Grand Rapids herald., 1892-09-06

tie lasg quarter were made from amer
eaa black plates. lDe remainder from
flr "a plates. Ar. aver, the treasury
agent ~ charge, estimates, as the re-
suit Of careful inquiry, tast the pro
dUcuOn OF the current year Will he
100 coo, 600 pounds aud that by the end
OF the year our production VII be az
the rate Of 200 900 000 pounds per an
mum. Another industry that has been
practically created by the Mckinley
bill IS the making Of pearl battons-
Few articles brought 10 Us from abEoad
were 50 distinctly tue product OF star
yatlOn wages.
Gives Employment 10 Thousands
But without unduly extending this
letter ! cannot follow IN detail the M
tiuence IF the tariff law OF 1890. Ii
has transplanted several important IN
dustrles and established them here
and has revived or enlarged sll Others.
The act gives 20 the miners protection
against foreign silver bearing lead ores
the free introduction Of which threat
ened the great mining industries OF the
Rocky Mountain states, and 10 the
wool growers protection for ths3r
fieeces and tiocks, which has saved
them from a further and disastrous
decline. The house of representatives
al Its last session passed bills placing
these ores and wool upon the free last.
the people of the west we'll knew how
destructive to their prosperity these
measures would be. THIS tariff law
has given employment 10 many thous-
ands of American women and men and
will give employment to increasing
thousands. Its repeal will throw th0us-
ands out of employment and work 10
others only reduction of wages. The
appeals OF the free trader 10 the work
ipgman are largely addressed 10 his
prejudices or TO MS passions and not
infrequently are prOno1ncedly COM
munistic. The new democratic leader
ship RACES at the employer and seeks
10 communicate this rage 10 the en-
ploye.
Reconciiing Employer and Empioye.
| regret that all employers of labor
are not just and cOnsiderate and that
capital sometimes takes too large
share Of the profits. But | do not see
that these evils will be ameliorated by
4 tariff policy, the first necessary effect
of which is a severe wage cut, and the
second large dlmlnutlOn of the ag
gregate amount OF work 10 be done III
tins country. If the injustice OF his
employer tempts the workman TO strike
back he should be very sure that ms
blow does not fall upon his own head
or upon his wife and children. The
| workmen III our great industries as q
body are remarkably intelligent ana
are lovers of home and country. They
may be reused 10y injustice, or what
seems to them to be such, or be led for
the moment by others, into acts OF pas
SION, but they will settle the tantf con-
test in the calm light of their Noyem-
Der firesides and with sole reference TO
the prosperity Of the country of which
they are citizens and Of the homes they
! nave founded for their wives and chill
dren. No intelligent advocate of a pro-
tective tariff claims that II IS able, of
itself, to maintain a uniform rate OF
wages, without regard to fluctuations
in the supply and demand for the pro-
ducts of labor. But II Is confidently
claimed that protective duties strongly
tend to head Up wages and are the ONLY
barrier against reduction TO the Eu-
ropean scale.
The south Especially Benefited.
The southern states have mad lib-
eral participation IN the benefits of the
tariff laws, and though their repre-
sentatives have gently opposed the pro-
lection policy, / rejoice that their
sugar, rice, coal, ores, IRON, fruits, cot
ton cloths and other products, have
not been left to the fate which the
votes of their representatives, would
have brought upon them. In the con-
structon OF the Nicaragua canal; IN
the new trade with South and Central
America; III the establishment OF
American steamship lines, these etates
have special interests, and all
these interests VIII not always
consent. TO be without repre-
sentation at Washington. Shrewdly
but not quite fairly, our adversarles
speak only OF the increased duties I'M
posed on linen, pearl buttons and other
articles by the Mckinley bill, and omit
altogether any reference TO the great
and beneficial enlargement. of the free
list. During the last fiscal year S45S,-
600, ,772 worth of merchandise or 1885
per cent. of our total imports came IN
free (the largest per centage IN our his
torv). while IN 1889 the percentage of
importations was only 34.42 per cent.
The placing of sugar upon the free list
has saved TO the consumer on duties IN
fifteen months, after paying the boun-
ties provided for, SS7 ,000, zoo.