The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-06-06
FISHBACK AGAIN.
Letter No. 10 to Ar. Congressman
Peelle.
The Pro tectiVe PoIicy-TaxatiOn OF Raw
Materials-sOme Kindergarten Insruc-
ticn for BsBIghted Mind.



pressive provisions of the law to which 1
have been calling your attention, your
assumed friends embark upon sea of specu-
lation as to the ger erIl utility of protective
policy. It is hard indeed, to frame an ex-
cuse for vote which shuts up our rail mills,
stops work in our shoe factories, raises the
price Of the poor mans food, clothing and
shelter, while it deprives him of the oppsr
tunity to work. If things go on for a few
months longer as they are going now, our
streets will be infested with "tramps,"
men who become tramps not from
inclination, but because your legisls-
ton drives them to beggary. Why do
men tramp? Because nobody will
hire them to work. Why do men carrying
on the protected industries refuse to give
men employment? Because there is no
market for the product of their labor. How
so7 The products of our factories must be
sold at home or abroad and our home mark
ct is glutted. Oar capacity to produce is
greatly in excess of the home demand, aud
the cost of production is so much increased
by the tariff on raw materials and articles
used by our manufacturers, that we are I'M
dersold in foreign markets where our goods
come in competition with foreign goods.
What must we do in order to sell our goods
in foreign markets? We must produce them
at less cost, that is. must get the material
at less prices than we now pay or
we must lower the wages OF the labor
er. That is clear. Which do you
prefer? l say cheaper the cost of raw ma
terial and raise the wages of the workman.
Torr f1,a Of
material and not only lower the wages of
American workmen, but you throw them
out of employment altogether. Why is It
that tho usands of laboreIs are not now en-
ployed IL the steel rail mills in this and
other States? Simply because you tax the
material necessary to be used in the mills so
highly that it will not pay to run them. IL
is so in other branches of the iron and steel
industry. Word comes to us that many Of
the great iron mills will shut down in a few
days. The News on Tuesd ay last, called at
tention to this and quoted from q Philadel-
phia paper its remarks on the demand of
the iron workers for higher wages That
paper said:
With decrease OF over 40 per cent this year,
in the demand of the single article of rails il is
easy to see that general suspension of mssufae-
ture for q few months viii be q godSend to the
mill owners Hence their refusal to aecede 10 the
workmen's demands.
While these mill owners are at Saratoga
and Long Branch during the summer
months, what will become OF the unem-
ployed workmen, with their soantIly fed
wives and children? These mill owners, who
turn their laborers out with about as much
compunction as a Mexican feels when his
crippled burro drops by the waysIde, spend
their summers at Saratoga and their winters
in Washington. You saw them there last
winter and you Will sea them again when
you 90 back, clamoring for more protection.
A. - - ---stI
our shee factories which are closed
because the tariff makes the cost
of matefial so high that We can not make
shoes for foreign markets. If we depend on
home consumption, poor crops or a season Of
depression from any cause will shut our fac
tories. But if we have foreign markets to
supply, and the shackles we're removed from
American labor, American enterprise would
make bold push for the commercial su-
premacy of the world.
The fact seems to be lost sight of by your
friends who clamor for protection that the
kind of protection you give by law is sitting
and destroying American manufactures. At
a low estimate four-ffths Of the imports
upon which you place the taxes are raw ma.
terial or unfinished products which are i'm
ported 10y American manufacturers. How
long can cane men be deluded into the belief
that such laws help and protect the men who
work in our factories and shops?
G4CuSC LIE lO1 WLllc L
aside to Slip the impertinence of one Of.
your friends, who sneaks into the columns
of the Journal and assails me from the cheap
defense of a towards nom de plume.
Neither candor nor veracity is to be expected
from one who adopts that method of discuss
ing public questions. Inquirer says.
VIII Mr.. Fishbsck explain how the tariff, which
oily las he terms IT'D, is destructive to the rail
NIL mere on when ne says several hundreds OF
do not the ponderous machinery in splendid con
dition, under skilled Workmen protected equally
with the ponderOus machinery In the Pennsylvs-
MIA mills, glide as smoothly in favor Of monopoly
Is the Eastern relative?
1 have already made this sufficiently clear
to persons Of ordinary comprehension. but
fear that a mind capable of constructing
such sentences as have quoted above is
hopelessly befuddled. Nevertheless / will
make an effort to enlighten Inquirer" Re-
ducing his gibberish to plain English, ne
means to ask, suppose, why the tariff law
shuts the Indianapolis steel rail mill and
does not shut the Pennsylvania mills?
hope you and other intelligent persons will
perdon me while devote a few moments to
the kindergarten instruction of this seeker
after light and knowledge. II Enquirer
will go down to the steel rail mill, where
everything is quiet, he will see all
the machinery ready fer rolling
steel into steel rails. If he asks
why the mill is not running he will be told
that they have no machinery there for con-
Verting iron into steel, and that the tariff on
steel is 40 high that they can not buy steel
and make rails at a profit. II Enquirer"
will go to the mills of the Pennsylvania
monopoly he will find that they are running,
have machinery for converting iron into
steel, and are not compelled to &c into the
market and buy steel blooms. IL Inquirer
had been in Washington last winter he
would have seen the owners of the Pennsyl-
vania mills lobbying for a high tarif on
steel blooms. so that all the rail mills of the
country would be compelled 10 shut up OF
bay blooms in Pennsylvania. If he had re-
manned in Washington he would have
seen you vote for law which
does exactly what the Pennsylvania mo-
nopolistr asked you to do. If Inquirer
asks why the owners of the mill at Indian
apolis do not put up machinery to convert
iron into steel, he will be told that il requires
an outlay of capital beyond their means, and
also that the Pennsylvania monopolists have
the exclusive right to use that kind OF ma
chinery-ai right which is not granted tc
others except on payment OF q royalty which
renders steel making improbable. So "In
auirer" sees, 1 suppose, that when you passed
a law putting high tariff on steel blooms
you shut up the Indiana mills and kept the
Pennsylvania mills running.
Now IS to the shoe business Inquirer
asks: