Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-08-02
LOOKSLIKEFREET TRADE
The Mills Bill Exposed In All It's Deform.
ity-Presideut Cleveland and His
Free Trade Supporters.


ity-President Cleveland and His
Free Trade Supporters.
-
Mr.. Hartshorn of Troy, n. Y, in re-
cent letter, asks at the end of each
| damaging quotation from the Mills
bill, 'sdoes this look like free trader"
By the time Mr.. Hartshorn has fin
| ished his array of quotations and ques
tionings it is only a very dull or preju
diced reader who can decline to answer
in the affirmative. The Mills bill. saw
| the Inter Ocean, is designed to prepare
the way for free trade" by getting free
trade in articles which are. almost ex.
| clusively, of Northern manufacture. II
| is intended to make the solid South vel
more solid by granting to it free imports
| of these goods which are most essential
| to the protection and continuance of that
scheme of ''cheap labor" which has ever
been cherished by the great planters
But 1.-the citizens who work for a liv.
ing" in the Southern tier, the plain pri
Yates "who counted in the bullet depart
ment of the late confederacy," should be
taught that what is good for the briga
diers and colonies, the judges and pro
fessors, is bad for them; very bad The
Mills bill declares for free trade in lum-
Der; now the Southern States are full of
| lumber; if it were sawed where it grows,
transported on Southern railways or in
| Southern vessels to Northern cities it
would create demand for labor, and SC
raise its price. The brigadiers and colon
els and judges don't want the price OF
! labor raised; they want hands at So per
month on their plantations. Saw mills
would pay from $50 to $40. But the
| plain common people who have truck
! patches suffer. A mill employing fifty
| hands creates quite a demand for corn
and meat, and the teams of the small
farmers could be employed, when other.
wise they would be idle, in hauling logs.
| The oligarchs of the South want no ''di-
versifed industries" The Mills bill de.
clares for free salt. Now, the South, is
full of salt mines and springs, but the
brigadiers and colonies prefer to buy
| cheap foreign salt for their cheap plan
tation hands to encouraging the growth
of industrial settlements, such as have
sprung around the salt works of New
| York and Michigan. Such settlements
| stimulate competition for labor and
raise it's price. But the smaller farmers
suffer; they have no busy cities with
| from 5000 to 900 consumers of farm
| produce to compete for the purchase of
! their surplus milk. meat, fruit, grain,
and vegetables; it must be sold ''cheap'
| to the oligarchs to feed their cheap Ia
| borers. The Mills bill declares for free
wool, and the South is peculiarly adapt
ed to wool industry, but the brigadiers
! and colonies don't want the growth of
wool encouraged in the South, for that
would lead to the establishment of wool
en- mills, and that would raise the price
| of labor, and also create numerous towns
| that would compete for the surplus of
| the small farms, and SO prevent them
! from supplying their plantation hands
| cheaply. The same is true of hemp, jute
| and fax, and of nearly everything that
! the South produces or should produce
| for manufacturing purposes-cotton ex-
cepted.
| The Mills bill is a free-trade bill; it
contemplates an excellent beginning of
free trade, and the things exempted from
| duty are things requisite for the estab-
! ishment of a system of cheap labor in
| the Southern tier, and for the embarrass-
ment of such Northern industries as are
! especially in need of protection.
| Mr.. Hartshorn's letter is as follows:
"Hon. Roger @ Mills, OF Texas, is Chair
! man of the Ways and Means Committee
| of the Fiftieth Congress. On the 4th of
July, in a public address delivered in the
| N.
! Democrat in this country desires free
trade" and in analyzng his tariff bill, now
! pending in Congress, he asked the QueS-
| ton: docs that look like free trader"
In this remarkable address the attempt
ed straddle of 1888 was officially inaugu-
rated.
But can the straddlers again straddle?
The Mills bill, declares for
Free trade in lumber, which we produce
Go the value of $500 100000 annually.
.1a off, liy.h Ny-n
duce over 800 600 coo pounds annually.
Free trade in salt, Of which we produce
nearly 40,000,O00 bushels annually.
Free trade in lax, hemp, Jute, and other
fbers
Free trade in cement, potash, lime, and
brick.
Free trade in meats, game and poultry.
Free trade in vegetables, peas and beans.
Free trade in marble and stone.
Free trade in at least one hundred other
articles produced in this country, most of
which would be produced in sufficient
quantities for home consumption if proper
~ protected.
This bill is supported by nearly every
Democrat in the Fiftieth Congress; is ap
proved unanimously by the National
Democratic Convention at st. Louis, and
vet, and yet-''nO democrat in this coun
try desires free trade"
The committee on resolutions in the
democratic convention in 1884 were in SeS
sion thirty-siX consecutive hours wrang.
ling over tariff plank. Was there any
wrangling over the tariff plank in 1885,
| Does that look like free trade? But where
were such men as Patrick Walsh, OF
Georgia, Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsyl
| vania, and Smith NJ. Weed, of New York
| when the Democratic convention met ir
| 1888? They were left at home. "Does
that look like free trader"
| Patrick Walsh said Slavery is dead
| and it's twin sister free trade should De
| buried in the same grave; and Patrick
| Walsh didn't go to St. Louis. docs that
| look like free trader"
| The issue of 1860 is again upon us. The
Hon. George D Tillman, Nj c., from South
| Carolina. SAYS: ''Was it not our intemper
ate zeal for free trade that led to nulliff
| cation, and was it as much to enjoy free
! trade as to protect slavery that South
! Carolina seeded in 1902"
The constitution of the Confederate
| States of America reads as follows: 1.-The
| Congress shall have power to lay and col
| lect taxes, duties, imports, and excuses foI
| revenue But no bounties
! shall be granted from the treasury; mol
! shall any duties Or taxes on importatiOns
| from foreign nations be laid to promote OF
! foster any branch OF industry" "Does
J that look like free trade?" Fortunately
! it so happened that this free trade consti
! tuition was soon trampled under the un
! hallowed feet of Northern mudsills;" and
! then the British lion assumed a forlorr
! appearance. This was in 1865 mark you
| In 1866 there was formed in England g
| powerful organization known as the Cob
| den Club. Upon their seal is the inscrip
! ton, FREE TRADE-PEACE-Goo Will
! AMONG NATIONS" Does that look like
! free trade? Yes, we see free trade" there,
and we will turn the un-American picture
! to the wall