Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-04-01
PROTECTION AND TRAMPS.
The Effect ON the Masses by High
Tariff,


ter stated that the so-called protec
ton was nothing but taxation, ant
when the high tariff was first adopted
it was not called anything else ever
by its friends, who advocated 1T II
Congress. But it was forced upon tht
people as a war measure, and the peo
pie were willing to tax themselves tt
furnish the sinews Of war. But III
necessity as war measure vanished
many years ago, and the tariff, as an
issue, has purposely been held in the
background by scheming men until
they could educate the people to
think of the tariff as the promoter OF
our national progress. The conse-
Quence is that there is deep ingram
ed prejudice established by the un-
thinking masses against doing any,
thing to interfere with the customs OF
the years of propriety Immediately
following a great civil war. Man
ufacturers and their co-workers
in Congress have long opposed
any agitation of the tariff question,
knowing that the high tariff would be
doomed as soon as the intelligence of
the farmers was directed to it. Now
the vast aggregated influence OF mill
ionaire manufacturers and combined
monopolies will be used to keep upon
the people monstrous system OF
taxation which at first was only ac-
cepted as necessary war measure.
The triumph of the Union cause lib
Grated four millions of blacks from
bondage, but the triumph at the same
time Of set OF selfish, greedy capital
lists put under an industrial bondage
forty millions of white people. The
cotton pickers in the Georgia cotton
fields became free at the same time
the cotton operatives and sewing
women of New England put their
necks under the yoke of tyrannical
taxation. When the slaves of the
Southern rice fields first breathed the
air of personal liberty, the farmers OF
the Northern States put on the
shackles forged by the monopolies.
THE GENESIS OF TRANPs.
There were none OF the so-called
tramps in the United States previous
to the high tariff OF the past twenty
years. / will show that the tramp
nuisance is the direct outgrowth OF
the protection system. We will sup
pose, for instance, that the State of
Ohio has the power to inflict the bar
rier OF high tariff against the pro-
ducts of the rest of the United States.
Take the manufacture of woolen goods
for instance. The Legislature, to sat
isfy the demands of the sheep men
and manufacturers, legislates tax of
100 per cent ad oalOre0a upon all wool
en- goods brought into Ohio. Immedi-
ately stock company of capitalists
erect woolen mill in some little vii
lage where there is water power, an
expensive factory is built, they en-
ploy 300 operatives and sell all the
goods they can possibly make. The
operatives come from the farms and
are drawn from the other avenues of
profitable labor. The high tariff,
of course, compels every person
in the State to pay double
the price for woolens that they did
before and of course this manufact-
uring company make. enormouse
profits, they get rich SO fast that an
other mill company incorporates and
builds a larger mill employing 500
operatives, they can not get the help
necessary without going into other
States for it, hence they import their
operatives from Pennsylvania, New
York State and even Europe. This
company gets rich by taxing the people
of Ohio, other capitalists see the
chance and another mill company is
incorporated employing perhaps 1000
operatives and still another and 80 on
until the little qniet country village
has become town Of several thous-
and mill operatives. The first few
wears are of unexampled prosperity to
these corporations, they get rich, and
each company does it's utmost to
manufacture the most goods. All
at once it is discovered that
there is not market in the State OF
Ohio for all OF the goods these corpor-
ations can manufacture. So many
capitalists have gone into the business
of taxing Ohio people that they have
oyerdone the matter. They are not
able to sell their goods in the adjoin-
ing States, for Ohio goods made under
high tariff and other inflated condi-
tions cannot compete in other markets
with goods made under normal condi.
tions. Hence, somc of these mills
have to shut down, and the weakest
ones will do it first. Say the mills
EMPLOYING 800 and 500 operatives each
shut down and wait few months for
the consumption Of goods to catch up
with the amount manufactured. Here
we have 800 operatives thrown
out Of employment. They have
not saved enough money to
keep them for six months or
one year until the mills start up ag ain.
So they start to seek work in other
places, but other towns have thrown
men out of employment also, and they
can find no work. They keep on look
ing till their money is gone, and then,
becoming discouraged, sometimes de-
moralized, they degenerate into what
is called
THE TRAMP ELEMENT.
Here we see that these towns alb
normally developed are hot beds OF
poverty they are filled with people
from all points of the world to fill a
Temporary want caused by a combina-
ton of corporations to tax the people
of Ohio for the benefit of few. Upon
the plea of protection to the working.
men OF Ohio they have filed the Ohio
towns with foreign labor. At the same
time the people of Ohio have
used not as many yards o1
woolen cloth as they would have
used had it not been for the 100 pei
cent. tariff; but the farmers and o. b
ers have paid double the price for it
and there has been no better market
for the farmers produce, such as the
wheat, corn and canned goods thar
there would have been without these
corporation mills. The only increased
~ fcr forn,ars, nrOdnca has beer