St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-05-16
GOSSIP OF THE DAY.
Oil Inspection MIDDLE %. Nj.
Wallis Tariff Investigation
Michigan Plan an Old One.

may be safely called and the oleaginous
Sam be left without a sinecure. The
law fixes the flash test and prohibits the
sale of any Illuminating oil below that
test. The purpose of the law was to
protect the public against explosive oils
This view of the law has been lost sight
of generally, and especially by Nichols,
who really believes it was to provide
him with pleasant, comfortable, suf.
ficient and eaSily-earned means of sup
port. Formerly it was thought that il
was devised to provide a convenient
source of revenue for the campaign
fund. incidentally to this purpose the
law provided a means of aScertaining
whether the oil stood the prescribed
test by an official inspection. This was
Nichols function and so ne became al
Incident of the law, not its objective.
The main question for the public was
and is: is the oil offered for sale at OF
above the minimum? 1t is the fact and
not the certificate of the fact that is i'm
portant 1t has occurred that oil stem
ciled as above has proven to be below
the test. Suppose then that, Nichols
refu sing to inspect tank of oil for
20 cents, the companies should go on
and sell 1t. If arrested and they should
show the refusal of the inspector and
that the oil was in fact above the test
prescribed, why would it not be a good
defense? And if it is good then what is
the good of an inspection?
A three section act could amply pro-
tect the public and save the state all the
scandals of this oil inspection. Section
one fixing the minimum degree of which
the oil must bear without generating
gas; section two fixing penalties for the
sale OF oil of lower degree; section
three giving right of action to the par
chaser of Oil below grade against the
seller and refiner for all damages sus-
taiEed by him because of the inferior
Oil. This would lie a Self-eXecutory
law because it would have behind it the
direct interest of dealers and renners
to avoid damage suits by furnishing oil
such as the law required. But there
seems to be difficulty in getting re-
medal laws passed which do not have
snap in them for some one or more of
the boys"
1.-THE relation of the pottery business
to the Mckinley bill was local issue
down at Red Wing last fall said Con-
gresham o. NJ. Hall, land | desired to
get all the information could as to the
manufacture of pottery in England, and
especially the earnings there of the OBJ
eratiyes. l wrote to Mr.. Schoenhof,
who was our consul at Tunstall, and is
well known as an economic writer, and
he promised to investigate and advise
me. l recently received from him a
very full report. giving in detail the diff
ferent articles made and the piece price
paid the wOrkmen. Taking the same
articles which we make at Red Wing,
and comparing the prices paid by the
piece there and here, | was surprised
to find that the English operative
is paid about go per cent more by the
piece than we are paying. But when
| compared the average earnings per
week Of their potters and ours, | found
that our men, getting 60 per cent less
by the piece, were earning over 100 per
cent more money each week than were
the English potters. Our best men can
earn s. day."
1t has been usual to account for the
greater productiveness of labor in this
country by referring it to the adoption
of machines 10 do the work before done
by men. Mr.. Wright, in his report of
1856, on Labor" and Mr.. Wells. III his
"Recent Economic Changes" give
many and striking instances of this.
But this will not account for the marked
difference in the making of pottery as
shown by Mr.. Hall. This is one of the
industries to which the invent
i've genius of the age has
brought no practical substitute
for the deft hand OF the potter. Steam
now instead of oxen drives the mixing
wheels, and monlds are used for some
work, but the product is unsatisfactory,
and tie best work is that thrown on the
same kind of wheel used by potterS in
Egypt and the East 5000 years ago. 1t
is some proof then that there is some
thing in the spirit of our national life
Independent of the labor-Saving ma
chinery that enables our artisans to
produce more than his foreign brother
can. 1t may be that the hours of labor
here are longer. and our pOtters may
gain time by their greater sobriety. but
social conditions have much more to do
with it. Before every artisan in this
country IS the prospect of securing for
himself a home, which spurs him to
greater industry and application, and
from which hope the land laws of the
old country, the high price of land, the
reluctance of owners TO sell and the
enormous costs of transfer debar the
foreign workman. Again. no represslve
among us to crush down any aspiration
the lab0rer may have torise by industry
and thrift to higher social plane. There
is no limit to his possibilities save only
those which his own ability and char
acter impose. 1t is largely the poten-
tialities of life in this country which
make the American artisan, working
with the same means that his foreign
brother employs, his superior i'll the
productive results of his labor.
The return by Michigan to the cleo
ton of presidential electors by con-
gressional districts, with two elected at
large to represent the idea of state SOW
ereignty, has evolved a large lot of
choice misinformation. Republican pa
pers denounce it as partisan trick;
some arraign it as an attack on the doc
trine of state sovereignty; others re-
gard it as dangerous innovation, while
yet others declare it to be unconstitu-
tional, all of which reveals all ignor-
ance of the history of this country which
Is hardly eXcuSable in these eminent in
structors of the people. From the
first presidential election down to
that of 1928, Massachusetts, Pennsyl-
vania, Maryland, Virginia. New Hamp-
shire, North Carolina, Rhode Island
New Jersey, Maine, Illinois and Ken
lucky had used at various elections the
district system of choosing electors.
From 1913 to 1922 bills were introduced
i'll congress providing for an amend
ment to the constitution which would
require the states 10 elect electors from
congressional districts instead of at
large by the people or by the legiSla-
lures. Two of these measures passed
the senate, but were lost in the house,
and one passed the house. In pronounc-
ing the Michigan act "a dirty, con-
temptible, outrageous and revolution
airy scheme, but thoroughly character
istic of the Democratic party the In
dianapolis Journal is calling the grand
mother of its party-the old Federal
party-names which reflect no credit on
its reverence for its ancestry.
The front page of Public Opinion Is
occupied with an advertisement of the
Glen Echo Chautauqua. near Washing