Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-10-15
JOHN w. POTTER.
The Home MARKET HumbuE

The Home Mnrhe'
Jacksonville Courier: A.
senator Cullom presents an srticle advo-
eating the perpetustion oil .ne nigh tarif
tax system now In vogue. HIS effort Is
entitled Protection and the Farmer"
and. with the exception mat II is some-
what more polished 10 diction. and more
free from the literary and rhetorical de-
fects incident 20 the average STUMP
speech, his essay is In no wise different
from the utterances Of last years high
tax stumpers and newspaper essayists.
We must say in all sincerity that con
siderinp the authorship, we had expected
much more by way OF sound argument on
behalf of the high tax system and less by
way OF assumption and sophistry than
that which we find 10 senator Cullom's
essay. Its only counterpart in that re-
spect, so far MS we now recollect. Is the
tea and coffee essay OF Senator Edmunds.
which was published ia Hdrper's Maoa-
zine something over year ago. Both
are fallacious, superficial and assertive.
Our space is too limited for us TO At
tempt TO discuss this matter as whole.
and we therefore shall at this time cons
bne ourselves TO one or two OF its salient
features. and suggest TO our readers that
they read "Protection and the Farmer
in the October Forum, and determine for
themselves of what material il is con-
structed. We have given II careful
reading and are free 10 say that. stripped
OF its verbiage Of all sorts, IL Is nothing
more nor less than the home market"
campaign cry OF 1888 In a new literary
costume, coupled with the old and time
worn assertion that, II the tariff reformers
have their way. all the protected indus.
tries" of the country will close their doors
and employers and employees Join in one
mad race for the farm lands of the coun-
try.
But the honorable senator fails 10 pro.
duce any data which will sustain his as.
sertion that. IL the tariff tax is reduced
those Industries will be closed and that
-.Avarybody will then resort 10 forming
for living. - boot and shoe INDUS
try did not close its doors when the
tariff tax was taken of hides, nor did the
quinine factories cease operations when
the tariff tax was taken of the raw mate
rial--the cinchona Darkroom which n
Is made. And II is absolutely true that
except in the Imagination of Senator Cul.
Tom and his high tax colleagues. there is
no danger OF any such wholesale destruc>
ton of the agricultural and industrial"
interests OF our country taking place as
they so persistently insist would follow
reduction OF the tariff tax.
He and they are the Don Ouixotes of
modern times. their sphere of action be-
ing limited just at the present time 10 the
economic world. though their mental nm.
soundness on the great economic subject
OF our times Is none the less pronounced
than was that OF their great prototype
win regard TO what entered into the
makeup Of windmills.
The senator refers to the great devel.
opment OF our iron and steel industry as
Illustration of the great benefit which
no snePes-ttfre- tsriif tax has been to
the country. He says, discussing the
progress Of that industry, that In 1879
we passed Greet Britain in the manufac.
ture OF those rails and from that time on
made more every year than that country
did, and in 1887 we made more than ali
the rest OF the world" From this state.
ment he draws conclusion satisfactory
10 himself and says 'the result has been
greatly to reduce the price not only of
steel rails, but Of steel Of all kinds as well
OF iron In all its forms
Now this matter OF eheapness NAV not
be overstated. though we may differ with
Senator Cullom as TO the cause. He at.
tributes Il all to the high tariff tax, and
the high tariff tax solely In his estima>
ton inventions and improvements in
machinery and in the various processes
OF manufacture have no connection with
the cheapening Of the products of iron
and steel establishments. That panacea
Tor all our economic ills--the high tariff
tax-is alone to be given the credit of a
reduction in the price Of steel rails from
$l68 to $3.50 per ton, rs well as the
price Of steel OF all kinds and of iron in
all its forms
But IL seems that IN two notable in |
stances, of which Senator Cullom Ger.
tainly cannot be ignorant, this great IA
vorite of his failed to make the home |
market structural iron and steel cheap |
enough 10 suit the wOuld-he buyers of |
such articles. II he il ignorant, or has |
forgotten the circumstances, we refer him |
10 the debate during the last congress
upon the metal schedule OF the senate
tarlH measure. In that debate Senator
tIumo was rather severe on the iron ba.
IONS OF the United States. and cited 20 an
Of the enormous profits thew
we're making. the FACT that the contracs
OTIS lot the sts6 houses of Kansas and
.eAas imported from England the struc-
inral iron and steel they must use In orr
der TO comply with their contracts, and
saved hundreds Of thousands of dollars
by so doing.
Senator Cullom also umits all refer
ence TO movement of New England |
iron masters, led by Gov Ames, of Mas. |
sachusetts, looking towards securing free |
iron ore, coke and coal. The burden OF |
me complaint Of those gentlemen is that
pennsylvania is getting all the benefit
there Is In the protection to the iron and |
steel industry. and that New England |
IRON men are being ruined. These are
not democratic lies, nor are they cam |
palgn carnards. They are the deliberate
statements Of the New England iron |
masters, who still claim 10 be protec. |
tionists, and they will petition the next |
CONGRESS Tor the entire removal of the |
tarin tax on iron ore. coal and coke.
AMP before leaving this subject TEN
PSfarily, we will ask Senator Cullom To
explain the present attitude Of the New
England iron men on the subject of ,his
blessed high tariff tax on the raw ma
terials they use. and then tell his Illinois
constituents why II is that IL a high tariff
ta1 "a good thing for them il is not also
good thing for the owners of the New
England IRON and steel manufacturing
estabhshments3