The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-04-07
THE NEW TARIFF BILL.

House Few uhlS ago ny luc ways hb'
means committee, Is not claimed 10 be ,
perfect measure, II Is 20 be regretted tina
there Is no time 10 make the country fully
acquainted with the main outlines anC
basal principles Of that measure, for In
such case 1t is impossible that 1t should
not meet with general approval.
What Is the situation In the progress
sive growth of our manufactures, say the
committee In their report accompanying
the bill, we have reached point where
our capacity to produce is far In excess of
the home consumption As consequence
many Of our mills are closed, and of those
still In operation many are running on
short time. This condition is hurtful to
the manufacturer, the laborer and pro-
Queer of the materials consumed In manu-
facture. To guard against losses produced
by the oversupply In the home market,
the manufacturers are organizing into
trusts, combinations and pools to limit
production and keep up prices.
What is the remedy Obviously, say
the committee, so to remove all duties on
the raw material TO the manufacturers that
they can produce their wares at lower
price and thus enlarge their market ana
product; OF to surround the country with
a wall of protection from without, while
| ipat nj Iar h.,
people from within.
Common sense and common honesty, the
committee justly maintain, dictate that
preference should be given to the former
plan. In country like ours. where profit
bic investments are open In 80 many other
directions, the capitalist indeed may be
Indifferent whether the calls upon him for
manufacturing enterprises are larger or
smaller; but how Is II with the laborer
and the producer of the materials used by
the manufacturer When the fires In the
factory are shut of, the labor and the ma.
terials are shut of at the same time. Yet
the laborer and producer of materials
must still meet their daily wants of manu-
featured goods and pay whatever prices
the trusts have fixed. But with more
extended market and the active competi.
ton called into being, these trusts, pools
and combinations will be impossible.
with the markets of the world open to
the sale of their products, they will create
an active and constant demand for all the
raw materials required in manufacturing,
which Sill stimulate, promote and reward
the wool grower and the producer of col
ton, hemp flax, hides, ores, and other ma
terials Of manufacture. ="
On the subject o. free wool the com.
mlttee say I'VE say to the manufsc-
turer, we have put wool on the free lis, to
enable him TO make his goods cheaper,
and send them Into foreign markets and
successfully compete with the foreign
manufacturer. We say to the laborer in
the factory we have put wool on the free
list 30 that II may be imported and he may
be employed to make the goods that are
now made by foreign labor and imported
Into the United States. We say to the con-
sumner we have put wool on the free list
that we may have wooden goods cheaper;
we say TO the domestic wool grower we
have put wool on the free list to enable
the manufacturer to import foreign wool
to mix with his and thus enlarge his mar.
ket and quicken the demand for the con
sumption of home wool, while II lightens
the burden of the taxpayer"
There we're, during 1857, ll4,OOO,O 600
pounds of wool imported into this country,
and the home product was 265,0O0,0OO
pounds The two together, manufactured
Into goods, supplied about one half of the
amount required for home consumption
Now, the wool growers combination and
the wool manufacturers trust met In
Washington month or two ago, and after
a weeks deliberation formulated the fol
lowing demand upon Congress: That the
duty on wool shall be made high enough
to prevent the Importation of all wools
and that duty shall be put upon manu-
featured wooden goods high enough TO &C.
cure their entire exclusion. If Congress
should grant this request, what In the
meantime are the people to do for wooden
clothing, as the present entire home prod
amounts 70 but half the home consump-
tom They must wear cotton goods in
winter and pay bounties to the wool grow
ers' and wooden manufacturers combina
ton until they can produce enough TO
meet the home demand, and thus pay such
robber prices as the monster trust thus
brought Into being by national Legislation
may be pleased to lay on.
Is this what the people want, Yet it is
just this principal of universal plumber
that the advocates OF protection insist
shall pervade our entire idustrial system.
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