Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-05-06

, CNe1Dly dS DelOrc tuc iuSicdSO III tHc
tariff When we consider that this de-
cline of prices of wool is equivalent to a
saving of upward of thirty-two cents in
every pound of manufactured cloth we
may find it to be the whole reason. Here
is pretty mixture of facts and fancies,
but then if every tariff advocate would
stick to facts their cause would suffer
badly.
On par with this is their averment
that the materials of manufacture are
not deteriorating. They dare not put
their woraingmen on the stand to tes-
tify ID this under oath, for they would
fully corroborate The statements made
10 your honorable committee of ways
and means by the wool consumers COM
mittee themselves manufacturers that
the Mckinley law has promoted largely
the a1ulteration of wooden manufac-
lures. 1t is only necessary to state one
fact to show the falsity of their claim.
If ali the wool in the country, domestic
and imported, outside of that used for
carpets, were made up into pure wool
ems, there would be only about 10000
800 pounds of cloths, dress goods, blank
cts, hats and numerous other articles for
our 81 ,000, 900 people, or little over l i
pounds for each individual. What sane
man believes that 10000, 900 pounds will
cover all the goods that are sold to the
public as all wool American manufac-
lures N year? But we must not for
get that they have learned to manufac-
ture wool by putting cast off clothing
through chemical process which eats
up all but the wool, and this residue is
REGARDED and used TO mix with other
wool, but as the chemicals have eaten
the life out of it, there is no practical
difference between it and cotton.
i With reference to the difference be-
tween American and foreign wages we
are prepared to prove that in many
branches our rates are even below Eng
hsh rates, and the same is true even of
actual earnings. The rate paid now for
wooden weaving in the Huddersfeld
(England) district varies from / cent
for picks for plain work to cent for
picks for fine work, with extra pay
for extra heddles, extra colors, extra
beams, while the highest rate paid in
this country is l cent for picks, but no
extras, which levels it down to the high
est English rate; but there are very
many mills in this country, in fact
most o. them, that pay only cent for
S picks and less. Thus for 60 pick work
the English rate is from 615 cents per
yard to 10 cents per yard, extras to be
added, while the American rate is 6 to
- cents with no extras. If the Ameri-
can weaver earns more money than the
English in week it is simply because
he works faster and turns out more
product.
The stubborn perversity and dishOn-
esty of the protectionist is nowhere bet
ter seen than in their steady refusal to
correct the most glazing inconsistencies
and miSchievous determinations of their
tariff laws, even after their attention has
been repeatedly drawn to them, and
they dared not deny them. One is the
/ discrimination against American manu-
facturers involved in the adjustment OF
the duies between the raw materials
and the finished products, and the other
is the placing of a heavier tax upon the
poor mans necessities than upon the
rich mans Injuries. We called their
attention to these points as far back as
the spring of 1886, and the protection
list National Wooden Manufacturers as.
sociation pointed out substantially the
same errors in their letter to the secre.
tary of the treasury in the fall of 1885
and yet in the makeup of the Mckinley
law this internal piece of injustice was
not only retained, but made worse than
ever. This shows that they had no idea
of perfecting an act of justice in vi.
ciously determined purpose to serve a
few masters. In fact, it appears to them
to be a pleasure to shift the burdens OF
taxation off the shoulders of the rich
to those of the poor-to make labor the
pack mule of the rich.
| The cry of protectionist manufactur
ers now is that the Mckinley law be lei
alone because it is doing the manufac
fact of this there has yet to be recorded
one important instance of advancing
wages, out the instances of wages being
pared down are numerous. This i.
another evidence of their false pretenses
and such indisputable facts ought tc
surely be sufficient to cause labor te
open its eyes to the real purpose of its
protectionist friends-a purpose to serve
the rich at the expense of the toilers o.
the country and to impel the toilers tc
rise in their manhood to throw off the
shakes that bind them to their insidi
Gus enemies.
We now declare, without fear of con
tradiction, that there is not a woole1
manufacturer in Philadelphia who doe
not privately long for free wool, an(
those VINO openly advocate taxed WOO
are actuated by partisan rancor, and w
are still more emphatic in the declaration
that there is not in Philadelphia on,
wooden worker out of hundred VIII,
would not openly ask for free wool wer
they all free from the sinister influence
of the bosses. As we prefer our owl
prosperity and bread and butter to part,
success we ask for free wool first with