The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-10-14
American Industries,
THE DEMOCRATIC ASSAULT ON THE

INTERESTS OF LABOR.
The protective tariff, enacted by {
Republican congress in 1861, is al
object of especial attack this year, ant
! the Democrats have put into theil
national platform clause which
guarantees the treading down o
protection, if the party should come
into power. In New Jersey, whose
industries have been developed by
the tariff, the manufacturers are seri
ously alarmed. Letters from Trenton
and New Brunswick show that in the
| pottery, hosiery, rubber goods, paper
| hangings and other factories, the
more intelligent and energetic among
proprietors and men are forming asso-
Citations and agitating the question OF
maintaining the tariff They consider
the welfare of both themselves and
the people of the State at stake.
THE GOOD OLD TIMES"
The Democrats are fond of talking
of Il return to the good old times.
Here is a specimen of them, furnished
by member of the "Old Residents
association of Pittsburgh" a few
weeks since:
"When o lad, sixty years ago, we
could buy barrel of superfine flour
for a silver five-frank piece; the COM
mon retail price was 81 per barrel !;
wheat l24 20 20 cents per bushel; good
beef in the market II to cents a
pound. Sheep were killed for their
pelts and the carcasses were burnt.
l have my fathers book to show that
man, Francis Radclifl, worked for
him for years for s. per month, half
cash and half store pay. He had a
e., Il al, II t.N
He rented three good rooms on the
first floor for 25 cents per month, S3
for rent per year; and when the land
lord raised the rent to 379 cents old
Radcliff' never lorgave him. Goals
were sold and delivered at q to 2!
cents per bushel.n
DO YOU WANT TO RETURN TO THEM.
Commenting on the foregoing cor
respondent says: Farmers and work
ingmen, how do you like these
pictures of the good old times the
free traders prate about and sure to
come ii tariff for revenue only is
once more placed on our imports ? Do
you, workingmen, wish to go back to
the price of labor in those times. with
their long hours? Think of it, $50 per
year, and half in store pay, with
cotton cloth at thirty cents per yard
and calico at forty-five and fifty cents;
those were the good old times, when Il
spinning-wheel and loom were as
necessary in the household as a fire
place, and the mother of family was
Veritable slave.
Do you farmers want to go back to
the time when you could not get more
than twelve and a half to twenty
cents per bushel for your wheat, one
and half to two cents per pound for
your beef, and nothing for your NUT
ton.
Can you not afford to pay the tax
that the free-traders claim has been
put on manufactured articles by the
tariff, when you get 500 per cent. adj
vance over the highest price of the
good old times?"
Free trade means the leveling of all
labor to the level of the lowest labor
The free-traders of England say, "to
give capital fair remuneration, the
price of labor must be kept down."
Capital is king, land is held in rev.
erence, property is sacred, machines
must be cared for, houses insured,
animals fed; it is only humanity that
falls so low that professors of economy
under free-trade, scarce give it a
thought, land man becomes a drug,
and population nuisance" according
to the London Times.
Wake up, farmers and workingmen,
your interest are at stake-on the one
side peace and prosperity; on the
other, pauperism and want. Free
trade gives you the latter - protective
tariff, the former. Choose for your
selves, but do so with your eyes open.