Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1880-03-09
A PECK OF TROUBLE.
REMARKS ON THE TARIFF on PRINTING
MATERIALs.-AN ODD PosTscBIPT To
PETITION TO CONGRESS.

PETITION TO CONGRESS.
A petition has been received by Con-
gress from the Wisconsin Editors and
Publishers Association praying for the
removal of the duties on printing types.
Anticipating for it the usual fate Of such
documents, Mr.. George w. Peck, presi-
dent Of the association, appended over
his signature postscript, the evident
purpose Of which is to get satisfaction
out Of Congress in advance The post
script accompanies the formal memorial,
and is as follows:
Now that you have read the resolutions
it is a supposable case that you will feel
that your next duty is to throw them in
to the waste basket. In the name of
10000, ,0C0 people, be the same more or
less, / ask you not to lose your cud, but
ruminate, as it were, and think over the
highway robbery that is being practiced
upon your unsophi sticated constituents
by the type-founders, who are laundering
the newspapers. As it is now they stand
in the entrance of the. editorial sanctum
and take the money that comes in on
subscription, and only allow the publish
er the cord wood and farm produce. BY
the protection your alleged honorable
body affords them in the way of tariff,
they grapple the throat Of every newspa-
per in America and say Keno" while
the newspaper publisher can only return
his chips to the dealer and say, "Oh,
hell" Every article that is used by q
newspaper man, except secondhand
ulster overcoats and liver-pads. is pro-
tected BY tariff that makes the cold
chills run mp his spine.
Another thing that the association did
not pass any resolutions about. but which
they probably will at the next meeting,
if there are enough Of them left outside
Of the poorhouse to meet, before they
meet on that beautiful shore, is the re-
cent action of the manufacturers of pa
per, who are endeavoring to screw down
the lid Of the newspaper coffin which the
type founders are preparing for the grave.
In the last three months, by their own
sweet will, they have run the price of
paper up almost one hundred per cent.
There is nothing to prevent them from
doing it, as foreign manufactured paper
is kept out Of the country by the tariff.
Every article that goes into the construc-
tion Of rag paper, except Eastwood and
water has tariff on il. What the
newspapers want, and they believe it is
not an unreasonable demand, is the re-
moval of the tariff on type, on rags, on
paper, and ali chemicals used in the man
ufacture Of paper. In tariff on rags
if there is no tariff on rags you had
better put one on, unless you remove the
tariff on the rest Of the stuff; il tariff
is good thing you can't have too much
of it for instance, whom do you protect:
Nobody but guttersnipe rag-pickers and
old maids who save up rags to buy snuff,
and tin peddlers who trade tin dippers
and skimmeB occasionally for a -four
sack full of bad smelling rags. Are the
rag -pickers and old maids your principal
constituents:
The newspapers Of the country be-
lieve that they are entitled to some con-
sideration at your hands. They are in
many instances the instruments through
which many Of you have attained the
positions you now hold, and they never
have got much Of anything from you ex-
cept Patent Office reports and agricultural
documents. They have set up nights
for you, and done dirty work that may
bar them out Of all participation in the
chariot-races in the golden streets Of the
New Jerusalem. and now they demand
that you protect them from the ravages
of the type founding and paper making
grasshoppers before 1t is everlastingly too
late.
Not being one Of the "literray fellers'
so touchingly alluded to by the great Sem
ator Simon Cameron. this epistle to you
Corinthians may be little raw and not
as polished as It should be; but it tries
to represent the feelings Of the newspaper
men of Wisconsin in language that the
wayfaring man, though diabolical idiot.
can understand, and it means business.
The newspapers are desperate, and while
they don't want to 60 on the war-path.
they feel that they have been plundered
about enough BY the different tribes Of
benefciaries Of the government. If you
great men will pass a bill to give US re-
lief, you will strike it rich, and don't you
forget it.