The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-12
REBUFFED.
Gloversville's Unemployed Didn't Care
to Hear Free Trade Statistics.

Editors Say" in New York Recorder.
Mr.. Thomas G. Sherman has been hav-
ing thrilling experiences in Gloversviile.
Mr.. Sherman is an able gentleman, but a
great sufferer from statistics. He has
proved more things which hardly anybody
believes than any other living man. He is
able TO show that protection has ruined
this country once a year regularly for thir-
ty-three years past, and that ii is now suf-
fering from thirty-three different kinds of
disa~ster-varying with the tariff rates of
that period-and that nothing can save
what is left of the wreck except free raw
materials and a tax on incomes.
Gloversville is largely unemployed at
present. Consequently it has plenty of
time to listen to Brother Shearman's theo-
ries. Therefore, when he went over there
last Wednesday evening to explain the
beauties of Willie Wilson's bill and to ex-
plain its workings as a promoter of pros
perity, a business bracer, a commercial
cocktail. as it were, the unemployed took an
unusually keen, not to say savage, interest
in what he had TO say. Mr.. Shearman's fig
ureS were just as copiouS and convincing
as ever. He was prepares to prove for the
18th time that thirty thousand people own
one-half of the United states, and that the
other half is mortgaged for more than Ii is
worth. He was also ready to prove, what
no inmate of a lunatic asylum has ever
QOuDlSu, l1dl lilt III SOOuS NIC Alit lttlll
people buy from foreigners and the less
they make at home the more they will
prosper; He was also fully armed ;f - With With
not been i'm an unemployed state of mind,
that national prosperity is a dead-sure
thing if we only close up our own fac
tories and strike out boldly for 'the mar
kets of the world"
If Gloversvilie had been in steady work
at Mckinley rates ii would probably have
listened calmly to Mr.. Shearman's proofs
of all these pleasing things, But, alas! the
unemployed imagination is duii ana the UNI
employed temperament prone to be more, or
less irritable and explosive. Free-trade the
cries that are entertaining enough to men
whose names are on the pay rolls of a. pro-
tected factory exercise an infuriating influ-
ence to the unSalaried masses. In short,
unless a high-tariff salary is given away
with every package of low-tariff soap there
is a tendency to popular turbulence. Hence,
the historian will have to record the painful
with his life and his statistics from the un-
employed violence of Gloversville. We are
all glad, however, that he escaped. But he
ought to see the wisdom of talking free
trade over a long-distance telephone for the
present.
Why do the Wilson tariff wreckers keep
on repeating the absurdly untrue state
ment that American farmers have got no
protection under the Mckinley tariff? Can
horses was 20 per cent. ad valorem, and
there were As, 1884 horses imported, as COM
pared with 2,263 exported. Most of these
horses came from Canada, and paid a tax
Of about 50 on a value of about $5 per
head. The Mckinley bill made the duty a
specific one of $50 per head on horses valued
at less than $50, while those valued at $50
or more paid an ad valorem duty of 80
per cent. The result was that in 1892 we
imported only 10. 762 horses, and our own
stock raisers furnished the difference OF
SOP horses, valued at more than $1,000, 000.
Why need we go to Canada for horses?
The last census shows that we have 15,-
600, 600 in this country, and that we are
raising them at the rate of 100000 an
nually. The Wilson bill, however, restores
the old duty, and the American horse must
give way to the Canadian stock.
Previous to the passage of the Mckinley
bill there were about 10000 head of beef
cattle imported annually, which paid a duty
of 81 per head. The present duty is $40 per
head, and the average importation since
The Wilson bill practically restores the old
duty. Previous to 1890 we imported from
Canada about 1000, 900 bushels of barley
and malt annually, which paid a tax of 10
cents per bushel. The Mckinley bill raised
the tax to 80 cents per bushel, and the inn
1889 to about 100000 bushels in 1891, a
gain to our farmers of about 100000. The
Wilson bill reduces the tariff on hops from
10 cents to s cents per pound, when this
country can readily raise all the hops the
world requires. In 1889 we imported 4.l16, los
pounds of hops. but the Mckinley bill re-
duced this to 2. 500, 224 ponds in 1892, and our
hop growers were correspondingly benefited.
In 1889 we imported about 100000 bushels of
potatoes, which paid a tax of 10 cents a
bushel. The Mckinley bill raised this tax
TO rs cents, and the average annual imports
since have been 175, 600 bushels. The Will
son bill restores the old duty. oh, no, you
lean farmer got no protection from the
Mckinley tariff,