The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-05-12
A TARIFF REFORM VICTIM.

commission house of William i. Coleman.
His wealth was supposed to be immense,
and as he was engaged In the legitimate
business OF commission merchant, he was
placed beyond the disastrous influences of
ups and downs OF Investments uncertain In
their character, Yet he he'd debts, 1t seems;
but this gave him and his creditors no IN
easiness, ~ he owned natural deposit OF
borax valued at $20OO,0O0. The Mills
tariff bill, however, threatening to remove
the tariff Of 5 cents per pound on boray,
the very remote probability Of the passage
of that bill so affected his bora1 property
that II wrought poor Coleman's ruin.
This Is awful! No wonder the Republi
can papers set up terrific howl, and point
to 1t as signal demonstration Of the evils
of tariff reform as proposed by the Demo
Gratis.
What is borax' Scientific authority says
II Is compound Of boracic acid and soda
1t is mainly found in Its native state as a
saline incrustatiOn on the shores OF lakes
in Persia, Tibet and India, as well as
sparsely In Peru and Chilli
In the arts 1t is an article of varied and
extensive use and of very high importance
The iron manufacturers, founders and
workers In iron at numerous stages, as well
as workers in all other metals, find II in
Indispensable as iluX, rs well as in welding,
while the assayer finds 1t invaluable In
producing fusibe silicates. The workers
in glass without it would be unable to
produce those varied and brilliant cOlors
which 1t brings out In connection with me-
talic oxides The cotton and wooden man
ufacturers, laundrymen, &c, &c, use it
largely for cleansing and bleaching pur-
poses, and in every household more or less
of 1t finds place in endless useful ways.
So borax, entering so largely into all the
Industrial and household affairs of the
country, costs the people more or less mil
lions year.
Up to % years ago all the borax used In
this country had to be imported; but about
that time small lake was discovered a
few miles north of San Francisco the
waters OF which were found so largely i'm
pregnated with borax that 1t could be pro
duced In any quantity by the simple pro
cess of evaporation, like salt at Syracuse,
besides which the muddy residuum at the
bottom Of the lake many feet in depth was
found to consist almost entirely of boraX
crystals
BY lucky stroke Mr. Coleman became
the owner of this lake. Now as it was
charged with borax in such vast abundance
and the article In its purity could be brought
out at so comparatively trtling a cost, one
would have supposed MIR. Coleman was in
a position at once to enter into profitable
competition In the open market with the
importers of borax from far of Persia and
India.
But Mr.. Coleman was sharper than that.
He Joined himself to the great tariff octo-
pus that In Republican days could control
legislation in congress- and got duty Of 10
cents per pound laid upon the imported
article by way of protection" to his
"home" bonanza. The result was that
borax In the market at once doubled in
price, and all the industries and households
of the country-in other words the people
en- masse-were taxed a great many thous,
ands year for the benefit Of Mr. William
L. Coleman, commission merchant of San
Francisco. Not dozen Of other men In
the whole United States ever reaped
dollars worth Of advantage from the
"spec." The millions paid by the whole
people In the form of tariff tax on borax
were purely and solely for the individual
advantage Of William T. Coleman. II
during all the years b. enjoyed that mon
strous monopoly he WAS not able to lay
by enough now to stand reduction of his
commodity to a reasonable price, he ought
to financially "bust up"-that's all.
The case Ia Of . piece with that of the
man In Jersey, who In the hey day Of Re
publican rule found hill of chalk on his
farm. Up TO that time all the chalk used
In this country had been brought as ballast
from the British coast and dumped on the
wharves In Boston, Philadelphia, &c, and
given away TO whoever would haul II of.
The Jersey man finding himself in posses
sion Of the only "mlne" Of the article In
the country, forthwith had himself taken
up as tentacle Of the great tariff octopus,
and through the influence Of that mighty
saurian had heavy duty placed on chalk.
So no more comes to this country as ballast,
but the great, good, easy going public of
the United States, from the school urchln |
up to the great manufacturing loris, pay |
an annual tribute of many thousands 10 the !