Show IN DEFENSE 01 AMERICAN LABORERS congressman grosvenor in his speech in the house on february 28 exposed the true motives back ot the democratic outcry against the puerto rican tariff bill their present assertion that ithe constitution follows the hag is but a repetition of the antl bellum defense of slavery in the new states which was expressed by the statement that the constitution ot its own force carries slavery into any or all of the territories of the united states mr grosvenor forcibly points out that behind it all is simply the stalking of the democratic purpose manifested at the very outset to drive the republicans of this country into a position where they could destroy them at the polls the telling points which bristle in the speech of mr grosvenor may thus be briefly stated the question whether the constitution followed the flag into puerto rico and it into puerto rico then of necessity into the philippines tor you cannot separate the two propositions it the affirmative of these propositions be true the cheap degraded labor of the sulus the the fili panos and the horde ot asiatic which we took unto ourselves anen we took the philippine islands will come into competition with the american labor in our mines and mills for you cannot legally prevent a full fledged american citizen from offering his labor where he will and at what price he will that the entire volume of puerto alcan sugar and tobacco now awaiting transport to the american market has long since passed out of the hands ot the native producers and into the bands ot trusts and speculators who alone would profit by the removal of all tariffs on these commodities As the american economist says it was in the interest of american labor that mr grosvenor made his powerful speech of february 28 no one has yet answered that speech no one has yet shown and no one can show how the republican party could have squared itself with the labor interests of the united states it it had walked into the bourbon free trade net so artfully spread for the purposes of the campaign ot 1900 |