Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-10-09
M'KNLEY A PHLANTHROPST
A Fact About the TariR Hitherto Not
known by the People.

There's S15 gone to smash" growled
the man who was leaning over the side of
one of the Central Park bridges.
Amt that rough Z" he demanded,
speaking to a New York Tunes reporter,
who happened to be alongside OF him.
The reporter didn't know what had hap
pened. The man explained that he had
sneezed one of his eyes out OF ms head,
and that the eve had fallen to the pave
ment below and broken into pieces.
"Glass eye, | suppose?' SAID the re-
well. rather" answered the man.
Did you ever hear of mans sneezing
any other kind out of his heady"
The reporter wasn't sure, but he thought
that he never had.
Fifteen dollars that eve cost me-" said
the man. Big price, amt iii 'Twouldn't
be so big, though, If it wasn't for the
tariff"
lis there duty on glass eyes?" asked
the reporter.
| thing that man can use Find me some
thing that nobody wants and it's free. All
the rest pays tax. These eyes pay 60 per
| cent"
You don't mean it 2"
Yes. | DO mean it. Sixty per cent. is
| the rate. It used to be less, but Mckinley
put it up to 60 per cent"
"Why. | should think that a man who
| had lost an eve was entitled 10 kind treat
| ment from the government. He ought TO
| be able TO get glass eye as cheap as II
could be made anywhere IN the world. IL
seems TO me that If an eye-maker should
come TO ne-supposing that 1 was a con-
pressman-and asked me TO protect his
goods from competition with the pauper-
made glass eyes of the Old World, I'd tell
him to 90 to thunder. The idea of making
n poor one-eyed man pay tax OF GO per
| cent. for glass ball To fill up his empty
socket. That's an outrage"
The man who had lost his eye gave the
reporter a one-sided look of gratitude for
this speech. That's what / think" said
he.
But I must tell you" he went on,
what a one-eyed friend of mine says
about the tariff on eyes. He says that he's
investigated the thing pretty thoroughly
and has made up his mind that Mckinley
nut that big tax on, not for the sake OF
giving protection to eve-manufacturers.
not SO much for the encouragement OF an
infant industry, as for the purpose OF
making people more careful. He saws he
knows this to be q fact; says that Mckln-
lev told him so with his own lips
SAYS he, asked Mckinley If he didn't
think IL an outrageous thing TO make us
poor fellows pay a duty of 60 per cent. on
our glass ewes Just To help along some manu-
J factureT with a pull.
ITO this, according TO my friend, Nc.
Kinlsy answered: II amt the manufac.
turers that I'm thinking of. My idea is to
make artificial eyes so dear that it won't
be everybody that can afford to buy one.
Why? Why, so as 10 make people more
careful when they're driving nails. when
they're splitting wood, when they're tend.
ing lathes, when they're gong about in
the dark, when they're out cunning when
they're talking politics with men bigger
than themselves. wnen they re
80 Hold on, saws my friend, don't say
INV more. Mr. Mckinley. think | catch
your meaning. You think that II eyes
sold two for a quarter. and extra nice ones
for S7J% cents. half the people in the coun.
try would be wearing them. You want tc
make them so expensive that only ric1
people can afford to have them
That was just the IDEA, Mckinley said
N He couldn't have stated IL more clearly Il
nv friend had allowed him to 60 on talk
ing for week. His whole notion in put
ting on the tax was phIlanthropic. he said
Now. what do you think of that p
asked the man who had lost his eye OF the
Times reporter.
II think said the reporter, that in
iustice to MAJOR Mckinley that story
ought to find its way to the public."