Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-07-24
THE MILLS BILL.
An Able Discourse On 1t By
s. NJ. White.
H AR RISON'S POOR ECORD
Reasons Why California Should
Plump for the Democratic
Ticket.
THE MILLS BILL.
HARRISON'S POOR ECORD

The announcement that the Hon.
Stephen M. White would address the
club bearing his name drew large
audience to the meeting place of that
organization in the County Committee
rooms last night. Mr.. J. j. Horrell was
in the Chair and after the proceedings
opened, without further ado, called on
Mr.. White, whose appearance at the
speakers table was greeted with pro-
longed applause. Mr.. White announced
his intention Of speaking on the tariff
question, and how the interests of the
country and particularly the Pacific
Coast are affected by the Mills Bill.
Take tin, for instance" said the
orator, is it not used in
some form or other by nearly every fam
lily in the United States. And vet
though it is not produced in this coun-
try. an enormous duty amounting to ST.
SOC, 900 annually is placed on it and taken
from the peoples pockets to place in a
treasury that does not need it. They
certainly say that there are tin mines in
this country; / believe they claim one
for San Bernardino county, but it is like
gold mine town, nothing is got out Of
it. In spite of the fact that the only re-
suit to be attained by the removal of this
duty on tin would be of benefit to the
people, yet all the Republicans have
voted against having it placed on the free
list. Now as regards the farmers and
the tax on jute. ] was in Was shington
the day after the voting took place on it,
and in conversation with couple of Re-
publicans, they both said that they
would like to have voted to have the
duty removed, but the programme was
made out and they had no option. A
duty Of from 80 to 40 per cent. ad yalorem,
is placed on jute imported into the United
States, and who pays it? Does the i'm
porter or bag-maker? He certainly dis
burses it, but he adds it on when he sells
his goods, and then the cost comes out of
the farmers pockets, to whom it makes a
difference of 20 per cent, fairly calculated
Where does this cry of protection come
from and who is to be protected? There
are only two institutions engaged in the
manufacture of
| JUTE BAGS
In the country, one is the State Peniten-
| tiary at San Quentin and the other the
factory of Mr.. Drexel of San Francisco,
who employs 316 Cinnamon and only S4
white men. For the sake of these few
men is the whole country to be taxed,
and yet every Republican but four voted
for the maintenance of the tariff on jute.
Speaking again about tin, was in con-
versation some time ago with the Presi-
dent of the San Jose Canning Company,
the largest institution of its kind on the
Coast, handling as it does thousands,
aye millions of cans annually.
was told that the entire profits OF that
institution consisted of from three
fourths to one per cent. 80 you can
see how cheaply the housewives and
shippers could be supplied with such ar
ticlessif the Mills bill was sustained.
The labor in the factory is composed
mainly of white boys and girls recruited
! from that section of the country, and all
of them can be furnished employment
by the Mills bill, for though the place is
in tottering condition now, the saving
clause in the bill would keep it in opera
tion. Each and every item in that
measure can be disposed of the same
way. Look at borax. At the place
where it is obtained it can he
scooped up like Dirt, and yet the firm
of Coleman & Co. attempted to control it
and then announced that the Mills bill
was one of the causes of their failure.
The propositions made in that noble
piece Of legislation are all for
| THE WELFARE OF THE MASSES,
And the luxuries are taxed while the
duties are taken off those articles without
which the poorer classes cannot live, this
beingt the principle pervading throughout
the entire bill. Fruit was better pro.
tected by it than at present, and then
there is lumber-oh, if there is any one
in the world deserving of our sympathy
it is those poor people who deal in lum-
ber. Laughter. Suppose the average
citizen could devise some means
to reduce the price of lumber
would he not do it; why, therefore,
should we pay the duty OF 50 thousand
instead OF putting this money into our
own pockets. Who is protected by keep
ing it on-under the theory advocated by
the Republican party it seems to me
that we are to be protecting somebody
else all the time, while we stand out in
the cold without clothes, comforts or any,
thing but whisky. If we had our wood
cut in British Columbia and sent down
here they say we will be hurt by pauper
labor, but l do not see that there is
pauper labor in British Columbia any
more than in Washington Territory or
Oregon, if there were the laborer
would soon step across the line
and work on this side. Ask any one
outside of lumberman how he would
like to have the duty taken off lumber,
and you will receive an affirmative an
swer every time. Do. the opponents OF
the measure mean to state that the lum-
Der business is so low that it could not
survive if the 80 duty were taken off ?
There is no doubt but that one of the
effects of passing the Mills bill will be to
drive few members out OF the Demo
cratic party, but these are men who have
not been true to the cause to which they
pretsnded to belong-they have simply
been advocating their own selfish
interests. We do not expect to see
any monopolists on our platform, but we
do expect to see the masses of the people
when they understand the actual situa-
ton of this thing. The matters contained
in it pertain directly to ourselves, and
there is not single man who will moi
be benefited by the reductions proposed
by the Mills bill. A great effort is being
made to control the laboring vote, but
who is doing it? Who can stand up and