SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART I. 81 



manufacturing interest of this country. It was better for all of us that 

 we should carry that load collectively, and better that that condition should 

 prevail. Now that is a proposition that I think the whole American peo- 

 ple are to-day willing to accept, Democrats, Republicans and all. 



It is a great mis-use of words to use the word "Free trade" as applied 

 to any political party in this country. There is no such party. No party 

 Has ever advocated it. The Democratic pai'ty practically whenever it has 

 had an opportunity has recognized the necessity for discrimination in lay- 

 ing taxes for the purpose of protection. The Republican party of course 

 has been committed, as a cardinal principle of its existence to the main- 

 tenance of the differential between the cost of this product in this country 

 and abroad. Now let us consider this proposition. We are all protection- 

 ists; then what? Shall we continue the same conditions which existed 

 in the past, when these infants were first occupying the attention of the 

 public and the sympathy of the public? Shall the billion dollar steel 

 trust of to-day, which dominates the iron interests of the world have the 

 same consideration at the hands of the public that it had when it con- 

 sisted of a few scattered forges and foundries all over the country? 

 Isn't there a necessity for a different consideration? And the same way 

 with other things. But I am not in favor of hurting anybody. I am in 

 favor of doing what Mr. Roosevelt says. I am in favor of making some 

 of these corporations take their feet out of the trough. Now 

 let us see. The trouble between us and Germany — I mention Germany 

 particularly, because that is the acute point just now->«Baron Von Stern- 

 burg came the other day with instructions from Minister Von Beulow, to 

 endeavor to arrive at satisfactory arrangements, with the United States 

 Government by which they could get our meats, bread stuff, etc., and by 

 which we would be willing to take something more from them. The 

 trouble with Germany is a very simple one, we have been selling her some- 

 thing over 200 million dollars worth of goods and have been buying from 

 her only about 100 million dollars worth of goods. Can any nation go on 

 indefinitely paying 100 millions in good balance all the time? It cannot be 

 done. There is not gold enough in the world to enable those great coun- 

 tries to continually pay us that balance of trade. Mr. McKinley said at 

 Buffalo that it was impossible. And even if it was possible, such a condi- 

 tion would be good neither for us, nor for them. Commerce is an exchange 

 of commodity. Let us see what would be the condition of Germany so far 

 as these interests we are considering to-day, if we had some kind of re- 

 ciprocal relations, some kind of an arrangement by which we could do 

 business v/ith them, buy things of them, and they could buy things of us 

 to mutual advantage. That is the kind of trade which appeals to nations. 

 Germany imported last year 305,346 head of cattle altogether from 

 Austria, Demark and Switzerland — a slight falling off as compared with 

 the two previous years. Owing to the recent crop failure fodder values 

 were so extremely high that farmers and feeders were obliged to rush 

 their cattle to market to such an extent that to-day there are practically 

 no native German beef cattle in the country. Our export of live cattle to 

 Great Britian for last year amounted to 387,467 head; and while we may 



