Speech #470161904

The Tariff Commission went through the country taking the testimony of manufacturers. Occasionally they gave hearing to an importer or dealer. but they paid no attention to and asked not fbr the opinions of the millions who ibllow the plow and cultivate the soil and who produce by their labor the enormous crops which constitute the real wealth and exports of this country. These are regarded as mere consumers. and as such not entitled to protection and to but little consideration. 1.791 Thanks to the boundless fertility or" our soil they can compete successfully with the serf and pauper labor of Europe in the cultivation of wheat and corn and with the slave and cooly labor of India and Egypt in the cultivation of cotton. They export largely and should have a surplus of profit. This they are not permitted to spend in the cheapest markets of the world for the articles which they require. but they are compelled by our tariff laws to make a contribution of it to the support of "American labor "Inot the labor of the field. but that of the furace. loom. and machineshop.