202 



CONGRESS. (REVENUE REFORM.) 



hold in the bellying sail the passing breeze, to 

 harness the tumbling waterfall, to dam up the 

 great rivers, to put bits in the teeth of the 

 lightning. Foot-pounds and fractions of a 

 horse-power will never do this. It takes 

 brains and the union of foot-pounds and frac- 

 tions of a horse-power working harmoniously 

 together. 



" For a nation to get out of itself or out of 

 the earth all the wealth there is in both, it is 

 not necessary for the nation to buy cheap or 

 sell dear. That concerns individuals alone. 

 What concerns the nation is how to utilize all 

 the work there is in men, both of muscle and 

 brain, of body and of soul, in the great enter- 

 prise of setting in motion the ever-gratuitous 

 forces of nature. 



" There is only one way to get the best work 

 out of men, and that is to give each the work 

 he can do best. You can only accomplish this 

 by diversifying industry. To diversify indus- 

 try completely in a country such as ours there 

 is but one way given under Heaven among 

 men. To enable the American people them- 

 selves to supply all their wants, you must give 

 and assure to the American people the Ameri- 

 can markets. What does this phrase mean in 

 practical life ? It means that we, the nation, 

 say to capital, 'Embark yourself in the manu- 

 facture of such and such articles and you shall 

 have a market to the extent of the wants of 

 the American people.' 



" Capital then says to labor, ' Go with me 

 into this new field, all of you who like this 

 work best, and we will share the results.' 

 Then begins a new industry. Multiply this 

 by hundreds and you have a community where 

 every man honestly minded will get what on 

 the whole suits him best, and the nation will 

 get the greatest amount of work from the 

 greatest number." 



Maintaining that the protective tariffs of the 

 world have really cheapened production, Mr. 

 Reed said: "Tariff taxes! Bowmen like to 

 fool themselves with phrases! Because the 

 taxing power is used not only for revenue but 

 as the barrier, and taxes are odious, therefore 

 the barrier must be odious also. How can 

 taxes produce? This is only mere word-tri- 

 fling. Can you keep cattle out of the cornfield 

 by sticking wood into the ground ? Yes, if you 

 make a fence. 



"Do you mean to tell me, said the wise 

 bumpkin to the engineer on the banks of the 

 Merrimac, do you mean to tell me that you 

 can make that stream useful by putting rocks 

 into it? Yes, said the engineer, as he pro- 

 ceeded to build his dam and set in motion the 

 water-wheels of mighty Lowell." 



Alluding to the promise held out by free 

 trade for a share in the business of the 

 markets of the world, Mr. Reed said : " To 

 hear these rhetoricians declaim, you would 

 imagine the markets of the world a vast 

 vacuum, waiting till now for American goods 

 to break through, rush in, and fill the yearn- 



ing void. "Will your goods go to Austria, to 

 Italy, Germany, Russia, or France? Around 

 all these benighted countries are the ' Chinese ' 

 walls of tariff taxes. Britain herself is pro- 

 tected by vast capital, accumulated through 

 ages, the spoils of her own and other lauds, by 

 a trade system as powerful as it is relentless. 

 All these nations will contest with you the 

 other countries which they already overflow. 



"Does your mouth water over the prospect? 

 "What market do you give up for all this? 

 Where is the best market in the world? 

 Where the people have the most money to 

 spend. Where have the people the most 

 money to spend? Right here in the United 

 States of America after twenty-seven years of 

 protectionist rule. And you are asked to give 

 up such a market for the markets of the 

 world! Why, the history of such a transac- 

 tion was told twenty-four hundred years ago. 

 It is a classic. You will find it in the works 

 of ^Esop, the fabulist. 



" Once there was a dog. He was a nice lit- 

 tle dog. Nothing the matter with him except 

 a few foolish free-trade ideas in his head. He 

 was trotting along happy as the day, for he 

 had in his mouth a nice shoulder of succulent 

 mutton. By and by he came to a stream 

 bridged by a plank. He trotted along, and, 

 looking over the side of the plank, he saw 

 the markets of the world and dived for them. 

 A minute after he was crawling up the bank 

 the wettest, the sickest, the nastiest, the 

 most muttonless dog that ever swam ashore! " 



Mr. Carlisle, of Kentucky, in closing the de- 

 bate on the Democratic side, May 19, dwelt 

 on the financial condition of the country : 

 "It appears from the last official statement 

 that there was in the Treasury at the close of 

 the last month, including subsidiary and minor 

 coins, the sum of $136,143,357.95 over and 

 above all the current liabilities of the Govern- 

 ment. This was $56,676,662.65 more than the 

 surplus on hand on the 1st day of December, 

 1887, and shows that there has been since 

 that date an average monthly increase of $11,- 

 335,332.15. The surplus accumulation each 

 month under the existing system of taxation is 

 more than the total cost of the Government 

 during the first two years of Washington's ad- 

 ministration, while the aggregate sum is con- 

 siderably in excess of the whole expenditure of 

 the Government during the first eighteen years 

 of its existence under the Constitution, includ- 

 ing civil and miscellaneous expenses, war, 

 navy, Indians, pensions, and interest on the 

 public debt. 



"Every dollar of this enormous sum has 

 been taken by law from the productive indus- 

 tries and commercial pursuits of the people at 

 a time when it was sorely needed for the suc- 

 cessful prosecution of their business and under 

 circumstances which afford no excuse whatever 

 for the exaction. There is not a monarchical 

 government in the world, however absolute its 

 form or however arbitrary its power, that 



