Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-09-06
SOME PLAIN FACTS.
An Open Letter from Nir. e. p. Allis
to the Men in His En-
ploy.
Benefits of Protection Put in a Way
that He Who Runs May
Read.
Foreign Pauper Labor. the Alleged
Treasury Surplus, ard Importa-
tons Touched Upon.

The Republican State Central Com
/ mlttee of Wisconsin has been furnished
| campaign document which, if they
| Will use 1t, will have more weight in the
presentation of the protection issue than
anything they are likely to get. Mr.. E.
| 2. Allis, the head of the large machinery
manufacturing establishment, which
! employs nearly 1000 men, last evening
! distributed to his men as they left their
work an open letter, or address, of which
| the subjoined is copy. MIR. Allis has
been twice the candidate of the Green
/ back-Labor party for Governor of this
state, and few employers stand as high
in the estimation of their workmen, and
! of the labOring classes generally, as Mr..
| Allis. During all the labor troubles in
| this city the Allis works has been able
| to keep It's men going when others had
to shut down. There are very few
| manufacturing establishments in this
country where, among so many employees,
a spirit of loyalty to employers is main
| tanned as it is in the Allis Works. And
| this esprit du corps has been developed
| by the persistent efforts of Mr. Allis,
through his many years experience as
an employer, to keep in view the well
| fare of his men as well as his own in
! terests. Mr.. Allis has never since the
war come out as fat-footed for the re-
| publican ticket as he has now done.
MIR. ALLIs's LETTER.
To My Employes:-I have been asked
by many of you for my opinion upon the
present political situation, and in view
of the great Importance of the question
itself, whether my opinion is of value or
| otherwise, it seems best to reply in an
| open letter to you all.
! As you know. [ am a believer in the
! financial and industrial views of that
eminent American thinker and writer
upon industrial subjects, Henry @.
| Cary, and have been a sincere worker in
! the "Greenbacll" and "Greenback La
! Dor" parties, which more nearly than
any other embodied his principles, and
! if my vote and influence could establish
! those principles at this time, it would be
| 80 given.
The underlying sentiment Of those
principles is that American labor is the
| foundation stone OF our National life and
future greatness, and that to encourage
and aid the working and producing
| classes, whether on the farm, in the
workshop, or in the Office, should be the
| first duty of government, and that our
! legislation should be for our own people
and country, and not for or governed by
| other nations.
TWO LEADING FEATURES
of this belief are, first, that the govern
ment alone should furnish the cure ncy
| of the country, whether metallic or pa
| per, and that it should also establish
! and regulate its volume in the interests
! of the whole people, beyond the reach of
| responsible or irresponsible causes,
arising from individual or corporate con
! troll, from the expectation Or variation
| in the supply of the precious metals;
| and, second, that the good raw material
| of our own country should be utilized by
| and for our own people, without dam
! aging competition from the people OF
| different governments and diverse social
| and economic conditions. Of those two
| great principles, the labor party alone at
| the present time advocates the first, but
| the success Of that party in the approach
| ing election is an impossibility, and its
| success even, with the loss of the second
| Of those principles, which it does not
| endorse, would | fear. be a fruitless
! victory. The two dominant political
! parties, one of which must succeed in
this election. while alike ignoring the
| first of these questions, take distinct
issue upon the second, and it is made the
| pivotal question OF the day, and in the
| triumph of one or the other Of these two
| parties rests the settlement Of this cues
! ton for many years to come, and the
| consequent good or Ill for long time to
| our beloved Republic.
The workingmen of America have
many difficulties to contend with, but
under present conditions they are gradu.
| ally acquiring the power to more sue
/ cessfully cope with them, and though
| the process may be thought slow, it is
nevertheless certain that they are con-
stantly lettering their condition, while
| their brethren across the sea are vast
multitude so stepped in poverty and
| weakness as to almost abandon hope of
better future. This fact is beyond
| successful dispute, that whatever ills the
American workman has to contend
| against his rate of wages is twice or
| three times that of his European brother
and it is this point of vantage that it is
his vital and lasting interest to maintain.
1t is also of vital interest 10 the country
| itself, that it should be maintained, for
| if American wOrkmen must be reduced
to the low rate of wages paid abroad
and to the want and misery that natural
! ly follows that
LOW EBB OF PAYMENT,
as evidence not only by foreign reports
| but by the destitute hordes of emigrants
| now landing upon shores, then our gov
eminent of and for the people is fail
ure and fraud The only possible way
! that this difference of wages between
our own and foreign lands is and can be
maintained. is by the continuation of
| the policy that made the difference exist,
viz: the exclusion, to q greater or less
| extent. of the products of that foreign,
| chea , labor from our shores. The policy
which does this is the policy of prOtec
! ton to home industries, and it is this
| policy which is now being threatened by
| the present National administration and
| which is to be passed upon in the APP
preaching election. For the time being,
| this question dwarfs ali other and every
! other issue sinks into insigniicance be-
| side it. The removal Of this protection
/ which he now enjoys, would place the
American labOreF upon the same plane
/ as his less fortunate foreign brother. and
! take from his hands the great weapon of
| better wages which he now holds and is
/ using successfully to contend with the
! giant and grasping spirit of the age. It
! is quite probable that the rate Of wages
| paid, even in America, is not rs high as
! it should be, and l fully believe that the
! distribution of the products of labor is
| faulty and that the producer does not
/ get his proper share, but [ am equally
sure that the road to a better distribu-
ton does not lie in reducing the share he
now gets. That the
| EFFECT OF FOREIGN COMPETITION
( ho fn n fc an