The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-10-10
FISHBACK ON THE TARIFF.
HOT SHOT FOR MONOPOLY TAKERS.
How the Law for Which Ben Harrison
Voted Shut Up the Indianapolis Rolling
Mils-Free Raw Materials Means
Higher Wages for Labor.
The Hon. Stanton ]. Peells:

have been calling your attention, your as
sumed friends embark upon q sea OF spec
ulation as to the general utility of pro-
tective policy. 1t is hard, indeed, to frame
an excuse for a vote which shuts up our
rail mills, stops work in our shoe factories
and raises the price of the poor mans
food. clothing and shelter, while it de-
prives him of the opportunity to work. If
things go on for while longer as they are
going now. our streets will be infested
with ''tramps"-men who become tramps
not from inclination, but because your
legislation drives them to beggaTy. Why
do men tramp? Because nobody will
hire them to work Why do men carry
ing on the protected industries refuse to
give men employment? Because there is
no market for the product of their labor.
How so2 The products OF our factories
must be sold at home or abroad and our
home market is glutted. Our capacity to
produce is greatly in excess OF the home
demand and the cost of production is 80
much increased by the tariff on raw
materials and articles used by our manu-
facturers, that we are undersold in foreign
markets where our goods come in compe-
tition with foreign goods. What must we
do in order to sell our goods in foreign
markets2
We must produce them at less cost, that
is, must get the material at less prices
than we now pay or we must lower the
wages of the laborer That is clear
Which do you preferY / say cheaper the
cost OF raw material and raise the wages
of the workingman. By your law you in
crease the cost of raw material and not
only lower the wages OF American work
men, but you throw them out of employ
ment altogether. Why is it that thou
sands OF laborers are not now employed
in the steel rail mills in this and other
statesP Simply because you tax the
material necessary to be used in the mills
so highly that it will not pay to run them.
1t is so in other branches of the iron and
steel industry. Word comes to rs that
many of the great iron mills will shut
down in few days.
The NelCs on Tuesday last called atten-
ton to this and quoted from Philadel-
phia paper its remarks on the demands
of the iron workers for higher wages.
luub phDCA bulQ w III q SdoC VI ONOA
40 per cent. this YEAR, in the demand oil
the single article of rails, it is easy to see
that q general suspension of manufacture
for few months will be a God-send to
the mill owners. Hence their refusal to
accede to the workingmen's demand"
While these mill owners are at Saratoga
and Long Branch during the summer
months, what will become of the unem-
ployed workmen with their scantily fed
wives and children2 These mill owners
who turn their laborers out with about as
much conjunction as Mexican feels
when his crippled burro drops by the
wayside, spend their summers at Saratoga
and their winters in Washington.
You saw them there last winter, and
you will see them again when you go back,
clamoring for more protection.
AS it is with the iron mills so it is with
our shoe factories, which are closed be-
cause the tariff makes the cost of material
so high that we can not make shoes for
foreign markets.
If we depend on home consumption,
poor crops or a season OF depression from
any cause will shut our factories. But if
we have foreign markets to supply, and
the shackles were removed from Ameri-
can labor, American enterprise would
lIdht DOlu Dubll lOI lLlC
supremacy of the world.
The fact seems to be lost sight ot by
your friends who clamer for protection
that the kind Of protection you give by
law is sitting and destroying American
manufacturers. At a low estimate four
tifths of the imports upon which you place
the taxes are raw material or unfinished
products which are imported by American
manufacturers. How long can sane men
be deluded into the belief that such laws
help and protect the men who work in
our factories and shops?
Excuse me for a moment while turn
aside to flip the impertinence OF one of
your friends who sneaks into the columns
of the Journal and assails me from the cheap
defense of a coward nom de plume. Mel
Their candor nor veracity is to be expected
from one who adopts that method OF dis
cussing public questions. Inquirer"
says:
VIII Mr.. Fishback explain how the tariff
which is such a nice thing Tor the Pennsylvania
monopoly las he terms it, is so destructive to
the rail mills here on which he says several
hundreds of thousands of dollars have been
expended?
Why do not the ponderous machinery in
splendid condition under skilled workmen
protected equally with the pOnderous ma
chinery in the Pennsylvania mills, glide as
smoothly in favor of monopoly as the eastern
relative?
1 have already made this sufficiently
clear to persons of ordinary comprehen-
sion, but fear that mind capable of con-
structing such sentences as / have quoted
above are hopelessly befuddled. Never
theless l will make an effort to enlighten
Inquirer"
Reducing his gibberish to plain En-
glish, he means to ask, l suppose, why the
tariff law shuts the Indianapolis steel rail
mill and does not shut the Pennsylvania
mills? l hope you and other intelligent
persons viii pardon me while devote a
few moments TO the kindergarten instruc-
ton of this seeker after light and knowl-
edge. If Enquirer" will go down to the
steel rail mill, where everything is quiet, he
will see all the machinery ready for rolling
steel into steel rails. If he asks why the
mill is not running, he will be told that
they have no machinery there for con-
verting iron into steel and that the tariff
on steel is so high that they can
not buy steel and make rails at q profit.
If Inquirer" will go to the mills OF the
Pennsylvania monopoly he will find that
they are running, have machinery for
converting iron into steel, and are not
compelled to go into the market and buy
steel blooms.
II Enquirer" had been in Washington
last winter he would have seen the own
ers of the Pennsylvania mills lobbying for
a high tariff on steel blooms, so that all
the rail mills of the country would be
compelled to shut up or buy blooms in
Pennsylvania.
II he had remained in Washington he