The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-01-11

Ringing Speech for Professionalism
Shot Poured Brondside Into the
Tariff Policy Of tho Democratic
Party.
WASHINGTON, d.. c., Jan. 1O.-Mr.
Tom /. Johnson, the Ohio free trader,
n single tax advocate, during the tar
if debate to-day made a speech in
which he spoke in a startling manner
from the outset.
1--WE OF the Democratic party" he
said, went before the country in 1892
asserting that the existing tariff was
wrong in principle and unjuat in opera
ton, declaring the policy of protection.
q fraud and robbery. Charging it with
creating trusts, sitting commerce, caus-
ing enforced %idleness, lessening wages,
impoverishing labor and creating a few
monstrous fortunes, and pledged our
selves to abolish it if the American peo-
pie gave US authority. They did give
MS authority and then our haste to re-
peal oppressive taxes subsidized. And in
stead OF flying at the throat of protected
barons and robber trusts the great
Democratic party began, as it were, to
wag its tail and look for crumbs.
1T was the duty Of a party coming
into power on such pledges and at such
a conjecture to have proceeded without
aimoment's delay to the radical revision
of the tariff. If Mr.. Cleveland has
shown the sagacity and courage the
situation demanded the ink would not
have been dry or the commissions of
his secretaries and Congress would have
been called into extra session to relieve
the country of it's burdens of taxation.
But instead of that we proceeded to
rest our laurels and divided tho spoils
Il the nation was treated to a specta-
Gle of a President and Congress having
power to remove crushing burdens de-
voting their energies to the discussion
of personal claims to petty places.
"Up to the present thanks to our in
action, the victory of the Democratic
party in November, 1898, has worked
evil for good. The Mckinley tariff still
exerts its ~strangling power and worse
than the Mckinley tariff ia the depress-
ing effect of the uncertainty as to what
tariff will succeed it."
He commended the bill for the
blow at the sugar trust, but he add
ed, the whisky trust and the steel, rail
trust, the cordage trust and the bicycle
trust, the lead trust and the starch
trust, in short, the whole broth erhood
OF vampires which rob the poor people.
~ GufOuSu Lnc uSouCy VI VIC SofCI iiihO11
by means of the tariff are left free to
pluck the tarilf-bound American con-
sumer. He has no lobby to represent
him, he has only his congressman.
sTEEL RAILS.
He spoke of steel rails, of which he is
one of the largest manufacturers in the
country. The present duty of S13 A a
ton Is equal to so per cent The reduc-
{ior of fha cnrp M itfan nf Ok nnr rant TT
seemed like a large reduction, he de-
clared, but it loft all the steel rail trust
needed. It is as good to them as 1000
per cent, for it is practically a prohibit
tory duty. Steel can be made here as
cheaply as anywhere else in the world,
and would not now be imported save in
exceptional cases, even II there were no
duty; while the tendency of invention
and Improvement is in favor of the
United States as against Europe. The
steel made into rails in this country is
from native ore. What: pig mental,
billets and blooms are imported are
used entirely in other iron and steel
manufactures. Now it costs less than
So a ton to make steel rails from, blooms,
including STRENGTHENING and punching.
On to-dav's market steel blooms are sell
ing at less than SIT; steel rails should
therefore not bring yer SIS. They did
fall nearly I'd that price q few weeks
ago, during q temporary break in the
steel rail pool. But that pool was quick
ly ~reorganized and the price OF steel
rails was put up, and ID now maintained
at $24 a ton, SO that by virtue OF the
duty, which keeps out foreign rails, the
pool is compelling the users of steel
rails to pay them % per cent moro than
affair price.
This new steel rail pool is composed
OF seven manufacturers, headed by
Carnegie, who absolutely controls the
product of more than half OF the rolled
eteel produced in the United States, and
who have combined together to pay
other large manufacturers heavy annual,
sums to close their works, discharge.
their men and. mrke 40 steel. Do en-
ployers pay larger wage when they get
larger profits? lido not, and even phil
anthropitsts do not.
MR. CARNEGIE.
Take Mr.. Carnegie, Who gives like a
prince out OF the millions the tariff has
enabled him to takA from his follow
citizens. He gives like a prince from
his more than princely income, but he
does not raise wages unless he has to.
Before he started for Jerusalem q few
DAYS CO., he utilized the tariff to re-
establish the steel rail pool 4 pay
other manufacturers to shut ups their
works and throw their men out OF en-
ployment; thenEa general u in wages
was made in all his great establish
ments, and then he announced himself
ready to give as much as $1,000 a day to
feed the unemployed in Pittsburgh
place that if there were any truth in
the theory thai protection is good for
labor ought to be a very paradise for
w~orkingmen. Now which is best for
labor, plenty of charity soup houses or
plenty OF employment
There is the question between protec-
ton and free trade. That's true of all
industries. Ii we could abolish the
whole tariff on the first of February |
do not believe there is q single manu-
featuring Industry that would close.
Onthe contrary all that were not purely