Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-03-17
collars and Cuffs"

The JOURNAL is profuse in its expressions
of approval of Senator Germans course with
reference to a tariff on coal, but slyly at
tempts to maintain its string connection with
the democratic platform by a postscript to
the effect that because he stands by coal he
should mot be herded with those who are
partisans of collars and cuffs
Why not? Collars and cuffs are certainly
finished products to at least the saDle extent
that coal is. Does the seltishness of the JOUR
NAL carry it to the extreme of asking for pro-
lection only upon such local industries as its
immediate constituency are interested in?
The workmen employed in making collars
and cuffs are entitled to the same measure of
protection claimed by the miners.-Cumber-
land Nc"s
There are several items of informa-
ton above which, ventilated, will
strike Ners readers with a new. wild
and weird force.
collars and cuffs were made in
some era before or soon after the car
boniferous, and stored away by the
sun under rocks whose age no man
can tell.
To become finished products" they
had to wait upon the longdeferred
accident of discovery, the later test
of utility, and the still later process
OF development.
The workmen employed in ex-
humlng "collars and cuffs" have
always had Il perilous time of 1t. They
wrought in the dry, and never slept
between damp sheets.
Ia short. collars and cuffs" are a
- natural product, not an artificial
evolution. They were finished before
they were begun, and Nature hus-
banded only so many in her bosom,
and no more. One collar taken from
the storehouse is one collar less to all
eternity, and one cuff is stride to-
ward everlasting cuttlessness.
Hence, the old notion that collars
aud cuffs" are two degrees removed
from original raw materials is errone-
Gus.
So also the fancy that they are
grown, woven and fabricated in the
light and warmth of the sun and under
the shelter and safety of the roof.
For these reasons. doubtless, we
learn
|, That "collars and cuffs are certainty
finished products to at least the same
extent that coal is For everybody
knows that we pillow, plant, cultivate
and harvest a crop of coal every year.
and
:, That the miners of "collars and
cuffs are entitled to the same measure
of protection claimed by the cult
vators, seamstresses and laundresses
of COAL
10 tell the truth, they are entitled to
more, for the Mckinley Act, which is
the gospel of protection, left coal with
only - per cent. protection and gave
cotton collars and cuffs" not only 30
per cent., but 10 cents for T. pieces in
addition, and the linen collars and
cuffs enjoy a gift of not only 10 per-
cent, but 80 cents for II pieces be.
sides
The JOURNAL, therefore, denies not
only that miners enjoy as much pro-
lection as the makers of "colars and
cuffs" but it denies IN toto the dictum
that the latter ''are entitled to the
same measure Of protection claimed
by the miners" There is nothing
Synonymous between the two employ
ments nothing between their products,
and a comparison of the essential i'm
portance of each to society would be
rank sacrilege.
The man whose vocation compels
him to constantly defy the laws of
health and war against the law of gray
ltation Is the man whose claim upon
popular sympathy and governmental
llberality ought to go before and be held
aboye all others. He is the soldier of
his time, whose constant battle against
known odds endow him with more
than Napoleonic knighthood.