The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-20
AN INEXCUSARLE CRIME.

OF all the gifts to monopoly promised
In the new tariff bill, the very worst
yet is the proposed restoration of the
Mckinley rates on bituminous coal and
coke. There has never been any rea-
son for protecting this product, ex-
cept to add to the advantage of pos
sessing natural monopoly the fur
Their advantage of legislative power to
tax the consumer. Today this item of
the tariff is more objectionable than
ever. For the past winter the whole
country has groaned under the tyran-
nous impOsitions of the anthracite coal
combination. 1t showed up prices last
fall dollar a ton at one move and
pocketed the millions which this
brought in. Had not this been an
unusually mild winter, the steal
from the people would have impover-
ished them still further in the midst
of the period Of exceptionally hard
times. This bit of robbery stimulated
The attempt to find substitutes for an
thracite as fuel. Farmers have been
burning grain and hay, factories have
put in plants for using crude oil as
tuel and many other devices have
been resorted to. The greatest saw
Ing, however. and the greatest relief
from the robbery of the coal barons,
has been in the substitution Of BIZ
luminous coal for anthracite. Every
where that this change could be made
1t has been. with a resulting saving
TO the consumer Now the Mckinley
ties propose to shut this last door of
escape from the coal trust by Dutting
pack again the high tariff on soft coal.
The duty is to be raised from 40 cents
10 10 cents a ton, to help the anthra
cite combination to give one more turn
OF the screws upon the poor people of
this country.
mere IS not pretnse Of rea-
son or justification for this crime.
The ordinary arguments, poor as they
are, with which the protective system
is defended, do not apply The claim
that the American coaI miner needs
protection" against his Canadian
competitor is not only false, but silly.
Two facts are as we'll established as
anything can be. by labor experiences
and labor statistics. The first is that
the wage rate in Canada is not lower
than the wage rate in the United
States. This follows the uniform and
practically universal law that the less
developed a country is the greater its
need OF labor and the higher is labor's
compensation. Therefore, the pretense
that American labor needs protection
against Canadian competition is q
bare-faced falsehood. In the second
place, the history Of some of the most
serious labor troubles in this Country
SHOWS that the wages of coal miners
are cut to the lowest limit that the
market will allow. The mine owner of
the United States buys his labor in the
cheapest market, and has imported
pauper labOrerS from Italy from Hun
gary and from Poland by the thou
sands to take the places Of old men
who have been forced out by the re-
duction Of wages below the living
point. This has been the rule for
years, under the Mckinley tariff. as
we'll as under any other. The great
mining disturbances in Pennsylvania.
in Ohio, in Illinois and in Colorado
show that Of all our wage earners none
are more vigorously crowded to the
~Wan or more poorly paid than these.
To give a bonus to such employers
on the supposition that they will divide
1t with their men is as silly as it is
wicked. What the new tariff act does
is to authorize these men to charge
30 cents a ton more for their product
than they do now, to give Just that
much further guarantee to the an
thracite combination that its prices can
be maintained, tc shut out cheap fuel
produced elsewhere from our markets
and thus to injure and distress the
whole body Of consumers of the coun-
try, without one penny's worth Of adj
vantage to any human being, except
the millionaires who are engaged in
the coal business. 1.-THE changes were
made in, response to a general demand
from the coal interests" says the press
dispatch announcing the new tariff