Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1894-01-27
THE TRUSTS 8
Eaorts of ProteotIon-Favored Harons u
Obstruot the Wilson Bill.

Erorts of Protection-Favored Harons 70
Obstruot the Wilson Bill.
This favored benehcieries OF McKin'
leyism are making n great cutlery
against the Wilson bill. Beaten In two
general elections, In spite of their cor
%ruption funds, they now seek to nullify
the verdict OF the people By intimidatlng
or ~wheedling congressman. They even
stoop to the despicable artlfce u driv-
ina their operatives, under fear OF dis
| missal, to petition against the passage
of a law to relieve them Of burdensome
taxes on their necessariea.
Congress is not likely to be DETECTED
from It's duty by this post-election cam
pairning. The facts Of recent history
are not SO 1901 forgotten. The collar
and cuff manufacturers of Troy and
the pottery men of Trenton are among
the loudest OF the professionals, and
these are in brief the facts In relation
to them:
The Mckinley act increased the duty
on linen collars and cuffs from 40 per
cent. to 0s per cent. The combination OF
manufacturers not only failed to in
cIease wages proportionstely, but with
III ninety days after the Mckinley act
took effect they reduced the wages 10
per cent. The girls struck, and after a
contest lasting three weeks, in which
they received the support OF the Fed.
erationof Labor, the employers yielded
to a threatened boycott and took them
back at the old wages.
In other words, the men who bought
and paid for the tariff" as the Penn
sylvania ironmaster said, kept all the
advantage Of increased duties to them
selves. Neither Gov. Campbell nor any
other democratic speaker was able to
find one csse OF increased wages due
to the tariff In the great campaign Of
1900,
The case of the potteries was similar.
The Mckinley act gave to the makers
OF crockery and pottery the equivalent
Of q 5 per cent increase III duty. Within
three months seven members OF tho
Trenton pottery trust made a reduc-
ton Of 30 per cent, in wages, There
was Il strike, which attracted attention
all over ths country. At the end of
several weeks a compromise was made
under which the workmen accepted a
reduction of 7 per cent,
Early in 1892 the Philadelphia Press,
which Is now clamoring for a perpetual
tian ~ tha nrpat1,ap tarifp n,,h-
lished a statement showing that the
profits OF Ave members Of the pottery
trust for 1891 were "t4lO, 900, or almost
one-thlrd of the capital stock invested"
The prospectus OF the combine guar.
anteed $ per cent. IN 81, $50, 900 OF pre-
ferred stock and estimated the dividend
on 81, $50, 900 Of common stock at ov er
ID per cent"
The Wilson bill puts the duty on col.
lars and cuffs at IS per cent, which Is
but 5 per cent, below the tariff Of 1883,
and Is, as the Times points ont, lex.
actly the rate proposed by the repub-
lican and protectionist tariff commits
sion Of 1882"
The Wilson bill puts the duty on
crockery and pottery at from 20 to 45
per cent.-a reduction OF 5 to Is per
cent. Considering that these articles
are common nocessaries of the people
the trust ought to be thankful that 1t
has SO much protection.
There Is not a schedule In the demo-
cratic bill that Is not rs high as the nd.
vocates Of protection deemed adequate
when our infant industries" were
forty years younger.
The cutlery of the trusts and com.
bines is both impudent and ill-timed.
The people have twice demanded a re-
formed tariff, and their will must be
made lawn. Y. World.