Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-08-09

!. years after March 3, 1888. as compared
with the three preceding years, was S11,
465,50 The object therefore can mo-
be to reduce the revenue, for the whole
of the revenue derived from imported
wool even now is less than $6,000,000
and the reduction of duties on wOOleI
goods, based on placing wool on the fret
list, will so increase the imports of wool
en- goods that this amount and more too
! will be added to the revenues. Nor is i
in the interest of the wooden manufact
urers, for they oppose it; and I agree
with my friend from Maine Mr.. Ding
lev that the wool manufacturer and the
wool grower must go hand in hand, anC
that whatever fate befalls the one will
most certainly befall the other. The re
duction of duty in 1888 increased the
imports of woolen goods more than il
did the imports of wool, and swelled the
importation of woOlen goods this last
year to S45,000000, and this measure
will swell the amount still more.
The only explanation that can be given
for placing wool on the free list is that
given by Mr.. Buckalew, of PennSylva,
MIA, in his reply to my speech in the gen,
eral discussion, and that is that WOO
growing must be abandoned in this
country, and that we must buy om
wool abroad, because we can buy il
cheaper than we can raise it. l admire
his argument for its candOr and consist
ency, but l despiSe the arguments OF
these men who are neither for one thing
nor the other, and never know whether
to cry ''Good Lord or good devil" A
man should either be for protection OF
against it, and not try how near the
wind he can sail on one side OF the 9th
er. In 1884 certain Democrats saved
Connecticut, New York, and New Jer-
sey by insisting that the Democratic
platform was for protection, while their
brethren in other States construed it to
mean full-booded free trade. This can
not be done this year, as the issue is too
well defined.
A DANGEROUS CONSPIRACY.
The abolition of the duty on raw wool
means the destruction of the industry,
and the Mills bill is nothing more or less
than a great conspiracy to inaugurate
| free trade The trainers of this bill must
know that it will not reduce the revenue.
If this bill should become a law the next
Congress will be confronted" with the
same condition" and would be called
upon to apply the same remedy.
This bill puts on the free list wool and
various other articles, and gentlemen on
the other side expect that in their next
effort to reduce the surplus they viii
have the support of the class they now
eliminate. What they have accomplish
ed in this Congress will be used as a
lever in the next. This is only the en-
tering wedge, and from step to step
they expect to go along until they ulti-
mately reach revenue or free trade
tariff This is admitted by the leading
members on the other side. Mr.. Chair
man, l said before and l say again that
this is a conspiracy to secure ultimate
free trade.
The present Administration is party
to it, and is cooperating with the Dem
Ocratic majority of this House. There
is no reason why there should be any
surplus in the Treasury to-day. There
is no need of it. If the dependent pen
sion bill had not been vetoed, if the riv-
er and harbor bill of the last Congress
had been permitted to become law, if
the appropriation bills had been as large
as they ought to have been, if the nation
al debt had been reduced as the PreSi-
dent was authorized by law to do, there
would now be no surplus in the Treas
ury.
The President permitted eleven months !
to pass by after his Inauguration before |
he paid single dollar of the overdue
Indebtedness of the country. Why did he
hoard that money when there was an |
overdue national debt? Why did he
refuse to pay when creditors were knock
ing at the doors of the Treasury, until
forced by Congress to do SO? There was
an object, Mr.. Chairman. There was
then and there is now an object in
boarding this money in the Treasury.
The object has been to create an excuse
for breaking down our great protective
system.
Mr.. Chairman, hold in my hand a |
sample of wool of which there has been
imported into this country during the
last year as much as all the wool crop
of Pennsylvania. 1t is called lap waste, |
and yet it is the finest wool that can be |
grown anywhere in the world. 1t is the
choice of the fleece, the very best pOr-
tiOns of it, with all the rough, coarse |
wool thrown out; besides it is partly |
manufactured, and yet it comes in as
waste at 10 cents a pound, and takes
the place of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and |
Michigan wool, and the other woods of |
the country, which, if secured, as this is,
would have to pay duty of so cents |
per pound. l also have here what is
called tops, the very finest wool that can
be grown, and it is also partly manu-
factured. 1t is equal to the sbest woods
grown in any country. The present
Secretary of the Treasury rules that this
wool can come in as waste at 10 cents
pound, while it takes 81 pounds of the
best Ohio wool to make pound of these
tops which they call waste. What is
the effect of these rulings? 1t largely
diminishes the protection that the wool
grower has heretofore had; it reduces
his protection from 10 cents, that which
he is supposed to have under the law of
1888, to p or B cents pound. That is
one of the methods in which the de-
struction of our protective system is be-
ing accomplished.
The Administration is contributing
to it in this way, and is laying the foun-
dation for the utter annihilation of the
wool industry and the destruction of a
protective tariff. There is a wheel with
in wheel, and the whole system of
Democratic machinery is set to run in
this direction. The Democratic mem
bers of this House, the President of the
United States, and the Government Of
ficials aim toward the same object.
have here half dozen other kinds
wool known as garnetted waste, ring