The Ottawa free trader., 1884-01-12

cording to Mr.. Catlin's statement, pub
lished some time ago IN a city paper, tht
wages Of the glass workers has been grad
ually crawling up for the last fifteen years
and now when the tariff IL reduced on
glass they scout the idea of re0ucing the.l
wages, not down to the price Of other
mechanics, but down to two or three times
the price which other men equally skilliul
and hard working are content to work for
1t looks to me as If the tariff Is responsible
for these extravagant demands. II the
tariff is raised they want it all, If 1t is low
eered they don't want 1t to reduce their
wages 1t reminds me Of the old story OF
the Indian aud the white man when they
came to dividing their game; said The
white man you take the buZzard and III
take The turkey, or III take the turkey aud
you may take the buzzard."
am much afraid the same is true Of
iron making. The workmen have u union
IN that trade too, aud this forces up their
wages TO degree tha. would almost take
away the breath of us poor fellows who
work up the irop. saw 1t stated q while
ago, and never heard 1t denied, tina, the
pIddlers refused TO work at wages which
would give them ten dollars u day, and
that was the reason why the masters must
have high tariff Now ten dollars day
Tor the iron makers, while two or three
dollars day for iron workers, does not
sound well in this boasted land OF equality.
When sweating over the lire and hammer
ing away at the bars which these favored
fellows had made, sometimes get a little
mad when think ing that my boss had to
pay In the price Of his iron such outrage
Gus wages while, il the iron had been
made at q fair and reasonable wages, he
could have afforded his work cheaper 10
his customers and perhaps have been able
to raise my wages little too, but now
everything must be screwed up and
screwed down to enable favored few to
get three or tour days wages, in one day.
No wonder iron masters cry for more tariff
when they are ground down between the
upper and the lower millstones. When we
consider the wages paid on iron as well as
glass 1t is manifest that the tariff is all ap-
proprlated by them.
What right in simple justice and equal.
lty has congress to put tariff on the iron l
work up merely for the purpose of raising
the wages Of a favored few. above all
reason and conscience the very tendency OF
which ls TO keep down wages OF the work.
men! Let the iron workers workafOr such
wages as other skilled craftsmen are vii
ling tn work and the price OF iron would
come down so that blacksmilhs and their
customers would feel much happier than
they do. Let the iron masters refuse 10
pay more than other skilled labor Is will
ling to work for. Till they can get their
work done at reasonable and fair wages
they had better let their works lay idle.
Taking of the tariff entirely would have
a greater tendendy to bring these wages
down to an equality with the res! of US
than any other BY means of the tariff all
OF US are made to contribute TO fund just
in proportion to the amount Of glass and
iron which we use This should be con-
sidered as a sacred fund placed in the
hands of the manufacturers to enable them
to make those articles as cheaply and
as they fairly and justly can,
not for their own exclusive benefit OF that
OF their workmen, but for the public bene-
fit, to encourage the manufacturers
of these articles for The general bene-
fit 1t IS supposed that such manufactur.
ers will have on the general welfare.
We do not contribute this fund for the
DtuCElt III tuC IdUoiCl uiOhC Va thS ocooSo
alone, but they receive 1t for the object
stated, and whenever they divert this fund
to thelr own benefit instead of this object
they act dishonesty and traudulently. 1t
they pay more wages than is reasonable
and lust, that is, more than other skilled !,
labor equally meritOriOus gets in other
or Il they ask more than fair
profit for their glass or iron, then they
abuse the trust which is put in their hands
and act dishonesty. When each one con |
tributes his share to this fund, il he is told
that it will be paid out in wages four times
as great as he gets when he earned the
money which he put in, you might expect
to see some kicking and hear some squeai-
ing; and yet this is what 1t comes to when
YOU get down to the bedrock OF the thing. |
This money raised by the tariff makes a
fund which should be as sacredly applied
10 the object for which we have contrlbu.
ted il as a missionary fund, and these man.
utacturers arc like the church wardens INTO
whose hands the money is paid and whose
duty is to expend il conscientiOusly and
fairly. Now, have they done SO when they
admit tina. for these ten or fifteen years AT
least they have been squanderinS 1t IN pay |
ing eXorbilant wages TO their "orkmen
1t is said tha. the tariff is 70 sustain our
infant industries A pretty set o! infants
these iron makers nave got to be by this
time And how have they been sustained
by this missionary fund? 1t looks as If al
of the sustenance which they have squeezed
out of the rest Of Us has been sucked right
out Of them by set Of leeches which cov-
er their back and keep them all the time
az pool as crows, and when they get 80 en-
feebled that they have TO lay down and
pant the buZzsrds se. around on the fences
waiting Tor the irtspts 70 o., Il little more
public sus,enqnce, ths. they may pick II
away IN the frat signs o, lito Is this
right 10 those who contribute 10 this infant
sustenance which has beer enongh II left
10 sustain the infants to have made them
good, strong men long before this? The
masters are more To blame than the men,
after al, for the manner in which they
have sQuandered this missionary funn.
Suppose ali the Sunday school missionary
funds had been poured into Tom Catlin's
pocket. with the direction TO expend IT In
the hes, ard most prudent way sending
missions to the Modoc Indians, and ne had
gone and hired q missionary at ten thous-
and dollars year 70 preach 10 the Indians,
what would he say when called TO account
,o1I hot oil y,,c N N nc N nr q