The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-09-08
JUDGE CATION RESPONDS.

Last weeks Ottawa RepuOt1cnn contained
a scorching communication from Judge
Cation In reply to that papers criticism of
his tariff article published several weeks
ago in the Burlington Hawkeye and largely
copied In the Chicago and other papers II
will be remembered that the Republican
quoted freely from an alleged interview,
several months ago of reporter of the
HaWkeye with the Judge, and attempted to
show by such quotations that he then held
very different views In regard to the effect
OF the tariff on wages from those set forth
in the Hackeye letter, What prompts the
Judges scorch.ng reply now Is, that the
Republican entirely ignored the fact that
the Judge had promptly on Its appearance
In the Ha,cheyc repudiated that in,erview
AS gross perversion and misstatement of
what he had said and his subsequent
lengthy communication to that paper was
Intended as full and correct presentation
of his tariff views. so far from holding
that tariff taxation is favorable to keeping
up wages In this country, the Judge says:
The cry for the tariff to protect the Amer
lean labor against the pauper labor of Eu.
rope Ii mere bosh, and can only deceive the
most gullible. The wages of not one In a
thousand of our laboring men are increased
by fraction by the tariff but all have To
pay tax by reason of the tariff Ask the
first laboring man you meet, whether he be
hod'carrier or u brick mason, how and
how much his wages are increased by rea-
son of the tariff, and he must tell you, If he
Is thinking man, that IL Is about thirty or
forty per cent over the left which Is his
loss without any possible increase In his
wages. The farmer has to pay two dollars
per thousand feet for his lumber to make
his fences, his barns and his houses. Ask
every farmer In our country how much he
has paid for tariff on all the lumber he has
used and he will be astonished at the
amount, and will stand In amazement tina,
his country would do him such monstrous
| Injustice as to take such a pretty sum of
money from his pocket and put II into the
pockets of the lumber men In Michigan
and Wisconsin, thus making our farmers
pay them premium for DESTROYING our
forests and compelling the Canadians to
preserve theirs until ours are all gone
which will be In a few years.
The Republican excuses itself by plead
Ing that 1t was not aware Of the fact that
the Judge had repudiated the Hapkeye In
terview, although the very article 1t crit
cised mentioned the fact
Then as to lumber, the Republican ven,
lures TO argue with Judge Cation that the
tariff does Increase the wages of cur lum
bermen, because according TO somebody's
statement to the tariff commission eight
years ago, the wages Of Michigan lumber
men are 30 per cent higher than they are
In Canada. That Is a chestnut we hardly
believed the Republican green enough to
nibble at Does not the well. posted (?)
editor know that large proportion of the
Michigan lumbermen annually come over
from Canada, and is he stupid enough to
believe that Canada could retain any lum.
bermen in her forests when the same men,
by few hours boat ride, could cross over
Into Michigan or Minnesota and get 30 per
cent more wages? This pretense that the
wholesale destruction of our forests Is nee.
essary to keep up the wages of our lumber.
men Is again, as the Judge AYERS Of all tariff
taxation for that purpose, "mere bosh"-it
Is worse than bosh. II is q miserable fraud.