Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1888-01-03
tn C SURPLUS.


cry 10 reduce the surplus and suict-
dial way to do 1t. II seems to us there
are many millions of dollars the gov
| ernmcnt owes In the shape of bonds
which should be cancelled and the in
terest stopped. think this would
wonderfully reduce the surplus. Then
all OF our rivers need to be made more
| navigable and less dangerous TO com.
mcrce, and the life stations made more
perfect. No nation hardly has such a
long sea coast and SO defenceless- In
case Of war we would be at the mercy
oil almost third rate power. Then
again think we owe duty to the
soldier boys. They were promised
money as good rs gold, yet they were
payed in deprecated currency. We
honestly owe them the difference be.
tween gold and the deprecated green
back, however old the debt may be.
The boys that swept with Sherman
on ward TO the sea or fought above the
| dizzy heights on Lookout Mountain, or
down amidst the pines which never
cease their meaning or in all the in
Vulnerable battles where they made
breastworks of their breasts They
all should be pnnsioned. Untold mil
lions have been paid the bondholders
in interest and no one protests, yet
when there is talk of giving the poor
soldier dip cry goes up the awful
drain on the treasury. The humblest
private did more for his country than
the richest bondholder. One starved
in rebel prisons, slept in swamps
and offered his lite for his country
while the other sat In fine Office clip.
ping coupons from his bonds. Still
another way would be to loan II to the
people to do legitimate business,
and charge just enough Of interest to
pay for collecting them. A poor man
could get house without having o
pay tor two to get one as under the
present system. Then we favor postal
telegraphs. Let Uncle Sam try in
competition with Gould. Then let the
Government lay network of railways
all over the country; quit dickcring
with Inter-state Commerce. II is ours
by right Of eminent domain. Then to
reduce the tariff TO diminish the sur
plus viii work to the contrary, as there
will be greater importations unless our
manufacturers reduce their selling
price, which means reduction oil
wages to that extent. AS 1t lie now we
can hardly compete with foreign com
petition.
The Philadelphia Record, the cham
pion OF free trade, In the issue for Dec.
"a. says the iron market bulletin ad-
mits foreign agents are undertaking
us. When steel rails were selling at
S2S per ton it was below foreign com.
petition, and at such rates as to leave
no profits to our manufacturers by
business Improvements. In time they
sold as high as $3S per ton. Then 1t
was that foreign rails came Ia in such
quantities that in one year 90, 900 toms
were imported, but the next year 1870, =
900 tons came In, causing steel rails to
fall from S3S per ton to $31 and $32.
| Where our mills worked on a sliding
scale, you can easily sec what redu :
ton II was. both to employers and en-
ployes. At other places, where no
understanding exists relative to wages,
direct reductions of wages have occur
red, as at Bethlehem, Pa, while the
Edgar Thompson Steel Works at
Braddocks. Pa, employing thousands
of men, have indefinitely suspended
production OF steel rails. lad there
been no foreign competition, or rather
had there been sufficient protection,
probably steel rails would now be sell.
ing tor $40 per ton. which would still
have been an increase of wages to
those controlled by the scale, while
those who do not could reasonably
have expected more wages. We draw
our illustration from steel rails. pre- :
summing, all things considered, all iron
productions correspond. But what is
the result?
Our country is flooded with foreign
rails, our market prices weakened and
come mills idle, and yet President
Cleveland wishes to further reduce
the tariff. Some may cry monopoly,
but remember where a sliding scale
exists manufacturers and workmen
both share the profits, and when men
get good wages they consequently are
willing to pay good prices. President
Cleveland puts in plea for the poor
farmer. II he does pay more for i'm
plements, his home market more than
pays the difference. The farmer in
the Wilmington market gets so cents
n bushel for potatoes but down the
State, where there are little or no
manufacturers, they sell for 40 cents.
Just after Cleveland's election there
was hesitancy IL the business circles,
and when he stood up on that memora.
bic 4th of March and made his first in
augural, and assured sympathy for the
manufacturing interests, It seemed as
II a great load had been lifted from the
shoulders of the manufacturers, aud
since business has been good: but he
is no longer the man he was then,
now he wishes to reduce the tariff.
Prior to this | have had much respect
for him 10 this relation. Fellow toll.
ers, don't think | speak from party
prejudice. l have not voted the Re.
publican ticket for ten years and [
would not warn you wrong, but we
cannot afford to reduce the tariff on
many things. II 1t is done 1t means
| just SO much less wages for us.
GRRkNBACKER