E 758 
 .H17 
 Copy 1 
 
 PRICE 10 CENTS. 
 
 PLAIN FACTS 
 
 AND 
 
 FIGURES. 
 
 By D. M. HALL. 
 
 THE MALL PUBLISHING CO.. 
 
 Publishers, 
 
 Washingtou, D. C. 
 
PLAIN FACTS 
 
 AND 
 
 FIGURES. 
 
 "Equal Rights to All. Special Privileges to None." 
 SOMB COMPARISONS. 
 
 By DANIEL M. HALL. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 The H.\r.L Pibi.ishixg Co., 
 
 W.^SIIINdTON, D. C. 
 
TVro «KiB!e8 Received 
 
 OCT 3 1904 
 Ooosfrtght Entry 
 
 CU3S 2^^XXo.»la 
 
 
 Copyright 1904, by Daniel M. Hall. 
 
I'LAIX i-ACTS AXD I'lGL'KKS. 
 
 INXRODUCTORY 
 
 Food, clothins;' and slicltcr, with such funiisliiiii^s and 
 conveniences as respectable citizenship re(|uires, are neces- 
 sary to human happiness, and the j^reat majority of people 
 obtain these necessaries only by workint^ for them. The 
 American people, however, have great advantages for 
 which the\' are indebted to no jxilitical part\ . Nature has 
 given them the best of everything on the most liberal 
 scale. The\' have food stuffs of nearly every variety, 
 grown in abundance within the limits of their own coun- 
 try — a country ec|ual in size to Europe : they have a plenti- 
 ful supply of almost everything in the shape of raw 
 materials for manufactures at hand, and am])le facilities 
 for moving their products from ])oint to jioint as needed. 
 In a word they have nearl\- every resource of held, forest 
 and mine, sui)plemented by lakes, rivers and harbors, with 
 an ease of transportation to make their natural wealth 
 available. And still another immense advantage, they 
 have absolute free trade between all the States within a 
 country of continental ])roportions. 
 
 With such natural opulence, under Democratic auspices, 
 prior to 1861, peace, prosperity and happiness abounded. 
 There were abundant gains for all : even the farmers, 
 whose prosperity gauges the thrift of all other classes. 
 with all the chances of flood and drouth, frost and insect 
 pest against them, added more than ten per cent to their 
 wealth every year of the last decade of Democracy. If 
 debts were then incurred by farmers they were not often 
 disastrous for their regular gains were sufficient to meet 
 them. 
 
 But under the withering touch of Repul)licanism all was 
 
PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 changed. A pitiless tariff has taken half the earnings of 
 working-men and has not only rol^bed them of their com- 
 forts but largely of the opportunities which were their 
 dependence. " Republican policies have desolated the 
 homes of millions and driven their inmates to tenancy, 
 pauperism and despair. Good men have been turned to 
 tramps and left to wend their weary way in hunger and 
 rags. The rich gifts of the Creator are perverted, nine- 
 tenths of the surplus gains of labor are snatched by the 
 greedy few, the great purposes of life are defeated and 
 the many are made a living sacrifice to the Mammon of 
 Republicanism. With the value of farm property increas- 
 ing aftnually at the rate of only 2 and 7-10 per cent, far- 
 mers may see the peril of indebtedness with regular rates 
 of interest, and also a warning in the rapidly increasing 
 number of farm tenants. 
 
 Tariff exactions fasten on every laborer a burden which 
 may be likened to a chain and ball that requires half his 
 strength to carry it about. How greatly, then, is the pro- 
 ductive power of the people diminished ! How greatly 
 poverty, crime and degradation are increased ! And yet, 
 despite the fearful load the wealth-producers have to 
 carry, the unlimited resources of the country, its freedom 
 of internal trade, the vigor and hopefulness of its inhabi- 
 tants, have made it possible for great development to be 
 shown in many respects, as indicated b}' statistics. 
 
 But it is only by comparing the results of special privi- 
 leges, and the concentration of wealth, which have cursed 
 the country under Republican rule, with the equality and 
 general diffusion of weal that blessed the country when 
 Democracy prevailed, that one can have any realizing 
 sense of the heights of prosperity to which we should be 
 raised if labor were given a free field with its earnings 
 untouched by the inequality of tariff taxation and special 
 privilege. Cnder such conditions the springs of produc- 
 tion would be free and the immense increase of oppor- 
 tunity would assure ample employment and comfort to the 
 humblest worker. Want and fear of want would disap- 
 pear. Men would not need to strike for better terms, and 
 there would be no occasion for worry about getting em- 
 plovment, more than the healthy person worries about 
 sleeping or breathing. 
 
 Washington, D. C. Daniel M. Hall. 
 
PLAIN FACTS AND 1-I(;URRS 
 
 '•|'"r(>m l.iiu-olii to KiM.scvcll. iS54-H'/)4. \\li\ I am a 
 Ivcpul^lican ; 'TIk- llistory and Achicvcmcnls of the Kc- 
 publican I 'arty, a \ est I'ockct Clii-nnol()i,^y and Scnivenir 
 of the iMftieth Anniversary. ig04." appears on the title 
 ])a,qe of a httle luiok compiled by ex- Postmaster (lencral 
 Smith. Tlie opening: paras;"raph is as follows: 
 
 "The Republican party is just fifty years old. It cele- 
 brates its semi-centennial this year. The story of its half 
 century is the eventful hi.story of the I'nited vStates durint,'- 
 the j^reatest period of its existence. Throus:h most of 
 these fifty years that party has controlled and fjoverned 
 the country, and the advance of one has been the fflor)- of 
 the other.'" 
 
 Then after giviiiL;- about three and one-half times as 
 much more space to a review of the anti-slavery contro- 
 versv, he proceeds to give a chronological list of events, 
 and dates of legislative enactments, and with cool ef- 
 frontery sums up for the Republican party by showing 
 the growth of the country and its industi-ies from 1850 to 
 1900. Thus he would ai^projiriate the ten years from 
 1850 to i860, a period which under the sway of Democ- 
 racy, gave the country such peace. i)rogTess and pros- 
 peritv as it can never know under Re])ublicanism. 
 
 The Reiniblican party did ni.i ol)tain control of the 
 general government tmtil March 4. i8()i. and could not. 
 of course, change its policy until after that time, and 
 hence can claim no credit for the thrift and happy condi- 
 tions which covered the land during the ten years from 
 1850 to i860, which so distinctively belong to the halcyon 
 ])erio(l of Democracy. And much of the advancement on 
 industrial lines that has been made since 1861 is due to the 
 im]x'tus received from the wonderful advancement made 
 during the last ten years of Democratic rule prior to that 
 time. Whatever tranquility, hap])iness. growth and pros- 
 perit\ have come to the people during the Republican 
 period of which Mr. Smitli speaks, bears no more com- 
 parison to what the Deiuocratic period brought than is 
 found in the dismal winter with its chilling blasts and 
 
PLAIX FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 leafless trees, in comparison with radiant summer in her 
 green and rosy attire. 
 
 Economy Under Jkfferson. — The Federalists had 
 possession of the Government during its first twelve years, 
 from 1789 to 1 80 1. From that time on the Democrats, 
 called Republicans until Jackson's time, controlled the 
 Government until March 4, 1861, the first eight years 
 being under the administration of Thomas Jefferson, who 
 inaugurated a system of economy, fairness and equality 
 that prevailed. for sixty years. This sixty years was an 
 era of such freedom, advancement, glory and happy con- 
 ditions as has been known and enjoyed b}' no other nation 
 of modern times. 
 
 It is true, during this time the Federalists, under the 
 name Whig, succeeded twice in electing a president. Gen- 
 eral Harrison in 1840 and General Taylor in 1848, but did 
 not succeed in changing the policy of the Government 
 until they came into power in 1861 under the name Re- 
 publican. So, too, since 1861 the Democrats have twice 
 elected Grover Cleveland president without effecting any 
 change in the Federalist or Republican policy. 
 
 But Senator Fairbanks, in his speech at White River 
 Junction. Vt., referring to Cleveland's last administration, 
 said : "They were four years of arrested development, 
 panic and distress, without a parallel in American history." 
 But he has only to remember that arrested development, 
 panic, distress, strikes, lockouts, tramps and scabs are all 
 of Republican origin ; there were no such disturbances 
 prior to 1861 under Democratic rule. In the same speech 
 he says : "The policies of the Republican party have 
 brought immeasurable prosperity." He should have 
 added, "to the few." 
 
 "The last three years," he says, "have been years of 
 exceptional prosperity," but he does not prove it by com- 
 paring them with the Democratic years of the 50's. He 
 further says: "As in 1892. the Democratic party now 
 denounces protection as robbery of the many to enrich the 
 few and pledges itself to overthrow the Dingley law. Let 
 the American people take the Democratic platform and 
 the record of the last Democratic administration in one 
 hand and the Republican platform in the other and pro- 
 nounce their potential judgment." Such a proposition is 
 too utterly senseless. Instead, let the American people 
 realize what their conditions and achievements have been 
 
PLAIX FACTS AND i<iGLRUS. 
 
 under the Republican i)oHcit's which have steadfastly pre- 
 vailed during- the last 43 years, as compared with what 
 they were under Democratic policies during- the "free 
 trade era" before the advent of Republicanism. 
 
 For the period of seventy-two and a third years from 
 March 4, 1789. when the Government went into operation 
 under its present Constitution, to June 30, 1861, its total 
 expenses, includinj^ the Revolutionary war debt, the cost 
 of the last war with En^j^land. the Mexican war and more 
 than a dozen Indian wars, were between two and three 
 billion tlollars ( $2.7<j3,()00.432). 
 
 The first twelve years of the (lovernment were adminis- 
 tered by the Federalists with all the i)omp and ceremony 
 of the courtly tjovernments of Europe, but when Jefferson 
 came in Federal extravairance liave way to economy and 
 Democratic simplicity. 
 
 In 1800. the last year oi Fetleralism. the ])opulation was 
 5,308.483. and the total expenses of the Ciovernment were 
 $io.8i3.()7i. or two dollars and three cents for each in- 
 habitant, which would be an averag^e tax of ten dollars and 
 fifteen cents for a family of five. In 18 10 the population 
 had reached 7,239.881 in number, and the total expenses 
 for that year were onl\- $8,474,753. equal to one dollar and 
 sixteen cents for each inhabitant, or an average of five 
 dollars and eighty-five cents for each family of five ; but a 
 trifle more than half as much as under Federalism. The 
 policies inaugurated b\' Jeft'erson were so beneficent and 
 so won public confidence that they remained i)redominant 
 for sixty years. 
 
 During this time the great jobbing schemes called in- 
 ternal improvements were kept well in subjection ; the 
 United States Bank was no longer a Government attach- 
 ment; the long battle with Mamiltonism against high tar- 
 iff was virtually won. and the "free trade era" prevailed 
 for fourteen years. 
 
 It was the "golden age" of this country. The general 
 wealth increased twelve and a half i)er cent a year, one 
 year with another, and it was left largely in the hands of 
 the people, not given to the few. Farmers then owned 
 half the wealth of the country and were adding more than 
 10 per cent gains every year. In i860 nearly every one 
 owned his farm, and those who happened to owe felt no 
 concern ; their gains reassured them. At that time neither 
 the Xati(jn, States or coqiorations owed anything abroad 
 
PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 nor was there any foreign ownership of American lands 
 or other properties. American vessels then did seventy- 
 five per cent of our foreign carrying trade ; now nine per 
 cent, less than one-eighth as much. 
 
 Wages of workingmen were then constantly increasing: 
 there was no conflict between capital and labor; the suc- 
 cess of the employer meant success for the employes. 
 There was no restraint on immigration. Foreigners were 
 coming to us in greater numbers than ever before or since, 
 relatively; a large portion of them, it was said, from the 
 poorhouses and prisons of the old world, and yet Demo- 
 cracy welcomed them all, gave them work and made good 
 citizens of most of them. Democracy made us far the 
 freest, the most prosperous and happiest people on the 
 face of the wide earth. 
 
 In comparison with Jeffersonian Democracy that had 
 made this country an earthly paradise, think of the states- 
 manship which could govern such a country only by 
 "saving" it, at the cost of the life-blood of a half million 
 of its own citizens, and ten billion dollars of the wealth 
 accumulated by years of industrious toil ! Think of the 
 policy that has put nearly all the wealth of the countr}- in 
 the hands of a few ; that has destroyed our merchant ma- 
 •rine and has given the ownership of our lands, bonds and 
 industries to foreigners to the extent of two and a half 
 billion dollars. 
 
 The Cost of Republicanism.. — In the short space of 
 four years, from June 30, 1861, to June 30, 1865, the ex- 
 penditures of the United States under Republican rule 
 were over three billion dollars ($3,352,380,410), almost a 
 third more than for the entire period of seventy-two and 
 a third years before. For the period of 38 years, from 
 June 30, 1865, to June 30, 1903, they amounted to nearly 
 thirteen billions ($12,819,111,367), or a total of over six- 
 teen billions ($16,171,491,778), for the 42 years of Re- 
 publican rule. 
 
 Such stupendous expenditures clearly indicate extrava- 
 gance, corruption and lack of statesmanship in the Re- 
 publican party, and yet they are only incidents in its bale- 
 ful career, which have made it easy to fasten the tariff sys- 
 tem on the labor of the country ; a vicious system that per- 
 petuates itself. Not only has good government and every 
 legitimate industry felt its withering touch, but every 
 social, moral and religious interest has suffered as well. 
 
I'LAIX 1-ACTS AM) FIGURES. 
 
 Its course can be traced in every page of its history by the 
 wrong^s it has inflicted and l>y the demorahzation it has 
 
 A jjeople can no nmre Ik- C" )nit()rlahk'. prosperous and 
 hapi)\' when envirt)ned by concHtions that rob them of 
 equal ri<;hts, oi opportunities, and a hirj^e portion of their 
 earninj^s than the Ijoatnian can make lieadway against 
 wind and current. The measure of <:^eneral prosperity 
 determines the sum of human happiness, which is termed 
 the general welfare. To show the blight that Republi- 
 canism, like the shadow of the deadly Upas tree, has cast 
 upon ever\thing. I shall give a few statistics from official 
 sources and census reports. 
 
 The comparisons in many cases will be in dollars, but it 
 nuist be rememl)ered they are dollars closely related to the 
 masses ; dollars, too. in a sense, are the only things which 
 will procure for them the necessities, comforts and joys 
 of life. Then whatever hinders the individual from get- 
 ting one of these dollars or robs him of its possession, de- 
 prives him of so much comfort, happiness and the means 
 of advancement. 
 
 The Wealth or Farmers. — First in importance, per- 
 haps, are farm statistics. The value of farms and farm 
 property in the United States in 1850 was $3,967,343,580; 
 in i860 the value was $7,980,493,063. an increase of $4.- 
 013.149.483. equal to loi per cent. With nearly half as 
 many more of our best agricultural States ready to come 
 in; with a merchant marine that covered the world to 
 take our surplus products abroad ; with greater develop- 
 ment, improved machinery, increased railroad and other 
 facilities to overcome the crudities and disadvantages in- 
 cident to those early days, can anyone doubt that the ratio 
 of increase in the value of farm property would have been 
 far greater under continued Democratic rule than it had 
 previously been ? Cut with no greater percentage of in- 
 crease for succeeding decades than for the one from 1850 
 to i860, the value of farm property in the United States 
 would have amounted to $130,260,863,839. or $35,960,- 
 863.839 more than the entire wealth of the country in the 
 vear 1900. which under Republicanism reached the sum 
 of only $94,300,000,000. 
 
 The "magnificent record" of 40 years of Repul)licanism 
 that the census shows, is found in the value of the farm 
 
lo PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 property of the countr}- wliich in 1890 was $16,082,267,- 
 689, and in 1900 was $20,514,001,838, an increase of 
 $4,431,734,149 or 27 per cent for that decade of Repubh- 
 can prosperity ; that is, with 142 per cent more population, 
 with greatly improved machinery and labor-saving de- 
 vices ; with six times as many miles of railroads in opera- 
 tion ; with twice as much money per capita, in circulation, 
 and with forty years of Republican tarifif to build up the 
 "'home market" the percent increase in the value of farms 
 and farm property was but little more than one-fourth as 
 much for the Republican decade ending in 1900 as for the 
 Democratic decade, with all its disadvantages, which 
 ended in i860. Or stated in another way, the agricul- 
 tural wealth of the country in the year 1900 was $109,- 
 746,862,001 less than it would ha^'e been under continued 
 Democratic policies. 
 
 The value of farm animals in 1850 was $544,180,516; 
 in i860, $1,089,329,915, more than doubled in ten years of 
 Democracy. The total value of farm animals in 1890 was 
 $2,418,766,028; in 1900. $2,228,123,134, a decrease of 
 value for that Re])ublican decade of nearly two hundred 
 million dollars ($190,642,894), though the number of per- 
 sons engaged in agriculture during that time increased 
 (1,872,293) nearly two millions. Why this falling off in 
 the meat supply? Had the ability of the people to buy 
 anything to do with it? 
 
 Speaker Cannon says Americans are the best fed people 
 on the face of the earth, but if we go back to the era of 
 Democracy when low tariff" prevailed, against wdiich pro- 
 tectionists are always warning us, we find that in i860 
 there were 24 head of neat cattle. 16 sheep and 58 swine 
 more for each one hundred inhabitants than in 1900 after 
 .40 years of Republican prosperity. 
 
 Speaker Cannon also says the crop prospects are good 
 and he can see no reason why the Republicans should not 
 win in the coming election. Sure enough ! The easy- 
 going farmers are expected to testify their appreciation 
 of the prospect of good crops by voting the Republican 
 ticket. And though the crops should prove a failure this 
 year could farmers be so ungrateful as to waver in their 
 allegiance to the Republican party after all the good crops 
 of the past? If any faltered would not the great states- 
 man immediately call them back to a contemplation of the 
 ■census reports of 1900 to show them how nnich they were 
 
I'LAIX FACTS AND I-KU kl-.S. u 
 
 indebted to the Republican party for the largely increased 
 crops of that year? Of wheat. i22.(/)7.505 bushels more 
 were profluced in i(>oo than in i8<)o: of corn. ^H5. 132. 516 
 jjushols more: of oats, 285.504.<)8() bushels more, 
 
 l>ut the (listiniiuished six-aker mi.nht not call attention to 
 the fact that notw ithslandins;- the immense increase of pro- 
 duction, the value of wheat crop of 1900 was $1 1,248.501 
 less than that of 1890; the value of the corn en))) was $3.- 
 215,417 less, and the value of the oat crop was ?i3-37*^-55 
 less. That is the total product of the three principal farm 
 crops — wheat, corn and oats — for the year 1900. was 
 1.023,605,010 bushels cjrcater than was produced in i8(jo, 
 but the value was $27,841,171 less. In comparison with 
 i8<)0 the farmers not only raised over a billion bushels of 
 «^rain in 1900 for which they ^ot nothin.i,^ but were out 
 nearly 28 million dollars besides: and yet in acknowleds-- 
 ment'of such '■unexami)led" prosjx'rity a larg-e majority 
 voted the Republican ticket. 
 
 If farmers will with their ballots invite the demoraliza- 
 tion and ruin which Republicanism bring:s they should 
 pav well for it, but it is hard on their innocent ncig-hbors 
 who do not want it. 
 
 In view of the falling- off in the value of farm crops 
 alrcadv cited, and similar losses in almost every other di- 
 rection, except for the few. the increase of two and seven- 
 tenths per cent in the value of farm property of the coun- 
 try, reported in the last census, must be due for the most 
 part to the addition of the 1. 175.016 new farms during 
 that decade, rather than to individual gains of farmers. 
 
 r>ut the two and seven-tenths per cent, increase in the 
 value of farm property which the last census shows, can- 
 not be reckoned a gain to farmers since, under Republican- 
 ism 36 per cent of them have utterly lost their homes, and 
 20 per cent are mortgaged, which means that 56 per cent 
 of the farm property has passed into other hands, leaving 
 only 44 per cent owned by farmers free of mortgage. So 
 relativelv. as compared with other classes, instead of own- 
 ing half and gaining ten per cent, as they did in the fifties, 
 umler "'free trade" Democracy, the farmers have lost six- 
 sevenths of what thev then had. 
 
 HoxoK To Whom Honor is Dlm:. — It is broadly and 
 continually asserted that the Republican party with its 
 high-tariff policy has greatly distinguished itself as the 
 promoter of education, morals, temperance, religion and 
 
12 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 every form of material thrift and advancement. In proof 
 of such claims ex-Postmaster General Smith, on the con- 
 cluding- pages of his "History and Achievements of the 
 Republican Party," gives a list of some twenty items, in- 
 cluding farm crops with their increase from 1850 to 1900, 
 and says the material progress of the country in the period 
 under review is unexampled in the history of the Nation, 
 as may be read at a glance in the table which he gives and 
 is here copied in part, as follows : 
 
 1850. 1900. 
 
 Number of farms 1,449,073 5-737-372 
 
 Value of live stock $544,180,516 $3.075477»703 
 
 Value of farm property. $3,967,343,580 $20,439,901,164 
 Wealth, real and personal $7,135,780,000 $94,300,000,000 
 Capital invested in manu- 
 factures $533,245,351 $9,831,486,500 
 
 Value of manufactures. . $1,019,106,616 $13,039,279,566 
 
 Pig Iron made, tons 563755 I3-789.-242 
 
 (In 1903.) 
 
 Exports $151,893,720 $1,484,681,995 
 
 Imports $178,136,818 $995,447,175 
 
 The above table makes a fine array of instances and 
 figures to which political guides point and exultingly ask, 
 "What is there in all the past that bears any comparison to 
 the stupendous prosperit}- recorded by 50 years of Repub- 
 licanism?" But a claim based upon the data above given, 
 like all the professions which they noisily parade, is the 
 veriest sham when stripped of its false pretenses. True to 
 their predatory habits, instead of reckoning from i\Iarch 
 4, 1861, the time when their rule began, they commence 
 with 1850, and thus take ten years from the period of De- 
 mocracy's fairest fame that they may fabricate a showing- 
 for themselves, and without which Republicanism makes 
 a sorry exhibit, as is shown whenever each period speaks 
 for itself. 
 
 As I have already referred to the increase in value of 
 farm property, I take up the next item in the table, the 
 wealth of the country, real and personal, which he gives 
 as $7,135,780,000 in 1850, and which leaped to $94,300,- 
 000,000 in 1900, but ten years of this time were under 
 Democratic administration. Let us see what the increase 
 was during that time. 
 
I'LAIX l-AC'TS AXI) I'IGURHS. 13 
 
 The wealth ni" the country — 
 
 In 1S50 was .'>7.i.^5.7''^t),cxx5 
 
 In iSfMT was $i().i5<j/)i6.ooo 
 
 An incivaso of. . . $<), 023, 836,000 
 or 126 per cent fur that I )eni()cratic decade. 
 
 The wealth of the country — 
 
 In i()00 was $<)4.300.ooo.ooo 
 
 In i8<p was $r)5,o37.o9i.ooo 
 
 An increase of . . . $29,262,909,000 
 
 or 45 per cent for that decade of "unexanii)led" Republi- 
 can prosperity, only a little more than a third as much as 
 with Democratic freedom of trade. Stated in another 
 wa\, the gain of wealth per capita from 1850 to i860 
 was 67 per cent : from 1890 to 1900 only 17 per cent, about 
 one-fourth as great as during the Democratic period when 
 impecunious immigrants were pouring into this country 
 faster than ever before or since, relatively, and were 
 counted in making up the average per capita wealth. 
 
 Prosperity ^NIi-asurkd bv the Tariee. — Those who 
 have studied past conditions in this country, know that 
 prior to 1846 our fathers, among the common people, had 
 to denv themselves all luxuries and many of the comforts 
 of life in order to get a very humble home paid for in a 
 lifetime. lUit from 1846 on, under a reduced tarifif. this 
 class began to flourish and by i860, for the most part, had 
 acquired the ownership of substantial, and in many cases 
 elegant, homes, and everywhere an air of thrift was ap- 
 parent. The story of relief that came from low tariff is 
 plainly told by the history of the period covered. 
 
 From 1789. almost continuously, high tariffs with some 
 variations prevailed imtil 1846, the beginning of the "free 
 trade" or low tariff' era. As shown by statistics, just as 
 the tariff varied, so in like manner the jirosperity of the 
 nation varied. 
 
 The average wealth of each inhabitant of the United 
 States in the year 1800 was $210. From 1800 to 1810 the 
 average wealth increased to $215. or five dollars for each 
 inhabitant during the ten years. For a part of the next 
 decade higher tariff' was in vogue on account of the in- 
 
14 PLAIX FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 creased expenditures caused by the last war with Great 
 Britain, and instead of an increase of wealth there was a 
 decrease which brought the average down to $205, ten 
 dollars less to each inhabitant, and twice as much loss as 
 there had been gain during the previous ten years. From 
 1820 to 1830 there was an increase of ten dollars, bringing 
 the average per capita wealth up to $215. From 1830 to 
 1840, with slightly lowered tariff, the increase was fifteen 
 dollars, making the average wealth $230. During the 
 latter part of the decade from 1840 to 1850, much lower 
 tariff" was in operation, evidence of which is seen in an in- 
 crease of wealth equal to sixty-seven dollars for each in- 
 dividual, bringing the average per capita wealth up to 
 S307. By this time the common people were getting rid 
 of many of the disabilities with which they had been 
 shackled by high tariff, and, with the schedule again con- 
 siderably lowered, the average gain per inhabitant during 
 the decade from 1850 to i860 was $206, bringing the 
 wealth of the country up to a sum equal to $513 for each 
 person. 
 
 If on a per capita capital of only $307, with the country 
 in a comparatively crude and undeveloped state such 
 gains could be made under Democracy, what increase 
 might not reasonably be expected in the next forty years 
 with the rapidly increasing facilities for both production 
 and transportation; with 12 other States rich in agricul- 
 tural and mineral wealth to be added and with a per capita 
 capital already expanded to $513 with which to commence 
 the succeeding decade ? 
 
 Does anyone outside of a lunatic asylum doubt that 
 under continued Democracy the increase of wealth would 
 have continued with a constantly increasing ratio? But 
 had the rate of increase been no greater for each decade 
 than from 1850 to i860, and had the increased facilities 
 of production, all the greater advantages and additions 
 counted for nothing, the wealth of the country in igoo 
 would have amounted to $421,565,238,966, whereas, under 
 Republican rule, it amounted to only $94,300,000,000. 
 
 Suppose in i860 some mortal had been invested with a 
 foresight of conditions and authority to say to the money 
 power, "Stay your mad greed ! I can offer you something 
 better. With our abundant natural resources the wealth 
 of the country, even imder Republican policies, will 
 amount to something more than 94 billion dollars in 1900. 
 
TLAIX FACTS AXD i-lGLKKS. 
 
 With your system of tariff spoliation and privilcpfcd extor- 
 tion nine-tenths of this will l)e in your hands, while all the 
 rest of the people will have hut one-tenth. KvU your jxjr- 
 tion will be eoined out of the toil, the sweat and the misery 
 of the many. 
 
 "Let the country remain umler the sway of 1 K-mocracy, 
 that is, under the rule of equaT riti^hts and equal privilejjjes 
 that now prevails, and with the measure of freedom that 
 the wealth producers now enjoy, and with no jjreatcr per- 
 centai^e of gains than have been made the past decade, we 
 can jrive you, not nine-tenths, but $<j4,3oo,cx)0,ooo, the 
 entire sum which the wealth of the country will amount to 
 under Republicanism in the year Kjoo, and still have left 
 for the rest of the peoi)le $327.265,238.</)r), about three 
 and one-half times as much as there will be for all under 
 tlie system that plunders labor. 
 
 l>ettcr still, under this fairer jilan, much of the wealth 
 will be owned and enjoyed by those who have produced it. 
 Not that capital will have less, but with .qreater freedom 
 ■ from extortion and injustice the many will be prosperous, 
 hopeful and happy, which will mean prosperity for all. 
 There can be no prosperity that capital does not share. 
 
 Low Tariff Best For M.\xL'FACTURr:RS. — Like the 
 owner of the goose wdiich laid golden eggs, the manu- 
 facturers were not content to grow rich on the low 
 tariff of the fifties, and set about killing their goose with 
 high tariff', as will be seen from the following statistics: 
 
 Value of manufactured ])ro(lucts — 
 
 In 1850 w^as $1, OK). 106,616 
 
 In i860 was Si ,885.861 .676 
 
 An increase in value of. $866,755,060 
 or 85 per cent in ten years under low tariff. 
 
 \'alue of manufactured ])roducts — 
 
 In i8()0 was $().372.437.283 
 
 In 1900 was $i3,03<).27(j.5r)() 
 
 An increase in value of. $3,666,842,283 
 or 39 per cent during ten years of protection prosperity. 
 
 The gain itself was 1 18 per cent greater under low tariff* 
 than the gain under high jirotection. Remember, too,. 
 
i6 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 Democratic prosperity was shared by manufacturers, mer- 
 chants, workingmen and all others. There was peace, 
 contentment and happiness for all ; no strikes, no mobs, no 
 military. 
 
 With vastly improved machinery, greater skill of opera- 
 tives and increased facilities for handling, with twice as 
 much wealth and circulation of money per capita, the in- 
 creased per cent in manufactures from 1890 to 1900 
 should at least have been double that from 1850 to i860; 
 but if it had been equal, even for that single decade, the 
 value would have been $17,339,008,973, or $4,299,729,407 
 more than it was. 
 
 Senator Depew says we now produce annually two 
 billion dollars worth of manufactured commodities more 
 than we have a market for, which he also says means stag- 
 nation and decay to the Nation. Two billions is but a 
 trifle more, according to census reports, than is taken by 
 tariff every year from the pockets of the consumers and 
 given to the manufacturers. With such wholesale robbery 
 of the people need there be any wonder that goods cannot 
 be sold ? ^loneyless people cannot be cash customers, nor, 
 as a rule, c^n they be valuable citizens. 
 
 If labor for its share had received, not money, but a 
 chance to earn money, to the the amount of only half of 
 what the increase fell off, as compared with i860, it would 
 have been sufficient to give employment to an additional 
 force of 3,583,019 men at two dollars a day for 300 days, 
 amounting to six hundred dollars to each for his year's 
 work. 
 
 Value of cotton products manufactured in the United 
 States — 
 
 In 1850 was $61,869,184 
 
 In i860 was 115,681,774 
 
 An increase of . . . $53,812,590 
 or a gain of 87 per cent for the low tariff decade. 
 
 Value of cotton ])roducts manufactured in the United 
 States — 
 
 In 1890 was $267,981,724 
 
 In 1900 was 339,200,320 
 
 An increase of... $71,218,596 
 
PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 17 
 
 The p:ain should at least have been ifX) per cent, but it 
 was only 26, or considerably less than a third as j^reat as 
 durin>;' the low tarilt decade. 
 
 Production of \vt)ol in the I'nited States — 
 
 In 1850 was 5-.5i^>.95'J P<nuids. 
 
 In i860 was 60.264,913 pounds. 
 
 An increase of . . . 7747.954 pounds, 
 or fourteen and seven-tenths per cent for the low tariff 
 decade, \vhen. for a i)art of the time at least, there was no 
 
 duty on wool. 
 
 Production of wool in the United States — 
 
 In 1890 was 276,000.000 pounds. 
 
 In 1900 was 288.636.621 ])ounds. 
 
 An increase of . . . 12,636.621 pounds, 
 or four and six-tenths per cent, about one-third as much 
 increase with a tariff of 66 per cent as during- the decade 
 when wool was free. 
 
 A'alue of the manufactured products of wool in the United 
 States — 
 
 In 1850 was . $48,608,779 
 
 In i860 was 73.454.000 
 
 An increase of... $24,845,221 
 or 51 ])er cent for the low tariff' decade. 
 
 A^alue of the manufactured jiroducts of wool in the United 
 States — 
 
 In 1890 was $270,527,511 
 
 In 1900 was 296,990.484 
 
 An increase of... $26.462.' ^73 
 or eight and eight-tenths per cent for a high tariff" decade. 
 
 Value of the imports of the i^roducts of wool into the 
 United States — 
 
 In 1850 was $i9.620.6i«) 
 
 In i860 was 43.141.988 
 
 An increase of $23,521,369 
 
 a gain of 119 per cent for the low tariff decade. 
 
i8 PLA IN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 \alue of tlie imports of the products of wool into the 
 United States — 
 
 In 1890 was $56,582,432 
 
 In 1900 was 16,164,446 
 
 A decrease of $40,417,986 
 
 a falling- off of 71 and four-tenths per cent for the high 
 tariff decade— with a 66 per cent tariff on wool. 
 
 In i860 when Democracy was loudly denounced as un- 
 progressive. the people were able to buy one dollar and 
 thirty-six cents worth of imported woolen products and 
 two dollars and thirtv-three cents worth of home manufac- 
 ture for each inhabitant of the United States ; but in 1900, 
 under the institution of a high protective tariff which is 
 oft'ered as a guaranty that American labor shall be better 
 clothed, etc., only 21 cents Avorth of woolen products were 
 imported, and the measure of the home market was found 
 in the increase of the home products of wool which was 
 less than one-fifth as large, relatively, as in i860, while 
 for the vear 1900 the increase in the amount of wool 
 produced was only one-third as large proportionately as 
 in i860. 
 
 American vessels engaged in foreign trade — 
 
 In 1850 were 1,585,711 tons. 
 
 In i860 were 2,546,237 tons. 
 
 An increase of . . . 960,526 tons, 
 or 60 per cent for that low tariff* decade. 
 
 American vessels engaged in foreign trade had fallen off — 
 
 In 1890 to 946,695 tons. 
 
 In 1900 to 826,694 tons. 
 
 A decrease of . . . . 120,001 tons, 
 equal to a loss of 12 per cent during a decade of "unex- 
 ampled" Republican prosperity. That is, w^e had 1,719.543 
 tons more shipping engaged in foreign trade way back in 
 i860 than in 1900, w4iich illustrates the progress made in 
 forty years under Republican auspices. But it is said we 
 make it up in our immense internal trade which finds ex- 
 pression in our coastwise and lake ship])ing. Let us see : 
 
I'LAIX FACTS AXD I'lGUKES. i<> 
 
 Anien'can vessels entjajijt'd in douH'Stic trade — 
 
 In 1850 were i,<)4<).743 tons. 
 
 In i8()0 were 2.807.631 tons. 
 
 An increase of... S57.888 tons, 
 eqnal to 44 per cent .qain nnder un|)ro.q;ressive Democracy. 
 
 American vessels en,i;ai;ed in domestic tra<le — 
 
 in i8tjO were 3.477.802 tons. 
 
 In i»;oo were 4.338.145 tons. 
 
 ^ \n increase of. . . S(k).343 tons, 
 
 a i;"ain e{|ual to less than 25 per cent nnder a liiL;li pro- 
 tective tariff. 
 
 American vessels eni^a^ed in the commerce of the threat 
 lakes— 
 
 In 1850 were 198.226 tons. 
 
 In i860 were 467.774 tons. 
 
 An increase of . . . 26(j,548 tons, 
 equal lo a s^ain of 135 per cent without Repuhlican pnj- 
 tection and prosperity. 
 
 American vessels eni^as.;ed in the commerce of the great 
 lakes— 
 
 In 1890 were 1.063,063 tons. 
 
 In 1900 were i-5'^'5-587 tons. 
 
 An increase of . . . 502,524 tons, 
 a gain ecjual to 46 per cent W'ith high tariff and the pro- 
 digious prosperity of the great lake region, ahout one- 
 third as much as under low tarifif. 
 
 There is jierhaps no one thing with which the I\.e])nh- 
 licans so greatly plume themselves as the vastness of our 
 foreign commerce, as though its growth were all due to 
 Repuhlican policies. l^)Ut in this, as in all similar preten- 
 sions, they have no case : they are simply inij^osters. 
 The foreign commerce, that is. the sum of the imports 
 and exports, of this country — 
 
 In 1850 was '. . $317,885,252 
 
 In i860 was 687.192.176 
 
 An increase of .... $3(39.306.924 
 
20 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 a gain equal to upwards of 113 per cent for that decade 
 during' the "free trade era." 
 
 The foreign commerce of the United States — 
 
 In 1890 was $849,941,184 
 
 In 1900 was 1,394,483.082 
 
 An increase of $597,285,173 
 
 a gain equal to 36 per cent, about- one-third as much as 
 the Democratic increase. 
 
 Had the rate of increase for each succeeding decade 
 been only as great as that of the Democratic decade from 
 1850 to i860 the commerce of the United States in the 
 year 1900 would have amounted to $14,004,728,700, 
 nearly seven times as much as it was under Republi- 
 canism. And instead of throwing 60 thousand seamen 
 out of employment, there would have been a call for more 
 than nine hundred thousand. 
 
 But Democracy would not have been contented with 
 the gains which were being made a half century ago, nor 
 with any gains that did not fairly and legitimately sur- 
 pass all the rest of the world as greatly as do our natural 
 resources. 
 
 No one can offer any valid reason why the commerce 
 of this country should not be as large per capita as that 
 of any country on the face of the globe, nor can any 
 thoughtful person doubt that under the Democratic policy 
 of equal rights as illustrated during the fifties, that it 
 would long since have outstripped all the nations of earth. 
 If, like Holland, its per capita foreign commerce in 1900 
 had been two hundred and eighty-four dollars and eighty- 
 three cents, its aggregate foreign trade would have 
 amounted to $21,733,493,719, nearly ten times as much as 
 it then was. 
 
 As is plainly and indisputably shown in every line of 
 census figures, the policies that have prevailed since 1861 
 have inflicted a loss of many millions of dollars in every 
 department of American industry. And a continuation 
 of the story of corruption and oppression is read in the 
 corresponding increase of poverty and general discontent 
 among the workingmen all over the country. 
 
 Though the tariff iniquity had been quite firmly planted 
 under the leadership of such advocates as Hamilton, fol- 
 
TLAIX FACTS AXD 1-lf.l RI'S. 21 
 
 lowed by Clay, and watered l>y the corrupting nitlueiices 
 of the constant stream of wealth wrun^ from all the tired, 
 sweaty toilers of the land, it was in a fair way to he rooted 
 out when an uncontrolled frenzy of reform seized tin- 
 people in i8f)0 which led to their com])lete capture 1)\ the 
 money power. 
 
 The Golden Ack. — The averag-e wealth in this coun- 
 try, per inhabitant, in the fifties was small as compared 
 with now. but that was a jKTiod which stands out in every 
 incident as the "o-olden a}a:e" of this country. The ac- 
 cumulations and rewards of labor were then so much 
 more fairly shared and the wealth so much more justly 
 distributed that every man able and willing- to work, ctnild 
 provide himself and family with the comforts and usually 
 with many of the luxuries of life. 
 
 Silks for the Common People. — With f^reater fair- 
 ness in the distribution of wealth there is more ability to 
 buy and consequently an increased demand for the pro- 
 ducts of labor, as witness the manufacture and imj^orts 
 of silks under low tariff and later under high taritT. 
 Though the average per capita wealth was nearly three 
 times greater than during the low tariff period, fewer 
 people were able to buy silks in 1900 than in 1860. 
 
 The increase of the manufacture of silks in the United 
 States in i860, as compared with 1850, was 264 per cent. 
 
 The increase in silk manufacture in 1900 over 1890 was 
 53 per cent, about one-tifth as much as in the former 
 period. 
 
 The increase in the imi)orts of silks from 1850 to i860 
 Avas 85 per cent. From 1890 to 1900 there was a decrease 
 in imports of it^ per cent. 
 
 During the period of the fifties the number of inhabi- 
 tants was only about one-third as many, and the average 
 wealth of each about one-third as much as in 1900, and 
 yet with all this disparity of numbers and wealth against 
 the earlier period the people, under low tariff, in i860, 
 were able to buy imported silks to the amount of $32,726.- 
 134. Under the prosperity of 1900. with largely increased 
 numbers and increased aggregate wealth, the imports of 
 silks amounted to only $30,894,373, nearly six per cent 
 less than forty years before. 
 
 The common people can enjoy silks, and they can buy 
 them. too. when not robbed of their earnings or their op- 
 portunities. With the same proportional and well-diffused 
 
22 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 prosperity which prevailed in i860, the country would 
 have imported for its people silks in the year 1900 to the 
 amount of $205,589,843, and there would have been a cor- 
 responding" demand for silks of home manufacture. 
 
 If a moderate abatement of the tariff leaves the people 
 so much of the good things of earth as is shown by the silk 
 statistics just cited, which apply to every other commodity 
 as well, foreign or domestic, we must conclude that the 
 benefits would be almost beyond calculation if no one had 
 to pay tribute to another. 
 
 I am aware that this is a materialistic or financial treat- 
 ment of the matter, but without success in this respect 
 there will be little or no progress in any other direction. 
 It takes money to procure the means for advancement in 
 everything that makes for higher and better citizenship, 
 and the righteousness that refrains from tariff spoliation, 
 leaves him who labors in possession of means and oppor- 
 tunities for material prosperity, upon which depends the 
 social uplifting that firmly establishes him on a higher 
 plane of citizenship. 
 
 Thk Workingman's Opportunity. — President Roose- 
 velt says in his letter of acceptance that "At all hazards 
 the American workingman must be protected in his stand- 
 ard of wages, in his standard of living, and must be se- 
 cured the fullest opportunity for employment." And if 
 the American workingman should pause to think for him- 
 self and ask how all this is to be assured him, the ready 
 answer would be protection against foreign pauper-made 
 goods, which the Republicans promise to give him by put- 
 ting a tariff on the necessities of life equal to an average 
 of more than 50 per cent. That is, when the consumer 
 buys a dollar's worth of sugar he must pay one dollar and 
 seventy-five cents, which is an addition of 75 cents to its 
 actual market value. For a dollar's worth of salt he must 
 pay a dollar and forty cents ; forty cents for tariff for 
 which he gets nothing. The following are some of the 
 schedule rates of tariff now required, each of which means 
 so much added to the normal price of each dollar's worth 
 of goods, viz : 
 
 Sugar 75 cents, salt 40 cents, spices 27 cents, molasses 
 29 cents, woolen goods 95 cents, rice 65 cents, leather 
 goods 35 cents, glass goods 60 cents, cotton cloth 58 cents, 
 wearing apparel and clothing 50 cents, plushes 100 cents, 
 jute carpets 41 cents, l^russels and tapestry carpets 35 
 
 L.«»C. 
 
i'LAlX FACTS WD I'ICL'KKS. 23 
 
 cents, paints and oils 53 cents, i.itcs m) cents, products of 
 flax 50 cents, yjfrns i 14 cents, blankets ()0 cents, hats 131 
 cents, shawls 104 cents, knit fabrics 185 cents — that is. U) 
 ^Qt a dollar's worth of knil fabrics one nnist pay two dol- 
 lars and ei,i^hty-five cents — dress fj;-oods 50 cents, ready- 
 made elothinq- 105 cents, jewelry 45 cents, boots and shoes 
 25 cents. rul)l)er u^oods 35 cents. }4:loves 57 cents, smoker's 
 articles f)0 cents, umbrellas 50 cents, spirits from j:jrain 
 216 cents, malt licpiors 68 cents, wines 29 cents, marble or 
 stone 50 cents, carriaijes 45 cents, iron and steel products 
 45 cents, machinery and tools 45 cents, lumber 20 cents, 
 furniture 30 ceiUs. and so to the end of an almost inter- 
 minable list. 
 
 P.ut that which is added to the i)rices of thinj^j^s by the 
 tariff imposed by Government is not all. ( )ther additions 
 are made by increased freig-ht charg-es of transportation 
 companies, and by the larg^er marg^ins of merchants, deal- 
 ers and others who strive to reimburse themselves for 
 what the tariff takes from them, so the dollar for which 
 the workin.c:man oives the full equivalent brin.c^s him 
 hardly fifty cents' worth of the things for which he ex- 
 changes it. 
 
 Don't Know Thev are Ror.nEn. — Carried away by the 
 false promises of better wages, better living, fuller op- 
 portunities for employment and a home market the 
 workingmen and farmers give their votes of consent to 
 tariff' robbery without stopping to think that seven-eighths 
 of the plunder is taken from their own limited earnings. 
 
 Under Republicanism the people of this country have 
 been brought to a condition where 69 per cent of them 
 have no homes of their own, and the larger part of these 
 have only their hands with which to procure shelter, food 
 and clothing. \\'hat justification does the farmer have 
 for joining with the manufacturers to rob these poor peo- 
 ple who are terrorized by the warning that their standard 
 of wages, their standard of living will be lowered, and 
 their op|)ortunity for emjiloyment lost unless they uphold 
 the svstem that' makes them pay double i)rices for what 
 they buy. Perhajis the farmer agrees with the manufac- 
 turer in saying that a tariff' tax is so mingled and con- 
 cealed in the prices of the various commodities that the 
 consumer does not know that he is being robbed. But 
 because one takes poison without knowing it does he 
 escape its deadly cft'ects? 
 
24 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 Let us look at a few of the items of the unjust and 
 oppressive load that is put upon the consumers of this 
 country, the majority of whom are poor working people. 
 The following are from the statistical abstract of the 
 United States Treasury for the year 1903 : 
 
 Goods imported in 1903. \'alue. Duty. Percent. 
 
 Sugar, confectionery 
 
 and molasses $65,950,814 
 
 Rice 2,894,156 
 
 Leather goods 11,307.565 
 
 Goods manufactured 
 
 from glass 6,969,959 
 
 Goods manufactured 
 
 from cotton 51,706,978 
 
 Woolen goods. ...... 19,302.007 
 
 Thread on spools. . . . 7,355,66i 
 
 $63,630,423 
 1,342,512 
 5,002,598 
 
 96.48 
 
 46.39 
 3540 
 
 4.303.509 
 
 61.74 
 
 27,758,625 
 17.564,694 
 
 4,266,283 
 
 53-68 
 91.00 
 
 58.00 
 
 $165,487,140 $123,868,644 63.24 
 
 Instead of paying $165,487,140, the market value of 
 the goods mentioned, and just what in justice should be 
 paid, plus a fair margin for handling, the consumers had 
 to pay $289,355,784, an average addition of 63 and "^/i°<> 
 per cent for which they got nothing. If the people got 
 anything but robbery for the 124 millions of tariff paid, 
 what did they get? The President would say the work- 
 ingmen got it back in the shape of increased wages. That 
 is, the earnings of the workingman must first go into the 
 pockets of the privileged class if he would have good 
 wages, good living and full opportunity for employment. 
 
 President Roosevelt says : 
 
 "The tariff rate must never fall below that which will 
 protect the American workingman by allowing for the dif- 
 ference between the general labor cost here and abroad, so 
 at least to equalize the conditions arising from the dif- 
 ference in the standard of labor here and abroad — a dif- 
 ference which it should be our aim to foster in so far as it 
 represents the needs of better educated, better paid, better 
 clothed workingmen of a higher type than can be found 
 in any foreign country." 
 
 Could there be politics more pernicious, or statesman- 
 ship of a lower order than appears in the above 
 statement? Republicans strenuously contend that the 
 
I'LAIX FACTS AXU l-lGURl'IS. 25 
 
 American workitii^inan can maintain l)cfittin)^ standards 
 of living- only by paying $1-75 ^^^^ *J"^" *l<'ll'ir's worth of 
 sngar, $2 for a dollar's worth of clothing, and so on to the 
 end of the list. In other words, in order to be better edu- 
 cated, better fed and better clothed than the foreigner he 
 must i)ay two dollars for every dollar's worth of neces- 
 sities hi. buys: that is. he must be robbed of half of his 
 earnings, though he has to give full face-value for all the 
 dollars he gets. Could anything be more monstrous? 
 
 To show the turpitude of Re])ul>lican politics in this 
 respect, as in all else, let me quote from the leading organ 
 of protection, the "Home Market lUilletin." as follows: 
 
 'A\'ages in the protected industries in Xew England : 
 
 Xumber Average 
 
 of hands amuial 
 
 employed. wages. 
 
 Cotton manufactures 185.822 ^245.-17 
 
 Silk and silk goods 3^337 291.88 
 
 Woolen manufactures 161.000 293.05 
 
 Hosiery and knit gloves 28,828 280.53 
 
 Iron and steel manufactures 140,078 303-5I 
 
 Iron mining 3>i'^^7 30i-i9 
 
 Total average wages $300-94 
 
 "Wages in the unprotected industries in Xew England : 
 
 Xumber Average 
 
 of hands annual 
 
 employed. wages. 
 
 Agricultural implements 39..s8o $388.96 
 
 Foundries and machine shops. . . .145.705 454-i8 
 
 Lumber, planing, manufactures, etc. C^.~^[) 458-53 
 
 Carpenters 1 5-'''54 544-o8 
 
 Hardware manufactures 4-034 4-4-75 
 
 Average annual wages in the unprotected industries.$456.87 
 Average annual wages in the protected industries. 300.94 
 
 Ditference in favor of theun])rotecte(lindustries.$i 55.<)3 
 or 51 and forty-seven one-hundredths per cent. 
 
 Protection cares for its own people by cutting down 
 their wages 51 per cent, and builds up a ■"home market" 
 
26 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 bv confiscatin^c: half their ahihty to buy and consume the 
 products of labor. If a protective tariff is so good a thing 
 for the protected workingmen, how is it that seven-tenths 
 of the strikes and lock-outs in the United States occur in 
 the distinctively protected industries, while not more than 
 five per cent of the labor of the country is employed in 
 the tariff favored industries? But it should be remem- 
 bered that all are "protected" when they buy sugar and 
 other things. Girls in the large cities receive from 4 to 7 
 cents apiece for making shirts, from 7 to 20 cents apiece 
 for making vests, and pay in like proportion for making 
 all other garments ; and to keep up the American standard 
 of living have to pay out half of their earnings for pro- 
 tection against foreign pauper labor. 
 
 Does the greater amount of work that farmers are 
 doing for less money prove that they are living better or 
 that they will be able to give their sons and daughters a 
 better start in life? For Republican progress let us once 
 more turn to crop statistics : 
 
 For the six leading crops, wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley 
 and buckwheat, the farmers of the United States received 
 $50,212,328 less in 1899, the last census year, than in 1879, 
 notwithstanding there were over a thousand million 
 bushels more, and 55,989,218 acres more raised in 1899 
 than in 1879. -^"^ this is but one of the warnings of the 
 Republican quicksands into which we are rapidly sinking. 
 Had the times got no worse for farmers than they were 
 in 1879, they would have received for their immense crop 
 of cereals iii 1899 almost a billion dollars ($921,146,008) 
 more than they got. The average price per bushel in 
 1879 for the six crops mentioned was 17 cents, or 39 per 
 cent more than in 1899. 
 
 Prices are Good When the Masses Have Means to 
 PjUY. — If the Wilson tariff, 5 per cent lower than the 
 Dingley tariff, brought such misfortune and widespread 
 misery as the President says, will he explain how one 36 
 per cent lower than the Wilson schedule brought pros- 
 perity to everybody in the 50's? Below is given a little 
 glimpse of prices of farm products during the "free 
 trade era," as compared with high-tariff prices. 
 In the first column will be found a short list of 
 articles and the average i)rice of each during the year 
 1900, taken from the statistical abstract of the United 
 States Treasury. ' In the second column will appear a list 
 
PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 27 
 
 of the same articles, and the averap^e wholesale i)rice of 
 each for the entire ])erio(l of ten years heicinninj^^ with 
 185 1 and ending with iSdo. taken from Spoffcjrd's Ameri- 
 can Almanac: 
 
 Averai;e prices durini;" the year ii)(M) — 
 
 Corn, per bushel 45 i^cnts 
 
 Wheat, per bushel J^o 
 
 ( )ats. ])er bushel -7 
 
 lUitter. per pound 17 
 
 Lard, per pound 7 
 
 Wool, per pound ■^') 
 
 Cotton, per pound *) 
 
 Beef, extra mess. i)er barrel '$[)■7^ 
 
 fork. mess, per barrel S12.4S 
 
 Average prices during the jjeriod iS51-(k:) — 
 
 Corn, per bushel 80 cents 
 
 Wheat, per bushel ^^-57 
 
 Oats, per bushel 55 
 
 Butter, per pound i<J 
 
 Lard, per pomid 10' A " 
 
 Wool, per pound 35 
 
 Cotton, per pound 11 
 
 Beef, extra mess, per barrel Si*"'.')*) 
 
 Pork, mess, per barrel Si 7.03 
 
 Thus it will be seen that for a low tariff period — not 
 for a single year of unusual high prices, but for ten con- 
 secutive years, the average price of corn was 35 cents a 
 bushel more than in 1900 with high tariff, and the prices 
 of nearly all other farm products made a similar showing. 
 Wheat was /j cents a bushel higher with low tariff', oats 
 28 cents higher, butter 2 cents higher, lard 3 cents higher, 
 wool 6 cents higher, cotton 2 cents higher, beef S-.2C) a 
 barrel higher and pork $4.55 a barrel higher. So in njoo 
 it would take nearly twice as much of farm pnxluce to 
 bring a hundred dollars as in a year of the "free trade 
 era.'' And vet the President says the last forty-odd years 
 in which the protective tariff j^olicy has becoiue part of 
 the very tiber of the country have been the most pros- 
 perous vears this nation has ever seen. Think of the 
 license that would permit such a statement! lie may 
 have intended to say not the "most i)rosperous"" but the 
 
28 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 "most successful" having- in mind Republican politicians 
 and the privileged few. 
 
 The President's reference to our merchant marme, 
 whicli has been strangled by Republicanism, doubtless 
 means subsidy, but his plea reminds one of the man about 
 to receive sentence for killing- his father and mother, who, 
 when asked if he had anything to say, replied : "Nothing, 
 except to request vour Honor to remember that I am a 
 poor lone orphan.'' In i860 we had a merchant marine 
 equal to anv in the world, and but for the blasting breath 
 of Republican policies would long ago have been the 
 largest. 
 
 Why do we use our Army and Navy to occupy and hold 
 the Philippines ? They say 'it is to fit the Filipinos for self- 
 government. But why must this be done at the expense 
 of American labor? The only apparently sincere answer 
 is that it is for the purpose of increasing our foreign trade, . 
 and the President says : 
 
 "To abandon the islands completely, without even re- 
 taining a coaling station, would mean to abandon the po- 
 sition in competition for the trade of the Orient which we 
 have acquired during the last six years; and, what is far 
 more important, it would mean irreparable damage to 
 those who have become the wards of the Nation." Who 
 are the wards? 
 
 Our Foreign Commerce. — Trade secured by war costs 
 a hundred dollars for one received, but under Democratic 
 auspices a foreign commerce was established commensur- 
 ate with American resources and American vigor without 
 expense to the public for military aid, or even for coaling 
 stations in remote parts of the earth. 
 
 Before the advent of Republicanism, next to agriculture, 
 commerce was our greatest industry. Our vessels then 
 did 75 per cent of our carrying trade ; now, next to noth- 
 ing. Besides handling our own trade, nearly half of our 
 vessels were engaged in carrying for the rest of the w^orld, 
 going to and from every port of the globe, and from the 
 topmast of every craft proudly waved the stars and stripes, 
 not the symbol of "benevolent assimilation" from the 
 cannon's mouth, but everywhere hailed as the glad em- 
 blem of a generous civilization and freedom to all the 
 children of men. We then did 40 per cent of the coast- 
 wise trade of China, but under Republicanism that busi- 
 
TLAIX FACTS AXD I-IGURES. 29 
 
 ness, like many otlicrs. (Iwindlt'd. aii<l lias iidw CDiuplctcly 
 (Hod out. 
 
 Wo then had the lead, and had our advancement ^^onc 
 on at the rate which ohtained durinjj^ those few years of 
 low tariff, we shoulil lon^' hefore this have Americanized 
 the whole world with our marine, our manufactures and 
 our superior products. Mr. John Uarrett. former minis- 
 ter to Siam. now minister to I'anama. tells of the havr)c 
 of our marine .Q'lory. 1 le says : 
 
 "I have traveled around the worhl five times and have 
 recently completed a trip of 50.000 miles in the interest of 
 the St. Louis Exposition, and in all my journeys. I re.u^ret 
 to say. I did not see one merchant marine shi]) tlyinjj^ the 
 American fiag^." 
 
 ( >nc of the tine stories with which Senator Fairbanks 
 tickled llio X'ermont farmers was that "Our foreign trade 
 balance continues to increase our National wealth." A 
 little investiijation will convince anyone that our forcifjn 
 trade balance increases our wealth in the same way that 
 Republican methods have increased every other j^^ood 
 thing. For the five years ending with Kp^. the total 
 value of our exports of merchandise was. .$7,417,065,181 
 Total imports for the same time. . . . 4;750,597,902 
 
 Excess of exports $2,666,467,179 
 
 nearlv three billion dollars worth of our wealth lost under 
 Repulilican rule in five years. 
 
 During the last ten years our average per capita exports 
 of merchandise have been $15.50 a year: and our per 
 capita imports of merchandise during the same time have 
 been $10.45 ^ year. That is, for every fifteen dollars and 
 fifty cents worth of goods sent out of the country we have 
 received ten dollars and forty-five cents worth, a loss 
 ec[ual to $5.05 a year for each and every individual in the 
 whole country. And. besides, in the same ten years our — 
 Total exports of gold and silver have been.$i.O()2,8<j7,284. 
 Total imports of gold and silver have been. ij22j(j7,202 
 
 Excess of exports $170,100,082 
 
 over one hundred and seventy million dollars in gold and 
 
 silver sent out of the coimtry for which there is no ac- 
 counting. 
 
30 PLAIX FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 Who gets all these billions of dollars lost to the coun- 
 try? Of course foreign owners of American property 
 and bonds get a good deal; a large sum is paid to for- 
 eigners for freights, and, besides, our rich tourists spend 
 no small amount abroad. At any rate this balance of 
 trade under Republicanism is so much loss to American 
 producers. 
 
 Contrast this fearful drain with the conditions which 
 existed during the last ten years of Democratic adminis- 
 tration. For the year 1858 our exports were slightly 
 larger than our imports, but for every other year of that 
 decade the imports were larger, and for the ten years the 
 average annual per capita exports were $8.90; the aver- 
 age per capita imports $10.22. That is, for eight dollars 
 and ninety cents worth of our products sent away we got 
 in return ten dollars and twenty-two cents worth, or a 
 gain of $1.32 a year for each inhabitant of the entire 
 country. 
 
 The Manufacturer's Large Share. — According to 
 the census of 1900 the increase of wealth was 4^ per 
 cent. The profits of the manufacturers of the United 
 
 States were $2,308,516,713 
 
 ^Yz per cei^t on the amount of capital em- 
 ployed 442,416,892 
 
 The amoimt received greater than their share. $1 ,866,099,82 1 
 This divided by 76,000,000, the number of inhabitants, 
 shows that $24.55 were taken on an average from each in- 
 dividual for the manufacturers which did not belong to 
 them. This would amount to an average of $122.75 foi" ^ 
 family of five, besides what the Government and others 
 get on account of the tarifi:'. 
 
 Home Market. — They say this tarifif robbery is to 
 build up the home market. See, then, for example, what 
 the "home market" does for the States of New York and 
 Pennsylvania, whose combined factory products are 
 nearly half as great as those of all the rest of the States. 
 The value of the farm property in New York was $146,- 
 903,870 less in 1900 than in 1890. and in the same time 
 the farm property of Pennsylvania depreciated in value 
 $43,766,151. 
 
 1 f a home market for the things we produce can be in- 
 sured by tarifi^ robbery that takes the earnings of those 
 who would buy the ])roducts of labor, why did we have to 
 
ri. \l\ I'AC'TS -VXD I'lCIKI-.S. 31 
 
 export 63 |XT iriii moff per rapita of our ])r<)(lucts in i<j<j^^ 
 tlian in iSU) when tlit-rc was low tarilT? 
 
 President Roosevelt says that the value of farm ])ro])- 
 crty increased $i2.5(XJ,ooo.ooo "in the forty years endini; 
 in i(>(X)." This seems to he one of tlu' slronj,^ points of 
 the President's recent letter of acceptance and it is uttered 
 with his usual self-comi)lacence. To the j^^ood natured 
 and unreflecting- farmer no doubt such increase seems a 
 maj2^nificent shovvinjjf. and why. indeed, is it less deserving 
 of the approbation of farmers than any of the achieve- 
 ments witli which the Republican party plumes itself? 
 
 A more careful scrutiny finds the statement an un- 
 kindly, not to say brutal, sum'nestion — a cruel taunt, calcu- 
 lated to remind farmers that in iSCjo. pric^r to the 40 years 
 of Republican rule, they owned half the wealth of the 
 country and the increase in the value of farm property in 
 ten years of low tariff, from 1850 to 18^)0. was loi per 
 cent, or more than k^ per cent each war. I'.ut the increase 
 to which the President alludes was only 157 per cent for 
 40 years, or about three and one-third per cent a year, ajid 
 even this was due larjrely to the twelve new and flourish- 
 ing States which have been added since iS>C)0. And fur- 
 ther, this small gain in farm ])roi)erty is owned largelv bv 
 those who are not farmers. 
 
 Big farm crops are a spectacular feature of Republican 
 speeches, but there are other big crojis for which the 
 country is clearly indebted to Republican policies ; for in- 
 stance, the li<|U(M- monopoly worth hundreds of millions, 
 and from which millions can be drawn for campaign 
 funds. There was nothing of the kind under Democratic 
 administration, but at the time of the last official report 
 there were 207.525 Republican institutions, called saloons, 
 besides wholesale liquor houses, and dealers in malt 
 liquors, scattered all over the land from which the armies 
 of poverty, crime, wretchedness and Republicanism are 
 recruited. 
 
 The consumption of alcoholic liquors increased from 
 6.44 gallons per cajiita in i860 to I9.<j8 gallons per capita 
 in 1903. Crime, according to PresideiU IJrinkerhoff of 
 the Prison Congress, has increased in still greater ratio; 
 while the increase of poverty has been incomparabl}' 
 greater. A large and steady increase of business failures, 
 illiteracv, murders, suicides, divorces, embezzlements and 
 
32 PLAIN FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 immorality of all kinds are parts of the story of Republi- 
 canism. 
 
 Though the functions of government have been greatly 
 perverted for the promotion of "business," the Republi- 
 cans have to confess after 43 years of complete domina- 
 tion and control, that many of the industries of the 
 country cannot survive without confiscating the earnings 
 of others, and that affairs generally are in so precarious 
 a condition that any mention of the return of the Demo- 
 cratic methods which gave such tranquility and general 
 prosperity in the fifties, would now produce an utter col- 
 lapse of business. 
 
 But the marvelous history and experience of this 
 country, covering a series of years immediately prior to 
 1861, is ample proof that the democracy of equal rights 
 and equal privileges, will insure real prosperity and ad- 
 vancement on all lines that lead to the welfare of the peo- 
 ple. Under such conditions there will be no gulf of privi- 
 lege to separate and give idle glory, luxurious wealth and 
 aristocratic dominion to the few ; unremitting, unrewarded 
 toil, poverty and slavery to the man}-. And with ugly 
 hindrances removed the aspirations of the people rise ; 
 they become more ambitious, virtuous and happy. And 
 just in proportion as food, raiment and shelter for the 
 body are improved, higher development of the mind and 
 character are evolved. vSuch freedom with its elevating, 
 purifying influences, is the rightful heritage of every 
 American citizen, and if fully enjoyed will mean advance- 
 ment, intellectually, morally and spiritually. Democracy 
 inspires a measure and dignity of manhood which would 
 stand aghast at the suggestion of statesmanship that would 
 permit a part of the people to be robbed for the benefit of 
 another part. Its grander men would sicken at the 
 mention of the shameful maxim for the head of a great 
 government, "Speak easy and carry a big club." 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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