The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-12-11
Down CO Potters' Wages.

D0Nn 10 LOttCE- "AsC5.
The effect of our b~eneficent tariff
upon the pottery operatives is be-
ginning to be felt. Having nothing
to fear from outside competition, the
manufacturers have formed a close
organization-a trust in fact if not in
name-which enables them TO keep
prices up and wages down. Their
position is pretty nearly impregnable.
A strike, stopping work at their
factories, only means a scarcity OF h
goods they make and an additional
excuse for booming prices, and so
what do they carer
They have taken advantage of the
situation, as shown in u special
despatch from Trenton today to make
a raid on the wages of their employees
who were already existing on starva-
ton allowance. By way Of Christmas
present they have notified their men
that a new schedule of rates will go
into effect Monday, which makes
an average reduction in the rate OF
compensation of about ten per cent.
all around.
When the Mckinley bill was passed,
wholesale promises OF more work and
better pay were made to American
workmen. In accounting for the
recent Republican defeat, the party
organs all proclaimed that the effect
of the bill was not yet understood.
1t had not begun to assert itself yet.
We can only reply to these argu-
ments with the questions, Are the
effects beginning to show themselves
nows Is this move of the potters n
OF themg If so, how does it differ
from the effects attributed to the bill
in the pastS Finally, is it calculated
to increase the popularity of that
measure or is it good evidence hat
the tariff deserves public approval?
Postmaster browning has notified the pub
fishers of the Camden newspapers that they
must not publish any more notices Of winners Of
prizes at the various fairs, or the papers will be
excluded from the mails-Cansde Nelcs Item.
This is bringing home the evils of
oppressive legislation to those who
advocate it. That lotteries and
other pernicious gambling systems
should be suppressed, all will agree,
but that their suppression should be
accomplished through placing such
power as is illustrated in the above
paragraph in the hands of a petty
official is not American nor demo-
craft. nor republican. 1t is an in
stance Of paternalism worthy of Ger
many or Russia. II such laws con
tinue to be passed and enforced, the
liberty of the American press will
soon be the mere echo OF a anne.
}IN an article on Congressional Re-
apportionment today, the Philadel-
phia Press amusingly speaks of New
Jersey as a doubtful State. Evidently
the editor of the Press does not watch
the signs of the times. Within the
past twenty years, New Jersey could
hardly be called anything but a sure
Democratic State. Every election the
Republicans have worked up a lot of
talk about the possibility Of carrying
the State; but of course this has been
merely for campaign purposes The
claim used to be that
all the State was Repub-
lican except Hudson county.
But the last two years have shown a
complete change in the political
standing of New Jersey. The State
al large has become thoroughly DEM
ocratic. The old Republican strong
holds like Essex and Passaic have
been carried, and with or without
Hudson the State can be won for any
reputable Democratic candidate for
the Governorship or the Presidency.
The editor who talks of New Jersey
as a doubtful State is years behind the
e
THE shameless German is the
author OF the most shameless resolu-
ton ever proposed even in the Hudson
Board of Freeholders. Ii the county
buys uniforms for the keepers at
Snake Hill. why should not the city
supply the policemen and iremen
with full regalia- The proposal of
German is simply monstrous. Win
not even such men as his colleagues
pause before actually realizing it?
The Central Transit Company
should now push its operations with
the utmost possible rapidity. The
legal difficulties being removed, moth
ing but loss can result from delay,
loss 10 the public aad loss to the COM
pany. IL the first section of the
road from the Hudson to West
Side avenue does not result in
the rapid development of the
district between that thoroughfare
and the Hackensack, we shall be
greatly mistaken. There is along the
shore of the Hackensack a region OF
great commercial and industrial pos
sibiliries, which is thus far a sort of
unknown land to investors. Presently