ITS CAUSE AND REMEDY 7 



the Alabama to fit out; this was for ships 

 that were of no value to us, but since that 

 time the people of America have allowed 

 England to make back that sum a hundred 

 times over by carrying nearly all our for- 

 eign merchandise, all because no wise 

 statesman saw fit to inaugurate a bounty to 

 keep our own merchant marine in exist- 

 ence. We have been used to hearing the ex- 

 pression. What of it? If they can do it 

 cheaper than us, let them do it. Why tax 

 others to do it? 



But does this condition not exist ? The mer- 

 chant marine is taxed out of existence and 

 the American farmer to slavery on account 

 of the tariff If the party will grant a 

 bounty to ships and wheat commensurate 

 with the tariff protection to our other in- 

 dustries, then all classes shall be protected 

 equally and the meaning of our Constitu- 

 tion will have been abided by. The fitting 

 out of those merchant ships will take an im- 

 mense amount of our products from the 

 farm and range and much other trade that 

 we do not get now The land owner will 

 then, through prosperity that would come 

 of that needed bounty, improve the condi- 

 tion of his land and home to such an extent 

 that a trade of at least $500,000,000 a year 

 will be created for our own people. 



The principle followed in the past has 



