Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-10-23
THE TARIFF ON LEAD
An Able Argument on This Import
ant Subject.
PARTY LEADERS SHOULD READ
A. y. Parker of Grangeville Treats the
silver-Lead Question In Its
Entirety.


[ Editor START AS Senator Dubois
has formally decreed that the tariff |
on lead is To be an issue on which
the next campaign in This state is to
fought out. have taken the liberty
of presenting herewith few remarks
the iDiquity Of n tariff on
lead, to which l invite the attention
of Messrs. Dubois, Shuup, Mcconnell,
Claggett, Sweet, and the other lead
ers, as well as the rank and file of
the republican party of Idaho.
And here permit me to remark that
these views are presented as my own
individual opinion, and not as repre-
senting the concensus of Democratic
belief on this subject in this state.
The Democratic party is capable of
declaring for itself whether it favors
or opposes tariff on lead. AS an in
dividual Democrat l may have my
individual opinion concerning the
impolicy of ENGRAVING upon a Demo-
cratic declaration of principles adher-
ence to a doctrine which endorses
tariff heresies because of local advant-
ages which are alleged to accrue to
the owners of lead mines on Wood
river and in the Cnur d'Alene, to the
workers therein and to the residents
contiguous thereto. If the lead
miners of Idaho are rallied to the
support of the Republican party on
the plea that the tariff on lead is
enacted for their special benefit, then
every owner of gold mine ora silver
mine should be an unfinching Dem
ocrat. Republican hostility to silver
il so we'll established that silver
miners should repudiate the hypo-
critical pretensions of Republican
leaders in this state, who are free
coinage men tor politics only. AT a
later date l will, with your permits.
sion, publish few comments on the
silver legislation of the Republican
party. Meanwhile, the tariff on
lead' is sufficient text for this article.
The granting of special favors to
an established and very profitable
industry at the expense of another
which is certainly in no better con-
onion is all wrong; and the tariff on
lead is very largely at the expense of
the .so.called refractory" ores of
SILVER. Entirely at their expense it
would be, if our country were able,
as it ought, to produce lead for ex-
port.
"Smelting in pond" may solve the
problem, but this scheme appears to
1 fler large inducements and abundant
, ppOrlunities for fraud. OF course il
J. axes places for more custom Of
ficials which is the acme of modern
republican craftsmanship to de-
bauch the people by creating and
peddling federal offices.
While our richest mineral deposits
have been, or are being rapidly
worked out, those of our neighbors
have remained until the present prac-
ticalIy untouched. Their resources
are, probably, equal to what ours
Were. They arc determined to de-
velop them; they have awakened and
are at work and they have the adj
vantage. They can make lead to
9. II, and they are at it, with the
intent to do it. Orr tariff does not
trouble them. They can wait. And
our silver mines must wait, too, until !
many of them turn up their toes
while our smelters lose great trade
and profit which they might have
retained forever.
And what do our lead mines gain?
grant that they gain something
the richer ones. who need no prolec-
ton, an increase in profit from the
higher price of lead; the poorer ones :
for whom the plea is made-an
.inspiration" to sink money in holes
that can never pay. 1t is II stand-off,
except i'm the matter of giving emf
ployment to men who. under other
conditions could be engaged more
profitably, and in greater numbers,
In digging other metals and "hand-
ling' the imported ores.
The advocates of a tariff on lead as
sert that if the tariff was removed it |
would result in closing large NUM-
her of lead mines i'm Idaho and else
where. This is equivalent to decla-
ration that our mines are inherently |
worthless; and that all the talk of the
wonderful mineral wealth of Idaho is
pure buncombe; since the mining in
dustry must be sustained by the arii-
fetal aids of high protective tariff
which increases the price of our min
eral products. IL
The pure and unadulterated fact is
that it is impossible to protect our
mining industries except at too great
a cost, because all other industries are
more or less dependent upon them,
and it were folly to tax the bread of
starving nation.
This earth is our heritage. 1t be-
longs to all. There is right to his
share which belongs to each Of us.
and equally to each and all who are
to follow us. Posterity has a right
in il. and no man may claim, ex-
cIusively, ought except that form
or value which is created by his own
thought and labor, and but for his
exerfion would not have been.
The farmer prepares the ground