The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-06-06
employment from fiuxing ore mine

employment from fiuxing ore mine
In this country.
ment is in the interest of the laborine
people of this country. There are ten
men on our side to one on the Other
side. have before me the petitions
of fifteen thousand men, all toilers, La
borers in mines and smelters, and even
on the farms of this country, asking
you to let them bring in this fiuxing
ore in order that they may be able to
smelt the products of American mines
and send them out into the market.
The question is, will you do it, or will
you stand by four smelters, two OF
them i'm Denver, who to-day own q
majority of the stock in the fiux-min-
| ing industry of this country, who have
cornered it, who control 1t, and who
refuse to sell it except at exorbitant
price? Will you stand by these four
companies, or will you stand by the
laboring people of this country? That
is the question for your consideration
at this moment.
The Chairman: The time of the
gentleman has expired.
Mr.. Funston: I ask unanimous con-
sent that / may have five minutes
more.
The Chairman: Is there objection
to the request of the gentleman from
Kansas?
Mr.. Carter: I have no objection, II
the gentleman will accord me five
minutes to reply.
Mr. EunatOn. on, Willing fn do
that. Now, want to make very
serious statement to this House. I
say that to-day the smelters of this
country, except the four mentioned,
are forced to pay from 81 to So q ton
more for the fiuxing ore from our own
mines than the metal in 1t is worth
when 1t Is smelted out and ready for
market; and all this because four COM
panies out of twenty-four have corner
ed what little fiuxing ore we have and
refuse to sell unless they can rob the
buyer.
The gentleman from Idaho stated
that they had an abundance offiuxing
ore in their country, if we would only
call upon them for it. I stand here
to-day to make this offer: We will
take every ton of fiuxing ore in Idaho
Il stake my reputation on the offer,
and L will put up bond to do tive
will take every ton of fluxing ore in
Idaho If you will bring 1t to our smelt-
ers; and we will smelt it for you for
nothing; we will let you have every
ounce of silver and every ounce of lead
from the ore, and we will not charge
you cent for it.
Mr.. Dubois: You will not give us
anything for it.
Mr.. Funston: We will give you
everything that is in it. All we ask
is that you permit us to put our dry
ores in with it and melt them, and
take out what belongs to us. You
dare not accept the proposal. We will
do the smelling for nothing, and will
give you every ounce of silver and
every ounce of lead.
Mr.. Dubois: You know nothing of
what you are talking about.
Mr.. Funston: I will back what I
am talking about by so, 0O0, 900 before
an hour, if you dare take my pro-
posal. No, sir; you have a corner on
the fiuXing ores of this country; and
you propose to hold it; but we propose
to break it down. [Applausel.
One other word, Mr.. Chairman. The
gentleman charged me with being a
free trader? If I am free trader,
why do you not charge every man on
this side of the House who stands in
favor of this free list with being free
trader? Here we have coffee on the
free list, we have tea on the free list,
we have sugar on the free list. Sugar
is one of the products that YOU manu-.
facture in this country. If 1 am free
trader are you not free traders?
Now, a word about this sugar bust
ness. Why do you put sugar on the
free list? except on the same ground
that take here to-day-that there is
an insufficient production in the coun-
try to supply the wants of our people;
therefore, you let it come in free. I
make the same argument that there is
an insufficiency of fiuxing ores i'm this
country to supply our smelling estab-
and therefore We propose
that these fiuxing ores shall, like su-
gar, come in free.
Now, Mr.. Chairman, i'm the name of
the laboring people in my region of
country who raise horses and cattle
and hogs and ship them to Mexico; in
the name of thousands of miners toll
ing to-day in the dry-ore mines; in the
name of ten thousand men who are
these ores, I appeal to you to
strike out this provision of the bill and
give labor to American laborers and
foster American industries.
Here the hammer fell.
-sAs