General statistics of colonies and dependencies of Great Britain-Cont'd.

Mr. President, the interests, of the wage-workers, the manufacturers, the farmers, the operatives of this country are to-day manaced by the 22,000,000 operatives in England and those of Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Turkey, China, India, and Africa, all of whom are waiting anxiously to have the mar

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kets of the United States opened to their multiplied and cheaply manufactured products.

By England's census in 1885 she had a population of 35,000,000 people; of this number nearly 24 per cent., or 780,000, were paupers; whereas in the United States our population was 50,000,000 in 1880, while but a fraction over one-sixth of 1 per cent., or about 88,000, were paupers. In 1888 (January 1) the number of paupers, exclusive of vagrants, in receipt of relief in the several unions and parishes in England and Wales was as follows:

So it will be seen that on January 1, 1888, out of every 100 persons in England and Wales, 3 were in receipt of work-house relief. The statistics are from Whittaker's Almanac for 1889-a standard English work.

While England proclaims in favor of free trade in a manner which would indicate that she collected no revenue whatever from customs duties, or in fact not very much from any source, the truth is she to-day levies and collects annually nearly $100,000,000 from customs duties; and what is still worse, these duties are levied in the main and almost exclusively on the necessaries and not the luxuries of life. In 1888 her customs duties were $97,897,380, and over $23,000,000 of which amount-to be entirely accurate, $23,066,560-was levied on the single article of tea, nearly $1,000,000 on coffee, $1,587,553 on currants, $355,060 on chicory, $883,000 on raisins, $414,707 on cocoa, $25,790 on prunes, and $146,220 on figs. The following are the articles now on England's dutiable-list and the amount collected from each:

This table, it will be seen, shows the amount in pounds and also in dollars collected on such items.

But aside from these the poorer classes in England are ground to powder by taxation. Everybody is taxed. The humble householder, the tradesman, professional man, public officers, deaths, legacies, wills, probates, etc. The gross revenue collected in England during the year ending March 31, 1888, £92,951,480, but only £89,829,773 reached the national treasury, £3,121,706 being used in repayments, allowances, discounts, bounties, etc. The following table will show the various items of the net public revenue for 1888:

The amounts are given in pounds, also in dollars.

The chief items contributing to the excise or internal revenue are as follows:

The customs items I have already given. The total amount accounted for by the Board of Inland Revenue as net receipts is £14,275,502 for the years 1887-'88, or $71,377,510, as follows:

From stamps alone are realized £13,056,950, including that accounted for under the head of "Miscellaneous,” £13,797,471, the largest portion of which comes from the deaths probate, legacies and succession duties, which amount to £8,241,682.

OUR COUNTRY PROSPERS UNDER THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM.

But notwithstanding the fact that the mighty influence of this powerful of all empires is in constant antagonism with our best interests, notwithstanding the paralyzing influences on the home value of American products by the demonetization of silver in this and other countries, and the acknowledged lack of volume of circulating medium, our country in the matter of increase in external and internal commerce, in material wealth, expansion of business, and national prosperity, has, under our protective system, moved gradually and grandly upward and onward. Never in the history of our Government has the value of foreign trade-our imports and exports of merchandiseattained an amount equal to that of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, when it reached the enormous aggregate of $1,647,192,014, or $159,658,987 more than that of the preceding year, when the aggregate value was $1,487,533,027.

And although the value of our importations for the fiscal year just recently closed was the greatest in the history of our country, amounting in value to $789,335,855, or an increase of $44,204, 203 over that of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, when the aggregate was $745,131,652, the balance of trade has not been against us, but in our favor to the extent in value of $68,520,304; the total value of our exports of merchandise for the year ending June 30, 1890, being $857,856,159, or an increase of $115,454,784 over that of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, when the value of our exports was $742,401,375. During the past fifteen years, commencing with the year 1876, with the two exceptions of 1888 and 1889, the balance of trade has been in our favor.

During the fiscal year 1888 the value of our imports exceeded our exports by $28,002,607, and in 1889 by $2,730,277, while the year just closed, June 30, 1890, the excess in value, as I have stated, of exports over imports, was $68,520,304. The greater portion of this increase of $115,020,219, we are told by Mr. J. M. Whiting, acting Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department, in his exhibit of July 21, 1890, occurred in the following articles, stated in the order of magnitude of increase-provisions, breadstuffs, raw cotton, iron and steel and manufacturers of. Of this increase, we are further informed,

$89,873,724 were in the value of exports of the articles named as follows:

While there has been a falling off in the value of our exports of breadstuffs over that of 1880-1885, inclusive, and a slight falling off over that of 1887, our exports of breadstuffs for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, were $30,546, 437 in excess of that of the preceding year, and $27,231,411 in excess of that of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888-the value for 1888 being $127,191,687; for 1889, $123,876,661; and for 1890, $154,423,098; while our exports of provisions, comprising meat and dairy products, were greater for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, by $21,003,471 than that of any other year since 1882, and $31,224,815 greater than that of 1889-the total value for 1889 being $104,122,444, while for 1890 it was $135,357,259. The value of our exports of cattle, sheep, and hogs for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, was greater by $18,775,682 than was the average for ten years preceding; the average value for these ten years (1888-'89 inclusive) was $13,465,658, while for 1890, just closed, the value was $32,241,360.

Mr. President, the Republican party, its principles, organization, and leaders were found equal to every emergency in the darkest hours ever experienced in this Republic. They met with steady nerve the stern realities of war, and proved victorious amid the clash of arms. They were equal to the demand of the times in the great work of reconstructing a shattered Republic, nor shall they now prove impotent in organizing and weaving into the forms of law such legislation as will tend to advance the perpetuity and promote the general welfare, not only of the Republic at large, but of all the people.

The legislation formulated by a Republican Congress at the present session, and enacted into law and approved by a Republican President, on the subject of silver has already quickened the business sensibilities of the nation, given impetus to trade, advanced the prices of commodities all along the line, and given to the producers of this country a living, breathing promise of increased prosperity and better times. If the price of silver goes up, all will agree the prices of commodities generally will advance also. When the present Congress convened in December last silver bullion was selling in London at 41d. to 43d. per ounce of 925 grains fine-the English standard. To-day it is selling at 50 d. per ounce.

In the United States it was selling in December last at from 92 to 94 cents per ounce. Now it brings 1123 cents per ounce, the effect of all of which will inevitably be to stimulate the mining industries of the far West. New mines will be developed, those in existence will be worked at a fair profit, and employment will be given at better wages to hundreds and thousands of miners and other wage-workers. A market will be created for all kinds of farm and garden products, and, better than all, the prices of farm and garden products will necessarily be advanced as the volume of the circulating medium is increased, and as a general result the spirit of apathy and business stagnation that has for years, and since the demonetization of silver, prevailed will be broken as the prices of all kinds of commodities are increased to fair and living rates.