Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1894-02-02

tennessee, texas, NcIHlOHt, hNOuiiHS
and Wisconsin.
The late speech of our Congressman
Powers shows us that he is beginning to
exhibit that ability and combativencss
that his friends have been anxiously wait
inc to see an exhibition of. Hear him in
reference to one of our own industries:
THE distinguished chairman of the
Committee on Ways and Means, i'll his
speech few days since, declared that the
purpose of his bill was to alleviate the
burdens that the consumers OF the coun-
try were supporting under the workings
of the present protective system, and,
amid deafening Democratic cheers, de-
clared that the producer was made tor
the consumer not the consumer tor the
producer.
"If it were possible to draw line that
would leave the producers on one side and
the consumers on the other, his argument
would have great force. But he seems to
forget that in fact no such division can
be made, for the reason that everybody
belongs to both classes. The farmer pro-
duces horses, beef, pork, corn, wheat,
oats, hay, potatoes, cotton, rice, tobacco,
etc. to be consumed by the doctor, law
yer, minister mechanic, merchant, and
every other class in the community, but
at the same time, the farmer is the con-
sumner Of the mechanics work, the doc.
tors pills, the minister's sermons, the
lawyers services, and the merchant
goods Who then, shall be called the
consumer in this enumeration The gen
tleman's logic Is manfcstly unsound, for
every man in the nation produces some
thing and consumes something, with the
exception of the dude; and, indeed he has
no exception, for he produces sensa-
ton. Laughter
The fact being patent that the inter
dependence of all classes of society upon
each other makes any arbitrary division
among them impossible, it follows logic.
ally that one is as much entitled to the
fostering care Of the Government as any
other. AS Burke said ofliberty, if it i.
good for one, it is good for all,
Again, the gentleman with great sat
isfaction announces that he has relieved
the burdens OF taxation, because he has
placed certain articles, which he denomi
mates raw materials, upon the free list
Coal, iron, lumber, and wool are to be
admitted free of duty. The change o
policy it is claimed will help the manu-
facturer, who employs labor; raise thc
wages of the workingmen who is employ
ed by the manufacturer, and reduce the
price Of the manufactured article to tn,
consumer. This is problem in the ole
doctrnaires Of the Ways and Means Com
mittee,
"If YOU take the tariff off raw materia
you save the manufacturer so much il
the cost of his manufactured product
but if you add the same amount to tn
wages Of his workmen, have not We
been able to see how the consumer is t
get the product at any less price. Blu
what about this fgment ofraw mater
als1 Who asks that they should be ad
iptted to the free list 7 Who is to b
benefited by it? What practical goot
can come to the farmer, The mechanic, tn
professional man or the workingman
you give them free bituminous coal anc
free iron ORE They cannot gain it ind
rectly from the products of the manufac
tured product. Nobody in the worlC
gould receive any benefit, except tn
manufacturer, himself, and he is not ask
ing it,
The fact is, that this cry for free raw
materials originated in the fertile braii
of a few amateur politicians in Massa
chusetts, who used it 20 hoodwink tn
people of that State with great sHaces
for brief time, and it worked so wei
there, and not being patented, it wa
seized upon by the Democratic party as
slogan for the last campaign,
"But what are raw materials? TAX
concrete case. The Wilson bill admit
all manufactured lumber free because it i
raw material. Now. the gentlemen
composing the Committee on Ways ant
Means are all learned and scholarly men
and know thing when they see it.
they would ike accurately to define raw
materials in the lumber trade, let then
put on a Sleeps gray suit of clothe
made from American wool a pair q
boots made of American rubber, ca
made from the skin of the American bear
shoulder an ak made up in Maine, take
dinner pail made of American tin an
filled with American pork, America
beans, American doughnuts, aDd Amer
can cheese, and start out some mornin
with the thermometer at 10 below, II
the slopes of the Green Mountains, carry
ing banner inscribed, Science commur
ing with nature" and standing, ak i
hand before a spruce tree 100 feet hig
and 4 feet through at the butt, and the
will find they are confronted with a cor