Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1891-07-22
Pay and Ask no Questions.

The tariff makes the manufacturers
partners of the people, or at least OF
the Government, and the latter Ger.
tainly has right to find out whether
the partners are getting more than
their share of the profits. The manu-
facturers come down here and tell
Mr.. Mckinley how much duty they
want, and Mr.. Mckinley gets it for
them without asking any questions.
Mr.. Mckinley has meyer given any
facts to show the need of the rates OF
protection he recommended. When
other people ask the manufacturers
to show by their books that their en-
penses justify them. even according to
protection theories, in demanding the
duties they name, they say that is their
private business, and they won't tell.
The reason why they will not tell is
that in many cases it costs them less to
manufacture than it costs Europeans,
and where it costs them more it doesn t
cost them so much as they pretend.
Their demands for protection are part
ly or wholly fraudulent, and they are
afraid of exposure.
Where the members Of the ways
and means committee have failed,
the agents of the Census Bureau also
fail, although that redoubtable Eng
lish protectionist, Mr.. Robert p. Por-
ter, is at the head of the bureau. A
Philadelphia dispatch says that some
of the manufacturers of that city are
Directing strongly to answering all the
questions that are asked by the collec-
tors of the manufacturers census
They do | OF object to furnish the facts
concerning the gross purchases and
production of their establishments and
the number of men employed, but re-
fused to give detailed account oftheir
business as to profits and cost of pro-
duction. Among other firms which
haye refused to answer all the ques-
ton is the Spreckels Sugar Refining
Company. Mr.. Spreckels said:
THE census commissioner called on
me and asked me if | would be willing
to give information about our pro.
duction, the purchases, the number of
men employed, etc. I told him we
would. and referred him to Mr.. Huber,
our accountant. The inquiries into
the most minute details of our business
Mr.. Huber objected to, and applied
to me about the matter agree with
him, and told him not to answer the
questions. Some of the questions in
the schedule were as pointed as if
they had asked me what had come in
with the morning mail, or how much
ink we used in conducting our business"
And yet the country legislates in
favor of the sugar refners, aud per-
mits them to tax every sinhabitant OF
the United States, on the supposition
that it costs more to refine sugar in
this country than in Europe. But
whether the superstition is true or not
the sugar refners will not allow the
people to find out. It was the inAu.
ence of the sugar trust that secured an
advance in the rate of duty on refined
sugar from $40 of a cent in the or
iginal Mckinley bill to 4-10 of cen
in the bill reported to and passed b,
the House, and to 6.10 of cent in th,
Senate bill, with an extra lilo of
cent on sugar imported from country
that pays an export bounty.
We are permitted to pay toll t,
the refners, but whether that tol
is just even on the theories of the pro
tectionists we must not try to I'm,
educational Democrat