Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-05-25


the whole people First. to stay the
mounting surplus in the Treasury.
and second, to relieve overburdened
Industry from paying excessive taxes
to grasping monopolies. eve shall
see," be said, that the statesman
from Erie is the inveterate and unre-
lenting foe of monopolies and trusts
and the enthusiastic champion of op-
pressed labor" The benign pur.
pose of the bill was also to be scan-
ned in a two-fold manner. Indus
tries were to be relieved and labor
interests advanced by throwing open
American markets to the world, and
the surplus was TO be cut down by
decreasing import dnties IT per cent.
so that imports now kept out might
be allowed to stream in. This part
of Mr.. Scott's essay be dismissed
without any discussion.
THE BRADDoCK FARMER
Mr. Dalzell then took up Mr..
Scott's farmer at Braddock He
showed that the farmer did not have
to raise wheat now, but found mar
ket for things he could never sell be-
fore. "If the statesman from Erie, "
added Mr.. Dalzell, did not know
this, he was grossly ignorant. If he
was not ignorant, then he is a very
bad case of moral strabismus. But
when he pursues his illustration fur
ther to the extent of picturing the
famer, discouraged and dishesrtensd,
struggling to pay off the mortgage on
his farm, which cost him $l0O per
acre, the Righteousness of his illus.
tration becomes sublimely grotesque.
The men who bought their farms in
the neighborhood. of Braddock for
500 per acre have long since sold
them at $4,000 per acre.
Mr.. Dalzell's heart ached for the
poor farmer who had to pay 33 cents
per pound for steel beams, but he con-
graduated himself that perhaps the
farmer didn't want many pounds and
had something left of the 1000 per
acre he got for the land. The truth
was the building of the Edgar Thorn.
son Steel Works had converted Brad.
dock from struggling village to a
busy city, with banks, schools, an
opera-house, handsome stores and
streets. This misstatement, though
was mild compared to the delusion
Of Mr.. Scoot as to the profits of the
steel company and the percentage Of
wages paid to its employees. "It is
at this point that the gentleman's
moral strabismus becomes pitiable, "
said the speaker "He ignores $40,
900, 900 of invested capital, makes no
allowance for depreciation of plant,
for insurance, taxes. transportation,
commissions, cost of fuel, steam, and
omits altogether the cost of speigeei.
sen. His figures are absolutely and
mathematicallv untrue. To suit his
purpose Mr.. Scott put fancy selling
price on steel rails ($37 SOY, when bis
own committee reported it at $31 50,"
Mr.. Dalzell then added the cost oi
omitted articles to Mr.. Scott's cost Of
producing steel rails per ton 1926 49,
subtracted Sc in selling prices and
asked for a definition between a
statesman and a demagogue. He
then took up Mr.. Scott's figures as to
percentage of wages, and claimed
that he assumed steel rails grew on
the trees at Braddock, and allowed
nothing for picking them. Mr.. Scott,
he claimed, omitted all the expenses
that have to be paid in making stee
rails, and therefore his conclusions
are absurd
sCOTT'S MINERS
He claimed that Mr.. Scott's state
ment that in coal mining IS 80 pei
cent. of the price was paid to the mi
ners was false. or else it was paid ir
store orders upon stores kept at
Scott Haven in violation of the Penn.
sylvania laws. Having proved the
untruthfulness of Mr.. Scott's figures
as to cost of production of steel rails
Mr.. Dalzell claimed that the same
could be done with his other argu
ments. Mr.. Dalzell then congratula
ted Mr.. Scatt on his denunciation ol
monopolies and trusts. He congrat
ulated more the ranks of labor in Sc
curing such convert as the gentle
man from Erie Only Western Penn.
sylyania knows what this means, he
said. He read the autobiography of
Mr.. Scott from the Congressiona
Directory, as follows:
"In 1850 in the coal and shipping
business owning and running several
vessels on the lakes Subsequently
becoming largely interested in the
manufacture of iron and the mining
of coal as we'll as III the construction
and operation of railroads, either a4
President or Director of various lines
aggregating over $4,000 miles OF com
pleted road. the greatest number oi
miles of railroad, probably, which any
one individual was ever an officer and
Director Of"
Think of that for labor cham
pion," said Mr.. Dalzell Great laugh.
ter on the Republican side "and for
the opponent of monopolies and indie
fensible trusts" "There will be JOY
among the coal-miners of Scott Ha
ven over his conversion There will
be tears of gratitude on many 9
blanched cheek, the fire of hope in
many lack lustre eye, a benediction
and the increase of thanksgiving from
humble hearthstones in the poverty.
stricken huts of that great coal region
when the news shall arrive that the
statesman of Erie is no longer their
oppressor, but has become their cham
pion. If it were given to me to ad-
wise the historian of the future, |
would have him choose for his dram
attic page the statesman from Erie
when, like some knight of medieval
times, clad in armor, his visor down
and lance apoise. with pennon flying,
its motto Death to Monopoly" he
rides down the cheering line of ad
miring labor, full tilt. in his conquer
ing career OF glory. And here must
leave him with only word of friend
ly advice, for which L charge him
nothing. 1t is not statesmanlike to
discuss the private affairs of your
nnirhhnrs behind their backs: and,