The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-10-29
LEGISLATORS VS. MANUFAC-
TURERS.

IU REhS.
Judge for yourself gentle reader,
of the character of the present DEM
ocratic Campaign of Education, J"
when reputable men like Mr.. Philip
D. Laird come all the way from
bucolic Montgomery to industrial
Cecil, to make malignant and men
dacious assaults upon Our system Of
Protection to American industries,
by asserting in a public speech at
Odd Fellows Hall that the average
profit of American manufacturers is
sc per cent. If Mr.. Laird really
knows anything about the manufac-
turing industries of America, he
ought to know that the manufactur-
ers of this country are more than
any other class exposed to the de
structiye competition Of foreign man
ufacturers, in the Importation of the
products of cheap foreign labor.
He ought to know that American
manufacturers under this severe
competition, have had a hard time
Of it for years past. In 1890 their
failures as reported by Bradstreet,
formed one half of all the failures in
the country, and that so far in this
year 1892. they form one third of all
the failures. Yet Mr.. Laird and his
Democratic associates, by such at
tacks upon manufacturers. and by
such specious appeals to consumers
and workingmen, hope to create
public feeling against the protective
system, SO that the men who conduct
the great industries OF the country,
will be stricken down at the polls for
the benefit OF European manufactur
ers. And yet, while Mr.. Laird is
making such appeals to the lgnor
ance of his hearers, no doubt his
native town, Rockville, is doing as
Elkton and every other enterprising
town in Maryland and Delaware is
doing-ofering bounties in one form
or another, as an inducement 10
manufacturers to locate their plants
in their midst. If the manufacturer
is, as Mr.. Laird says he is, robber
and an oppressor, why do they want
them at Rockville in Montgomery,
and at Elkton in Cecil, and in every
town in the State?
Robbers and oppressors, be they |
In his heart Mr.. Laird and all his
political contreres in the Maryland
Legislature even including our own
dear John Sluyter Writ know, that
when a man or an association OF men
invest their capital in manufacturing
plant either at Rockville, at Elkton,
or at any other Maryland town, and
begin to make some fabric or article
that the world wants, using raw
material, paying wages to numbers
OF persons, and contributing to the
diversi6cation OF industry, that man
or that association of men, is in
our opinion quite as essential to the
general welfare of communities in
Montgomery or Cecil, as the lawyers.
the senators, and the legislators of
those counties. We do not mean
to say, even inferentially, that lawyers
are dispensable, that legislators can
not be useful, and that senators are
not sometimes necessary for the
public good. But as essential factors
in the general prosperity, We could
with less loss 10 community perhaps,
! L. iii senators and iieglsla
tors, and here and there drop a
lawyer or two, than lose out of any
community a manufacturer, who
gives employment to labor and fills
hungry mouths.
And yet it seems to be very fine
thing to have Mr.. Laird and Mr..
Writ, and other legal minds and law
makers OF Maryland misrepresent
and malign without stint, men as
useful and as indispensable as manu-
facturers, merely for the sake of get
ting votes to perpetuate their rule as
political leaders, to say nothing Of
them as blind leaders of the blind, in
this great Presidential Campaign of
education"
Heaven help Maryland when law
yers and senator's undertake to talk
manufacturers down, for she is indeed
too stupid to help herself.