Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1890-07-05
AND EVEN PHILADELPHIA.

business Men and W~orkingmen Unite in
Uttering a Mighty Protest Against IT.
Protection Tottering to Its Fall In One Of
Its Own Strangholds-Free Raw Materials
the Watchword.
Pennsylvania is the great stronghold
of protection in the United States.
Philadelphia is its chief city, and has
for years been the citadel Of protection
in high tariff Pennsylvania. For years
Philadelphia has rolled protection as a
sweet morsel under, its tongue.
But now times are changing, and
now Philadelphia's sweet. morsel is
turning to gall in her mouth. Her
workingmen have been diligently
schooled in the doctrine that wages are
dependent on professionalism without
protection, in fact, there could be no
wages worth having. But, all the same,
and Notwithstanding the present high
protection. that Philadelphia has and
the prospects Of still higher in the fu-
ture, her w%orkingmen have seen tfefr
wages falling lower and lower, and
many Of them are out of employment
through the closing down of the mills
in which they work. The Philadelphia
Times recently said ~that"nearly seventy
failures of wooden mills and dealers
have occurred in this City and vicinity
since the election of 1883, when the
tariff question was proclaimed as set
tied, and each failnre told the same
story, viz; that the cost of raw mate
rails drove our woofsr industries into
bankruptcy"
Thus it is not Philadelphia working
men alone who are tasting the tariff
gall-her manufacturers also'are weary
of the bitter ~draught When both the
manufacturers and their men feel so
strongly the evil that protection is. do
ing for them, it is no wonder that they
should make themselves heard in oppo-
sition to the Mckinley bill, which would,
only aggravate their troubles.
And they have made themselves
heard.
Philadelphia has Just held two meet
ings in the same day-one for the manu-
facturers and merchants and one for the
workingmen, and these meetings re-
sembled in their attendance and en-
thusiasm the great gatherings just be-
fore a Presidential election.
The meeting of the business men was
held in the afternoon in the Walnut
Street Theater, which was filled to
overlooking with the substantial mer-
chants and manufacturers of the city,
representing many million dollars of
capital. Of the fifty vice-presidents of
the meeting about half were Repub-
licans, which shows that the opposition
to the Mckinley bill in Philadelphia is
by nc means confined to one party, and
that this opposition is based on the
simple and solid fact of business in
terest
The speakers at this meeting were
Congressman Springer, Bynum, McAdoo
and w. p {. Breckenridge. Mr.. Springer
discussed the wool question with special
reference to Philadelphia. He showed
that Philadelphia was the greatest
manufacturing center for wooden goods
in the United States, there being ass
establishments in the city, interested in
free wool. These establishments have
a capital of S35, 900, 900 and turn out $685.
600, 600 worth of goods every year.
Mr.. Springer said that it was the
States east of the Mississippi which had
clamored for the wool tariff of 1867, and
It was at Their demand that it was
passed. That was twenty years ago,
and these twenty years of protection
had utterly failed in the very States
which demanded it. In Pennsylvania
there are now only 80 sheep where there
were 100 in 1868; in New Jersey the loss
is about the same, and in Ohio there are
but 80 where there were 100 then. In
the States east of the Mississippi there
were in 1867 over 81, 900, 900 sheep: in
lSSS the number had fallen to is, 900, 900.
The tariff had failed to encourage wool
growing; and yet the remedy which has
failed once is o TO be applied again in
stronger doses.
Besides this failure to encourage the
| production of wool, what has been the
state of things in the wool manufacture
ing industry? The manufacturers them
selves have made the admission in their
Bulletin-the Official organ of their as
ISOLATION that since 1883 nearly one
third of the wooden machinery of this
country has been idle, and the other
two-thirds has been run with lit
tie or no profit" And yet the cry
is for more protection. The aver
age duty pad last year on all the
first and second class wool imported
was 4s.1S per cent. According to the
Mckinley bill this average will be 1924
per cent. On third class ~wools-carpet
woods, which are not grown in this coun-
try-the increase is still greater,
amounting to 40 per cent. on the i'm.
ports of 1889.
On wooden manufactures there is a
still more striking increase. For ex-
ample:
Present Average
" rage Nick nley
duty. under
bill.
Wooden and worsted cloths,
knit goods, etc ............ GIL 1898!
Blankets, wool hats, fan.
mes, etc..............,. 80 ll0si
Women and children's
dress soods.,......... Ct ss,37
Mr.. Springer predicted that If the Nc
Kinley bill were passed half of the
WOODEN mills of Philadelphia would be
driven to the wall in ten years.