The sun., 1893-09-14
GALL OF A STEEL MAN.
WOULD BLUFF THE PEOPLE OUT
OF THEIR OWN.
The Manufacturers Are Heard From, but
Where DO the Farmers, LaborsFs and Me-
chanios Come Ins-Faota aud Theories
Give Them Rope.
Want No Rey,nIon.


One OF the manufacturers who ap-
piled for hearing bafore the Ways
and Means Committee when they be-
gan their hearings Is James w. Swank,
manager of the American Iron and
Steel Association. Heprotests against
the material reduction of the tax on
pig iron and ell forms Of finished iron
and steel In letter, In which he says:
il there is no surplus IN the Treasury TO be
reduced; II prices OF domestic products are
nxed by home competition and not by tariff
they ever have been in our history; If q days
wages OF an American workingmsn will pur-
chase more OF the necessartes OF life under our
present tariR than ever before; IL the pater-
naiism that cares for the general welfare Is
sanctioned by the Constitution and by the ex-
act terms of our first tariff act, what reason or
show Of reason remains for q revision of the
tariff at this timer We know of none. But
we do know and the country knows OF one
overshadowinR reason why it should not be re-
vised.
He then refers to the financial and
Industrial crisis, attributes 1t in part
to "the app ehension of still greater
disaster and stagnation which would
follow arevision of the tariff, and says:
Shall this apprehension be justified and In
tensihed by persistence in policy of tariff re-
vision which rests for support solely upon the
disoredited theory that the tariff is a tax. and
which would encourage the tmportt tion of
duced at homer
Such cheekl Such statement can
come only frcm man Injured by thirty
years of protection to bluffing the peo-
pie out Of their own. No revision, be-
cause, forsooth, Mr.. .Swank's friends,
| the Republicans, looted the treasury,
to prevent reduction Of duties and to
compel the country to submit to Nc
Kinleyism for the rest of this century?
No revision, because our constitution
may be found TO sanction paternalism
by the protected manufacturers, we
suppose? No revision, because prices
are lower than ever before? No re-
vision, because wages are higher than
ever before? No revision, because the
theory that the tariff is tax has been
| discredited? When, where, by whom?
No revision, because the present crisis
is due to an apprehension of tariff re-
ductlonP Holy smoke Mr.. Swank
| should appear before lunacy and not
q tariff commission. Much tariff has
made him mad.
1t is not question of whether prices
| are lower now than formerly. 1t Is a
| question of whether or not they are as
low here as abroad. The wage Garner
| is entitled to the lowest prices. He
should be permitted to obtain the
most possible for his wages. 1t is not
possible to increase wages by placing
duties On goods; it Is possible to in
crease the purchasing power Of wages
by taking duties off the gocds. This
the Democratic party is pledged to do,
and this it will do If it has to make
good considerable deficiency of reve-
nue. by taxing the incomes of those
who have grown rich by means of pro-
lection spoils.
Must the Ways and Means Com
mittee spend its time listening to
the rawlings of such men as this
one? Must it's intelligence be in
quilted by such statements from
supremely selfish products Of our pro,
tective system? Where do the farm.
ors, laborers, and mechanics come in:
Will there be before this committee
no representation of the 65,000,000 con,
sumers who have been taxed for thirty
| years to produce these fine specimen:
Of plutocrats and empty-headed auto
| Gratis?