Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1894-04-25
Tariff and Hard Times.

This ought to be a blessed coun-
try, says the Monroe Democrat, and
a prosperous one. The manufactor-
les ought to be running days, nights
and Sundays to keep up with the
orders to supply that "home mar
ket" upon which the late retired
Benjamin Harrison used to expiate
so gloriously. The laboring men
the tin pail brigade-ought to be
leaving their comfortable beds be-
fore the dawn and hurrying to the
shops and mills. His wife ought
to be taking a carriage down town
to buy new carpet for the parlor.
This ought to be so, for this is what
the Mckinley bill advocates prom
ised us when this bill should have
an opportunity to get in its work.
Since its passage it has been work.
ing while everybody but the trusts
sleep. 1t has been going right
alone night and day, rain or shine
like a mortgage on a Michigan
farm. There was but one industry
that was to suffer. The tax gath
erer was to shut up shop and disap-
pear from our midst. Because "the
foreigner pays the tax" New man
ufactories, like Canada thistles in
midsummer, were to greet the eye
at every cross roads. The toll hurt
hands of the toiler would become
callous by increasing toll, Mr.. Nc
Kinley promised it; the republican
congress and Senate promised it;
the republican president promised
it; the manufacturers and monop-
olists' lobby at Washington prom
ised it; every little Billy Mckinley
who ran a paper, great or small,
promised it; until it filled like light
the laboring mans innocent soul.
But it seems to be evident that Mr..
Kinley's little machine bill" must
have slipped a cog. It is still in OPP
eration-doing business at the old
stand. The "home market" is still
open and the foreigner is still pay
ing the tax. There has been no
change in the law. By referring
to the republican papers of to-day
it will be seen that the manufac-
tories are still running days, nights
and Sundays running to decay.
The laboring men are out bright
and early, but they are walking the
streets vainly looking for something
to do to furnish bread for their
wives and little ones, or hunting
the poor commissioner to get a little
pork or meal. The laboring mans
wife goes down the street with the
carpet, but she goes on foot, and
the place where she transacts her
business is at the pawnbroker's shop
or with the chattle mortgage shark
two legitimate offsprings of pro.
lection and monopoly. The claim
oft asserted that the foreigner pays
the tax dosen't seem to make bill
of difference in the pernicious &C.
tivity of the tax collector. He was
around this year just as busily as
before the government went into
partnership with Mr.. McKinley's
friends, and demanded more this
time than before. The wave OF
prosperity which rolled over the
country kissed the cheek of only
those who belonged to the oligarchy
and in the first moments Of idleness
a wall Of distress went up from the
protected laborer that startled the
entire nation. But it is admitted
that the Mckinley bill has encour-
aged and stimulated some industries,
For instance, the consolidation and
promotion Of the steel manufacture
ing plants Of the country. The
soothing influence of the Pinker-
tons as illustrated at Homestead.
The beef and cattle interests as con-
trolled by the Armours. The iron
trust as represented by the Rookie
fellers. The sugar trust as repre-
sented by some of our Senators.
The coal trust as represented by the
presidents of five railroads. Our
farmers and laboring people can
thank Mr.. Mckinley and his re-
publican associates that it now re-
quires thirteen bushels of wheat or
a weeks hard work to purchase a
ton of coal that few years ago could
be purchased for four bushels of
wheat or two days work. The Nc
Kinley bill has developed more bus
mess failures than within the men,
DRY of the Oldest inhabitant. Re-
publican authority asserts that
at no time within the history Of the
nation were there so many, .aggre-
eating such a vast amount. Even
Mckinley himself tried his hand
at it and made an elegant success.
It was the trusts who made up the
purse which he opened to find
enough to put him on his feet again
and someone has been unkind