina Is. The demand that the
limitations of suffrage shall‘be found in the
law, and only there, is a. just demand, and us
just man should resent or resist it.

It seems to me that an appeal to our peo
ple to consider the question of readjusting
our legislation upon absolutely fair nonpar-
tisan lines might find some effective re-
sponse. Many times I have had occasion
to say that laws and election methods, de-
signed to give unfair advantages to the
party making them, would some time be
used to perpetuate in power a faction of a
party against the will of the majority of
the people. Of this we seem to have an
illustration in the recent state election in
Alabama. There was no Republican ticket
in the field. The contest was between
white Democrats.

The Kolb party say they were refused
the representation guaranteed by law upon
the election boards, and that, when the
courts by mandamus attempted to right
this wrong, an appeal that could not be
heard until after the election made the
write ineffectual. Ballot boxes were thrown
out for alleged irregularities 'or destroyed,
and it is asserted on behalf of one-half at
least of the white voters of Alabama that
the oflicers to whom certificates have been
given were not honestly elected. There is
no security for the personal or political
rights of any man in a community where
any other man is deprived of his personal
or political rights. ’lhe ower of the states
over the question of t e qualification of
electors is ample to protect them against
the dangers of an ignorant or depraved suf-
frage, and the demand that every man
found to be qualified under the law shall be
made secure in the right to cast a free bal-
lot and to have that ballot honestly counted
cannot be abated.

Our old Republican battle cry, “A free
ballot and a fair count,” comes back to us,
not only from Alabama, but from other
states and from men who, differing with
us widely in opinions, have come to see that
parties and political debate are but a
mockery if, when the debate is ended, the
judgment of honest majorities is to be re-
versed by ballot box frauds and tally sheet
manipulations in the interest of the party
or arty faction in power.

hese new political movements in the
states and the recent decisions of some of
the state courts against unfair apportion.
ment laws encourage the hope that the ar-
bitrary and partisan election laws and
practices whic have prevailed may be cor-
rected by the states, the laws. made equal
and nonpartisan, and the elections free and
honest. The Republican parti would re-
joice at such a solution, _as a ealthy and
patriotic local sentiment is the best assur-
ance of free and honest elections. _I_ shall
again urge upon congress that prowsron be
made for the appointment of anonpartisau
commission to consider the subject _of ap-
portionments and elections, in their rela-
tion to the choice of federal officers.

The civil service" system has been extended
and the law enforced with vigor and impar-
tiality. There has been no partisan jug-
gling with the law in any of the depart-
ments or bureaus as had before happened,

but appointments to the classified servi ‘ ,

have been made impartially from the;

gible lists. The s 'stem now in force infill.»

apartments has or the first time placed
promotions strictly upon the basis of merit
as ascertained by a daily record, and the
efficiency of the force thereby greatly in-
creased.

The approval so heartily given» by the
c‘onvention to all those agencies which con-
tribute to the education of the children of
the land was worthily bestowed and meets
my hearty ap roval, as does also the declao'
ration as to iberty of thought and con—
science and the separation of church and
state. The safety of the republic is an in-
telligent citizenship, and the increased. 11:-
terest manifested in the states in education,
the cheerfulness. with which the necessary
taxes are paid by all classes and the re-
newad interest manifested by the children
in the national flag are hopeful indications
that the coming generation will direct pub-

lic affairs with increased prudence and

patriotism. . _
Our interest in free public schools, open-

to all children: of suitable age, is supreme,

and our care for them will be jealous and
constant. The public school system, how-
ever, was not intended to restrain the nat-
ural right of the parent, after contributing
to the. public school fund, to choose other
educational agencies for his children. I

the general government to
0013 with a special viewto
tlfe necessities .of some._of the southern
states. “But it is gratifying to notice that
many of these states are, With commenda-

ble liberality, developing their school sys-‘

terns and increasing their school revenues

"to- the great advantage of the children of

,.
1

The better dollar is ,

‘my views.

 

 

both races. ~ ‘ .

The considerate attention of the farmers
of the whole country is invited to the work

done through the state and agricultural de-
gartments in the interest of- agriculture.
ur pork products had for ten years been
not only excluded by the great continental
nations of Europe, but their val discred-
ited by the reasons given for this xclusion.
All revious efi’orts to secure the removal
of t ese restrictions had failed, but the Wise
‘egislation of the Fifty-first congress, pro- Q,
viding for the impaction and ofi‘icial certifi-
cation of our meats, and giving to the pres-
ident power to forbid the introduction into
this country of selected products 'of such
countries as should continue to refuse our
inspecte'd meats, enable us to 0 en all the
markets of Europe to our por products.
The result has been not only to sustain
prices by providing new markets for our
surplus, but to add fifty cents per hundred.
pounds to the market value of the inspected
meats. Under the reciprocity agreement.
special favors have“ been secured for agricul-
tural, roducts, and our exports of such prod-
ucts ave been atly increased, With a
lure prospect of a urther and rapid increase.

The agricultural de artment has main-
tained an agent in urope whose special‘
duty it is to introduce there the various
preparations of corn as articles of food, and

15 work has been very successful. The de-
ent has also sent skilled veterinarians
to Liverpool to examine, in connection with
the British veterinarians, the live cattle
from the United States landed at that port,
and the result, in connection with the san-
itary methods adopted at home, has been
that we hear no more about our cattle be-
ing infected with pleuropneumonia. A ju-
dicious eystCm of quarantine lines has pre-
vented the infectiou of northern cattle with
the Texas fever.

The tariff bill of 1890 gives better protec-
tion to farm products sub 'ect to foreign
competition than the ever ad before, and
the home markets or such products have
been enlarged by the estdblishmentof new
industries and the development of others.
We may confidently submit to the intelli-
gent and candid judgment of the Ameri-
can farmer whether, in any corresponding
period, so much has been done to promote

is interests, and whether, in a continuance
and extension of these methods, there is not
a better prospect offered to him than in the
invitation of the Democratic party to give
our home market to foreign manufacturers
and to abandon the reciprocity policy, and
better also than the radical and untried
methods of relief proposed by other parties
which are soliciting his support.

I have often expressed my strong con-
viction of the value of the Nicaragua ship
canal to our commerce and to our navy.
The project is not one of convenience, but
of necessity. It is quite possible, I believe,
if the United States will support the enter-
prise, to secure the speedy completion of
the canal without taxing the treasury for
any direct contribution, and at the same
time to secure to the United States that in-
fluence in its management which is imper-
ative.

It has been the purpose of the adminis-
tration to make its foreign policy not a
matter of partisan politics, but of patriot-
ism and national honor, and I have very
great gratification in being able to state
that the Democratic members of the com-
mittees on foreign afi'airs responded in a
true American spirit. I have not hesitated
to consult freely with them about the most
confidential and delicate affairs, and here
frankly confess my obligation for needed co-
operation. They did not regard a patient
but firmjnsistence upon American rights
and upon immunity from insult and injury
for our citizens and sailors in foreign ports
as a policy of “irritation and blaster.”

They did not-believe, as some others seem
to believe, that to be a Democrat one must
_take the foreign side of every international
question if a Republican administration is
conducting the American side. I do not be-
lieve that a tame submission to insult and
outrage by any nation at the hands of an-
other can ever form the basis of a lasting
friendship. The necessary element. of mu-
tual respect will be wanting.

The Chilian incident, now so happily and
honofibly adjusted, will, I do not doubt.
place our relations with that brave people
upon a more friendly basis than ever before.
This already appears in the agreement
since negotiated y Mr. Egan for the settle:
ment by a commission of the long unset‘led
claims between the two governments. The
work of Mr. Egan has been highly advan-
tageous to the United States. The confi-
dence which I refused to withdraw from
him has been abundantly justified.

In our relations with the eat European
powers the rights of the United States and
of our citizens have been insisted upon with
firmness. The strength of our cause and
not the strength of our adversary has given
tone to our correspondence. The Samoan
question and the Behring sea question,
which came over from the preceding ad-
ministration, have been the one settled
and the other submitted to arbitration on
a fair basis. Never before, I think, in a
like period have so many im rtant treaties
and commercials cements en concluded,
and never before, am sure, have the honor
and influence, national and commercial, of
the United States been held in higher esti-
mation in both hemispheres. '

The Union soldiers and sailors are now
veterans of time as well as of war. The
parallels of age have approached close to
the citadels of life, 'and the end for each of
a. brave and honorable struggle is not re.
mote. Increasing infirmity and years give
the minor tones of sadness and pathos to
the mighty appeal of service and suffering.
The ear that does not listen with sympathy
and the heart that does not respond with
generosity are the ear and heart of an alien
and not of an American. Now soon again
the surviving veterans are to parade upon
the great avenue of the national capital,
and every tribute of honor and love should
attend themarch. A comrade in the col-
umn of the victor’s parade in 1865, I am not
less a comrade now.

I have used every suitable occasion to
urge upon the people of all sections the con-
sideration that no good cause can, be to
moted upon the lines of lawlessness. obs
do not discriminate and the punishments

inflicted by them have no repressive or sal- ‘
utary influence. On the contrary thev be
get revenges and perpetuate feuds. t is
especially the duty of the educated and in‘
fluential to see that the weak and ignorant
when accused of crime are fairly tried be
fore lawful tribunals. The moral sentiment
of the country should be aroused and
brought to bear for the suppression of thesr
ofieuses against the law and social order.

The necessity of a careful iscrimination
among the immigrants seeking our shores
becomes every day more apparent. We do
not want and should not receive those wife,
by reason of bad character or habits, are
not wanted at home. ' The industrious and
self res cting, thelovers of law and liberty,
should 9 discriminated from the pauper,
the criminal and the anarchist, who come
only to burden .or disturb our communities.
Every efiort'has been made to enforce the
laws, and some convictions have been so-
cured under the contract labor law.

The general condition of our country is
one of great prosperity. The blessing of
God has tested If 11 our fields and our peo-
ple. The annu value of our forei com-
mercehasincreased- more than _ ,000,00c
met the average for the preceding ten
years, and more that $210,000,000 over 1890, . ‘
the last year unafiected by the new tarifi.
Our exports in 1892 exceeded those of 1890

by more'than $172,000,000, and the annual

average for ten years by $265,000,000. Our
exports of breadstufis increasedjover those
or 1890 more than $144,000,000, of provisions
over $4,000,000, and of manufactures over
$8,000,000.

The merchandise balance of trade in our
favor in 1892 was $202,044,342. No other
nation can match the commercial progress
which these figures disclose. Our compas

‘ sion may well go out to those whose party

necessities and habits still compel them to
declare that our people are oppressed and
our trade restricted b a protective tarifi._
It 18_ not possible or me to refer even in
the bnefest Way to many of the topics pro.

‘ seated in the resolutions adopted 'by the

convention. Upon all that have not been
discussed I have before iublicly expressed
A‘cbange'in' t e personnel‘of' a
national-administration idol? .. ' tivel ,
little moment. .If those? exercising public
MORAN. able,_1;opes_t, adihgeut . apd