The Portland daily press., 1888-08-16


that question here In the State OF Maine
but, nevertheless, / shall ask your tndui
gence for short time 70 call your attention
70 what deem some Of It's advantages and
Wnat deem to be some OF the heresies and
false philosophy taught by President Cleye-
land and his followers.
His first proposition Is that all raw
materials shall be put upon the free list for
tne purpose, ne says, OF aiding the manufac-
turers OF this country. What great generosi-
ty Is that? A party which was been nothing
more nor less than highwaymen and robbers
comes deliberately before the American
people and says 70 these highwaymen and
69PP6er t6s SOY I'VE tbgan want % gys you little more
been having a good time, but not enough Of
/ good time; you have grown rich and biOat-
| ed in your wealth; you have been mono
| polists, created trusts and made white
| slaves OF your people, but still, II you will
| only take this boon at our hands, II you will
allow us to introduce all raw materials free
OF taxation, 10 will greatly aid and strengthen
your Industries" 1T will, the President
says, ENABLE you to go out and take the
manufacturer An astonishing proposition
70 come from such source. III | thought 1t
MADE In good faith / might claim time 10
consider u, but ] do not forget "the Greek
g bearing gifts" and wonder what this can
Mr.. Mills tells us in his wonderful report
on ms Dlli that II we will only have free raw
materials we can compete In open markets
Win tne world. and to prove that he says the
are labor and material. Therefore, If we
give you your raw materials free you will be
| able TO compete with the manufacturers Of
England and Europe, In the markets Of ASIA
/ Africa, and OF Central and South America
What Is the cost OF material-of what Is 10
| composed? 1t Is proposed to reduce the cost
| OF raw materials by admitting them free.
What IS the cost OF iron ore made up Of, laid
down at the furnace, what Is the cost Of
coal, laid down at the mouth Of the furnace,
what makes it cost what Is the cost Of the
logs hoated down your rivers, what creates
their cost or their value? The value Of raw
materials put down at the door Of the manu-
facturer Is composed in its cost OF more than
It's chief value, almost Its entire value.
| Inc IRON ore in the mine, before the
miner has attacked 1t, does not average In
snis country % cents per ton as a royalty.
| Inc average OF coal in the mine before a
shaft has been sunk, the average ROYALTY for
coal TO those who own the .mines does not
| exceed 15 cents per ton, but when 1t Is laid
down at the smelling furnace it may be
worth from two TO four dollars a ton. What
makes 1t cost that? IL has all been paid out
/ for the labor
The value of your lumber, as 1t floats down
| your rivers, Is nearly all labor. 1t may be
/ worth ten, fifteen or twenty dollars per
thousand feet here at your wharves, but In
| the forests 1t was not worth a dollar per
thousand feet, perhaps not fifty cents. IL
has all gone into the labor Of the brave men
who went into the wilderness, ,Icut down the
trees and converted them into lumber. Raw
materials, in their strietest sense, are only 20
be found in state ofnature. before touched
by the hand OF man. III you undertake 10
| give our manufacturers cheaper raw materi-
al by permitting them to buy abroad, where
| labor Is cheaper, what will be the result?
Either your iron and coal will have to lie
untouched in the mines, and the lumber re-
main In the forest, or else American citizens
| will be compelled to work for the same rate
OF wages as the laborer who produces the
same article abroad. Does not that stand to
reason? lApplausel
Mr.. Mills Is right when he says the chief
elements Of the cost Of manufacture are labor
and materials. BE might have condensed ii
ana said that the chief cost Of manufactures
Is labor from first to last. [Renewed ap-
piausel IL, then, you want TO be able to
compete with the manufacturers Of England
| and Germany In their markets, or In any
Qsner foreign market, how can you do it2
You can do 1t only by having the elements Of
i cost which enter Into manufacture the same
In this country as abroad. IL cannot be done
| by any other way; by no process Of jugglery
or legerdemain can 1t be brought about. God
has given us country stored with more nat
ural products suitable 10 the wants Of man
and the progress OF the age than any other
people have. Shall we allow them 90 lie dor
mant In the earth while we draw our sup
II piiCo liDul dUIOduE Oudll We allow our ldDOE
to remain In idleness while foreign labor Is
4 employed?
Here In Maine you are constantly using
| the power OF your great streams as they roll
down from your mountains flor the purpose
l OF turning machinery. You make IL do your
| spinning, weaving, grinding, running your
/ saw mills and manufactures OF all kinds
1 Shall you stop those wheels? Shall you re-
fuse TO let nature work for you In order that
/ you may bring American people down TO a
4 I0VVnF laval in nrdar that ma " ham
| to rate OF wages such as will enable you to
1 reach the markets Of the world. Let us see.
| We have not yet supplied our home markets.
know Mr.. Mills says that we are producing
| vast surplus Of manufactured products,
and we are sometimes told that we have
machinery enough now In this country to
| make In six months all we can consume In
twelve; / deny the statement. IL Is not
true. We have not yet fully met our own
| wants. We imported last year Of foreign
products OF all kinds seven hundred and
twenty odd million dollars worth, OF which
something over two hundreda millions were
raw materials, and they were Of kind Of
| raw materials which the Republicans have
| put upon the free list. for they were the nat
ural product OF other countries which were
not and could not be produced here; such as
| tea, coffee, raw rubber, raw silk and all
native woods and other products Of tropical
| countries. There came in something like
| two hundred millions on the free list, but
| last year we Imported four hundred millions
Of manufactured products and think lit
tie more. Suppose we had made them all
here. 1t not only would have kept all our
| manufacturing establishments busy, but led
to the building OF thousands OF others, and
put nearly every idler in this country at
work. Instead OF that we went abroad Tor
this amount of goods.
| We produce in this country something over
six million tons OF iron annually and over
three million tons of steel. Would 1t have
been better TO have gone abroad for tive or
1 fhrpa million tons rather than havA kpDf
/ own people at work, rather than nave raised
/ this iron ore from cur mines, used our coal
to smelt and our railroads to transport 1t, or
i given it to other people2 To make this six
million tons OF iron we took out OF our own
| mines over eleven million tons Of ore, used
| over five million tons Of limestone to work
with 1t and as much more coal to smelt II.
Notwithstanding that we imported last year
over fifty million dollars worth of iron and
steel in various forms, and much Of that
came in from what / Insist is a wrong inter
probation Of our tariff laws In regard TO the
duties which should be imposed on steel
blllets, while in other form. IL the law had
been interpreted by the friends Of protection
not nearly as much would have been import
| ed last year. Let US suppose now that the
duty upon iron shall be reduced to a consid-
erable extent, what will be the result next
| year? Instead Of importing fifty million dol
lars worth we shall import two hundred and
fifty million dollars worth, or a very large
amount at least; instead of making six mil
| lion tons Of pig iron In this country. we VIII
| not be able to make half Of Ii, for we could
not run our furnaces in competition with
English furnaces, paying our present rate
for labor with duty less than that which
| we now have. Does some one say to me,
"but the Mills bill retains the duty on iron
| ore, and 1t retains substantially the same
duty on pig iron?" Granted, say, but the
Mills bill of today Is only the beginning OF
what they propose.
| The Presidents argument In regard tO
putting wool upon the reef list Is very re-
markable, and / need not dwell upon 1t, but
Mr.. Mills, in his report, makes a very re-
markable argument in regard TO IT. He first
| tells these Tobber wooden manufacturers II
they win consent to his putting wool on the
free list, they will get 1t so cheap they car
manufacture wo0len to ship abroad anu sup
| ply all the demands Of the home market al
| well. You will remember we import of fin
ished woolen goods over forty-fOur million
dollars worth. He SAYS he will make
wool so cheap that you can compete
with all the markets Of the old world
and there win be lively demand tor your
labor and you will get the same rate OF Wag..
es that you got before. He says, TOO, tna5 tn55
| the wearer or consumer OF woOlen goods VIII
! get HIS clothing vastly cheaper than before,
| and Therefore 30 greatly benefited. There
| is only one other class to satisfy and nave all
| our people pleased, and that Is the wool
| grower. He says 10 him, I'VE will put wool
| On the free list there will be an increased
| manufacture OF wo0len goods, and you will
get as much for your raw product as YOU
did before. Applause, and a voice. "that
| half won't patqh any doh .,,t~bt ..taL