The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
SPEECH: OF HON. JOHN J. GARDNER OF N E W JERSEY, I N T H E HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Thursdav, August 24,1893. From the C N R S I N L RECORD, August 26th, 1893, O G E SO A The House having under consideration the bill (H. R, 1) to repeals part of an act approved July 14.1890. entitled An act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes"— Mr, G A R D N E R said: Mr. SPEAKER: The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. TALBERT) mentions New Jersey as one of the nine States that have been able to save much more than their proportion of wealth. This discussion has taken an aspect that makes this an accusation and her prosperity a crime. New Jersey did her full share in founding this nation and she has done her fall share to maintain it. She owes it nothing, but that loyal, patriotic support she has always given it. The battle monuments on her soil commem* orate events and achievements among the most glorious of the Revolution, and the names and deeds of her sailors, soldiers and statesmen illumine the nation's history. Her people now are intelligent, industrious, enterprising and energetic, and as moral as other people. They » maintain as many churches and schoolhouses per capita as any other people, and more than most people. They may differ from some other people in that they &till believe industry and enterprise are, as heretofore, essentials to prosperity,and do not look upon the politician (generally in the kindergarten stage upon great questions), with a volume of walker on Finance under one arm and a volume of Smith's Wealth of Nations under the other, as an immediate or promising source of wealth. The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. EVERETT) has called attention to the fact that each member seems to regard his constituents as the people. Well, sir, to the member, in an important sense, his constituents are and ought to be the people. Whatever fiction enters into the assumption is the most justifiable of all the fiction in this debate. Like the honorable gentleman I claim that the people of the Second New Jersey district merit a t least as great consideration as the people of any otjier district. This district lies largely upon that belt which eminent agricultural authorities have declared to be the garden spot of the United States—in variety of agricultural products, in production per acre, o f quantity or quality, unexcelled if equaled. Our farmers have given the country a part of its best stock, and, until I heard the accusations tbat have been made in this debate, I believed the biggest hogs grown on the continent. I still believe our hogft heaviest and most valuable. Our manufactures exceed in value of products and the employment they give to sturdy men, those of States who are teaching us laws of industry, trade and finance on this floor. The hum of our machinery is the music by which we have marched to the prosperity we are twitted of, and it sings the song of peace and comfort to thousands of in* telligent families in happy homes, and will continue to ifyou in rashness do not doom it to silence. W e have more than 60 miles of seacoast dotted—filled—with resorts.deeply affected by the pro3perity and depression of the. country. Navigators who still conduct our commerce and a hardy race of skilled boatmen whose immediate future prospects depend as largely as does that of anybody else upon a restoration of confidence and the revival of trade. I am going to vote for the repeal of that which is called "the purchasing qlause of the Sherman law." 1. Because, so far as I have heard, the people whom I try to represent want it repealed. All the petitions and letters that have reached me from the district, with one exception, have spoken as one voice for repeal. 2. Because the nations are not coining silver. India, producing one-third of the world's supply, British Columbia a large producer, and all the other silver miners in the world see no governmental market for silver but in the United States. Under these conditions foreign silver will, if it has not, find its way to the Treasury as fast as the Treasury can absorb it by taking 4,500.000 ounces per month. Pardon me if I express a fear that conditions will be created under which foreign silver finds preference at the Treasury. Under the act declaring the purpose of the Government to keep the two metals at a parity and under the,practice at the Treasury these silver certificates,issued for foreign silver, are redeemable in gold. The clause therefore becomes a machine that converts the foreign silver for the owner, into American gold, and does not leave the redeemed certificate in circulation. The gold is lost and the circulation is not increased. It is well said by many honorable gentlemen here if upon other grounds, that this clause, if left to ^stand,/tneans ultimately the single silver standard in the United States. If we turn our gold into silver —exchange it for silver, to be exact— what other standard can we have? 3. Because the Government, except to supply some needs of the Government, has no right to purchase the productions of one class of producers at the exclusion of all other productions. This objection must have additional emphasis in a case where no discrimination is made in favor of the home producer of the commodity; for instance, if our Populist friends find themselves able to establish the subtreasury for the taking of their grain they will hardly go so far as to make the provisions include the wheat of India. 4. Because the people in the business centers of the country, for reasons, as I beP.eve, I have intimated, in part at least, do not believe that this Government will be able to maintain the parity between the two metals. They believe with the President that the purchasing clause has been used as a device to drain the country of her gold. Gentlemen tell us here that it was at the option of the Government to redeem the silver certificates in either metal. Well, that seems to be the letter of the law. Admit all they say about it and the answer is that the Government redeems in gold and not in silver. They tell us then that that is a wrong administration of the law—admit that too, if you please, and what is gained? Do they promise us a reform in the administration of the law? Does anybody promise a change in the construction of the law, or the practice under it, at the Treasury? Is it desired to retain the clause simply as a test of endurance between themselves, the President, and the people? the endurance of the people is being sufficiently tested. They want no added test at this time. But, sir, the charge of wrong administration in the matter of redeeming the certificates in gold is not proven Congress put a construction on the socalled Sherman law, by a declaration in the law. It declared it to be the purpose to maintain a parity between the two metals. Would any other administration of the law maintain the declared object? The Treasury was confronted by the solemn declaration of Congress and the awful obligation it imposed upon the Government. Did any free-silver men object v to the obligation it imposed?1 Democrats did not vote for it because they want to stand before some sections of the country as in favor of free coinage. In this debate little attention has been given to the nature of the obligation which the pledge to maintain the two enterprise and business depart with metals at a parity imposed. Every dol- it, and their activity is succeeded by lar of silver that has circulated under a that of the collector and the sheriff. statutory pledge of the Government to The purchasing clause of the Shermaintain it on a parity with gold has man law may not be, as many believe been backed by the Government as the it is not, the cause of a public condition greenback never was, and with a more void, of business or financial confiburdensome and difficult obligation on dence. the Government than any government But the financier (for his purpose, if bond ever imposed. No silver dollar you will) has told the country it is. ever depended on its value, nor the The Democratic party (for its purpose, power and effect of being money that if you will) has declared it is. Finanpassed under such a declaration. When cial authorities, upon their theories, the Government issued greenbacks have told the country it is. The they bore the simple promise of the country largely has believed, and this Government to pay them—at no fixed belief, if not the clause, has destroyed date. The Government bond is an ob- confidence. It is gone. ligation only to pay a fixed sum at a Well, sir, the financiers will not refixed time. In either case the Govern- tract, the Democratic party (just now ment assumed no obligation of main- at any rate) will not retract, the finantaining the price of either. The fate cial authorities will not change their of their current value was committed convictions, and what is left but to try to the public faith in the Government's to undo the serious mischief which the ability to pay—the one some time, the belief, whether right or wrong, has other at maturity. They might, as the done. For myself I believe the path of greenback did, sink low in price, but duty leads to the effort to restore imno obligation of the Government was mediate confidence in business circles. violated; national honor was not tar- The East wants it, I know the West nished by a broken pledge. needs it, and the South would profit by There was absolutely no obligation it. I shall thread that path no matter to maintain the price of either note or how often it is demonstrated and it has bond—that was entirely at the holder's been demonstrated that the vapor of risk. But in the case of the silver dol- coming changes created financial dislar and certificate the obligation of the ease and that party necessity made it nation is to maintain its parity with necessary to diagnose it hydrophobia, gold every day—every hour—all the and to find a mad dog, and one whose time-—in prosperity and panic, and whelping had Republican consent; and through all conditions and emergencies. though I confess the case would have Could obligation be more burdensome stood better if the dog had been killed or more dangerous? What other circu- on suspicion on the 8th or 9th of August lating medium ever received such sup- than it does after all the political veterport? If the silver dollar requires such inarians have given their reasons for an obligation it is a dangerous thing. the diagnosis, still I am going to help If it does not require it, the obligation you kill the dog, for I find you are not is a dangerous thing. I like silver quite able to do it alone. money, but I don't cherish it as I do Nor shall I stop to inquire just here the integrity of the Government. I who is responsible for precipitating a don't want it supported by an obliga- disastrous panic at this hour that genetion that is a'perpetual menace to the ral prophecy said must come at some nation's financial honor and stability. hour. Democrats here boast that Mr. Mr. Speaker, some gentlemen grow Cleveland foretold it so long ago as merry and sarcastic over the idea that when he wrote his first tariff-reform confidence and lack of it play an im- message. This 4'juxtaposition in time" portant part in panics and general is significant—but let that pass. Pofinancial disaster, but they change no pulists have been heralding disaster natural laws by raillery or sarcasm. because out of an unprecedented naConfidence deposits and circulates mon- tional prosperity some people were ey, and without it man h6ards. Confi- taking fortunes too enormous, and some dence leads to enterprise, and pur- sections were getting too much, and chases, and business. When it departs, Republicans have said it must come whenever there was a general political triumph of those who intended an immediate change of our whole fiscal policy; that our business and industrial structures for thirty years had been reared upon existing principles, and that, while they might be gradually remodeled upon other plans, the promised radical changes meant the razing of this structure that had brought increased wealth, population, education, progress, and development without precedent in the history of civilization, and a long idle wait for the building of another. Well, sir, admit that it was coming. Disaster at this hour seems the result of the prophecy of disaster. If we lay it to the Sherman law it has come because of prediction that it must come by and by. If we lay it to the coming change of tariff, Democrats answer that they have not yet changed it. In either case belief in the prophecy precipitated disaster in advance of its substantial cause. It will always be so. He is a wise mariner who prepares for a storm that all his tests warn him is approaching. On the business andfinancialsea, general preparation for a storm is the storm, or precipitates it. Some gentlemen who seem to think this but a gust that will be gone before they are done talking, if they talk long enough, say it has been accumulating in our financial system for thirty years. They must* reconcile this denunciation of the system and compliment to it for themselves. Other gentlemen insist that the present situation is aggravated, if it was not brought about, by some conspiracy to which the New York banks have been a party or all the parties. Well, sir, if this be true, if these New York banks are so many Samsons in strength, and devils in villainy, and this purchasing clause is the bone with which they are smiting an already stricken country, let us take away the bone. The destruction of the enemy's weapon ought to go far towards restoring our confidence. The gifted gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. BSYAN) would restore it otherwise. HE sounds one note of encouragement to inspire the confidence of a nation. " Gold is coming back !" He does not seem to think it of consequence whether we have gold or not, but to humor the national whim, we are assured "Gold is coming back." Yes, and the story of why it is coming back is another story of our national misfor* tune, if not shame. It is not coming back because of the removal or abatement of anything that caused it to go away. It is coming back to receive enormous interest from business in desperation for it. It is coming back to buy our obligations at present depreciated prices. It is coming back to augment itself at the nation's expense. It is not coming because of restored confidence, nor because of any change of opinion by anybody. It is coming to speculate on a broken market, where our people have no money to speculate with or lack the confidence to use it. For all the gold that is coming back in one way or another, we are paying heavy tribute, and the only assurance it gives is, that there is a price somewhere down the scale at which foreigners are willing to buy our property. If this sort of coming back' goes on long enough and in volume enough it will be well to quote England's policy here, for we shall be largely England's. Our hope lies in devising some means to stop gold from " coming back " on the errand it is coming now. The very learned gentleman from Missouri (Mr. HALL) argued the money question, and against the letter of Mr. HENDERSON* and in the direction of free trade. To sustain his money theory he quotes Mr. Walker, and he lays it down as the major premise in a syllogism that the volume of the circulating medium fixes the price of all the pro^ perty in a country, supply and demand being the same. How he would measure the volume of the money circu* lating, whether at a real or nominal or face value, we were not informed, that I understood. It must be presumed, however, that he means to measure it by its face value, and the price of the property in the nation by the standard of that money. . If the proposition be true, then when the price, of the circulating medium, falls, measured by any standard but itself, the price of all the property the nation must fall, measured by the same standard that measures the money. To avoid just here the answer that gold would be the other standard and might go up, let us suppose a fixed and unalterable standard possible and maintain the parity would disappear. adopted, then, if measured by that The only disadvantage or hardship I standard, the price of the money fell, can see, from the standpoint of our the price of the property in the nation free-coinage friends, who do not think must fall. Well, now the farmers of it of much consequence how much silMissouri and everywhere else have ver is in a dollar so the Government been informed that the price of their stamps it "One Dollar," ia that we grain is set in a foreign market in Liver- would all be forced to the new gold pool. The money used as circulating basis, and our most radical silver men medium will be measured by another would be compelled to be gold bugs and standard—the standard of England— despise them&elves. Seriously, if theogold. Whatever is returned for the ries advanced here be correct, here is a wheat will be measured by the gold suggested solution of the difficulty— standard, and the circulating medium " a n d a A v a y to get back on the bondwill buy of the article returned in ex- holder." change for the wheat, under the free Nobody Will propose its adoption. trade system just so much of it as it is Why? Because, gentlemen, through worth by the gold standard and no the medium of lower tariff and larger more. So, if the price of his circulating trade abroad, know that all your coins medium falls, measured by the Liver- go, after all, by weight, the only effect pool standard, the price of his wheat in the direction you seek effects, would falls in the same ratio. be the raising of nominal prices at But admit the proposition that the home. No; what is wanted, is a money volume of circulating medium fixes the for which the Government assumes price, etc. The learned gentleman, in some obligation to pay it in gold or opposing the doctrine of Mr. Hender- maintain on a parity with gold, or to son, quotes Adam Smith to show that circulate where vou can compel our peowe should not be concerned about the ple to receive it at par for debts. There balance of trade against us, that the has been much said about one money notion that an adverse balance of trade for the bondholder and another for the is detrimental is "founded on the mis- people. What is proposed here is one taken doctrine that the amount of the money for the American and another precious metals in a country has any- money for foreigners. We are being prething to do with its wealth and pros- pared for this by doctrines that teach us perity." Well, sir, the adverse balance not to worry over a balance of trade must be settled in gold. The paying of against us to be paid in gold; it has gold takes out of the country a part of nothing to do with our wealth or prosthe circulating medium. This must perity. affect the price of all the property in The able gentleman from Mississippi the country* If price bears no relation fMr. CATCHINGBJ, I think, asserted to either \ wealth or prosperity what and illustrated here that silver had place has the gentleman's major prem- fallen in about the same proportion as ise in the argument? all other commodities, and all in conseIt seems to me strange that those who quence of cheaper production. On this put so much faith in; the efficacy of the showing the receivers of interest, fees,v Government stamp on coin do not pro- and wages would be the only losers by pose here to reduce the amount of gold free coinage of silver. The laborer in the gold coin; why not divide by would be the man most affected. statute each one into two and stamp on There has been much said about the each half the denomination the whole debtor class, but nobcdy defines that now has? I think, but according to the class. The receiverships being created theories of some statesmen they can not show our great corporations to belong believe* that this course would put to that class. The-inability to pay desilver dollars of the present standard at positors show many banks in that class; a premium, an<J if theories advanced all are to the extent of their deposits. are correct and bankers are as painted Our savings institutions are in that all your silver bullion would go out class, and who wants them to pay in right away and the new gold coin would cheap money? flow into the Treasury, and all doubt But nobody defines the debtor class, of the ability of the Government to though every man favors it. Yes, the Government is put in that class, and one gentleman after another, when talking about circulation at different times, including the period of the war and immediately following it, estimates every greenback dollar at 100 cents, but when estimating what the bondholder gave for his bond they put that same dollar at from 40 to 60 cents. Figures so used may prove 'anything, and it may be worth while to suggest that by it they show there was a time when the people had better money than the bond buyer. But we constantly hear that the greenback passed as money because the Government put its stamp upon it. The greenback was a promise to pay, and fell and rose as public faith in the honor and ability of the Government to keep its promise rose and fell. It was the promise, not the thing, that passed and had credit. The promise of any honest employed man on a piece of paper to pay a dollar is good. The stamp of a millionaire upon that same paper, "This is a dollar," is worthless. The promise of a tramp upon a paper to pay a dollar is as good as the fidelity of the tramp and his ability to beg the dollar. The stamp of the sovereign upon it, "This is a dollar,'1 tells a lie and spoils the paper. Mr. Speaker, I am a bimetallist, but recognize that we cannot change the laws of nature. Money is older than statutes, and may survive them. Evolution in the " matter of money is as marked as in anything else, and it is in the direction of a gold standard, I must admit. I will vote to coin the silver bullion in the Treasury so much per month. I will vote to coin all we can absorb at a parity with gold, and, to protect our silver producers, I will vote for a heavy tariff on foreign silver. But our agricultural friends, who are for free coinage, but against the tariff, d well upon the assertion that the price of wheat is fixed in a ioreign market. If that be true and the volume of the circulating medium regulates prices, is it not in the country where your foreign market is—in England—that you want free coinage? If the price of American wheat is fixed in Liverpool it is prices in Liverpool you want to raise by swelling the volume of the circulating medium there. The interest of the American wheat grower can not 6 lie in the direction of dear money where he sells and cheap money at home where he buys. Weil, gentlemen, you can only get free coinage abroad by international agreement. You can only get that agreement by force. The first force to use is the suspension of silver coinage in the United States. The next perhaps, is to prohibit a market for foreign silver here. If you are right in you theories your war is for free coinage abroad. A free coinage bill in the United States is a surrender and capitulation on the foreigners' own terms. Besides this, you can not absorb and maintain the parity of the world's silver alone. No one nation ever did, no one ever will do it. But the Western and Southern farmers want a better price for wheat. So do the farmers of all the.States. I think there is one way to get it, in t i m e maintain a tariff that secures a home market for our manufactured articles, and build up factories around you, and draw a population that will consume and not raise grain. They will come to you, not in a day, but in time. Pursue the American policy, and you will have your own factories and your own money centers. Grain has fallen under Republican regime. Yes, Republican legislation has opened territory to settlers, and made it possible for almost every man who would go through the hardship of pre-empting it, to own one of the best farms in the world. It has created in the desert millions of such farms. It has created States whose Representatives come here and denounce it. Grain has fallen. Yes, for there is an empire of waving corn and kingdoms of new stubble to-day where the virgin soil was unbroken when Republican legislation began. f What the owners of this empire and these kingdoms need is consumers and not inflation of money. Your own country, that consumes nine-tenths of our crops, has not been stinted for wheat bread. No amount of currency would have made this nation eat much more wheat. You cannot command the foreign market, for the vast empire of India has entered into competition with us in raising wheat and selling it in the markets of the world. Only geographical situation will keep Indian wheat out of your own market when the tariff is repealed. India wheat is produced by people who do not eat wheat bread, and many of them never saw wheat flour. It is a hard competition. American legislation did not turn them to wheat raising, consign them to a diet below wheat, nor set them to cultivating their soil by the motive power of cows and women. American legislation has not created the competition of Russia in the wheat market, nor have the "Shylocks of Wall street and blood-suckers of New England" developed the agriculture and commerce of these semi-barbarous but vast domains, till they compete with you in the "markets of the world." The American farmer's future is not in European markets; the star of his hope does not shine over Liverpool. Gentlemen seem to have yet to learn that Great Britian, France, and Germany, are not the whole Eastern Hemisphere. W e want a market for our products, including silver. W e are the greatest producers of silver in the world. I have no quarrel with silver or its producers, no sympathy with those who denounce them. Mining always has been and is a hazardous enterprise. The phrase "the mines of Peru" has passed into literature as the figure for wealth, yet to open a new mine in Peru is to lose social and business caste because the people assume the future bankruptcy of the man who embarks in the enterprise, and if the East have a cause of quarrel with the " Silver States" it is not th&t they produce too much, but that their mines have absorbed a vast amount of eastern capital. I want to see and will help create the best possible market for their silver through international agreement—free coinage everywhere, if you please. But we are told that if we do not vote for free coinage now silver will never be "heard of again in our statutes." How egregious! After us the deluge. We are not here now for the triumph of any theory, nor to adopt unalterable policies: We came to meet a "condition, not a theory," and there will be other days and possibly other Congresses in which theories can be weighed and policies adopted with more safety and as much wisdom as now, and in this Congress—even this Congress will have the soberer second thought later on. Again we are told, by a number of gentleman, that the repeal of the purchasing clause "strikes out half of the circulating medium and raises the power of money." The honorable gentleman from Illinois goes so far as to illustrate this argument by a supposed purchase of ten horses at $100 each, $13000, the giving of a note for them, and that before sale of the horses and the maturity of the note this repeal passes. He contends the price of the horses, in consequence of the striking out of silver accomplished by repeal, will have fallen to $500; but it will take a thousand dollars to pay the note, and the repeal will have robbed the horse owner of $500. I think I state his position correctly. I notice it especially because it embraces much of the argument made on his side of the question. # In the first place it^eems to me that the gentleman from Missouri (Mr, HALL) and others, who speak from authorities on finance, go far toward answering their friends and colleagues. These men of books show that nineteen-twentieths of the circulating medium is credit, and they certainly do not mean to contend that the volume of credit will swell and shrink with the volume of silver, for they also declare that an adverse balance of trade to be settled in coin has no relation to the wealth and prosperity. An adverse balance of trade settled in coin takes circulating medium out of the country. If to take out coin does shrink credit to the proportion of 19 to 1, then by their own showing an adverse balance of fifty millions will mean a shrinkage of circulating medium of one thousand millions So, the total destruction of silver would not do what the gentleman from Illinois says, on currency, unles3 credit shrinks with loss of coin money, in the ratio it bears to the circulating medium, 19 to 1. If credit shrinks in its ratio to coin present, then the loss of each ten million coin, in settling foreign trade balances, mean3 a loss of two hundred millions in circulating medium, they answer themselves. In the next place the passage of this act neither destroys a dollar in silver now coined nor affects its legal tender quality. Mr. Speaker, much has been said about paying of our bonds in green- backs, and about the amount the bond- feared one, two Democratic Presidents holders paid for the original bonds. I wrote as follows: have before called attention to the fact BUCHANAN, DECEMBER, 1857. that when they state the value of the greenback paid for a bond the green" The earth has yielded her fruits back is heavily discredited, but when abundantly; our great staples command paid for wheat it is reckoned at par. high prices, and up till within a brief Well, sir, the greenbacks paid for bonds period our mineral, manufacturing, and were promises to pay by the United mechanical occupations have largely States—thefloatingdebt of the country, partaken of the general prosperity. We if you please, became too large to float have possessed all the elements of at anything like face value. I will not material wealth in rich abundance, yet offend anybody by inquiring the cause notwithstanding these advantages, our —and it was funded. The Government country in its monetary interests is at exchanged its promise to pay at a de- present in a deplorable condition finite time for its other promises to pay. " In the midst of unsurpassed plenty Then came the proposition, still urged, we find our manufactures suspended, to pay the second lot of promises by a our public works retarded, our private reissue of the first promises, and this enterprises abandoned, and thousands they call pay men t^ of useful laborers thrown out of emA gentleman inexperienced in busi- ployment and reduced to want. Under ness was pressed for a debt. It was a these circumstances a loan may be renew experience»with him, consequent quired before the close of your present insomnia and a failing appetite were session, but this, although deeply to be wasting his system, when the creditor regretted, would prove to be only a proposed to take a note. The debtor slight misfortune when compared with gave it, and with radiant countenance the suffering and distress prevailing and streaming eyes, exclaimed to his among our people." anxious wife: "Thank God, Hannah, CLEVELAND, AUGUST, 1893. that debt is paid!" The story is old and has excited mirthful ridicule "With plenteous crops,with abundant wherever the English language is promise of remunerative production spoken. If I had located the debtor in and manufacture, with unusual invitaany section or given his occupation, tion to safe investment, and with satishonorable gentlemen would indignantly factory assurance to business enterprise, declare I had insuUed the intelligence suddenly financial distrust and fear of their people. Yet, sir, these same have sprung up on every side. honorable gentlemen propose the pay- "Numerous moneyed institutions have ment of debts with notes by the United suspended because abundant assets States, and call it statesmanship and were not immediately available to sound policy. meet the demands of frightened deIf I have indicated why I shall vote positors. Surviving corporations and for repeal ^tnd can not accept the theor- individuals are content to keep in hand ies nor arguments of the free-coinage the money they are usually anxious to gentlemen, I have done all I intended. loan, and those engaged in legitimate I have endeavored to avoid political business are surprised to find that references, I have no desire to remind securities they offer for loans, though anybody that their platform was con heretofore satisfactory, are no longer structed of a material so indefinite and accepted. void of certain texture that we have " Values supposed to befixedare fast had many days of dispute as to who is becoming conjectural, and loss and on it and who is off What it is and failure have involved every branch of where it is seem alike uncertain. business." The other is that picture painted by In calling attention, in conclusion, to portions of three Presidential messages, the truthful hand of President HarI do not allude to politics, but point to rison in his message of Decehxber 6, passages of history, undisputed and in- 1892, of a nation in unprecedented prosperity, growth, and development. disputable. At the last end of one free trade That was a condition under a properiod, and near the beginning of a tective tariff. [Applause.] 8
@FedFRASER