The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-07-12
BLUE FOR NEW ENGLAND

BLUE FOR NEW ENGLAND
Mr.. MILLS INTERPRETERS THE M,kiN-
LEY BILL TO HER.
The Bill Lays Heavier Burdens ON New
England's Industries, Increases the Price
OF Her Food and Makes Her Raw Ma
terial, bearer.
Hon. Roger @. Mills has an article In
the June Forum on New England and
the New Tariff Bill, = In which he cham
pions the Of New England against
Mckinley and the Congressional pesti-
lence" which the latter has created.
Mills sees In the Mckinley bill 8 great
menac to New England manufacturers;
1t serves N them 8 notice to quit Is re-
CARDS many forms Of manufacturing.
New England had but few voices in con-
gress to speak for her interests on the
tariff question; and the pugnacious Texan
comes to her rescue in q way that will be
welcomed by hundreds Of her manufac-
turers who have been ~petitioning on
gress In vain for the very measures that
he advocates In this article.
Many men in New England have felt
for some years that her supremacy In the
manufacturing industries Of the country
Is waning. James Russell Lowell has
cast a prophetic look into the future Of
his beloved New England, and the things
he saw In store Tor her were not pleasant
to tell.
The Texas congressman calls attention
TO the peculiar situation Of New Eng
land-north, east and south the tariff
wan-only the west open to her. But
south, and has taken the manufacturing
spirit and skill into those parts Of our
land. Manufactures are developing In
those regions with wonderful rapidity,
and they have q tariff wall Of freight
charges serving as protection against the
New Highlander. Distance does for her
what the national tariff Laws do for the
foreigner.
The position Of New England Is pecu-
liar to herself; no other part OF the coun-
try is so situated. The materials which
she must have for her mills to manu-
facture are not produced within her
own limits. She does not produce wool,
cotton, fax, hemp, silk, coal ores, and
many other things which she must have
or go out Of business. A great part Of
the food upon which her people subsist
must be brought over long lines Of rail-
way, and the freight charges must be
paid by the consumers. The chief neces-
saries Of life are ore expensive to her
people than to those Of the west and
south, from whom she procures them.
Evidently she cannot buy her raw.ma-
terials from them, pay cost Of transpor-
tation back to the producers, and sell In
competition with local rivals. She can
not import hides from west Of the Miss
issippi river, manufacture them into
leather, and then transport the leather
back to the west, and sell 1t In COMPETE
ton with the manufacturers Of Chicago
and st. Louis.
But what can New England dot She
cannot farm-her lands are exhausted,
many Of her farms deserted. In the south
and west the lands are new and fertile.
Her forests have disappeared, and she
has no mineral resources. She is abso-
lute1y restricted to manufacturing. She
must live by manufactures. or '.go west
and grow up with the country" With
rivals at home and abroad calculating
closely every item Of advantage over
her, she must clay aside every weight"
and run the race.
In labor she has the advantage Of her
competitors; In the cost Of raw materials
she is at a great disadvantage, and this
burden she must unload. To continue to
carry 1t is to abandon the contest and to
contract the circle Of her trade. With
free raw materials she can dislodge many
competitors which now feel securely es-
tablished.
But to secure these advantages there
Is work for her to do-and work at once.
She should demand the removal of taxes
from all fbers, coal, ores, and all metals
not sufficiently advanced In manufac-
ture to go into immediate consumption,
such IS pig and bar Iron, blooms, bi1lets,
rods, copper, brass, led and zinc; all oils
and dyes; In short, she should insist on
being allowed to purchase her materials
as cheaply as her rivals. Then. having
the advantage over them all in the cheap
ness Of her labor, she would take from
her competitors every market which she
and they could reach at the sane cost Of
transportation.
But what does the Mckinley bill say
to all this? It simply reverses the adj
vantages pointed ont here. It transfers
some of the most important articles from
the free to the dutiable list, and on some
Of them it imposes very heavy duties.
Further, 1t increases the duties on all
food products, a great part Of which
New England must buy from other re-
gions. The duty on wool Is increased
from an average rate Of 81 to an average
rate Of 40 per cent. Cancels hair, which
is now free, and Of which we import
5000 ,O00 pounds, Is taxed 10 cents per
pound, which Is equivalent to ~ per
cent. Nearly one-half Of the whole Inn
~portation is used in the state Of Massar
chusetts. Mica Ia taken from the free
list and taxed IS per cent.
The duties are increased on the follow
ing materials consumed in New England
manufactures: Ingots, blooms, billets,
and sheets of steel; quicksilver, gold leaf,
fax tow; extracts Of logwood, sumac
and hemlock; dyewoods, glue, glycerine,
linseed and olive oils, caustic potash,
ground sumac and sulphate of soda.
These increased duties will enhance the
cost Of the finished products and render
New England manufacturers less able