Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-03-12
SENT TO M'klNLEY.

A Protectionist Paper Attacks the Tren-
ton Manufacturers of Sanitary Ware.
The working1nen in the sanitary ware
potteries at Trenton, n. j.. have been on
a strike for weeks in consequence of a
sharp reduction in wages. 1t has been
found impossible for the 600 idle hands
to bring the manufacturers to terms.
This labor difficulty in a highly pro-
tected industry, which has been recently
favored by Mckinley. with still higher
protection, has not proven subject which
protectionist journals desire to treat.
The policy of the protectionist papers of
Trenton was to say as little as possible
about the matter. Now, however, the
strike has continued so long and the posi-
ton of the manufacturers has become so
untenable that the two protectionist pa
pers of that city have spoken out in very
plain terms.
| One of these, The Trenton Times. has
printed long and scorching editorial on
the strike. 1t is said that the Republi-
cans of the city have sent numbers of
copies of the paper containing this ar
ticle to Maj. Mckinley. Some of the
sentences which he has read in this ar
| ticle will be of interest to all observers
of events connected with the tariff, and
cannot fail 10 open the eyes of the vast
| army of consumers to the humbug tariff
which they are supporting in the name
of protection to American labor.
The Trenton paper printed an article
in its news columns about the strike,
and 1t said in the editorial that it was
ashamed to print such facts. Especially
| so sat a time when an increased tariff
law on the one hand and a trust among
themselves, which protects both their
prices and outputs, on the other have
made it impossible for sanitary ware
manufacturers elsewhere in the world to
prevent their enjoyment of full mon
opoly of the trade"
Here are some sentences which McKin-
ley read in the protection paper sent him:
1.-The wrong done in setting out in
midwinter some 600 pottery operators
does not extend alone in results to them
and their families. If it did it would be
of great significance But it affects this
city in all its trades
And who is hurt? The employees and
| their families? Yes. Who else? The
city? Yes. And who besides? The Re-
publican party, which gave these and
all potters their grand opportunity"
There is such thing as a political
party being wounded in the house of its
friends. This is today the case in the
city of Trenton and in those very few
other cities where factories or shops have
tahGn advantage of increased protection
to lower the wages of operatives in order
hastily to get rich
These manufacturing corporations
and firms proved-and it required no
large amount of proof to convince. for
simple arithmetic came to the voters
ald-that an increased tariff on pottery
ware would inure to the benefit of the
home trade. Even Senator Mcpherson
believed 1t; he knew it. The president
was elected IN 1888 on that issue, and
the congress on that issue"
| Have our Trenton sanitary ware not
tiers suddenly imbibed the idea that pro-
lection. Is an Rgis for them alone and not
for their workmen? The tariff jumps ND
at their request to So per cent. They
combine, and thus take advantage of
! that tariff on the basis of non-ho1ne as
well as non-foreign competition Presto!
the wages of laborers are scaled down
on an average of over % per cent. Is sit
any wonder that on such result work
men cry out against an ubiquitous tariff
and denounce the very party for which
| they have vOted?'
| But what can that party do to retain
its reputation and its honor if the men
who profit by it and are workers in it
turn about on the very heels of a protec-
ton victory and scale down the wage
earnings of their operatives without a
word of explanation and, when the opera
tives DO not accept the terms, but pro-
pose to advise about it, close up business
and absolutely refuse 20 treat with them
by personal interview or by arbitration:"
1t was ba Judgment, if not "a crime.
for the sanitary ware pctters by lower
Ing wages to turn ont of work 600 men
and women in lnidwinter, when a United
States law had guaranteed them in
creased trade and profits
| Some protectionist has written a
pamphlet called How Protection Raises
Wages That is 4 fitting problem for
the Trenton pottery operatives to try to
solve while they are spending the winter
in enforced idleness.