The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-09-20
The Beautiful Flower Barrel.

The Beautiful Flower Barrel.
When l was boy l had seen fish
barrels, molasses barrels, sugar hogs
heads and oil barrels on the docks at
Liverpool and at Philadelphia, all of
them black, dirty and unpleasant to
look at, but in May, 1882, we got to
Ph@nixville, Pa, and after father
worked one week at the Whitaker
Iron Works he brought home the
most beautiful barrel that l ever saw.
1t was white and clean, and l thought
the incest barrel in the world, and
when father opened it and l saw the
snow-white flour full to the very top
of the barrel, | liked it still better.
We had always got our -four, in the
old country, IL a tin pail, for there
were no paper bags at that time.
Father said he had to pay a very big
price for that barrel of -four, l think
it was about IS.
At that time the Free Traders were
in power, but General jackson, who
was President (like the boy who cut
off the dogs tail half an inch at time,
because the dog could not stand it to
have it all cut off at once) said ::
"Let the Tariff be reduced BY de-
grees." And so it was done and so
the Tariff went down, so did the
price of -four, and we got the beauti-
full snow-white -four at 81, then at
Sc 80, then at Sc, $3.50, s., $3.50,
81, $3.50, and at last at $500. The
storekeeper offered US barrel, after
wards, just as clean and nice and as
full as we ever got, for $2.70, but
father said he hadn't the S2.7O to buv
it, and we had to carry 5 and 10
pounds at a time in the same old tin
pail that we used to carry -four in in
England. The Tariff had got so low
and the English iron came into the
country SO cheap that the mill we
worked in was stopped, and we could
not get work enough to support the
family. We then went West, and
stopping in Huntington and at Bel
font, we finally got to Pittsburgh
during the period of 1887, and carried
our first baking of flour in the same
old tin pail that we used for that pur-
pose in England. Father said that
although we had travelled 5000 miles
to the land of the beautiful flour bar
rel, the Free-Traders had by their
Free-Trade put the beautiful barrel
out OF our reach, and made US carry
our flour in the same old tin pail we
carried it in from the shops of Eng
land.
At our home we called the Demo-
Gratis the Locofoco tin pail party,
while the other was the beautiful whig
flour barrel party.
At the next election the Wings
prevailed, and passed the Tariff of
1912, and the beautiful flour barrel
came back. remember asking Judge
Burnside why General jackson was
SO foolish as to allow the Locofocos
to take the Tariff off, lower our wages,
stop the mills, and drive the beautiful
flour barrel from our home? He re-
piled that General Jackson was born
after his father had died. Had the
old man lived he would have walloped
those ideas out of him.
Putting hoop iron from No. Is to
No. 20 on the free list in the Mills
bill will drive the flour barrel from
many home in this country and
cause the people to suffer if put into
practice.
If the Mills bill becomes a law,
then we will import s7S,5OO tons of
hoop iron annually from England, in
stead of making it in this country.
Now, in making this hoop iron, min
ing, smelling, pudding, rolling, heat
ing, the workmen will consume Co.
600 barrels of flour. We can send
the flour to England and feed the
workmen there, but in that case, the
workmen who have heretofore made
the hoop iron in this country will be
idle and hungry. Is it not better for