Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-06-02
THEY pENouNcE The BILL.
Because 1t Would Lessen the Manufactur
ers' Power to Rob the People.

Because 1t Would Lessen the Manufacture
ers' Power to Rob the People. !
The Reform clubs tariff bill was drawn
up by enlightened, unselfish and disin-
terested men-men who are anxious to
see their country prosper. The worst
that the protectionists can say of them
is that they are theorists and hobby
riders" They propose bill which, as
compared with the present tariff, would
be justice itself. Yet even their bill does
not do away with special privileges,
for it leaves an average protection of %
per cent to the favorite industries of Nc
Kinley. This is an offer to compromise
with the manufacturers, who now get an
average of 80 per cent protection.
The manufacturers manifest great an
ger at the proposition to split in two
their rates of levying taxes upon the con-
sumner. They dance and stamp and say
all manner of foolish things.
If band of pirates were in control of
all Of our ports and had become SO strong
they could not only levy tribute upon the
great bulk of our imports. but could die
tate legislation so that they would col
lect from the people so per cent of the
selling value of clothing and of some
kinds of food, furniture, utensils, nipple
ments, etc., then, if they had held this
special privilege for 80 years, we could
imagine how red in the face they would
get and how they would storm and curse
at the proposition to break down their
industry by allowing them to take only
half as much plumber as formerly. It is
not strange, then, that the manufacture
ers who have enjoyed similar privileges
should rave at the Reform club bill as
they do in their organ, The American
Economist. The issue of April 81 con-
tains letters from Is manufacturers on
the effect of the proposed measure.
ut would necessitate reduction Of
at least so per cent in wages paid in my
industry" says the proprietor of the Riv
erside knitting mill. "It would blot out
the fine kid glove business entirely in
this country" says Dempster & Place,
glove manufacturers. would cripple
our business seriously" says Pratt, Read
& Co., ivory cutters. ''There would be
no wages paid here by us, for we would
have no business" says James Lindley,
manufacturer of lime and cement. "a
souphouse incubator" is what E. A.
Hartshorn, fax, hemp and jute spinner,
calls the bill. 1T would certainly wipe
out our industry unless our operatives
would submit to reduction in their
wages of at least so per cent" says the
British Hosiery company.
IT. +o11 +bo 4,.,,+I oil ~ 4l,o
facturers belong to the pirate class,
though piracy has become so elevated
that it has become quite the fashion for
manufacturers to claim membership.
Planning mills would continue to turn;
knitting mills and spinning machines to
revolve; hammers, chisels and saws to
pound and cut, and machinery to run at
even greater speed than formerly. 1t is
true that in some branches of manufac-
ture some departments might have to
cease, but the increased work in the
other departments, due to cheaper raw
materials and to the greater demand for
goods at lower prices, would more than
offset the loss to the wage Garner, though
it might not do so for the manufacturer.
The one strange feature of this whole
business is that it should apparently
never occur to The American Economist
to consult any but these piratical manu-
facturers. In its opinion the Reform
club men who drafted the bill are theo-
rists; cannot be practical business men"
because they do not belong to the pirate
band. For 80 years this band has told US
what rates of duty would be good for it
and for the country. Shall we now think
Of fixing rates without consulting it?
impossible, suprenely ridiculous says
the bands chief neutrality-suspicious. W.