Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-09-15
SPRlNGER'S PLAIN TALK.
Protection Failacies Exposed by the Ill
inois Congressman.

| Protection FaiIacies Exposed by the Ill
| inois Congressman.
William NJ. Springer, of Springfield.
| was at Chicago on Wednesday, Septem-
| Der 2, and announced himself as fully
recovered from the bad attack of
! erysipelas which Frustrated him in
Washington. He said he was ready
for two months hard work for the
democratic party, declaring it as his
intention to deliver five speeches a
week until election day. He thinks
Illinois is good fighting ground this
year and that with earnest work the
state can be carried for Cleveland and
Stevenson. In his opinion everything
points to 4 better and more intelligent
discussion of the issues than has ever
taken place heretofore. and the result
cannot fail to be beneficial to the coun-
try. The tariff question only needs to
be understood and the present law will
be indefensible.
In speaking of the tariff question Mr.
Springer said:
''The fallacies which protectionists
indulge in can easily be exposed. For
instance, President Harrison, in his let
ter of acceptance, referring to the sem
dtO re- oi I oii anu CoSt vi ldDcIs
says that the cost OF living has been
reduced. In the same breath he says
the cost of breadstuffs has increased
eighteen per cent. How it is possible
to pay eighteen per cent. more for
brcadstuffs and live chea per is a mys-
terry to me. Breadstuffs and provisions
constitute at lie asst one-half the expense
of laboring mans family. Now to
increase the wholesale price on bread
stuffs and on provisions and at the same
time reduce the cost of living is prob
lem which none but a protectionist
can solve to his own satisfaction. Then
another wonder about the presidents
letter is that where he says the tariff
on manufactured goods reduces their
prices. According to this theory the
tariff on manufactured goods reduces
their price. but the tariff on agricul-
tural products increases their price. This
is a very convenient tariff. They have
intended to hoodwink the farmer on
the one hand and fool the worl1ingman
on the other 1 was quite amazed at
the great length of the letter, but
highly amazed when the president
apologized at the end for not writing
more.
His defense for the tin plate Tariff is
very weak. The tin-plate industry is
confessedly unpr" titable in this coun-
try, as less than = per cent of the tin
plate used here is a domestic pro-
duction and then the black sheets
dipped in the tin are imported from
Wales, while the lahore rs employed in
the industry are mostly foreigners.
The industry costs the country SO. Go0,-
900 annually. although It was conf
IDENTIFY asserted when the Mckinley
bill was passed that the production
within a year would be enough to
supply the demand"
Of Commissioner Peck's much dis
cussed report the congressman said:
THE figures Mr.. Peck gives are utterly
worthless, and at best do not prove
anything. He states that the ag-
grcgate increase in the amount of
wages paid in New York state
were S6.oOO.0OO annually. That
may be true, and yet there
would not necessarily be an in
crease in wages. Population increases
p per cent. in a decade, and the in
crease for the year is therefore 20 per
cent. That means 200,0 900 more work.
men in New York state, and it was to
them that the wages were paid. One
reason for the increase of production
in New York, if there was any, was a
bountiful harvest in 1891 and a famine
in Europe. The Mckinley bill created
neither of these, having no more to do
with them than with the geography of
the moon. The weakest part of the
whole report, however, is that the man.
ufacturers themselves prepared the fig
ures from which Mr.. Peck got his re-
port. 1t was made public in ample
time for us to refute it and it has al
ready proved boomerang. 1t certain
ly will not cause split between the
Cleveland and Hill democrats, because
Hill had nothing to do with it.
what Peck's motives were in pub
fishing the report / do not know. He
may have been inspired by certain in
f1uences to put it forth. While the re-
publicans are gloating over this report
it would be in order for the republican
bureau of labor statistics in Illinois to
publish something about the rise in
wages in this state. Certainly if the
MCKINLEY bill does so well for New
York it ought to show equally wonder
full results here The labor bureau in
this state in 1882 was republican and
the protective tariff was then in force.
On page 2SS of its report for that year
the report states regarding the condi-
ton of skilled laborers: 'One-half of
them 1.-THE skilled laborers) are not
even able to earn enough for their daily
bread, and have todepend upon the abor
of women and children to exc out mis-
cradle existence That is a repub-
lican report. Conditions to-day are just
what they were in 1890, when the Nc
Kinley bill was condemned. They say
the people were deceived then and that
we lied about the tariff. The truth Is.
we didn't tell half the injury the bill
did,
There is one thing that political
prophets would do well to consider in
this campaign, and that is that the
modern system of high protection for
industries able and willing to pay for
it has never been directly submitted to
the vote of the American people but