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It will be seen that from 1889 to 1893 there is a constant increase of about $5,000,000 a year. In 1894 there is an actual decrease, and still no material increase the year following. In 1896 there is a substantial increase, but a standing still the year following, so that the average annual increase for the four years from 1893 to 1897 is only $1,689,633, which, considering the increase in population, is a falling off.,

Now look at the increase since the passage of the Dingley ławover $10,000,000, or an average of $8,000,000 a year--and this largely made up from the sale of 1 and 2 cent stamps. A little thing is a postage stamp compared with a locomotive, and yet it has its place in our social and commercial life. We are increasing our postal expenditures largely every year, and yet our revenue is increasing at a still greater rate, so that we may soon look for a self-supporting department and then for 1-cent postage. Rural free delivery is being extended to every part of the country, giving the farmer at his very door his daily mail, the daily paper, the daily weather and crop reports, and making him more intelligent, more expert, and more prosperous. And so protection carries its benefits and blessings in the letter envelope and newspaper wrapper as well as on the rails and water ways.

The Telegraph and Telephone.-Time was when the telegraph message may have been considered a luxury, but for many years it has been a necessity, and is as much an indication of prosperity or adversity as the weather vane is an indication of the direction of the wind. The large business house must resort to the telegraph many times a day, while the individual knows the value of saving a few hours, sometimes a few minutes, in important transactions.

The following table shows the receipts of the Western Union Telegraph Company for the past fourteen fiscal years:

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It will be seen that up to 1893 there was a constant increase. From 1893 to 1897 there was a decrease, while from 1897 there has been not only a recovery of the business lost during the freetrade Wilson-Gorman tariff, but a very substantial increase. This great increase during the operation of the Dingley tariff, it must be remembered, has been gained in spite of an enormous

advance in telephone business. Besides the constantly increasing business of the Western Union Company there has been a proportionate increase in the business of the Postal Telegraph Company and over railroad and private wires.

The increase in telephone business can be seen from the following figures of subscribers and employes since 1894:

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Nearly five times the average annual increase under the protective Dingley tariff as under the free-trade Wilson-Gorman tariff. It will be interesting in this connection to compare the annual number of telephone messages in different countries. They were as follows, according to the latest statistics:

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The United States does more telephoning than all the rest of the world combined at a rate of from 5 to 10 cents a message. All this has been made possible by the great prosperity brought to the country by the Dingley tariff.

Railroad Business.-Free-traders insist on calling our great railroad business one of our non-protected industries, and yet there is no single industry in the country so dependent on the tariff for profitable business. This is clearly seen in the record during the last five years under the Dingley law as compared with the figures under the free-trade Wilson-Gorman law. Then a large proportion of the roads of the country were in the hands of receivers; now only about 1 per cent. of the roads of the country are in receivers' hands. Then the railroad business of the country was, to say the least, in pretty bad shape; now the business is limited only by facilities to handle the freight offered.

We have just passed the 200,000 mark in railroad mileage. This

Of total track we have

means total mileage of railroad systems. about 280,000 miles. This represents a capital of $12,000,000,000, with annual earnings of $1,500,000,000. A total of 600,000,000 passengers are carried annually and over 1,100,000,000 tons of freight. More than 1,000,000 men are employed, with annual wages exceeding $600,000,000. The following table will show the comparison of certain statistics during the three. years of the free-trade WilsonGorman law and the first three years of the Dingley taw:

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But this contrast, marked as it is, by no means shows the difference between the effect of free-trade and protection upon our railroad affairs. The statistics for 1901 have not yet been published, but it is known they are much in advance of those of 1900, while those of 1902 will show a still greater advance. There is 50 per cent. more railroad business being done now each year under the Dingley law than the average annual business done under the Wilson-Gorman law. There is also an increase of 50 per cent. in total amount of wages now paid. The amount of miles built annually has trebled and the increase in dividends is most satisfactory. But what of the passenger and shipper? The passenger is paying less and the freight rate has fallen 13 per cent. That the result is due in large measure to protection is shown by the fact that last year, while our corn crop and potato and apple crop were so small, relatively, but little of those staples were shipped, still the railroad business of the country was the greatest in our history. Coal was being carried to the busy mills, man

ufactures were being carried to the consumers, and luxuries to the prosperous people from Maine to California, from the Lakes to the Gulf. And this immense business was done, too, in the face of the enormous expansion of trolley lines in every part of the Union, deriving a large share of passenger traffic and small freight business.

Failures. No matter how healthful the community, there will always be illness and death, but the death rate will vary according to conditions. There will always be business troubles and suspensions and failures, but their number will vary according to tariff conditions. A study of the failures for the past ten years carries with it a most significant lesson. The following table shows the number of failures and amount of liabilities for the calendar years 1892-1901, inclusive, as reported by R. G. Dun & Co.:

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It will be seen that both the number and amount of liabilities in 1892 were normal, but coming free-trade was assured by the elec tions of that year, and the result in the business world is shown by the increased number of failures in 1893 and the liabilities of over three times the amount of the preceding year. In 1894 and 1895 they fell off somewhat, but were still abnormally high, and in 1396 the figures were again enormous. Those four years were anxious ones for every business concern, and fortunate indeed was the individual or concern that went through without suspension or failure. But with the enactment of the Dingley law in July, 1897, came hope and confidence, and the result is seen in the lesser number of failures and the decreased amount of liabilities. The year 1898 was still better, and 1899 was a record breaker for low failures and liabilities, as 1893 had been for high figures. The years 1900 and 1901 remained at normal number and amount, and in this connection it must be remembered that there were many thousand more concerns doing business these later years as compared with the former years, so that the comparison is the more remarkable. A large proportion of the railroads of the country were in the hands

of receivers in 1895 and 1896. Not 1 per cent. is in receivers' hands to-day. During the free-trade period the amount of liabilities in failures exceeded $1,000,000,000. During the four full years under the Dingley law the amount has been less than half that sum with an immense increase in business concerns and capital employed. This is what protection has accomplished in this most unfortunate part of business enterprise.

While the nation that has dared to be great, that has had the will and the power to change the destiny of the ages, in the end must die, yet no less surely the nation that has played the part of the weakling must also die; and, whereas the nation that has done nothing leaves nothing behind it, the nation that has done a great work really continues, though in changed form, forevermore.-Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901.

It is because we believe with all our heart and soul in the greatness of this country, because we feel the thrill of hardy life in our veins, and are confident that to us is given the privilege of playing a leading part in the century that has just opened, that we hail with eager delight the opportunity to do whatever task Providence may allot us.-Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901.

It is not only highly desirable, but necessary, that there should be legislation which shall carefully shield the interests of wageworkers, and which shall discriminate in favor of the honest and humane employer by removing the disadvantage under which he stands when compared with unscrupulous competitors who have no conscience, and will do right only under fear of punishment.Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901.

Nor can legislation stop only with what are termed labor questions. The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital, which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions and necessitate a change from the old attitude of the State and nation toward property.— Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901.

Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should be regulated if they are found to exercise a license working to the public injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the entire body politic of crimes of violence.-President Roosevelt, in message to Congress, December 3, 1901.

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