Speech #580070229

Chairman. while the bill now pending is up for consideration. to state precisely by what plan the Republican party would cover the seas with American shipping. the method. the plan. the policy by which it is to be accomplished will be left to the commission that the pending bill creates to devisea plan. a method. or a policy that will be acceptable to the American people. that will be satisfactory to American labor. and yet that will attract American capital into the ships that are needed for our carrying trade. In 1890 the United States was confronted with the necessity for establishing the tinplate industry in the United States. At that time aliens supplied practically all of the tin plate that we consumed. and the reason why aliens supplied it was because alien labor produced tin plate more cheaply than American labor could or would produce it. That was a condition of affairs that was entirely satisfactory to our Democratic friends. and they did not wish it disturbed any more than they now wish to have the foreign monopoly of our ocean transportation disturbed. But the Republicans were dissatisfied. and so they determined to build up tinplate manufacturing in the United States.