St. Paul daily globe., 1893-09-20
THE SAME OLD CHESTNUT


Every farce necessarily has running
about through it the elements provoca-
tive Of laughter, but to make it per-
feet farce it must have its points of sub
lime abSurdity where laughter becomes
volcanic, and the continuous smile of
the audience breaks into laughter so
prolonged and violent as to reach that
point where mirth and sorrow find their
common expression in the tears that
trickle down the cheeks of the con-
vulsed audience.
The farce that the ways and means
committee have been amusing the coun-
try with, while the grave and reverend
senators at the other end of she capitol
are dealing with momentOuS matters Of
finance, does not break in upon this rule
for the production Of legitimate farce.
We smile and break into gentle laughter
occasionally, as the portiy and well-fed
representatives of tax-fattened indus
tries come before the committee and
gravely tell it that the protection they
have fed on must not be diminished by
congress elected expressly to deprive
them os it entirely.
But the farce reaches one of its
climaXeS when the Pittsburg steel man
utacturerS send down roller employed
in one of their mills to impersonate and
represent the Dignified American Work
ingman and inform the committee of the
demands of that much-eXpioited indi-
vidual. One John Geary takes this part
in the play, and tells the committee,
with face that is the funnier for its
gravity, that "we all expect to be turned
out OF employment if the tariff is re-
duced to the purely revenue basis. Be-
fore the law OF 1899 was enacted great
many of US were idle aud walking the
streets, and if it were not for that law
we would be doing the same thing to-
day." Whereupon we may well sup
pose John winked at the audience, and,
thruSting his tongue into his cheek,
walked off between the flies. But there
are other Johns, some of them working
for wages in the Twin Cities, who miss
Johns wink, the point of tue joke, and
seriously take this lively farce for sober
drama. Ii is this only that makes it
worth while to waste or to spend any
time in showing what sorry old chest
nut John pat Off on the committee.
This American Workingman lacked
what as witness he should have pre-
else information as to the matter Of
which he spoke. Had he read a very
excellent article which appeared some
time since in one of. the magazines,
written by Andrew Carnegie, whom
he doubtless knows. he would have been
made aware from that authOritati We
source that the act of 1890. which he
thinks alone keeps him from walking
the streets, reduced the tariff on the
| articles which Mr. Geary is aiding to
produce from Is to 90 Der cent. Mr..
Geary might have found this fact also
by comparison of the Mckinley act
with that of 1883. which it superseded.
Now. surely. if John was walking the
streets under the higher tariff OH struct-
ura! steel given by the act of 1883, and
was saved from walking the streets by
being employed in the mills as result
of the act of 1890, which reduced the
tariff, John should, as reasoning Great
ure, have asked the committee to in
sure him and his fellows against any
possible street walking by reducing the
| tariff to a revenue basis.
Ii this little discrepancy between
| Johns premises and his conclusion is
| not sufficient to convince our own
Johns that any tariff has nothing to do
whatever with their wages, they surely
should accept as truthful the sober
| statement of the famous author
Of the Mckinley bill. Though
| this statement has been often
quoted. there are enough John Gearys
among our wage earnerS who believe
that there is a connection between
| tariffs and wages, to warrant repeating
the statement made by Mai. Mckinley
| at Akron, o., on Oct. 12, 1891. Having
been confronted by Gov. Campbell with
| the assertion that no wages had iu-
| creased since his act went into effect,
| but that, on the contrary, he held in
his hand a list of 300 establishments in
which wages had been reduced, Mr..
| Mckinley retreated from his untenable
! position in the following remarkable
statement: ''Protection cannot fix the
| price of wages any more than it can fix
the price of a commodity. 1t sometimes
seems as if men in their greed to get
rich fail to leayen their prosperity with
the teachings of the golden rule, and on
every preteXt cut the wages of their
| labor. That, however, is not the fault
of protection. And if, finally, wages
are not measured by faig standard 0 f
their value, then must labor take ad-
vantage of the thousands of opportuni-
ties affording in this free and protected
| country and do for itself what it now
| does for Others" We commend to the
serious thought of the workiugmen of
these cities who are under the protec-
| tectionist delusion this frank statement
| Of the protectionist leader.