The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1888-08-29

From he New York rrsss,

w. birkett OF % Myrtle avenue n D
Smithstreet, Brooklyn, who is the lsrges
manufacturer of steam heating appafata
and steam filters engineers supplies il
that city, aud who has accumulated
competency with his wi head an.
hands.
"Of course 1 shall vote for Harrisol
and Morton, not because I am a Repub
liean, but for the reason that / aH 70
protection to home Industries, and the,
stand on hat platform, and so they vii
get my vote. If they stood on the plat
form made for Grover Cleveland l woult
cut my right hand off before should de
post a ballot for them.
" employ a great many men. and theil
wages average SCI a week. In Europe
they could no earn half of IT. l would
be better off if the Democratic theory o.
taking the duty off raw material was put
into practice, but | am not so selfish AS to
favor so pernicious a doctrine because il
would benefit me and a few Others.
take ahigher view of il, and do not squint
at it FROM that point alone, Agreat deal
of arrant humbug finds its way into the
columns of the Democratic newspapers to
the effect that the manufacturer are the
greatest beneieiaries from a protective
tariff. OF course they are benefited.
If they we're not they could not main
tain the high rate of wages which our
mechanics and working people receive,
1t is the latter who get the greater beue-
fit from the tariff, not the manufacturers.
Why, We pay on an average more than
twice as much to our working people as
they could get in any free trade country
on the face of the earth. If protection
doesn't enable us to do this, what does I?
There is no comparison between the
wOrkingman's condition here and abroad
In Italy, Belgium and Austria forty to
fifty cents a day is big pay for skilled me-
chanics, and thousands of them live, sleep
and eat in the streets because they have
homes. | only wish every working
could take a trip to Europe before
he votes, to see for himself the degrade
ton and misery of the working people
there. He would come back for protec-
ton and for Harrison and Morton. My
men are able to bring their families up
in good style, and to educate their chill
If they lived in Europe they could
do neither. | tell YOU, the government
of the United States is the greatest one
in the world. Why Because tie work
ing people, who are the main spring of
any nation, are better housed, better fed
and better clothed, and better educated
than those of any other nation.
"Let Grover Cleveland and his free
%lieutenants from the South have
way and in ten years all this will be
changed. Instead of building manufaet-
cries, churches and schoolhouses our in
and purses will be taxed to the
to build almshouses fast enough
TO meet the demand for shelter from our
workingmen and women whose occupa-
ton will be gone when the products of
the pauper labor of European countries
food our markets.
"'0h, no. says the Democrat, 4 am not
4 free trader, | am only for the reduction
Of war taxes What humbug. 1t is an
insult to a mans intelligence. Reducing
import duty will increase the revenue,
because of the increased demand for the
cheaper productions, and the only way
the revenue from imports a be reduc-
I'd is To take the duty off altogether.
son many things we have a prohibit
tory duty now reduce it and our work
shops will be. closed, but the revenue will
be increased, not reduced. Competition
makes tbeprice here as low as it can be
for the welfare of the Nation and the
Take off the duties and swamp
our manufacturers with pauper labor
produced goods and financial ruin will
stalk throughout th e land. How careful
the Democrats are not TO hurt their fire.
brethren in Louisiana and the low
where sugar and rice are grown,
and yet these same fire eaters were abso-
lutte free traders when they had the pow
er to be, as one of the cardinal principles
embodied in the Constitution of the late
Confederate Slate was in these words,
Nor shall any duties or taxes on imPor-
from foreign nations be laid to
promote or foster any branch of home
industry And now these hypocrites say
do not mean free trade. | wish they
could be induced to stop lying just long
to tell me what in the name Of
heaven they do mean, if it is not free