The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-10-17
WHERE CHEAP is NASTY"

j puDliCdu DICSp VI IL Souhti oOupbioii
point as proof that the Mckinley tarit
t is working a great benefit to the peopl
of the country. The erpose is SO com
a plete, SO pointed and SO plain that tn
TRIBUNE willingly spares space to give i
entire. 1t first mentions that: "Al
l. Iowa Mckinley organ alleges that calic'
r which sold in 'free-trade times in 1S5
, for Az cents a yard sells under TIN
| Mckinley bill for 6 cents. And it ma.
) be added that in 1867 pocket-knives sole
, as high as 50, while now they sell as low
as 90 cents. In 1867 SO was often pait
, for a pair of boots; Now boots are Otter
bought for 81 a pair. Thirty years ago
or two years ago, tin pals were bough'
for IS cents; now tin pals can be bought
for 10 cents. Last year carpets sold fol
80 a yard. Under the Mckinley bill
carpets are bought for % cents a yard.
And then adds: "4All this is perfectly
true, and there is so much more like il
true that we could easily make up a
table of it twice as long as the one the
protected corporations have made up for
circulation in Iowa.
"All this proves nothing whatever, for
last week razors were sold out of the
same showcases for 50 and 81; carpets,
tin pals, c~alicoes and goods of all i'm
aginable varieties were sold il the same
stores at prices showing the widest diff
ference, determined by their quality and
the demand for them acting on the OBJ
tainable supply.
"But while this is the plain truth
against thimble-rigging with facts it
would be less than the whole truth to
stop here. 1t is true, over and above all
this, that in the last thirty years there
has been a steady decline in the prices
of machine-made goods, and that is why
the republican party, controlled by ma
chine owners, has insisted on a steadily
increasing tariff against competing ma
chinery. In every line of production in
the last thirty years there have been
manifold inventions for the application
of steam and electric power instead of
muscle power. Everywhere single ma
chimes are doing 10Y work which thirty
years ago required hundreds of hands.
With the increased productive capacity
resulting from these wonderful inven-
tions made by scholars and thinkers
there are such possibilities for plenty
that alarmed monopoly has demanded a
higher and higher tariff against the com
petition of outside machines with the ma
chimes owned by the closely combined
and consolidated corporations of this
country.
But with all their audacity and cum
ming: with all the immense wealth they
have IN their side; with the political
power they have usurped, used ruthless
ly in their favor, these money-holders
and machine-holders are fighting a los
ing fight. All the forces of modern in
vention; the whole vast power of mod
ern civilization, with it's wonderful new
methods of production and distribution,
are arrayed against them, forcing down
prices in spite of them. The laws of civ
ilization and progress are higher than
their laws of monopoly, and they are
bound to lose. Prices of machine-made
goods must continue to fall with every
improvement in machinery. All that
they can do is to grab for a few years the
profits on the labor saved. The people
will get the benefit finally if for no other
reason than it will finally become impos-
sible to keep machines idle to limit their
output.
"But the present result, under the
tariff laws, is that with the product of
the protected machine, cheap does really
mean nasty as MI. Mckinley and Mr..
Harrison insist that it does. The cheap
protected thu pail will not hold water.
The edge Of the protected pocket-knife
turns at the first use. The protected
clothing sold for wooden is cotton and
shoddy. The Mckinley calico at G cents
a yard fades out, and a child's dress
made Of it looks after the first washing
like a kitchen clout. There is no theory
about this. 1t is a condition that con-
everyone who has to buy supplies
for a family. He finds in a very little
while that whether it is calico, carpets,
cutlery, tin pals, or what not, cheap
means nasty where Mckinley goods are
concerned. To get goods that stand the
test of use he must pay double and
treble prices as a result Of the opposi-
ton of the republican p~lutocracy to the
plenty-producing effects of modern
progress with its lnnumerable inventions
of the last thirty years.
n the iron industry we have had