Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-08-18
The Tariff Commission and the
lux Eaters.


seems in a failway to do. There is
no question at all of scaling down
the duties, but there is a question
of scaling then up. The fortunate
persons who ,njoy the two and
three hundred ler cent. duties, more
or less, are objets of admiration and
envy to the rick of manufactur-
ers who only Jet forty or fifty or
sixty per cent. and these are im-
portuning the Tariff Commission to
raise their protection to the level of
the most favord manufacturers.
The Commission had two comic
witnesses befon it on Friday, Mr..
Thomas Barbour and Mr.. John
Sloan. The former asserted that
tiaN-spinning was an infant indus
try" and that several infant linen
factories have gne into bankruptcy.
This" according to Mr.. Barbour,
twas on account of the great dispar-
ity of labor in Europe and America,
and because the protection afforded
was not equal o that disparity"
Here Mr.. Barbour is ignorant or dis
ingenious. Mr.. Hewitt showed in
his excellent speech not long ago
that the " disparity between the
wages Of labor IL Great Britain and
this country would be met by an
average duty of ~ per cent, and
| the reduction to, th.t rate would take
away any pretext or the humbL Z
about protecting american labor.
The duties on flax md its products
are thirty per cent.which gives the
manufacturers the protection they
require against the pauper labor of
Europe. and an additional swindle,
or, if Mr.. Barbour likes the term
better, a bonus, at The cost of the
linen wearing peopb of the United
States to be pail tothe manufacture
ers for their mobility in starting fac
tories.
Nevertheless, it SENS that some
of the factories havefailcd, and the
linen manufacturers would like to
have their bounty increased to fifty
per cent, pointing out that even
then they will not be 50 well off as
the WOODEN people who get s. per
cent. 1t IS one of thtmo5t injurious
things about this swinj!ling tariff
system that it disfenses its ben
eticiaries from observing the pru-
dence of ordinary business. 4 man
may conduct his business ignorantly
or eNtravagantly; he may pay no
attention to tmall economies or to
new and cheap processes; he may
make bad debts, md fail simply
and solely because he deserves to
fail; and then he comes to the
government, not is Il man who
has suffered the consequence OF his
own imprulenee, but rs a martyr
in the cause of American industry,
and asks paternal government
to make good his losses. 1t is one
of the greatest exhibitions of pure
impudence ever seenin the world
Mr.. Sloans proposition is rather
more absurd even fit is less i'm
pudent than Mr.. 3lrbour's. Mr..
Sloan says that We can import
iute from India cheaper than we
can possibly grow / by reason of
the cheaper Indian labor. Then
why not import it? What on earth
do we want to grow expensive jute
for when we can set cheap jute.
This is like Laducs famous exper-
iment of growing tea at S45 a
pound, more or less, which he could
not get people to drink at any price
Has Mr.. Sloan any information that
the agricultural population of the
United States is in any need of find
ing products which can be raised
in this country at profit, that it
should be paid bounties to raise
jute at a loss? What is the sense
of this proposition? Has it any
meaning at all, unless Mr.. Sloan
knows somebody who has lost
money on a jute farm and is willing
to transfer his loss - the people of
the United States?
These things cannot @ on for
ever. Same ola ne people of the
United States will wake up to the
knowledge what a mixture of folly
and rascality the tariff is. When
they do, it will be bad day for
the people who are now demanding
bounty of 80 per cent. over and
above the differace between the
cost of labor to them and to their
foreign competitors for their mer-
itorious conduct il establishing flax
spinning mills and managing them
into bankruptcy; md for the people
who have fancy for managing jute
farms in order To raise dear jute
instead of importing cheap jute
from India.-Nev York World.
Grand Harvest Excursion.
The Illinois Central r. r. will run
an excursion to the following points,
leaving Warren al 4:53 a. M, Aug.