Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-12-12
WHAT THEY WANT.
frank Hurd Defines the Desires OF
the Revenue Reformers.
They Want Free salt, Sugar Lumber.
Rsrbed Wire and C0pper---Ec-
Donald ON Cost Of Manu-
facture.

WASHINGTON CRY, Dec. 1.-Two of the
men who will be members OF the ways and
means committee have given expression to
their views Frank Hurd, it is said, could
have the craftsmanship of the Judiciary. he
does not want it. He prefers the ways and
means This is the programmes:
II do not think any general tariff will be
brought forward, but we viii ask for free salt
free sugar, free lumber, free barbed wire, free
copper"
s'Do You propose to include all these items
in one bill, or to present separate bills cover
ing single subject!n Mr.. Hurd was asked.
"My preference is for single bills, but do
not know low the matter will be arranged.
shall introduce bill for free wool at the
earliest opportunity. I do not think that
any OF my Democratic colleagues from Ohio
will vote for such measure, but intend
to push it. l repudiated that section of
our state platform which condemned
the action Of the last congress for re-
ducing the duty on wool, and l was
elected by n majority of 1,400, my con-
stituents understanding that / favored free
wool. Our Michigan men were elected on the
free lumber and salt issue. There are many
protectionists who will vote to make these
articles free. Seventeenth of the people Of
Louisiana want free sugar. The sugar indus
try in the south has been waning for several
years past, and do not believe it is right to
longer continue the tariff on that article to
the great injury of the people of the whole
country"
DO you favor giving a bounty to sugar
growers?n
'sNo," Mr.. Hurd replied, Il do not approve
giving bounties. 1t is not necessary
Ex-senator H1cDOnald's Views. .,
CINCINNATI, Dec. 1.-THE Enquirer's In
dianapolis correspondent gives the following
remarks of ex-senator Mcdonald in reference
to comparative cost of labor and manufacture
in the United States and Great Britain; 'It
is charged that labor in the United States
costs too much, when, in fact, the compensa-
ton to skilled labor is now so low that
il cannot stand a further average
reduction while the prices of living are SO
high. If manufacturers paid for their labor
on a sliding SCALE as the pig-iron manufac-
turers pay freights-a high price when the
profits are large and o low price when they
are down-there might be degree of justice
in this claim But labor is the last thing to
advance in good times and the first thing to
be reduced when the dull times come on. The
cost of manufacturing is too great in this
W duOW uo " WIN
and Europe, but iG can not be charged to the ]
cost of labor. It takes as many hours to
make ton of iron at Swansea as it does at
Pittsburgh, but the laborers work only fifty
two hours per week in England as against
fifty-eight hours in this country. If
measured by the hours of work and the cost
of living, the compensation of the English
workman is not so much below that paid |
ours as the difference in the price per day
would Indicate And yet in the face of these |
facts, England can sell her manufactured
articles cheaper than we can. In the con- |
struction of the railroads into Mexico, the |
rails used on this side of the Rio Grande cost
S42 per ton, but the moment the work had |
crossed the boundary line English rails OF
the same quality cost only $50 per ton. Eng |
land supplies Mexico with most of her cotton |
goods and machinery, much Of which is |
landed at our ports and slipped across the |
country inland, and sold at prices so low that |
our manufacturers cannot compete with |
those of England"
Protecting the South.
New York. Dec. 11-."Gathn says that |
James A. Gary, proprietor of the Alberton
mills, on the Patopsco river, speaking Of the
increase of cotton manufacture in the south /
said: "From a pecuniary point of view it |
would have been better for US if we had shut
down ninety days ago. The south
for The past five or ten years has had
mania for putting up cotton mills.
Then the improvements in machinery are
such that each spindle will produce three
times as many goods as it could fifteen years
ago. With the exception of the skilled opera
tives, who were drawn from the Maryland
mills, the wages there are 25, GO, and even so
per cent. lower than we pay, and the hours of
labor are longer. Their operatives live
cheaply, and know nothing of the domestic
comforts which ours have The southern
mills are among the best in point of construc-
ton. The southern railroads make
tariffs by which the mill products are carried
north as sixth-class goods, while they charge
the same goods made north and sent south
first-class. Cotton goods from the mills at
Augusta and Columbus, Georgia, are carried
north for 4S cents a 100 pounds, but the same
goods sent from the north must pay SIPS.
This is protection of the south against north
ern competition. The railroads claim that
they make low rates on northern bound :
freight rather than send cars back from the
south en1ptyn