Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-10-11
BARnom % LIZ IAa.EF.
7iae Great sisoy-sls., says Cleveland Us.
the sam" Artrrn NJ y che cob
Fr~c Traders.

In political speech at Bridgeport
Y here the great Snowman has las winter
larterS Tor 1.-The greatest SHOW O
e rih,' Mr. Barnum in the course ~ iii,
marks said:
We are not discussing politics. IN
IsineSS: nor are we To discuss n MIL.
riff bill. for thar. bli as II j. onl,
. / entering wes;ge for C.evrIni''i'~ ,ioc-
rrine of free !Tade. pure and s:Ginie
( ievelani. IN his message ut the us',filns
a. Congress. used the exact arguments
% the Golden ree-traders. a / hav,
card them from their own Inns IN Man
c lester. England a hundred times. They
X. America must feed u.s. ami we
uSt clothe Americans. and DO all the
manufacturing for them, and pass their
custom houses free of duty. There Is
sat small number of manufacturers in
re United States, and they must be
wiped out for the benefit of the large
Eumber of Inhabitants who can be sup
piled by Us at half price. because our
operatives receive less than half the
wages paid in the United States"
Cleveland says the same thing, and he
means the same thing. So does the
Democratic party. Watterson says: cit
means free trade, and if any Democrats
don't Ike it they must go somewhere
else"
The English manufacturers AMI news
papers recognize the Democratic partv
as 4 Iarty OF free-traleTS and stand ready
to smother Us wish their manufactured
goods at a moments notice But Mills
and most OF his party are scared bv the
uprising of the whole country against
permitting the starvation labor of Great
Britain, Germany, France and other
countries to compete even-handed with
the men who fill our factories and live
like men, Independent and happy, so
they fix up the bogus Mills bill for a
make-shift till they can get control of
the United States Senate. when they will
rush through just such a free trade hin
as Cleveland asked for in his message,
and as the Mills bill was when reported
by the Democrats of the House OF Rep
resentatives. Meanwhile these free
traders are trying to throw dust in our
eyes by talking about moderate free
trade.
Where will Bridgeport be when its
manufactures are stopped % free trade
and the cheap labor Of the pauperiZed
operatives Of Europe? An English manu-
facturer who was my guest recently ex-
claimed. when he saw the heaithyloOk-
ing, well dressed mechanics emerging
from the Wheeler and Wilson factory,
at dinner tune: Are these people all
contractors?
No" replied; They are the masses,
who earn three times as much per day
ae yours do, and they live accordingly"
The masses" he replied, obey look
more like employers than the masses,
but we divide these two words different
~ when uset III England-we make
them read 'ihem asses.
Now If our mechanics and working
men. American, Irish. Germans and 9th
ers, VIII be foo.s enough TO vote for free
trade. shall lame nobody for giving
them th5 English title. 4 Bridgeport
manu,ac, uger who employs 1000 men
told me that Il free trade came. or
free trade in the articles he made, he
should discharge his workmen here,
manufacture in Europe, and bring his
goods here, as he could make them over
there so much cheaper than here, and
must do so to compete with foreign
goods which pay no duty to the home
market.