234 



CONGRESS. (SPECIAL SESSION THE SHERMAN ACT.) 



reception, and payment on reception? And you 

 would not even dare do that for fear the party 

 who contracted to buy would find himself un- 

 able to comply with the contract at the end. 

 What one of you who was a merchant would dare 

 to buy anything to-day ; and if so, what $ The 

 merchants of the country are buying just what 

 they are compelled to buy from day to day. The 

 manufacturer is making to-day just what he has 

 orders for from undoubtedly solvent persons who 

 have ordered the goods ; and this has worked a 

 revolution from one end of the country to the 

 other. 



" Bear in mind, now, I am not discussing the 

 tariff question. I am not here to have that con- 

 troversy now. We shall have a great deal of 

 that, or the Democratic party will go to protest 

 for default of its promises, for the ' robber ' is at 

 our throat yet, and you are passing away a great 

 deal of valuable time while the robber is taking 

 your substance from you, according to your views 

 of the case. But I am simply pointing out how 

 true it is that it is an entire revolution in this 

 great industrial system, and that it is not by any 

 means the product of this Sherman law. 



" Mr. Speaker, it is said by the distinguished 

 gentleman from Missouri that the volume of 

 money is affected by the opening of every new 

 industrial enterprise. As I understood his lan- 

 guage the other day, he said that the erection of 

 every new industrial institution made an addi- 

 tional call for an increase in the volume of the 

 currency. If that be true, and if there was a 

 fairly adequate volume of currency last Novem- 

 ber, there ought to be an almighty surplus in the 

 country now ; for I take it that the logic of that 

 argument goes both ways, and that if the open- 

 ing of a new industrial pursuit makes a demand 

 for money, the closing of one will likewise con- 

 gest the money somewhere ; and, therefore, rather 

 than be trying to make more money, we ought to 

 be operating upon the industrial organizations of 

 the country. 



" The Republican party will always be patri- 

 otic ; and we have the strongest assurance that 

 the Democratic party will be in the present in- 

 stance, or they would not dare to launch an ad- 

 ministration measure upon the country and chal- 

 lenge defeat, or battle for success, basing their 

 hopes upon the Republican minority of this 

 House, when that Republican minority have 

 been treated as we have been treated here. 



'And now, Mr. Speaker, I have a suggestion 

 to make looking to the restoration of confidence 

 in this country. The imperfect organization of 

 tJie House has been such that I have not had an 

 opportunity to present to the country my rem- 

 edy ; but as a part of my speech, in my time, I 

 ask to have read at the desk of the clerk a joint 

 resolution which, in my judgment, would have 

 done more than any tampering with the cur- 

 rency of this country to have restored confidence 

 if it could have been introduced and then tri- 

 umphantly enacted." 



The clerk read as follows : 

 [Fifty-third Congress, House of Kepresentatives.] 

 Joint resolution declaring the intention of Congress 



in the matter of legislation touching the condition 



of the country. 



Whereas the causes that have led to the present de- 

 plorable condition of the business of the country are 



not known so definitely as to present an agreement of 

 opinion, it is nevertheless universally agreed that 

 one of the elements, which has become a potent fac- 

 tor, is the fear everywhere felt that Congress will 

 change the tariff duties upon articles imported from 

 abroad coming in direct competition with American 

 products, and thus unfavorably affect home produc- 

 tion ; and 



Whereas, the declaration of the platform of the 

 Democratic convention of 1892 has caused fear in the 

 country that the provisions of that platform would be 

 carried into execution by Congress, and such fear has 

 caused great reduction of production in all classes 'of 

 manufacture, thereby throwing out of employment 

 large numbers of workiugmen and causing a reduction 

 in the wages of all who remain employed, whereby 

 many workingmen have become dependent upon 

 charity for subsistence ; and 



Whereas, if this condition is not immediately 

 checked and confidence be speedily restored, at least 

 in some important measure, wider-spread demorali- 

 zation in all branches of business will follow, with all 

 the horrors of destitution, idleness, bankruptcy, and 

 all the incidents of such conditions : Now, therefore, 

 as one measure of relief, be it 



Kesolved, That it is not tho intention of the Fifty- 

 third Congress to make radical or important changes 

 in the principles of tariff taxation, and it is hereby 

 solemnly declared that Congress will not undertake a 

 sweeping revision of the tariff laws, nor will it re- 

 move from American products, either of the farm, the 

 mine, or the shop, that protection which now stands 

 between the American producer and the foreign pro- 

 ducer ; and especially is it hereby declared that Con- 

 gress will not remove from the products of agricultural 

 industries the full measure of protection now afforded 

 by law, to the end that wages may be maintained at 

 the present rates and the producer be rewarded for 

 his labor and capital by adequate prices. 



" This declaration is demanded by the busi- 

 ness interests of the whole country. This dec- 

 laration by Congress would loosen the crippled 

 wheels of industry. The cry comes up from all 

 over the country, ' Let alone the tariff ! let the 

 McKinley law stand where it is ! ' " 



Mr. Reed, of Maine, Aug. 26, in a speech in 

 support of the measure, made this general state- 

 ment as to the nature of the financial difficulty : 



" Mr. Speaker, I am not certain of the wisdom 

 of any member of this House, and least of all of 

 my own. I am quite conscious also how diffi- 

 cult it is for anybody to know anything about 

 currency in general, and how especially difficult 

 it is to provide a remedy for a derangement of 

 currency at any particular time. Nevertheless, 

 while I have grave doubts of the wisdom of 

 each individual, including myself, and no doubt 

 whatever of the difficulty of the task, it is a com- 

 fort to me to fall back upon a well-established 

 belief in the wisdom of all, even when shown by 

 the decisions of the Congress of the United 

 States. 



" It may not be an absolutely righteous de- 

 cision which we shall rteach, nevertheless it is a 

 comforting assurance to believe that that de- 

 cision will be sufficient for the emergency, es- 

 pecially since it is accompanied by the certainty 

 that no other wisdom is possible at the present 

 time. Upon us and the people who are influ- 

 encing our votes rests the decision of this and 

 of other very important questions. 



" Crises like the present are not uncommon in 

 the history of the world ; indeed, they seem to 

 be essential to human progress, and to arise out 

 of the characteristics of human nature itself. 



