Omaha daily bee., 1883-06-05
TIE ROOT OF POVERTY.
Judge Jere Plack Shows Where Lies
the handspring OF Labor Strikes
The Land qroaninS Under
Railroad and Goal
Monopo lee.


Chicago Herald.
NEW YORK, May 80. Judge Jere
Black, the last prominent representa-.
tive of the ante war cabinets, has scme
pronounced opinions on coming politi. |
col matters, sndexpresses them freely. |
la an interview last night ho said, on
tho tariff question, that congress- had
no wore right to levy n tax on Imports
than II had on land, beyond what is
necessary for the support aud main.
teuance of the government. All
above that was robbery. Beyond that
point the judge positively declined
to talk on the subject until he could
do H. In his own way.
| "What is the condition of the anti.
monopoly contest In Pennsylvania
"Thero Is great sorrow and burden
involved In that Issue, which Ia for
the people to take hold of. To show
you how the monopolies are affecting
us, will give you an example In
York, Pa, where 1t presses itself on
my own attention with peculiar force.
The freight exacted on the single srti-
ole of anthracite coal Is nearly 81 per
ton more than Is charged upon tho
same commodity osrriedfrom the same
mine and delivered by the same com.
pany at Baltimore. In all reason and
conscience 1t should be from 90 cents
to 81 less, seeing that the distance Ia
sixty miles greater to Baltimore That
makes the discrimination against
York at least equal to 81 90 on every
ton. The quantity consumed In the
latter place is ssmething upward of
100, 600 tons, and the excessive tax
upon 1t all Is, therefore, $3.50, 600
Every cent of this is as wrongfully
taken as If 1t we're feloniousiy stolen.
IL amounts to as many times as much
Ia the aggregate as all tho legitimate
takes which the the same community
pay for the support of the ntate,
county sohools and aims houses,
"Who suffers mostT'
"a manufacturer who uses 1000
tons of coal must pay 81, 600 of black
mail to the railroads or to the monop-
oily which they have created, unless
the iIhaenco of his wealth gets 1t re.
mitted. But the largest part of II is
levied upon poor laborers whose
! wages are barely sufficient to fur
ni,h their families In scanty measure
with food, shelter, aud clothing.
Much of IL is paid by the contributions
, of charity for those who would other.
, wiue perish by cold aud hunger. The
e man who can hear the simple story of
, this wrong without indignation must
. be a. cold hearted as q snake"
Y Now" continued Me-, Black, "we
y are often told that in this struggle f>l
= honest government sgsinst the power
u of the railroad corporations the jna
o cause has no chance of success. W.
. do seem to be out on torlorn hope
o The little finger of monopoly Is thicker
= than the loins of the law. The In
!, fuence of our enemies over the legis
d lature Is mysterious, incalculable anC
Q strong enough to make tho conBtitu-
g tlon dead letter In spite of oaths tC
o obey It and popular demand almos
u universal TO enforce 1t. There Is NJ
other subject upon which our press 4
g g. shy as upon this, the most impor
Q tant of all. Afraid to oppose the cor
o rupt corp )ratlons and ashamed to de
= feud them, It sinks into silent neu
70 trslity"
SIS 1t true, Judge, that the manu-
facturols all conhider protective tar
Ill egsent'aF'
= "There the question of railros
>, monopolies oomes Ia. Manufacturer
. Of iron assure us that they can pro
8 duce the article as cheap ss the Eng
=, li!h manufacturers can. But the lar
:, :, ter can bring their product across tn
" ocean and deliver it in our market a
70 70 less charge for freight than our ow
b. manufactures can send 1t ftt
- or one hundred miles on tn
20 railroads. The railroad companie
% % step In and insist ON taking from on
- = manufacturers for freight az much a
. the Elgliah are required to pRy II
l.. 10 duty, and oil that they can get ba
sc sc sides If the duty on foreign iron Ii
u for instance, 81 per ton, then the raj
=. roads claim that amount for freight
- 1t helps the monopolies, not the pre-
ducers. Our manufacturers are neart
90 90 the market In distance, but not in tn
20 ~ rate of charges for freight, Coul
s. they be placed on an equality In tn
~ latter they could compete wit
- foreign manufacturers without
- tariff. To show you no
~ ~ the local freight rates operate again
= ua, observe that If ton be carrie
en GOO miles, from Chicago to Philade
y phia, for So, and the same charge |
no made for carrying 1t twelve mile
=. " from Philadelphia to Media, the RAJ
- 80 In the latter case Is fifty times as hig
- as In the former. l am cret
aa IDLY uniformed that such di
ar a proportionste charges are or ha'
y, rccontly been made, aud that,
au ~ a general rule, all local freights, whet
~ er the haul be long or short, a
~ charged, without regard to dlstanc
,a' the same, or nearly the same, tn
of would be charged on the same frelg
10 II carried from Chicago to Boston :"
,st t "But," the judge added though
- fully, "you are interviewing me, al
nv no walked away
n Tho Typographical Convention