The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-08-24
will be Gilmore's band and the Verestcha-
gin pictures, which are worth going to St.
Louis 10 see.
THE TARIFF AND The COAL MINERS.

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tured into any such assertion. The FREE
TRADER has never at any time intlmated
even remotely that the present strike OF
the miners can be attributed 10 the tariff
But II did and does Insist, and the fact IL
sell. evIdent, that the strike exists in spite
of tariff which gives the operators a
tax protection Of 2l1c ton more than the
total wages they were willing TO pay their
miners.
"If 75c ton duty on coal has any effect
whatever on mining in this section II Is to
add TO the cost of Canada and Nova Scotia
coal and prevent II from coming into com.
petition In the north and northwest with
Illinois and Indiana coal. Any sane man
knows thar cutting of the foreign supply
increases the demand for the home pro-
duct and affects wages accordingly" sagely
remarks this philosopher; as Of course II
ought. Therefore, the FREE TRADER
wants to know why the operators will not
pay In wages at least as much as the tariff
of 75c ton which must be added 70 the
cost of Canada and Nova Scotia coal before
1t can come Into competition with the I'LL
nois and Indiana Goals. The Republican
will not insist that the tariff Is imperative
or that Its imposition has no effect on
wages, for If 1t did II would of necessity be
willing 1t should be removed as useless
incumbrance of the statute books. But
as the miners, being offered only 72lsc a
ton for mining, do not get any of the bene-
fits of the tariff, the benefit of IL must 90
TO the operators. The point the FREE
TRADER made was that 1t is a sham and a
lie that any part of the tariff goes to the
laborer; and this cannot be denied. There.
fore, II is absurd to say the tariff Is laid 10
protect" the miner OF waged- worker
The $4,000 miners and families" who
are begging for bread can blame Demo-
cratic National Committeeman w. l.. Scott
and the Cleveland administration for the
plight they are In. Scott Is a coal king and
VIGOROUSLY hard on the thousands of men
that work for him. BY refusing to enforce
the pauper labor act Cleveland made 1t
possible for him ard men Of his liz TO I'll
their mines with ignorant foreign pauper
lied labor and cut down wages when cir
cumstances warranted it-RepuJlican.
Talking about gall, the Republican is In
no danger OF losing Its reputation as a
champion In this line. In the first place,
the law encouraging immigration was en-
acted late In the sixties by the republicans
and by this law immigration of laborers
was assisted by commissioner appointed
by the President and paid a salary by the
government to spread for advertising mat
ter all over Europe to induce laborers 10
come to America-a law proposed In the
senate by John Sherman, and said by him
TO be necessary because of the extremely
high wages paid In America! Later law
to exclude laborers "under contract was
enacted by the democrats and was enforced
as we'll as 1t could be by the Cleveland ad-
minlstration, which administration approx.
ed an amendment making the law more
rigid than 1t had been. That 1t was then
enforced at least as well as It Is today Is
amply testified by the complaints that now
come from Buffalo, Detroit and Laredo,
Texas (see N. Y. Herald, Aug. 18th where
laborers today cross the line at will. In the
Sam Tomas coal mines of Texas every
miner Is an unnaturalized Mexican. Car.
penters, masons, mechanics and other
laborers cross the river every day to work
In the States while their homes are on the
other side of the line, the laborers them
selves being citizens of foreign States.
The attack on w. l.. Scott Is particularly
unfair, since In his Erie speech two years
ago he advocated In plaiuest terms the abo-
lition, or at least reduction of the tariff
on both coal, iron and steel, the industries
In which his capital Is invested. But Scott
is about the only coal and iron master lex.
cept Abe Heevitt who is democrat;
therefore, he has to bear the brunt of the
attack by the republican press, The ope
rators at Streator and at Braidwood are not
hard on their men, oh, no, they love them,
of course. Their miners hunger, the cries
of their starving children, and the suffer-
ings of their patient wives, draw tears to
these operators eyes, but they refuse to
pay ever 72l5c ton just the same, and are
abusing the arbitrators because they did
not fix the price at zoe. Furthermore, when
the arbitratOrs had made the award which
gave reduction In wages, and Congress
man Frank Lawlor telegraphed to Scott and
to Barber of the yerm. Coal Co. at Boston,
asking them to personally interest them
selves to avoid If possible a reduction,
Scott was the only man who answered, and
he replied the same day by telegraph that
he was willing to meet the miners snd he
did meet them. That the strike was not
ended was IS much the fault of the Streator
operators as Of Scott.
However, admitting all that might be
said on the other side, and making no
apology for him, Scott cannot be justly
accused of being "hard on his men" when