m?
13
The Commoner.
VI. a, No. 33.
and keop tho latter noutral. It is ex
pected that tho Mucin movement will
foe followed by an expedition against
tho sultan of Bacolod and Negroa isl
and If ho continues hostile.
It Is reported from Rome that tho
volcano on Stromboll island is in full
eruption and is throwing great col
umns of fire and torrents of stones.
Large volumes of flamo aro also issu
ing from tho crator of Mount Vesuvius.
anco of military servlco. Tho bill also
provides for strict control of emigra
tion companies and prescribed severe
penalties for persons attempting to in
duco emigration by means of mislead
ing statements or overflowery advertisements.
A dispatch from Guthrie, O. T., dated
September 9, says: ' A charter was
granted today to the Oklahoma Cen
tral Railroad company with a capital
of $5,000,000, to build a lino from Fort
Smith, Ark., to Vernon, Tex., a dis
tance of 350 miles. Tho Incorporators
aro L. W. Van Homo of Salt Lake
City, Utah, and a number of Oklahoma
capitalists. Tho principal place of
business will bo at Ashcr, O. T.
Another victory for the revolution
ists in Colombia Is reported under date
of September 10. Tho battle took
place at Santa Marta, where tho rebels
surprised tho town, destroyed railroad
tracks, demolished cars and engines,
flrod tho buildings, and killed over 100
of tho government soldiers.
Tho stato department has been ad
vised by cablo that Agua Dulco has
boon surrounded by tho government
'forces of Colombia, and tho report that
they have been forced to surrender
Is later confirmed. Although this Is
considered to be a blow to tho govern
ment, still hopes nre entertained that
tho rebellion may be crushed. The
revolutionists have four vessels In tho
bay of Panama and are reported to bo
moving toward tho railroad.
A London cablegram, under date of
September 9, says: Tho Boer gen
erals, Botha, DoWet and Delarey,
started for Holland today. They were
given .the same hearty cheers by tho
crowds as have marked all tho ap
pearances of the gonerals in public.
It Is understood one of tho requests
they .made to Mr. Chamberlain was
for permission for tho Boer refugees
in Europe to return to their respective
districts In South Africa without tak
ing the oath of allegiance. Mr. Cham
berlain, however, did not see any way
he could agree to this or tho sugges
tion that certain holders of office un
der tho lato South African govern
ments could be appointed to thoir old
positions.
A dispatch from Victoria, B. C,
dated September 9, says: Japanese
papers contain telegrams stating that
5,0o0 persons lost their lives by tho
overflowing of the West rivor in Chi
na. There was also heavy loss 'of
property and life iifFormosa by floods,
followed by a tidal wave. Tho dam
age done in Japan has already been
told in these dispatches. 'The Boxers
are actlvo in Cheng Tu, whore Messrs.
Bruce and Lewis, American mission
aries, were murdered. Tho Boxers are
not well armed, but aro causing a lot
of trouble.
A new system of sending letters
has been submitted to tho minister of
posts and telegraph of Italy. It pro
vides for tho establishment of a sys
tem of electrical delivery of tho mails,
hy which letters aro to .bo transmitted
In aluminum boxes along overhead
wires at the rate of 248 miles an hour.
The inventor claims ho can deliver
letters in this way in 25 minutes be
tween Rome and Naples, and the tlmo
to send mail from, Rome to Paris
could be reduced to Ave hours.
The funeral of tho late Senator
William M. Roach of North Dakota
took place at Washington, D. C, on
September 10, and tho remains were
interred in tho congressional comotory.
A Vienna cablegram, dated Septem
ber 10, says: The Hungarian govern
ment is taking steps to adopt stringent
measures to regulate and restrict emi
gration. The ministry of tho interior
has prepared a bill which will short
ly bo introduced In parliament, where
by all emigr'ation on the part of men
is forbidden until after tho perform-
Georgo Eugene Bryson, a -well known
newspaper correspondent at Havana,
sent to his newspaper a startling story
In which the name of Secretary of War
Root was connected with the plan to
force tho annexation of Cuba. Mr.
Bryson quotes from Elmundo, tho
newspaper organ of tho Cuban nation
alist party. Elmundo charges that
President Palma recently received by
registered mall and under "confidential
cover" a communication from Secre
tary Root and "two other represen
tatives of the money kings of tho Unit
ed States." In this communication
President Palma is invited to co-operate
with Mr. Root and his associates
with a view to effecting the annexa
tion to the united States of tho island
of Cuba. It is set forth in this article
that the Dominion of Canada and Mex-
I ico aro to become a part of a proposed
great continental republic Mr. Bry
son reports: Whilst purporting to
propositions of an organization entire
ly friendly toward Cuba, the circular
warns them that, as a matter of fact,
they must not except too much from
the present republican administration
at Washington, for tho reason that
while President Roosevelt is their
friend, wholly sincere in his efforts to
induce congress to grant reciprocity
trade relations to the island in order'
that her sugar and other products may
be assured a ready market, ho has not
been able to count upon and can
hardly hope to command the approval
of his Cuban program by a majority
of the coming congress, and advises
the president of Cuba to prepare his
people for "the principal act of the
play" by telling them in plain words
that In order to enjoy the benefits of
the United States market, Cuba must
become a sovereign stato of the union,
admitted upon tho petition of her own
insular congress and people. Presi
dent Palma, the Elmundo states, is
thoroughly Indignant,- consequently
made no attemnt to hold th niiMonf
matter of tho circulars as "confiden
tial," and has written the distin
guished members of the cnmmiifon
wnose names are appended to the com
munication mentioned that "Cuba, as
a matter of personal gratitude, due the
rough rider hero of San Juan hill
considers it to b3 her duty to support
his personal propaganda to further the
Interests of reciprocity so long as the
Washington executive may require
such demonstration of confidence from
the people of the new Cuban republic
ho so much helped to free and put
upon its feet as an Independent na
n, ,rthAor than this, tho youngest
? ?i ?10 AmerIcan republics should
be the-last to enter a continental fed
eration, and as a matter of modesty
Cuba will do no more than follow in
the wake of her elder sister and chosen
SSS?Hr,in tuls as in other matters
affecting tho common interests of tho
states of the new world, provided In
all cases that the sovereignty of tho
island bo in no wise affected, nor its
ndependence of action in home affairs
In any manner threatened." Elmun
do, in closing its article upon the In
cident, subjects the secretary of war
i, Wn criticism for having
joined with "other trust representa
tives in sending out tho imperialist
circular mentioned without havimr
first resigned from President Roose
veltls cabinet . ' .
The Tariff Question
Sf Mck ! rtr. BryM I tfr MoHM
nrch I i8jm. A
Ceatlaued Pnm Pg Thr.
reduction of the duty than she could
possibly lose. The states of Now York,
Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Nebraska
and you can take others for yourself
and mako tho computation; I simply
mention these for illustrationthese
four states produce less than 1
pounds per capita. So, Mr. Chairman,
to the people of these states this bill
brings more than four times as much
In tho way of advantago as it can pos
sibly take away from thom.
But I have gone on tho theory, Mr.
Chairman, that this advantago, what
ever it Is to the wool grower, is equal
ly divided among the people of the
state. I find in the report of tho Wool
Growers' association for the stato of
Ohio, held at Columbus some two
months ago, a statement that there are
80,000 flockmasters in Ohio. I find that
In Ohio there are about 4,000,000 peo
ple Hence there is about one flock
master to 50 persons. It is fair to as
sume that in computing this num
ber, it being for political purposes and
to influence legislation, all the sheep
raisers in Ohio, both heads of families
and sons old enough to vote, were
probably counted. But sunnosinc: ev
ery one to be the head of a family, it
means that one head of a family in
Ohio out of ten raises sheeD. and I
suppose that the proportion is fully as
great in Ohio as anywhere.
Now, if that calculation be true,
what does it mean? It means that all
over this country, Irrespective of their
state or locality, ten times as many
people are benefited by this bill as aro
by any possibility Injured. Is not that
somo advantage?
The gentleman from Maine (Mr.
Dingley) said that I would not dare
to take this bill to my state. I will
not bo afraid to take it to my state,
nor will I bo afraid to take any bill
that Is passed by this house; but I
certainly would not hesitate to take
a measure of this kind, when i say to
you, my friend, that this bill brings to
the people of the state of Nebraska,
to the people of New York, to the peo
ple of Pennsylvania, to tho people of
Kansas, to the people of this entire
country, immeasurably more advant
age than it can possibly deprive them
of, and it brings the advantage to ten
times as many people as are injurious
ly affected by it.
Our friends have said that this Is
class legislation. That is, that when
we say we will deprive the wool grow
er of any advantage he has under the
present law we are guilty of class leg
lation. It Is sufficient evidence, Mr.
Chairman, that this bill does not ad
vance class legislation that the re
publican party is solidly opposing It
If it were class legislation we could
reasonably expect their united sup
port But, sir, I desire to call the atten
tion of the committee to this distinc
tion. We have referred To it in the re
port of the committee on b'nding
twine. There Is a difference between
a man coming to this congress and de
manding that other people shall bo
subjected to a tax for his benefit antl
a demand on the part of those taxed
to be relieved of the burden. Is there
not a difference between these two
principles? It seems to me that the
difference is as marked as between day
and night It is simply this differ
ence, sir: The man who says, "Im
pose upon somebody else a tax for my
benefit," says what the pickpocket
says, "Let me get my- hand into his
pocket;" but tho man who says, "Take
away the burdens imposed on mo for
other people's benefit," says simply
what every honest man says, "Let me
alone to enjoy the results of my toil "
I repeat,, is there not a difference be
tween these two principles?
But, Mr. Chairman,, upon what
ground is this protection to the wool
grower asked? Is it because of the im
portance of the industry? The centhL
man from Maine (Mr. Dingley) said
that it .was one of the most universal
of all the industries of the farm- and
Snfanl fwd l? Ca" hIs attetion to
tho fact that only a small proportion or
our people own sheep, ho did not care
to bo further interrupted. The fact
'0',u"' v,unuittu, mat last year tho
va ue of sheep in this country was
only $108,391,444, while tho value of
live stocic upon tho farm was $2 320 .
787,770; that is, the value of sheep was
less than one-twentieth the value of all
the live stocic
The wool crop last year was valued
at about $70,000,000, while the value
of tho corn, wheat, and oats raised that
year, without mentioning the other
crops of the farm .amounted to Sl
582,184,206. Three items of the farm
amounted to twenty times the value
of the wool clip. Out in Nebraska
there was a time when we had almost
one sheep for each man, woman and
child. Wo look back to it as the
"mutton age" of Nebraska. But, alas,
that hannv Hnv hno nnoonri mu
- -- r jioocu. iiv num
ber of sheep has continually decreased,
until now, if every woman in the state
named Mary insisted upon having a
pet lamb at the same time, we would
have to go out of the state to get
lambs enough to go round.
No; it is not because of the import
ance of the industry nor is it because
it is an infant industry. You may go
back into history, sacred or profane,
as far as tradition runs, and you will
find n. recori of the sheep. Homer tell3
us how Ulysses escaped from the cave
of the Cyclops by means of a sheep.
We read in the Bible that when Isaac
was about to be .offered up,, away back
In the patriarchal days, a ram was
found caught by the horns in a thicket,
and offered in his stead; and further
back than that, in the fourth chapter
of Genesis, I think in the second verso
my republican friends, of course,
will remember it is recorded of the
?eAC,0n,d son of the flrst earthly pair,
Abel was a keeper ,of sheep." And
from that day to this
Mr. Simpson. I want to ask the gen
tleman if we are to understand that
this is the sacrifice you are offering up
on the altar nf nrrtartirt
Mr. Bryan. No, sir; we' are only
beginning an attack, which will be
continued just as long as there is any
thing to remedy.
But I was going to say, Mr. Chair
man, that from that day to this the
sheep has been the constant compan
ion of man in all his travels, and it
has differed from its modern owner
perhaps the most in that it is recog
nized as the symbol of meekness.
Mr. Chairman, in the earlier days,
when protection was defended from
more patriotic motives, if I may so
assert, than today, the main excuso
given was that we needed the tariff to
help infant industries to get upon their
feet I want to .call the attention of
my friends to the language of one or
two of tho early fathers upon the sub
ject Alexander Hamilton, in his re
port on manufactures in 1791, said:
"The continuance of bounties on
manufactures long established
must always bo of questionable
policy because a presumption
would arise in every such case that
there were natural and inherent
impediments to success."
That was the original idea. Mr.
Clay said In 1833:
"No one, Mr. President, in the
commencement of the protective
Policy, ever supposed that it was to
be perpetual."
This was the argument used in the
beginnings but arguments have to be