The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-14
Ldbor's Real
Crown OF Thorns
From the Times Herald.

i rom tlt iltIlpS-HtldlU.
Statistics, which are furnished in plenty.
are not needed to prove that the Wilson
tariff law has been q crown of thOrns for
| American labor. The most supc' licial OBJ
servation viii suffice to impress a candil
| mind with this fact.
The report OF the commissioner of labor
for the United States covering III" period
from lSsl to June 20 1891, shows that dur
ing the year and half under the Wilson
| law the loss of wages TO employees was
Sl5,979o93 more than under two run years
Of Mckinley protection, and taat -9,@ij
more employees We're made Idle by strikes
and loCkouts under Wilson tariff than
under two years of protection. Five mill
ion spinilCs in New England are IDLE
Statistics from 81 trades in New York
city Aug. I, 1885, showed that .g Il, were
out of employment in these trades alone
Returns from 100 manufacturers in the
state of New York show that where % -
| 02G people were earning wages during 1872
there were only l7,iS1 persons employed
during 1898, Il decrease of Il per cent.
Comm down to 1884, steady work was
given TO only l2,G5O persons, Il decrease Of
'2'a per ceEt. from 1892.
During the last year of the AIckin,.--
tariff Europe bousn, S,yo,o.U,S22 of our
goods, while we purchased goods to the
value Of A29J,DI,S6j in Europe. leaving
balance of $iO5,1J29j7 in favor of Ameri-
can labor. During The first year of the
wilson law We sold Europe GSL5G3. 1872
worth of goods and bought European prod
ucts to the value of Si3l i02i, leaving a
balance of only $2929Sg l6S in our favor.
The difference between the balance under
The Mckinley law and the balance under
the Wilson law is 500, 2,S0%, iS9, one OF the
down upon the brow of labor.
Exports of all agricultural proiurts
have fallen Off in 1895 At the rate of SjJ.-
cOO.OJU Il year as compared with iS.2. Amer
lean farmers captured 70 per cent less of
the markets of the world in ISG5 than thcy
possessed in 1892. In the latter yen, I'M
der protection. the p:oluCts of the farm
represented 1883 per cent. Of our totIl tx
ports. The proportion for 1850 WIS His
per cent. less.
From the most reliable statistics obtain
able it is estimated that for the twelve
months previous to the abrogation of Nc
kinicy reciprocity treaties with cuba ana
other S9anish-AmeriCan countries thcrc
were shipped from Nnirr 0haut $780,
900 barrels of flour, cqu:ya. 20 l5,O0o,N)
bushels of wheat. This tra.- Low is en-
trely abandoned. the duty on American
-four having been raised from % cents per
barrel To s. per barrel. In 1882. under the
Mckinley tariff, we exported lGl 80 i.2
bushels Of wheat. IN 1885. under the VIII
son law. we exported only iO.SJS,jH bush is
Of wheat.
Live stock that was worth nearly -.
i09,Gp,0a0 on Jan. ]. 1872. under Mckinley
protection. was worth SI3l.S29.59i less
money to the farmers exactly four years
later. under the Wilson tarff law. The
annual loss 70 the farmers on crops for The
same period is estimated at S12S, ~ SO.
making total loss to the farmers of ST.
2GI5l. .!13
This gives but I faint suggestion OF the
size and weight Of the "crown of thorns''
ttat has been pressed down upon the brow
Of the farmer. Mr.. Bryan will fin1 that
the "crC"'n Cf thorns" that viii be cast
aside by American labor next November is
the ono that was fitted uroH the brow of
labor by the Fifty-third congress.