The Portland daily press., 1889-01-03
AGAIN AT WORK ON THE TARIFF.
Senator Vance Repeats s4 s ale Of
Poverty in New England,
Quoting the Testimony Of q Profess
sionaI Free Trade AgItator.
Messrs. Hawiey and Teller Set
Various FaIsItIes Right.


WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.-In the Senate there
was more than a quorum of Senators present
when the chaplain nade his opening prayer.
The Senate resumed consideration. Of the
tariff bill.
Mr.. Allison moved to amend paragraph
134 relating to chains, by reducing the rate
ON chains less than of an inch in diameter
from to p cents per pound.
Mr.. Vance moved to amend the amend
ment by making the rate 80 per cent ad
valOrem.
Mr.. Vance's amendment was rejected and
Mr.. Allison's amendment agreed to. With
reference to the schedule relating to cotton
manufacturers, the question beins on the
amendment offered by Mr. Vest to reduce
the duty on cotton Unread, yarn, warps, etc.
from 10 cents per pound to 35 per cent.
Mr.. Vest repeated the statement made by
him before the recess that the effect of the
changes proposed by the substitute was to
increase the duty on all the higher priced
cotton fabrics beth as TO threads, which were
the raw material of the manufacturer, and
cotton cloth in a finished condition. He
made that statement on O cursory examina-
tion, but examination during the recess had
confirmed him in what he then stated. Like
the eastern queen dazzled by the glories of
Solomon, "Half had not been told" On ex-
aiming the cotton schedule, he found the ar
tstic hand of his friend from Rhode Island
Mr.. Aldrichl was evident in every line. He
referred to the increase In the cotton sched-
ule in the tariff bill of 1883, and said that was
the act of the conference committee without
a vote on it by either House. was notori-
GUS fact, he said, that the cotton munufactur-
ers OF the country were in more prosperous
condition today than any other class of man
ufacturers in the United States.
Mr. Aldrich denied the statement that the
conference committee in 1888 increased the
rates on cotton manufactures and declared
that the reductions on cotton manufactures
made the tariff bill of 1888 ranged from 40 to
60per cent.
The action of the conference committee on
the act OF 1888 was discussed at length by
Messrs. Vest Aldrich, Allison and Vance.
Then Mr. Vance came down to the question
OF the necessities of high duties for the pro-
lection OF American labor without regard to
American capital and, In that connection, he
read from testimony taken by the Blair COM
mission. He quoted Robert Howard, a for
mer mule spinner in Fall River, a former
member Of the Massachusetts legislature,
and then paid secretary Of the mule spin
ners organization, to the effect that the Eng
llsh mule spinner is in far better condition
than the American; that weavers are not
paid so much per loom in America as they
are In England, and that he never knew or
heard OF an instance where manufacturers
voluntarily increased wages when there
was rise in the market The witness hav-
ing been asked as to the physical condition
Oh the ran River operatives, replied II was
very unenviable one; that the work was very
hard. The Slavish work to which girls are
subjected in cotton mills drive them into sa-
looms. As co the ''roseate pictures" of the
homes OF New England workmen which the
Senators from Vermont and Massachusetts
lMessrs. Edmunds and Hoarl presented, Mr..
Nasfr nod fba fact Nf fba
witness, giving a very different view show
ing that not 10 per cent of the workingmen
save anything because sthey are so over
worked that they spend theiI money to keep
up their physical condition"
Mr.. Aldrich stated that the man whose
testimony had been quoted was a profess
sional politician and Democratic free trade
agitOr who had not done any work for many
years except as an agitat0r.
Mr. Vest suggested that if the Senator
from Rhode Island could have his way, he
would disqualify every free trade Democrat
lc W0rklngman as witness or juror. The
result OF tariff legislation was always to in
crease duties, either by classification or by
direct proyi ion, and always Injured to the
benefit of the manufacturer, without regard
to the consumer.
Mr.. Hawley said the profits of cotton mills
in the South where not fair criterion OF
the profits of general manufacturing. There
were 2l9,693 depositors ia Connecticut saw
tariff bad not kept the people from saving
something and had not robbed them.
Mr.. Teller replied to Mr.. Salisbury that
those who put themselves forward as cham
pions of the down-trodden farmers Of the
West were as entirely ignorant of the con-
dition of the western people, as of the con-
dition of eastern people. They lost sight of
the facts. Nowhere was intelligence so gen
eral as in the West. 1t was the farmers of
the West who settled the question last No
vember That Republican majority Of over
$4,000 in Kansas came from farming COM
munity. That majority in Illinois, came
from the farms ana not from the cities. In
point of manufacturing, Illinois was the
fourth State in the Union, and Indiana was
quite as manufacturing a State as Connecti-
cut. 1t was the farmers of Indiana who car
ried that State for Harrison and protection.
There were no people in the North or in the
Northwest appealing to those champions to
relieve them from the weight Of the protec-
tive system.