The Brookhaven leader., 1891-02-19
eNLoYlno M.KIKlAYrsM.


Leather Men Under the TariG Wheel
The people of this country have no
idea how far trusts and trust methods
have been developed In this tariff land.
They do nCa know all the hooks and
crannies of industry into which the
trust. usually the tariff trust, has crept
and built for itself home in which to
thrive and grow fat Nor do they know
all that is going on in these same indus
tries in the way of appropriating the
spoils which the Mckinley tariff law
puts in their reach.
One of these industries is that of
making what is called menhaden oil.
The men engaged in this industry
have an association which they call the
Menhaden Oil and Guano Association.
The annual convention of this body was
recently held in New York, and one re-
suit of this meeting was thus stated by
the New York Oil, Paint and Drug Re-
porter:
The menhaden oil manufacturers are dc.
termincd to get a better price for their prod
net and since their meeting in this city last
week they have concluded that they might
as well extend their plans for regulating the
market so as TO include the stock now on
hand. Accordingly they have fixed prices
that are about two cents per gallon above
those quoted week ago.
There is a tariff story behind this
menhaden oil trust which deserves to
be told. as it will illustrate the charac-
ter aud working of the Mckinley tariff.
1t is a fair sample of the ''ways that are
dark and tricks that are vain" in every
mage of the tariff law; and it shows how
McKinley's new brood of protected in
fants are plotting behind their cradles
and devising means to squeeze the pro-
tective pop bottle and satisfy their
greed.
The menhadcn is fish similar to a
herring which is very abundant in sum-
mer on our coast from Maine to New
Jersey. Menhaden are taken in nets
in great numbers, it being reported at
this New York meeting that the num-
bers taken during the past season was
553. 900. 600. These fish are used for
making oil. and the refuse from the oil
press is used in making fertilizers. The
menhaden are also used in their natural
state as fertilizers.
The menhaden oil trust, as was re-
ported by the secretary at the New
York meeting, embraces 2S factories,
employing 4.36S men. and having a
capital of 3, 500, 600. The industry pro-
duces annually about 5000, 900 gallons
of oil of which nearly one-third is ex-
ported.
The principal use of menhaden oil is
for Illuminating purposes in mines, and
it is used to some extent in finishing
sole leather. The better classes of
leather. however, are treated with a
product called degras, which is collect
ed from the water in which greasy
wool has been washed This degras, or
brown grease, as the leather dressers
call it, has in the past fifteen years come
TO be recognized as a necessity in dress
ing upper leather. 1t gives softer fin
ish than Menhaden oil, which is no
longer used for finishing upper leather.
The gum in this oil frequently comes
out of the leather in a few months and
collects on the surface; and then the
leather is worth less than the raw hide
of which it was made. The superiority
of the degras In currying leather is SO
great that it has taken the place of
menhaden oil, and the result has been
better leather and better shoes for mill
ions of people.
But this result has not pleased the
Menhaden Oil Association, or trust;
and hence they invoke the help of our
protectionist lawmakers asking them
to put prohibitory duty on degras and
thus compel the leather curriers' to use
- ,,f
quality OF leather for the people. Three
years ago they asked for such duty
from the Senate committee and it was
given them; but as that bill did not be-
come a law they were still without the
protection" for which they were clam
oring.
Degras was admitted under the old
law as waste at 10 per cent. ad valorem,
and the Mills bill placed it on the free
list. When the present Congress assem-
bled Mckinley had barely got his tariff
mill running when the menhaden trust
again put in an appearance in the per
son of its president, who said he felt
"that we are entitled to protection
against the importation of foreign
greases which are produced by the en-
ployment of cheap labor in foreign
countries" He objected to the impor-
tation of degras as follows: THE result
upon the fish-oil market, which is large
" attributable to the free importation
of this special grease, has been to re-
duce the price of fish-oil so materially
that many have abandoned the business,
and all are suffering from the effects of
this foreign competitor" He asked for
duty of III cent per pound on degras,
the same as in the Senate bill two years
ago AS the old 10 per cent. duty was
equal to only about one-fifth of a cent
per pound, the duty asked for would
have been clear increase of $50 per
cent. The unblushing character of this
request will be seen at once when it is
stated that nearly all the degras used in
our leather industry is imported, only
about per cent being produced in this
country.
The injustice of this proposed duty
was so great that the leather industry
of the country was at once aroused. A
petition was presented from the leather
men of Chicago and Wisconsin in favor
of free degras, and another to the same
effect came from the great shoe and
leather industries of Massachusetts,
signed by about 200 firms representing
more than 500, 900, 900 of annual prod
uct
Then there was the usual pretty tariff
squabble; but in tariff fight the dog
that asks for protection always gets the
bone. while the dog that asks to be let