Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-03-24
An Outrage and a Farce.

From the Detroit Free Pres.
The appearance before the Com
mittee on Ways and Means, at
Washington, of two Congressman
interested in a monopoly which
they want perpetuated by tariff,
is at once an outrage and farce.
These two members are Mr.. Miller,
Of New York, and Mr.. Russell, Of
Massachusetts,. They are the chief
manufacturers Of wood pulp in
this country, one Of the large in
gradients Of paper, and which is
protected by q tariff Of twenty per
cent. 1t is almost wholly a pro-
tective tariff, for the annual reven-
ne thereof has scarcely ever ex-
ceeded an average of over $50.
Some years it has been nothing.
The article was in 1862 put on
the free list by act OF Congress,
but either through oversight or
rascality, a line reading "dried
pulp twenty per cent" was left in
the act, and since 1872, owing to a
stupid or cunning order Of Secre-
tary Boutwell,, it has been subject
ed to duty.
Owing to the tariff, as Mr.. Rus
sci himself confessed, be has de-
rived an annual income as nigh as
$500, 900 or 10000 from the man.
ufacture Of paper and wood pulp.
1t is so valuable to him that he
said before the Committee oil Ways
and Means that no matter what the
newspapers say, be will defend his
personal interests at all hazards,
even if be suffered politically there
from. That is to say, whatever be
can do, to force the American peo-
pie to pay him twenty cents profit
on every dollar of his goods, he in
tends to do. He will use his pos
ition and his influence as a men,
Der of Congress to extort that
twenty cents he will, rather than
lose the opportunity Of taking
hundreds Of thousands Of dollars a
year out Of peoples pockets, for
felt the respect Of bis constituents
and the respect Of his fellow citi-
zens. They may think him rob-
Der who prostitutes the position
which their votes have given him,
70 demanding a double 1.-THE, but
the double 1.-THE he will have, no
matter how shameful the display
of greed, how disgraceful his eff
frontery. And Miller, his colleague
in the business Of calling upon the
people of the United States 10
stand and deliver, argued in the
same way; both together present
ing a spectacle Of brazen avarice
that is an outrage upon decency
and the rights of the community
on whose pockets and purses they
make such audacious assaults.
1t is a farce, too; recognized as
such 10y members OF the commit
tee, who sit there apparently only
to grant these monopolists chance
TO defy the representatives Of the
American people to touch their
prerogatives or weaken the iron
clad protection which a quibbling
finance minister threw about them
after Congress had taken it down.
One member of the committee,
Mr.. Mills, of Texas, had the right
minded impatience and the irritat-
ed and righteous courage 10 say
that it was foolish waste Of time
10 sit there and listen for hours to
the plea for protection from two or
three men whose millions depend
upon this extortion, "while the
committee hears nothing in favor
of the people OF the United States
who have sent hundreds and thou
sands of petitions, praying for a
reduction Of this unnecessary tax"
In the scales used there, two men,
whose swollen bank accounts at
test the iniquity of the tax which
pours the money into their tills,
outweigh the demands OF hun
dreds and thousands of men whose
daily bread is made dearer by the
outrage and farce enacted there.
II is not the rich, strong journals
and publishers Of the cities that
suffer most from it. 1t is men
struggling for a living, the poor
who buy school books, the small
tradesmen who use paper in scores
Of ways, that are the principal vic
tins of this outrage and this farce.