CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



141 



rope, in addition to the cost of production. It 

 is therefore purely a question of rent. Foreign 

 farms will not be abandoned, but the rents 

 will be reduced and the products will be in- 

 creased, so that, instead of larger, we are likely 

 to have more restricted markets. The process 

 of readjustment is now going on. Rents have 

 been reduced from 20 to 30 per cent, and if 

 that is not sufficient they will be further re- 

 duced until land is as free in Europe as it is 

 upon this continent. Nations will not abandon 

 the soil, but they will resist the imposition of 

 rent and taxes which it will not bear. 



" To any one studying the condition of this 

 country at the present time three things are 

 evident : first, that we are the most prosperous 

 people in the world; and there I agree with 

 the gentleman from Iowa; secondly, that we 

 are paying the highest wages of any people in 

 the world; and there again I agree with the 

 gentleman from Iowa; lastly, that we have the 

 highest tariff duties of any nation in the world ; 

 and there I think I agree with the gentleman 

 from Iowa. Bat he reasons post hoc propter 

 hoc: because we have a high tariff, therefore 

 we are prosperous, and therefore we pay 

 the highest wages of any nation in the 

 world. 



"But let me take him back to that era of 

 depression between 1873 and 1879 ; and let us 

 diagnose the condition of things then. We had 

 then an era of depression in which men went 

 to and fro in this land begging for employ- 

 ment. Then we had the lowest rate of wages 

 that has prevailed in this country for the last 

 forty years ; and then we had the same high 

 tariff that we have to-day. If I were to rea- 

 son, as the gentleman did, post hoc propter 

 hoc, I should say that the high tariff caused 

 the bad times and the low wages and the 

 want of work. But the truth is that the 

 tariff has nothing to do with the matter. I 

 will not say ' nothing to do ' ; it has an influ- 

 ence for evil, but it has no influence for good ; 

 it can not create good times ; it can not create 

 high wages ; it can not give employment ex- 

 cept in one single contingency, to which I 

 shall recur hereafter ; and in that contingency 

 it was powerless from 1875 to 1878 inclu- 

 sive. 



" The only logical conclusion from these facts 

 which can not be disputed is, that the depres- 

 sion then and the prosperity now, the low 

 wages then and the high wages now, were not 

 produced by the revenue system, in which no 

 changes whatever have been made, but by 

 causes which must be searched for elsewhere, 

 and which must be understood before it will 

 be possible for Congress to deal intelligently 

 with the work of revenue reform, which public 

 opinion requires it to undertake. 



" Now, then, I take my first proposition, di- 

 rectly antagonizing the gentleman from Iowa. 

 I assert that legislation can not create value 

 nor can it determine the rate of wages. The 

 issue is fairly made up. There is no source of 



wealth in any country except that which is 

 derived from the soil by the application of la- 

 bor, machinery, and capital. 



"It is not possible by any human contriv- 

 ance, by any amount of abstract thought, by 

 any schemes of legislation to add to the natu- 

 ral resources of any country. Whatever there 

 may be, is in the soil and in the rain and sun- 

 shine that fructify it. Capital can only sup- 

 port the labor which is necessary to bring 

 about the annual harvest, and machinery can 

 only be used to economize the amount of labor 

 bestowed. With labor and skill sufficient for 

 the cultivation of the soil, the economy of pro- 

 duction will be proportioned to the amount of 

 capital and machinery employed in its cultiva- 

 tion. There is no royal road to wealth there 

 is no patent process by which the resources of 

 nature can be augmented. ' Can a man by 

 taking thought add a cubit to his stature ? ' In 

 the absence of any legislation the work of pro- 

 duction will proceed in a natural channel, and 

 all that legislation can by any possibility do 

 will be to divert labor and capital from the di- 

 rection which they would have taken under 

 natural laws. I feel it necessary to make this 

 statement, because many persons who have not 

 given much reflection to this subject seem to 

 think that there is some potency in legislation 

 which can add value to the forces of nature. 

 This fallacy underlies a great many of the 

 propositions which are made in regard to 

 money as well as industry. It is the key to 

 the fiat-money delusion, and it is the explana- 

 tion of the mistake which is made by those 

 who advocate protection for the sake of pro- 

 tection. When it is once realized that value 

 can not be created by legislative action, and is 

 the offspring only of hard and honest labor 

 aided by actual capital that is, by the posses- 

 sion of accumulated wealth either in the form 

 of money, structures, materials, or machinery 

 most of the difficulties in the way of intelli- 

 gent legislation and of placing our industry 

 upon a secure basis will disappear. 



" But if legislation can not create value, it 

 can prevent the growth of wealth by misdi- 

 recting industry into unprofitable channels, 

 and by depriving us of the profit which is re- 

 alized when we exchange the products of our 

 labor, properly applied, for commodities which 

 can be produced in other countries with less 

 expenditure of labor than is necessary to pro- 

 duce these commodities at home. In other 

 words, the profits of legitimate commerce may 

 be altogether or partially destroyed by artificial 

 obstructions to the free natural interchange of 

 commodities. These obstructions constitute a 

 deduction from the amount which our produ- 

 cers would otherwise receive for their labor 

 and skill, and are therefore to be avoided, and 

 not created by the action of government. 



"From this simple statement it will be ap- 

 parent that I do not believe in the efficacy of 

 taxation in any form as an aid to the develop- 

 ment of industry. If we could dispense with 



