The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-09-13
MIR. HALEY AND THE TARIPH

The Ottawa RepublicaH thinks Mr. Haley
should define his position on the tariff ques
ton, "The Sth Congressional district" il
says, lis manufacturing district, and her
people are Interested in whatever affects
the veal of factories, shops and works of
all kinds Naturally they favor protec.
tive tarlff-not only Republicans, but Dem.
ocrats as well. Mr. p, c. Haley wants to
90 TO congress. He is the Democratic can.
didate, and will take the stump for his
party and for himself Now we believe
Mr. Haley to be fair square man,
who will not dissemble for the sake of OBJ
tanning votes under false pretenses. If he
is he will define his position on the tariff
question"
Mr.. Haley will have no trouble on that
score, He will simply turn to the Demo
cratic platform, adopted in July at Chicago,
which he has already fully endorsed, and
will read:
The Democratic party is pledged to re-
Wise lHf Jll III III a pm IL vi ldllltSS w Ull
interests But in making reduction of taxes
I it is not proposed to injure any domestic
industries, but rather to promote their
healthy growth. From the foundation of
this Government, taxes collected at the Gus
tom House have been the chief source of
Federal revenue. Such they must continue
to be. Moreover, many industries have
come to rely upon Legislation for successful
continuance, 50 that any change of law
must be at every step regardful of the labor
and capital thus involved, the process of
reform must be subject in the execution to
this plain dictate Of justice. We
therefore denounce the abuses of the exist
ing tariff, and subject to the preceding lin
itations, we demand that Federal taxation
shall be exclusively for public purposes,
and shall not exceed the needs of the Gov
ernment economically administered
There you have it in the plainest posi-
bic English. The present republican war
tariff, with its mountainous abuses, is de-
nounced and the party pledged to revision
of it, but in such revision, care must be
taken "to injure no domestic industries"
&c. How a vote in favor Of man stand
ing on such platform is "a vote in APP
proval of English free trade" as the Re
puJlic0n allows, is another of those queer
Linguistic muddles 50 common to our es-
teemed cotemporary but which he never
attempts to explain.
As opposed to such tariff, the Republi.
can party insist on maintaining the present
war tariff, with all its denominations, intact,
except wherever it may hereafter be found
weak in its protective features, to strengthen
it, Under this beautiful tariff Just now II
cotton mills in New England have shut
down for season to curtail production. In
other words, about 10000 operatives are cut
off from the means of making living for
an indefinite period that the mill owners
may be able to work off their surplus stock
without loss, such surplus stock being the
result of the monopoly excessive tariff
levies gave them
Under this tariff n Tuesdays associated
press dispatch from Pittsburg says: The
iron trade, Pittsburg's greatest industry is
in most unhealthy condition Many man
ufacturers who succeeded in avoiding II
stoppage during the great panic are now
running their works half the time only
To-day the Edgar Thompson Steel Com
pany notified its employees that unless they
grant concession in the matter of wages
Al. a., Al. 81
November. This company employs five
thousand men, and il would be death blow
to the borough of Braddock, just outside
the city limits in which the works are sit
uated"
Under this same tariff, the same dispatch
says: "All the coal mines along the
Youghiogheny and Monongahela rivers
have now been idle for three months, and
there is not the slightest prospect of re
sumption today The eight thousand strik-
ers stand no better chance of winning in
in their bitter fight for the price demanded
than they did the day when they first
dropped the pick and shovel"
Under this same "war tariff 5000 miners
have for three months been on a strike in !
the Hooking Valley, Ohio, and what is pre-
cisely the matter in that quarter may be
gathered from letter in Tuesdays New
York EUHiHg Post from William d. Mar
vel, large iron dealer in New York city, |
who has just visited the mines We give
an extract:
IF you will turn 10 the New York Tri- |
JliHe of August 81, 1881, you will find an
item setting forth the enormous monopoly |
of nearly all the coal and iron Interests 10
the Hooking valley in Ohio giving the
names eff the persons who provided the
colossal capital for the monopolizatiOn and
operation of about $40 square miles, or 90.