The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1884-10-31
Too Much Protection.

Col. webster, IN his speech at the hepuDll-
can meeting in Bel Air, last Saturday, follow
ed the text supplied by Blaine and boosted
of the prosperity of the country under
Republican rule He asserted that work.
men OF all kinds have more work than they
can do, and that wages are higher than they
were before the war. He attributed all this
to the beneficence of the Republican high
tariff. His remarks, probably, were true
when applied to Bel Air and one or two other
points in this county, where the erection of
one or two buildings at the same time will
give carpenters, masons and painters more
work than they can do, but they do not cor
rectly portray the general business depres-
sion of the country.
In spite of Col. Webster's glowing picture,
at this moment, in the States of New York,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
New Jersey and Delaware 10000 men are
unable to earn living, though willing to
work.
At Troy, N. Y, 1900 men, usually employ
ed in the iron and steel works are out OF
work, and 1000 men and women who have
been employed in the laundries are idle.
Hundreds of Pennsylvania iron furnaces
and cotton mills are also closed At Reading
cotton mill employing 300 men, women and
children has closed its doors, and many of
tsformer employees are suffering for food and
clothing. The iron works, hat factories and
stove works of the same place have closed and
more than 8, 900 persons are thereby deprived
of employment.
The cotton mills, machine shops and iron
works at Fall River, Mass, are nearly all idle
and 10000 hands are thrown out of employ
ment.
At Amsterdam, N Y, over 1000 hands in
hosiery and carpet mills have nothingto do,
the mills having closed.
At Passaic and Bordentown, N. j., hun
dreds of men in manufactures of various
kinds are walking around in search of work
in order to support their families.
In Wilmington and Newcastle, Del, iron
and car works are running with reduced force,
and the Dover Car Manufacturing Co., form
erly employing 500 men, is closed
All over Connecticut business is at stand
still and thousands of good workmen can not
earn a cent.
Three blast furnaces at Pittsburg are idle,
throwing 800 men out of work, and in that
city not one-third of the persons usually
employed have anything at all to do, and
those who are employed have only too or
three days work in week.
Col Webster, too might have looked
nearer home and found an illustration of the
evil effects of the Republican policy of a high
tariff for the benefit of few manufacturers at
the expense of the farmer and mechanic. He
could see mills and factories closed or work.
ing ON half time, and the same state of affairs
that exists in every part of the country.
Wages have been reduced in mills, furnaces
and workshops until skilled labor can scarce
ly command enough, even if the employ
ment were steady, to buy bread and meat
and pay houserent
In the face of these facts the Republican
press and Republican orators pretend that
the country is prosperous There must be
redSon lor LUIS gTedC depression III Ine
manufacturing interests ofthe country. Here
is one reason forit Stimulated by the enor-
nous profits made possible by an exorbitant
tariff on important articles, the mills through
the aid ofingenious machinery have manu-
featured immense stocks of goods-more than
could be sold. To go on is only to increase
the difficulty, and therefore mill owners and
manufacturers are closing their work shops
and turning thousands of dependent men,
women and children into the streets, at the
approach of winter, to beg or to starve.
If these are the results of the Republican
policy of protection, let US have change.