The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-08-21
Mr.. Tucker and the workingmen.

Mr.. Tucker and the Workingmen.
The workingmen and mechanics need
eel no fearsthat any vote OF his Mr..
rucker's) will in any way be prejudicial to
heir interests, for in revising the tariff he
IS pledged along with his party to always
Dear in mind that american labor must and
shall be better compensated than the labor o.
nations. - VIradicdt0r.
Will the Via,dicator please inform us
when MI. Tucker ever voted against any
measure that aOas prejudicial to the IN
terests of the workingmen and mechanics
In his whole congressional career, extend
ing over ten years, he has voted con-
sistently and persistently against the in
terests of the working classes, land there has
not been one act of legislation which looked
to the real amelioration of the condition
of the poor, that he ever supported either
by vote or voice.
A protective tariff means better wages
to mechanics and working men, better
homes for their families, better food, bet
ter clothes, and better prospects for their
children. Against protective tariff Mr..
Tucker has been arrayed all his life long.
His votes in Congress have uniformly
favored foreign workmen and mechanics,
and the dragging down OF the labor system
of America to the level of the degraded
standard of Europe. So bitterly hostile
has he been to anything like protection
that he voted against the bill establishing
a Tariff Commission to take under consid-
Grafton the whole question of duties. But
50 Congressman voted with Mr.. Tucker
against that measure, and Of that 81 only
s were Republicans.
On the 9Th of May, 1882, while the
Tariff Commission bill was pending, Mr..
Mills, of Louisiana, presented a bill pro-
viding that mo more duty be imposed Oh
any article, above the lowest rate that
will yield the largest amount OF revenue. z
The enactment of such a law would have
sealed the industrial doom Of the South,
and driven the mechanics from the shops.
Mr.. Tucker and II other Democrats were
the only ones that could be found to vote
for it.
At the opening of the present Con-
gress, Mr.. Tucker voted for Carlisle, the
free-trader, against Randall, the Demo-
cratic protectioniSt.
Upon the bill to increase the duty on
wool, measure in which the farmers were
more vitality interested than any bill before
Congress, and the effects Of the failure OF
which they are now feeling SO seriously,
Mr.. Tucker lodged. The bill was defeated
by 11S ayes to 1875 nays =; of those voting in
the affirmative S4 were Republicans and
"a Democrats of those voting against the
increase of the duty ia were Democrats
| and IL Republicans.
Mr.. Tucker was one of the most ardent
supporters of the Morrison bill, the pas
sage of which would have cut down the
| wages of the working men and mechanics
about 20 per cent. His declaration now
that he never voted for the Morrison bill
| is the merest. subterfuge and will deceive
no one. When the bill came up in the
House, it's opponents moved to strike out
the enacting clause and thus kill the bill.
This motion was sustained by the Repub-
licans and 40 Democrats, led by Randall,
and the vote upon it was regarded by both
parties and the country at large as test
vote on the bill itself. Mr.. Tucker voted
against striking out the enacting clause,
and for supporting the bill, and his at
tempt to dodge the responsibility that at
| taches to such vote, on the pitiful plea
that he did not vote for the bill itself. will
not avail him before an intelligent audience.
But his record on the tariff, bitterly OPP
posed to the working classes as it is, does
not embrace every occasion upon which
| he has aimed blow at those who toll in
| the workshop or on the farm.
When the food swept down the Ohio
last winter, devastating homes, and leav-
| ing want and wretchedness in it's track
when the poor people of those districts
saw all of their earthly possessions borne
to destruction when the little ones were
shivering and shelterless, and the cry for
bread land shelter, and raiment went up
all along the river bank when individuals,
rich and poor, were sending in their con-
| tributions to ameliorate the distressed con-
dition of the homeless and houseless peo-
Pile, and Congress was asked to give from
an overlooking treasury, the bill to appro-
pirate $500. 1000 by the National Govern
ment was passed by a vote OF 234 to II,
and among that t,UelUe the cote Of Mr..
| Tucker acds recorded.
And again when the Mississippi deluged
the lands of Louisiana, entailing untold
suffering on the poorer classes, Congress
appropriated 100000 from it's plenty. But
it made that appropriation in defiance of
the vote Of Mr.. Tucker. True to his
record of prejudice to the interests "of
workingmen and mechanics, he was will
ing to see their wives and children perish,
rather than give back. in their hour of
sore distress, pittance from the treasury
they had helped to fill.
In the last Congress bill was passed to
create a Labor Bureau. The need for
such Bureau was found in the constant
and growing necessity for authentic in
formation concerning the wages paid in
various departments of industry, the cost
of living, the relations of capital to labor,
and Thousand questions affecting the
material, sanitary, social, and moral con-
ditions of laboring people. Its passage
was urged by the representatives of labor
who demanded the recognition of their
right to have collected all the facts and
statistics that would prove of value to
them in adjusting their differences with
employers. The justice of the demand
was recognized, and bill passed creating
the Bureau independent of all Of the ex-
ecutive departments, and.providing that a
Commissioner should be appointed for
four years, at an annual salary of $4,000,
with an allowance of 5000 to cover all
expenses of collecting the statistics and
other information needed. The vote on
the bill was 1872 ayes and 10 nays. Every
man who voted against it was Democrat.
Mr.. Tucker lodged.
When the bill appropriating $3.50, 500 to
the agricultural department, bill in
which the interests of the farmers were
~