The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1889-11-08
OwOSSO. NOVEMBER s, 1889.

American manufacture. This iron was the
product of American labor, at American
prices under our protection system, and yet
we are able to sell it at fair prices to Eng
lsh iron workers in free trade England.
Alas alas the free trade roses one by one
fade away and fall before the progressive
policy of protection. But this transaction,
whether taken as vindication of the effica-
cy of protection in developing the home
market and by competition reducing the cost
of production, or as a proof of our country's
prosperity under the operation of Republican
policy to the extent that today we are able
to export iron to England, or both it is a
proof that the country acted wisely in re-
storing to power the Republican party, that
our present policy may remain unchanged,
The Democratic policy Of admitting duty
free what they are pleased to term raw ma
teral out of which goods of every class are
manufactured, would, if adopted, prove
fatal to the interest of the great army of
American wage-earners. Tariff reform is a
very cheap catch phase that of necessity
means very little, because tariff reform is
necessarily matter of distinct details, and
the Mills bill of last year proved that neither
Mr.. Mills or his party dared, when it came
to action on details, to carry out the princi
pies about which they are still talking so
vociferOusly, pretending then as they pre-
tend now, to seek the prosperity of man.
ufacturers (they never talk about the pros
perity of the wage-earners) through the re-
moval of duties from raw materials, with
corresponding reduction of duties OH pro-
ducts in order to lower their cost to the con-
sumner. But Mr.. Mills in his bill, nor the
Democratic majority in the House, did not
dare to apply that principle to the largest
and most important of all our industries,
because Missouri Virginia, Alabama, Ten
nessee and West Virginia were as much in
terested in the production of iron ore as are
the states of Michigan, New York, Connec-
ticut and New Jersey. The facts in the
ease as proven by the Mills bill, establish
the necessity of tariff revision on the basis
of either absolute free trade, or a general
principle of protection for all American pro-
auctions. 1t is not our purpose now and
here to critcise the honesty of purpose of
either Mr.. Mills or the democratic party on
the tariff question. The fact being that any
man presenting for adoption tariff BILL no
matter how honest and sincere in his per-
sonal convictions, would be compelled
to consider what his party could
safely do, rather than the ideal policy
which as an individual he might desire
to adopt. And it is true that no party
in this country can long succeed at the polls
which does not recognize the rights of that
class of voters who are If any such thing ex-
lists, the producers of what the democracy
style raw materials. The voters i'm 1880
engaged in producing the raw materials
which are now dutiable, as shown by the
census were not less in number than 1,5OO,-
600, while the number of voters employed
in manufacturing these so called raw mater
ials into dutiable forms were not much above
One-third of that number. The census
shows that including all males above six
teen years of age, there were employed in
iron industries 1873, 2O3, in wooens 70, 459,
in cotton 40, 7S4, i'm silk and mixed textiles
&c, s46 and in other principal forms of man.
ufacturing enough to make the sum total
about 100000. Revise these figures as you
may, in no case can a showing, based on
facts. be made that can make the number of
voters employed in producing dutiable ma
cd hv Mr.
less than twice the number employed in
manufacturing these goods into dutiable ma
terials, and the number is in fact very near
ly three to one. The tariff problem for Mr..
Mills and his party to solve now is to satisfy
this great army of producers of so called
raw materials, not merely that they can ex-
list under the free trade policy and get en-
ployment at all in these industries, are ex-
ceedingly difficult tasks we think, but that
they can get employment at remunerative
wages, If exposed to unrestrained COMPETE
ton with foreign labor of the rudest and
cheapest sort AT present 1t does not mat
ter what Mr.. Mills or any other man thinks
or believes on that point. The question is,
can he or they make this great army of
miners, lumber cutters, savers, wool
growers, and producers of other raw mater
ials believe 1t, and trust in that belief against
the sad experience of the past. One thing
is seen in his bill, Mr.. Mills did not dare to
try to make the iron miners believe that. be-
cause in the south their votes were neces-
sary to make it solid. But he did set at de-
fiance the interests of the lumber-cutters. the
salt and wool producers, and his party was
beaten as result of his temerity This
lesson teaches that the instinct of the people
is right; and that they believe that the
rudest and cheapest labor, which is necces-
sarily employed in the production of these
so called raw materials, needs protection
much more than the labor classes which are
employed In the more advanced processes.
Then If, as we believe, the true object of
the national policy of protection is to de-
fend and elevate the American laborer. Il
cannot succeed at all unless it begins with
that class which is at once the most
numerous and the most in need of such pro-
lection. In fact the millions whose votes
sustain the protection policy would have
good reason to abandon it, and certainly
would abandon it, as they did the free trade
policy of the Mills bill, IL it were so modi-
fled as to only protect the interest of small