CONGRESS. (SPECIAL SESSION THE SIIKBMAN ACT.) 



237 



which have attended our present position, failed 

 to statf what is, after all, according to my judg- 

 ment. I he main underlying cause of the present 

 condition of affairs. At the last election the 

 Democratic party was brought into power by a 

 curious combination of circumstances, as the re- 

 sult of a hundred causes not with careful and 

 candid deliberation, but as the result, in a large 

 measure, of the apathy of the American people. 



' The vote shows what I declare, and the recol- 

 lection of every individual to whom I am speak- 

 ing can bo safely appealed to. While this thing 

 has not been specially manifest during this dis- 

 ciisMon, while there has been little talk with re- 

 gard to it, nevertheless, the consciousness of this 

 fact underlies our entire situation. 1 do not in- 

 tend in alluding to this fact to in any way refer 

 to party politics. I do not undertake to raise 

 any question as to whether the system of protec- 

 tion is a wise one or not. I do not undertake to 

 dispute the proposition on the part of the 

 Democracy that protection is a tax, wicked and 

 iniquitous. For the purpose of discussion, and 

 for that purpose only, I arn quite free to admit 

 that protection is a fraud, and that virtue re- 

 sides only in a revenue tariff; but there re- 

 mains, even if it be admitted that the proposi- 

 tions of the Democratic platform are righteous 

 every one there remains the fact that the sys- 

 tem upon which the manufactures of this 

 country have been regulated for thirty years is 

 threatened with a total change ; whether that 

 change is to be for the better or not no man can 

 know. 



" What the Democratic party purpose to do 

 with the power which is in their hands nobody 

 can say. They do not even know themselves, 

 and hence they are not able to impart it to 

 others. For my part, I do not expect the 

 Democratic party to be utterly bad. I do not 

 believe they will be permitted to be so if they 

 should so desire. Such is the restraining in- 

 fluence of the people, even after election, that I 

 believe that through all the disguises, through all 

 the masks which this election has thrown over 

 the wishes of the people, nevertheless those 

 wishes will be carried out. But at this present 

 moment no man can know what will be the re- 

 sult of the action of this Congress upon the 

 manufactures of this county. 



" If the reformation of the tariff were in the 

 hands even of its friends, if a change in the 

 tariff were contemplated by those men who are 

 in favor of the principle of protection, instead 

 of in the hands of those who denounce it, I 

 should feel entirely confident' that business 

 would be stagnant or remain at a standstill ; but 

 when this reformation of the tariff is in the 

 hands of men opposed to the present system, 

 those manufactures of the country which are 

 built upon the present system must necessarily 

 call a halt. 



" If their goods which they manufacture are 

 to be in competition with the manufactures of 

 other lands, where the cost of production is 

 upon a different basis, where labor is differently 

 rewarded, as a matter of fact no manufacturer 

 in this country will dare to manufacture goods 

 until he knows the basis upon which his labor is 

 to go into the production of his articles of sale. 

 Until that question is settled you may be sure 



that the manufacturers of this country will 

 never dare to manufacture more than thu abso- 

 lute necessities of the people require. 



Prominent among the symptoms of the 

 present condition of affairs is the closing of 

 mills in all parts of the country. The cur- 

 rency question has something to do with 

 that, but that which is of most importance is 

 the uncertainty as to the basis upon which 

 manufactures are to go on. Manufactures to- 

 day are in no respect the subjects of chance or 

 of miscalculation. All the elements of costs are 

 so thoroughly understood, all the elements 

 which enter into production are so thoroughly 

 comprehended, that it is impossible for manu- 

 factures to go on, except upon the basis of small 

 but sure profits. 



" Unless the manufacturer can see his way di- 

 rectly to that, he has no object in running his 

 mill ; and unless in the future he can see that 

 that mill can go on satisfactorily there is no object 

 on earth for him to continue his manufactures 

 and his organization. Therefore you may de- 

 pend upon it that until the question is settled 

 until men know the terms upon which they are 

 to employ labor, until they know the terms upon 

 which they are to compete with foreign com- 

 petitors no loom will be in motion more than 

 is necessary, and no wheel will turn except with 

 the prospect of immediate profit. 



" I will not undertake to dwell at this present 

 time for I do not want to confuse the issue 

 upon those unfortunate parts of the Democratic 

 programme which are at present in abeyance, 

 like the establsshment of State banks and other 

 financial measures, which we may possibly have 

 to struggle with. I can characterize in a single 

 phrase the cause of the present condition of 

 affairs. It is the undiscoverable uncertainty of 

 the future of both the currency questions and 

 the questions of protection and revenue tariff. 



" it will be seen from what I have said that I 

 do not regard the Sherman act as in itself alone 

 responsible for our present condition of affairs ; 

 that I believe that the causes of our present dis- 

 aster underlie that ; that the necessary stoppage 

 of hundreds and thousands of mills all over this 

 country is at the bottom of our disaster. Never- 

 theless, I do believe that the Sherman act and 

 the accumulation of silver in the Treasury was 

 the earliest indicator of the disaster which we 

 are approaching, and that it has played a part 

 not entirely unfortunate in warning us so that 

 we can be saved from still further misfortune 

 and doubt." 



These extracts are given as representing the 

 tone and temper of different elements in the 

 House of Representatives, and not with the idea 

 of summing up the debate, or summarizing the 

 strongest arguments or the best speeches. That 

 can hardly be done so long as the custom pre- 

 vails of cumbering the record of Congress with 

 long disquisitions that never were delivered. In 

 a general way it may be said that the debate in 

 the House was for the most part dull, and that 

 the subject was so old and so often dealt with 

 that there was little opportunity for originality 

 in reasoning or for the presentation of new facts. 

 In pursuance of the method of procedu re already 

 quoted, the House voted on the Wilson bill and 

 several proposed amendments, Aug. 28. 



