The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-07-09
PROTECTION AND BLOOD.


and dishonesty Of the republican party,
and to refute every argument made in
support of the Mckinley tariff, than
could all the speeches of democratic
stump orators or the writings Of demo.
cratic editors in the next six months.
Republicans claim that protection means
high wages. Their shibboleth has been
and still IS: Protection and High
Wages" The strikes, lockouts, riots and
fights at large manufacturing centers
since the high tariff regime shows their
cry should be "Protection and Blood"
The iron and steel industry is without
doubt the greatest beneficiary in the
long list of protected American in
dustries for which the Mckinley tariff
was specially designed. Messrs. Carne-
gle, Phipps IL Co. own large iron and
steel manufacturing plants in Pennsyl-
vania. Mr.. Carnegie has made a lavish
display Of money quite recently in gifts
to public or private institutions. file is
also a large contributor to the republi-
can corruption fund, and is regarded by
that party as good for a 'fry'' of at least a
hundred thousand dollars in a party
pinch. His company employs a very
large number Of men. They have been
working under IA scale of wages adopted
over a year ago. The new scale of 1892
o| governs their wages now. The manu-
facturers wouldn't stand it and de-
manded sweeping reductions all along
the running from IL per cent to %
per cent. The workmen wouldn't agree
to the reduction and the trouble com
menced.
The Carnegie company gave the
laborers until the LIST inst. to accept the
reduced wages and in case of their
refusal it proposed to till their places
with %non-union men scabs. The
TRInrNE's dispatches tell the rest of the
story resistance and b%loodshed. A
great and powerful corporation, highly
protected by a republican tariff. and
backed by half a thousand hired detec-
tives. pitted against a band of lahorinp
men who resist an attempt to take the
bread from the mouths of their wives
and children.
There is something radically wrong in
all this. Where is it and what is it: All
these men have doubtless voted as their
employers wished them to vote. They
have been told. as other laboring men
have been told. that the republican
party is the friend Of the laborirg man:
that to support it was to supr ort IA policy
under which wage earners were best
paid. and that by voting for its candi-
dates they voted for high wages for
themselves and better provision for their !
families. Instead of all these things
coming to bass WI sec cuts IN wages.
strikes and lockOuts all along the line
of protected industries. We see within
one year after the passage OF the Nc
kinley tariff over 300 manufacturing
establishments in the country cut wages
or run on half time or shut down alto
gether. We see more Indebtedness.
more discomfort among mill operatives
than ever before. And vet we see
republican newspapers pirate about the
beauties of protection; how it builds up
industries; furnishes employment to
laboring men at good wages and e~levates
their condition. What hollow mockery!
What we really see is this. We see a
tariff under which great trusts and CON
bines have been formed. We see them
operating immense plants and producing
vast quantities of highly protected ar
ticles. We see a depressed home mar.
ket because the home supply exceeds
the home demand. We see a tariff opera
ting to confine all American manufac-
lures to home markets. We see en-
ployers cutting down the wages of en-
ployes when sales Of stock do not pro-
duce the regular quarterly or semi-an-
nual dividends. We see toiling. sweat
ing masses earning a precarious living
upon the one hand. and wealthy corpora
tons enjoying every luxury of life upon
the other. We see the rich
grow richer and the poor grow
poorer. We see a few hundred
millionaires and an army of tramps. We
see a robber tariff which has brought all
these things about and a party that has
hoodwinked the laboring masses into
fastening it upon the country. We see
all this and then see the legitimate
fruits OF high protection in the shooting
of workingmen at Homestead mills
day before yesterday.
This is protection with a vengeance;
a protection emphasized with bullets
and colored with blood; a protection
that makes widows and orphans. deci,
households and habilitates them
in the garments Of mourning; a protec-
ton that peoples graveyards and makes
the devil laugh; a protection that is III