Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1894-01-09
THE BATTLE is ON.
Fight Over the Wilson Bill
is Opened.
WILSON MAKES REMARKS.
Says He Is a Protectionist Henceforth
if Protec. lion Makes Wages.

WASHINGTON, Jan. o-The first gun or
the great tariff battle doomed out shortly
after p. IN. yesterday.
Chairman Wilson Of the ways and
means committee, originator OF the bill,
opened the battery.
Chairman Wilson had just been mag.
unanimous in the face Of great exasperar
ton. He had agreed to put the final vote
down for Jan. 20 instead of Jan. 25, allow.
ing his opponents five days more for
weary debate.
At 3:l3 Mr. Wilson rose to address the
house, the first reading of the bill being
dispensed with and the time limit of an
hour being also dispensed with, on motion
Of Mr.. Reed.
Mr.. Wilson then began the discussion
of the provisions of the Wilson bill by
saying: 1--WE have felt that we could not
begin the reform of this system unless We
begun earnestly and honestly to relieve of
taxation the great fundamental materials
OF American Industry, and so the bill
proposes to put on the free list, among
other materials. thc=s great elementary
materials OF industry, wool, iron ore, coal,
and lumber.
"I do not believe IL will be necessary
for me to take up these great articles and
discuss them one by one. The subject of
wool is at present of the greatest import
ance. l myself believe that II in the wis
dom Of the house every other item Of the
tariff bill was stricken out, every other
proposed change abandoned, bill put
ting wool on the free list would take q
great. benefcent and revolutionary step In
tariff reform. want to see this battle
o A.t ...sI
taxpayer will pay single dollar that
does not go straight and undiminished
into the taxpayers pocket.
'He would be a hardy man who would
rise in this house and say that the WOOL
grower has prospered, or that even the No
kinley bill, with its increase Of taxes on
woolen goods, had been of any benefit
whatever to the American wool-grower.
do not believe that the tariff on wool
raises the price of wool to the American
grower of wool. You have no right 10
raise 1t at the expense Of 10000, 900 who
wear woolen clothes"
Wool and the Tariff.
Mr. Wilson then went on extensively
into the history of wool and the prices un.
der the various tariffs to prove that high
prices was not coincident with high tariff.
Sheep raising for wool, he contended, like
the star of empire, had taken its way
westward, and now on the great plains OF
the far west wool could be produced a.
cheaply as anywhere on the face of the
globe. The great woolen industry Of this
country, barred from two-thirds Of the
woolen world, had limped and Jagged far
In the rear of other American industries.
The imperial, resistless march OF invsn-
ahn hax nj Al.
reach of competition, and he believed that
with wool on the free list and moderate
tax on the finished product, the market
for American wool would be steadied and
quickened, and the price of woolens to
the consumer would be greatly redu ced.
II there was any one industry in which he
had faith, that America could march for
ward to conquer new worlds, 10 was the
iron and steel industry. The consump-
tion of iron and steel was the TEST Of the
civilization and advancement of any
country, and no other country has kept
the pace with us for the last few years.
Continuing, he said:
Our entire product has reached In
recent years 100000 tons. We have
found deposits Of iron ore 70 easily
worked, so accessible, that we have
reached the point where we can produce
iron ore in Minnesota, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Alabama and other points In
the country cheaper than IL can bs pro-
duced anywhere else in all the world.
SO the tax upon iron Is not needed to pro-
tect us.
Coal and Lumber.
"The cost Of mining a ton of coal docs
not exceed 60 cents. We are not only the
greatest iron-producing country Of the
world, but We are the greatest coal-prce
ducing country of the world. There arc In
the United States l92, 600 miles Of terri
tory underlaid with coal, more than three
times more than all the coal produced by
all the rest of the world together. Upon
no ground can you continue the tariff on
coal unless you want to continue paying
subsidies to the great railroad corpora
tions Of the country"
Mr.. Wilson next spoke OF lumb Der, and
said that under the existing tariff our
forests are being denuded. He then spoke
of tariffs and the workingmen and oon-
tinued,
1.-THE only place where trades unions
can exercise their legitimate scope Ia In .
country where the walls are down and the
laborer IL given free raw material. The
vital question Is the question Of wages
II the other side can prove that wages are
Increased by the tariff then this bill ought
D. be beaten.
The Tariff and Wages.
"If protection makes wages, I am q pro-
tectionist henceforth. But reason and
experience disprove IL. The supply Of
labor, the intelligence, the produ uctiveness
Of labor, make its price. How Is it possi-
BILE for tariff which only touches 3 pr
cent Of the labor OF the United States 70
Increase wages for the other 95 per cent?
30 far from increasing the wages Of Ia Dor,
the effect Of these high tariffs has been
70 lower them"
At this point Mr.. Wilson, who 10 In poor
health, and who had besn speaking an
hour and q half, suggested to his col
league, Mr.. McMillin, that he would like
20 finish bis speech today, and upon the
lstter's motion the committee rose. The
Democrats and galleries applauded vigor-
sus,y when Mr.. Wilson took bis seat.
"My mother does not get so tired with her
a. aN...