Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-22
rhe Protection Lien and the
Labor Lamb.

oXLkouCACo OA tCAAiOAO WIN wa
necessary while the Nation had the
burthen of this struggle to bear and
borne because of this necessity, but
iniquitous as well as unnecessary in
these times of peace-that and the
ensanguined undergarment are all
that is left the Grand Old Party in
the days of her dotage. With what
tenderness she clings to these relics
of the past There is no attempt on
the part of the Republican press to
discuss this matter on the ground OF
logic, of fact, of economy. There
are no exhibits of figures, no attempts
at statistical illustration. 1t is all
summed up in a doleful wall: Oh!
that is my pet tariff scheme, let not
the vandal hands of the Reformer
shatter my idol! Iron and steel pay
duties ranging at from six to seventy
per cent. ad ralorem. The gross
amount paid the iron manufac-
turers last year in the way of exces-
sive duties was about 1000, 900. At
the same time the demand for iron
and the output Of its manufactures
were greater than ever known in our
history. We are actually producing
more pig iron than England.
Yet day or two ago one OF the larg-
est iron-working establishments in
America, which employs 11,000
hands, gave notice Of reduction of 10
per cent in wages. The excessive
tariff protects the millionaire, The
wage-winner is in no resps ct the better
for it. Jute is taxed SO as to encour-
age labor. And this is the way it en-
courages labor. We cannot compete
with India in the production of jute
even under the present high import
duty. That tax shuts out the raw ma
terial and prevents our using
our greatly superior machinery in
competition with the bag makers OF
Calcutta. All our bags are imported,
and the tax comes out of the Califor-
MIA farmers, who are laborers in every
sense of the word. Lumber is taxed,
and ten firms in San Francisco make
a big "pool," manipulate the market
to suit themselves, and put the price
to an enormous point. The protective
tax goes into the pockets of these ten
firms. They toll not, neither do they
spin. But the toilers of the State,
the farmer, the artisan, the day la
borer, the poor washer-woman, the
shop girl, the errand 10y. and
every wage-earner of every degree
pays more for his house, or more rent
for some other persons house. The
farmer pays more for his wagon, his
plow, and for his fences. Meantime,
the great draft from our phenomenal
improvement and growth goes on
without abatement on our forests.
The mountains are beirg denuded,
the sources on which our streams,
and even our rainfall de-
pends, are being destroyed by
miles. The great lumber firm
is protected at all points. The
poor man is stripped Of his comfort in
all its shapes. Coal, salt, wool and a
dozen other necessaries Of life fall into
this same category OF protected indus
tries by which the wealthy few are un.
necessarily protected and the great
multitude of the poor are made to
contribute to this iniquity in the
blanket they sleep under, the coat
they wear, the salt in their porridge,
the shingle on their roof, the
spade they use in their daily toll, the
fuel that cooks their breakfast. And
in view Of all this, the Republican
press cries in their ears its shibbolet
like the ''knock-about" in the play as
he buffets his partner in the turn
"cheer up" You are protected by
the tariff! When some fellow is shiv-
ering in his thin shoddy coat, or eking
out his coal at 500 ton, or screw
ing every expense to the tightest
point to pay rent for his enormously
taxed shingles-when this wretch
asks how he is protected, his high
tariff instructor gets red in the face,
shouts at him that he is stupid, that
he is an ungrateful Free Trader, reit-
iterates for the fortieth time that a
protective tariff fills the pockets of the
laborer and ruins his employer. And
then poas tO elaan AGAIN