The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-01-09
TUE TESTIMONY BEFORE THE COM
MIrTEE or WAYS AND MEANS.

fully embodied the sympathetic ten
derness Of It's advocates for these weak
liogs They only needed, It was said, a
litils careful coddling TO stand alone
and rcquir, no longer the government
to act ~ nursing mother. But what
are tie facts. These pulling infants
still appear before Congressional com
mittcs. with their infantile wall, and
though generations have passed away
since their birth, they have not yet
reached eelf-sustaining manhood, and
their babyhood promises to be perpetual.
The fraud is really too transparent
for imposition, and the farmer Of the
West is beginning to enquire with some
carutstnees why Il tekes 100 bushels OF
potatoes to buy a pillow and bushel OF
aour 10 buy a pound Of sugar. The
hardibood, not 10 cay impuderce. OF
some Of The manufacturers who have
appeared beforeJhe committee Of the
Lower House, would be amusing did
not their demands contain many OF the
elements Of the trazical to the con
sumers OF the country, the farmers par
ticularly, who soc with dismsy high
tariff restricting International trade
aud shutting up the markets Of the
world against their productions.
The only favora fraction Of them has
received is the duty on wool. and yet
we find the manufacturer of woolen
goods ciamcrou' for a repeal Of this
duty, iu order that they may make a
larger profit. and we may here men
ton as a specimen Of the benefits they
are comforting on the country that :
pair Of blankets costing in England
SID will cost from the American
manufactured s3.2j. But who rcaps
the profit f this tariff eItortion? Ger
iainly no. the wOrkmen IN wooden
mills, for who need more cheap cloth
ing, sugar. salt glass. household uten-
sis aud other articles too innumerable
10 mention. and yet they have no share
in dividends and never grow rich from
toll The conclusion ia unavoidable
that the benefit Of these tariff exsctiOns
is not diffused beyond the manufacture
ers themselves, and this explains in
large measure why wealth in this
country is being concentrated in few
hands, and how it is that the rich are
growing richer and the poor poorer.
10 is not surprising that with the
cheaper products Of foreign industries
excluded from our markets by orr
high tariff. the time should often como
when, with home competition, mod
crate profits ceaset to satisfy extortionate
greed, aud then naturally arises the
formation Of trusts in articles Of prime
necessity, as witness the wire and salt
trusts. the latter for the enrichment Of
a few manufacturers and owners of
salt mines. who have no moro moral
right TO fix the price Of this article than
Of the air we breathe.
There Is another article Of almost
universal use hardly found at all in
America, and which yet bears heavy
and needless duty, and it is tin, which
gives the shelter of roof to rich and
poor alike. furnishes material for house
hold utensils, and is essential to the
canning industries Of the country,
which would double in extent with the
removal of the import duty. The fruit
is often Of insignificant value in com
psrison with the can which encloses IT.
and to how many more thousands
would this industry give employment
II the duty on tin could be removed
aud our home market not only extend
ed. but markets made possible to us in
other countries.
We have reason to tremble with ap-
pIehension whenever we hear bogus re-
ports Of the discovery OF lin in any part
of the country. for the thiunest vein
will demand increased protection, and
our tariff policy will be broad enough
10 embrace any iniquity 50 long as the
Republican party has rule over legisla-
ton.
We will barely refer to one Of the in
famous monopolies which exscts tri-
butte Of almost every household of the
land, and it is the monopoly of kerosene
oil, controlled by perhaps a half-dozen
men. A single member of that ro-
nopoly lMr. Rockeieller) is said to have
accumulated from it Sle0 600 600, and
his income is quadruple the annual
revenues Of the State Of Virginia, which
are q heavy burden to nearly 100000
Of people. The vast wealth Of this mo-
nopolisl and his fellows. surprising the
wealth Of Ormus or of Ind, has not
been accumulated by bold venture and
hazardous enterprise, but wrung from
the necessities Of the people by buying
out aud terrorizing weak rivals. until
the monopoly absolutely controls tins
article of prime necessity, and exacis
unjust tribute even from the solitary
lamp which lights up the darkness OF
the humblest cabin At night.
GOVERNOR HILL AND CALLICOT.
The readers of the New York Times
must have been startled with a biograph.
zeal sketch of Callicot in recent issue of
that paper. 1t seems that this man,
recently appointed by Governor Hill to |
DO the printing Of the State of New
York, and who edits his newspaper
organ, was tried for defraudng the /
government a. an internal revenue
was convicted and condemned /
o pay a fius Of $40, 600 and to confine-
IL. A -.