The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-06-18
POLITICAL POINTS.


Looking at the arrogant insolence n
these monopolists, with their unbendin,
grip upon every product that God ana
nature gave to man, one would sunposa
that Providence had decreed that III.
vast empire from sea to sea should b..
long to them, and that by virtue Of the,
eminent domain they should have The
royal night TO lock US out from intereour.e
with mankind. They tell Us that or
flag shall not cross the sea, and proclaim
with blazing letters that America SHAH
not trade with the Nations Of the world
so that monopoly might thrive at home
They Rave shut us out from the No,tb,
and from the South, so that the Western
prairie man to-day cannot buy a plank
of Canadian lumber except with the Del.
mission Of syndicate that has rnonopol.
lied millions of acres of the lumber rs
gions OF the West, and not a pound Of
South American wool cam cross On,
shores except at the price that a WOO.
growers combination in commandins
terms dictates to an American Congress
Who has been benefited by thisa Laborl
] deny it.
The gentleman from Maine the otbe,
day dwelt upon the favorable effect that
our high protective tariff had upon Ii.
wages of the mechanic and the laborer /,
the protected industries OF the country
Upon examination find no such benz.
fetal results, but, on the contrary, | an
reliably informed that at various and M.
merous places since the passage OF III
Mckinley bill the effect OF, this legisa.
ton has been to reduce instead of raj,.
ing the standard of wages.
lam informed, for instance. that in
the pottery works of Trenton, wages hsy.
been cut down twenty-five per cent. Al
the Otis Iron and Steel Works at cIeye.
land, wages have been reduced thirr
per cent. At the iron works at Allen
town there has been reduction Of ten
per cent. Among the steelworks a
Chattanooga there has been reduction
of ten per cent. At the Steelton, Beth |
lehem and Pottstcwn Iron Works there
has been similar reduction. Among
the ribbon weayers Of Paterson wage
have been cut down fifteen per cent
Among the spinners of Lowell wages
have been largely reduced. and among
the Providence weavers a long strike va
the only thing that prevented large re
duction in their income.
Thus could proceed from protected
industry to protected industry and shoB
conclusively the truth of the proposition
that have always commended for, and
that is, that our high tariff mas had no
possible effect upon the standard d
American wages, but that tie American
mechanic earns every dollar Of wage
that he receives, because he works longer
harder and more skillfully, as rule
than any other mechanic in the world
Applause.
say to you to-day that with an aver
age protection more than four times the
difference between the price of home aud
foreign labor, it is rare thing that
New England operative has been ablen
accumulate a sufficient sum to buy d
bs.ild home, and while the price
stumpage and OF lumber lands has rise
300 per cent. in the protected lumbe
fields of our country, the wages OF tn
man who felIs the trees and haus th
cordage has deprecated to such an extea
that, while Mr.. Alger, at the head Of th
lumber syndicate, was laying down =
the last Congress tariff schedule to pro
tect his industry, the laborer who MAKE;
his profits for him was destitute and
starving in rntenanted forest wilds amid
the rigors of Western winter.-Coa-
gresham Rayner, of Maryland: