St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-27
DULUTH


FREE ORE.
We notice in the Duluth papers a call
for mass meeting to be held tomorrow
night for the purpose of protesting
against that part of the Wilson bill
which puts iron ore on the free list.
While the movement is called non-par-
tisan. it is really a Republican move
ment, one portion of a concerted effort
which is being made all along the line
to disintegrate the Wilson bill by bring
ing to bear upon it the selfish interests
which Imagine they will be injured by
it in every locality where they exist.
As a movement of Republicans we
have no interest or concern with it. 1t
is to be expected that they will use
every effort to bring upon the Demo-
cratic party the contempt of public
opinion by breaking down a measure
which its representatives have framed
to represent the tariff policy of the
party. We are concerned, however, in
their efforts to bolster up their nefarlous
purpose by the aid of men who ordi-
narily consider themselves Democrats.
hut who have in them so little of the
true Democracy that they are ready to
become protectionistS if they imagine
that protection will enhance their Pc
cuniary welfare.
We see among the signers to the call
the names of several Democrats. and we
confess that it is an unpleasant surprise
to see among these the names of some
gentlemen whose Democracy we sup
posed was as thoroughbred as the best
stock of the Blue Grass region. We
shall want something better than the
statement of Republican newspaper
that any of these men have Joined
forces with Republican protectionists to
aid in breaking down a Democratic
measure.
We do not believe that the Republic
ans who are the promoters of this cute
scheme will be altogether pleased with
the final outcome of their effort. We
believe that there are Democrats enough
in the city of Duluth who Lave the cour-
age of their convictions, and whose
Democracy has no itching palm, who
will be heard from at the mass meeting.
We know that they are there in num-
bers, and we believe that they will have
pluck enough to face this movement
and make it plain that it has no support
which can be called Democratic.
We do not care to argue this question
with those Democrats of Duluth who
may be infected with the dry rot of pro-
tectionism upon a money basis. The
history of the United States has pro-
duced but one prominent person who
cared more for gold than he did for
country, and the universal reproDation
in which that mans name has since
been held wherever American history is
read should be standing menace to the
temptation that may beset man to put
a price upon his principles.
We prefer to base our protest against
any Democrats joining in this move
ment upon the broad foundation of right,
and upon that conception of the charac-
ter of the true American which makes
him scorn to ask aims, or to demand that
the strong arm of the government be
used to compel from his fellow men con-
tributions to his support. 1t is moi right
that the government Of the United States
should exercise its taxing power to
enable the men who own iron mines to
exact from 60,000,000 of iron users rs
cents for each ton of iron mined by
them. and if the government of the
United States does it. it is, in the forum
of justice and equity, "none the less
robbery because perpetrated under form
of law"
If it were not for the millions Of their
fellow men engaged in filling the soil
in this country, the mines in which
these gentlemen are interested would
be as worthless as sandstone cliffs.
These toiling millions of farmers pay in
the end whatever of unearned profit the
tax on iron ore permits the miner to
exact. They pay it in the nipple men is
they use, the tools they employ, the
houses that shelter them, and the barns
that house their stock. Duluth is far
more dependent, not only for her pros
perity, but for her very existence, upon
the farmers Of the great Northwest who
pour their produce into her granaries
than she is upon the few men who own
iron mines in the desolate regions north
of her.
Every one of these farmers, and every
one of the people dependent in their
different vocations upon these farmers,
are engaged in an unprotected struggle
under conditions Of absolute free trade
with all Of the farmers Of the world for
a livelihood. The prices of their wheat
and grain and stock are made in the
open markets of the world, far beyond
the reach of federal toll-gatherers, and
independent of any edict of an Amer
lean congress.
1t should call the blush of shame to
the cheek Of any American citizen to
ask that these men, toiling under such
competitive conditions, should be CON-
PEELED by the great power of our COM
mon government to contribute without
compensation, out of their hard earn
| ings, to the wealth of the few men fort
innate enough to have discovered. and
| permitted by mistaken policy to ap-
propriate for their own use, those rich
deposits designed by the Almighty fol
| the common benefit of ali.
!
BROADEN THE BASE.
There is a movement in the Democ.
4 -