The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-10-11
A CoMRADE SPEAKS OUT.
No Free Trade Wanted by the Veterans Who
Saved the Nation.


EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: I read with
pleasure Comrade Heatii's article on free trade
/ am not surprised that Bank President
should want free trade. This is quite natural,
for the only class of men who can or will be
benefited by low tariff or free trade is the
offender and the Sheriff
what profit hath man If he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul2" Or what will it
profit man if he can buy the whole world for
nickel and hath not the nickel?
Old comrades you cannot afford to see free
trade in this beautiful land of ours. You fought
for it on many bloody field that you might
here have home in which to rear and educate
your children. You cannot now afford to take
that homo away from them you cannot afford
to take your little ones from school and place
them IN the workshop to help you make a liv
ing for yourself and them. You do not want
to, you say. Well, then, use your influence by
word and deed to keep free trade out of this
country. Do not let politicians wheedle you
into believing times will be better under a low
tariff than under high ono. If this is so, why
are there 100000 people in the almshouses in
England2 If times are better in free trade
countries than in protected ones, why do not
| mechanics and laborers stay there, and why do
not people from high-tariff countries emigrate
to low-ta rff countries?
My comrades, let us compare prices little
will take the potteries of England and America,
as the County in which l live is fast becoming
glass and pottery center, owing to natural
gas being abundant:
Dish -makers-Wages per week in England,
1862; in United States, $1943
Cup-makers-Wages per week In England,
1858; in United States, 1887
Saucer makers-Wages per week in England,
$7.63; in United States, 1883.
Handbasin- makers-Wages per week in Eng
| land, 1886; in United States, $19.73.
Mold. ma kerS-WapeS nor yvaaLr in ENGLAND
$10.23; in United States, $20.79.
have not space in this article to go farther
in tho list or to give other trades, which will
show the Same difference as this one. Now,
comrades you see wages are nearly 100 per
cent higher here than in free trade England.
| have before me comparative table of the
prices paid for the necessities of life, and the
difference is so small that 1t would require a
microscope to see it. Here are some OF the
| prices:
Carriage bolts. 3x3-16 in, in England per
gross, So II; in United States, $1.5Z
Hand-saws, 2G in., in England per dozen, So /;
| in United States S..
Axes, in England per dozen, SO in United
| States, $3.50.
Under free trade in England one busbel of
! wheat will buy 81 hundredths of a sack Of salt.
| Under protection in the United States one
| bushel of wheat will buy one and eight-tenths
sacks Of salt.
One bushel OF wheat Will buy eight and a
| half yards of sheeting in England; in the
United States, under protection, it buys IL
| yards.
| cannot go farther with this table, but you
| viii find everything about the same. Some
articles of provisions are cheaper in England
than here, and some are very much dearer. /
| hope my old comrades will see at once the folly
| of free trade.
| The present average tariff is but AZ per cent;
| the present difference in wages between this
| country and England is 100 per cent. If the
| AZ per cent. were added to the price of goods
and they were AZ per cent. higher here than in
| England, the workingman would then have So
| per cent. the advantage of tue English laborer
| No, my friends. we cannot afford to have free
| trade; and nobody but the politicians of the
| Calhoun school and the very rich want it. But
what we do want is a tariff high enough to
make the United States free and independent
| of everything but Almighty God, and a pension
| to every man who fought for the preservation
/ of the Union.
| The surplus should have been given to the
| Union soldier instead of going to build up the
| South, who pay but very small per cent. oil
! the revenue to the Government
| Long live THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE! May
| it always keep out of politics. but always fight
| for the interests Of the brave men who fought
to save to us our homes, whether it be in pension
| ing them or in the fight for protection to the
| American laborer.--M. NJ. SAVIOR, III. d., Co
1 /, 161st Ohio, Cannonsburg, o.