The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1894-04-05

L
moralized on the field of performance and
| has, so far slgnally failed to redeem
| single pledge 1t made to the people. lt has
been for many years denodnelng the tarin,
/ because some men became ri,h under lts
] operations and others poor. The first year
| Of Democratic control has cured all that
| and the prescription has proved quite as
effective on the poor as on the rlch,. for
1t has involved them all In common loss.
/ What devastation and distress have been
wrought In single year
| Let the briefest statement of The busi-
i ness condition at the close of the year 1892
| be contrasted with like statement of that
condition at the end of 1893. "rhe year
1892 says Dun's Review Of Trade. the
best non-partisan authority, "has been the
most prosperous ever known in business"
This is the business endorsement of thirty
| years of Republican rule. Now mark the
1898
Starting with the largest trade ever
business stimulated by high hopes, the
year 1893 has proven in sudden shrlnkage
of trade, in commercial, disaster and the
depression Of industries, the worst for
fifty years Whether the final results of the
panic of 1887 were relatively more severe,
scarcity of records of that time do not
clearly show. The year closes with prices
of many products the lowest ever known,
| with millions of workers seeking in vain
for work, and with charity laboring to
keep back
Suffering and Starvation
In all our cities. All hope that the new
year may bring brighter days. but the dying
year leaves only dismal record. The re-
view of different departments of trade
given to-day exhibits collapse of industry
and business which Is almost without prec-
edeHt The iron iPdqstriss Es, sustained
May 1, but by Oct. the output had fallen
to 1905 tons, and the recovery to about
the over haf the
| wooden manufactures are idle and, ex-
eepting brief recovery in November, have
for all sales in the chief markets in the
eight months have been but LOG. 795, ,460
pounds, partly for speculation, the price
lowest point ever known, against 212. $780,
003 pounds in the same months last year.
Sales Of cotton goods are fully one-fourth
vance attempted in boots and shoes a year
ago was not sustained, but with prices as
low as ever the shipments of boots and
shoes from Boston are "a per cent less than
last year in December. Not only manu-
factured goods as a whole, but the most
important ada farm products are 50 low that
other reports deluded traders with the no.
tion that crops of last year were short
aa he es c the situation
under the menace of free trade, here de-
scrlbed, the Wilson bill. which recently
Washington and is now in the hands Of the
senate, proposes ostensibly to reduce the
revenues $76,O00,OOO The real decrease
| y,
and more Impoverished, be far greater.
This is at a time when the expenses of the
government far exceed Its receipts and
secretary of the treasury has been COM
PEELED to sell $50,000,000 of government
bonds, with the belief in many. quarters
that this is but the beginning of bond is
suing to relieve the daily wants OF the
government. The sum Of $76,000000 which
1t Is proposed to surrender Of the revenues
is more than one-third of the entire sum
received from customs in the last fiscal
year. This reduction Is made upon the
theory of the Democratic free traders that
1t will relieve the people Of burdensome
taxation. Whether 1t does or not depends
But of one thing we are certain: 1t has re-
lieved the people OF employment OF work M
some Of them of their homes. The bless,
ings of good wages, good prices and good
are enf more to be
taxation" Such a relief is no relief
The Wilson Bill
is not like any of the early tariff measures,
but is Que in which the changed condition
of the country and its marvellous growth
and development are utterly ignored and
forgotten. Its promoters forget that slavery
no longer exists. They do not recognize nor
appreciate the independence and dignity of
labor, and cannot understand that the pro-
tectiye policy under which we have had
such splendid prosperity Is not to be de.
termined by geographical lines. The bill
| is a narrow, sectional and provincial meas
ure, unworthy the great party when me ndds pro,
" The wilson bill turns to the past; away
from the is for the
the house it had for it's foundation princi-
pie free raw material. It's authors argued
that with free coal, free iron ore, free lead
and free wool, the manufacturers Of the
United States would be placed on an equal
ity with the manufacturers Of free trade
countries, and we therefore &c could ., not Only FL
r1ara markets S'c of the World" Based upon this
argument, which 1 believe to be false, they
that with oe these great stoIg1
ployment for all the workingmen of the
country at good wages. And so in this form
representatives, and is now the dread sub
ject of angry contention in the Democratic
senate.
have looked with some degree of care
through the bill. l find nothing hut irrita-
tion and aggravation to the great industries
of the country. No interest suffers, by, it
more severely than agriculture, and labor
Of all kinds seems to have been singled out
as its foremost victim. l have examined 1t
carefully to find some section, paragraph,
| clause or line removing the great burden OF
tariff taxes from the shoulders OF the peo-
ple," about which we have heard SO much
. for so many years from the Democratic ora
! tors and have read so frequently In Demo
: cratic newspapers and platforms, but nave
been unsuccessful in finding any such pro-
e vision. 1t is true that sugar, an article OF
Z which the law Of 1890 made free to the peo-
\ | ple has been tariffed at from to Ia cents
. per pound, every cent Of which will be paid
: by the consumers Of the United States. But;
doubtless, in compensation for this added
burden Of upward Of SOC, ,OO0, 600 and because
+ Of it, they lowered the tariff on tobacco and
8 housing of whisky and giving to the distil-
o lers eight years in which to pay the tax.
y They restored the tariff on COAL but then In
: fairness they should be credited with taking
| fhn rin off 0f
2 the manufacturers are few, forgetting that
] the workmen are many They look to the
: interests Of importers, ignoring the farmer,
and oblivious to the fact that the agricultur.
e list is everywhere. Their blows are directed
: against the welfare Of the masses of the
2 people, but from them the country will vet
I people, and the popular will has already
: marked them for political overthrow: ] do
not believe that the true interests of the
: | try lie in the direction of free trade, nor of
!. the revenue tariff legislation proposed by
this congress.
Reciprocity.
i | To nv mind, another hurtful provision cf
q | the Wilson bill, entirely unwarranted Ly
experience and un3ustifa5le as q matter OF
;. viii be remembered, was enacted to secure
and countries largely producing sugar, mo.
: lasses, coffee, tea and hides, and under
0 which tltis country has opened up a for
: eign trade profitable to. the people and Of
i the most promising proportions,
l. Commercial agreements relating to recip-
9 rocal trader have alreddy been male with
d the following countries: Brazil, the Domin-
J. lean Republic, Spain, for Cuba and Porto
n Rico; Guatemala, Salvador, the German EN-
: pire, Great Britain, for certain West Indian
r colonies and British Guiena: Ncara qua,
4 Honduras and Austro- hungary. In these
$ arrangements 1t has been the aim of the
government to secure enlarged markets for
: the products Of agriculture, which, added
e to their splendid home market, would per-
b manently secure them. from the occasional
). depressions which visit our agritulturists
; because of their surplus products. u .
9 As the result of these commercial Or
i rangements, and for the most part due to
: them, our trade has shown q gratifying
8 increase. The domestic exports to Germany
I and Aqstro- Hungary had increased in value
/ up to DECEMBER, 1892, from $4z, 900 O0Q to