The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-10-12
Arnold the LabOrer's Champion.

When the Dingley law was under
discussion in Congress, our able rep
resentative, Hon. w. c. Arnold, was
one of its greatest aud most inhuen.
tial supporters. March 80, 1897, he
delivered this telling speech on the
question
Mr.. CHAIRMAN: | had not in.
tended at the beginning of the dis
cussion of this bill to take any part in
it, but when tn great interests o. my
district are attacked by the other
side | canno; keep sileut. have the
great honor to represent in this house
district which | believe has been
mining more coal and manufacturing
more hemlock lumber than any Con
gressional district in the United
States. My home is up in the ALE.
gheny mouutains of Pennsylvania, in
the progressive town of Dubois, and
within a radius of six miles Of this
town there is enough coal deposited
to employ 1000 miners every day in
the year for more than two hundred
years. We want to mine this coal
aud We want market for it. Aud
We want more than this-we want all
our miners fully employed at full
wages and paid in full dollars. Ap.
plause.
| believe this bill will accomplish
our desires. ln my district we have
vast forests of hemlock timber, aud
we want to cut it. And we want
again to employ our idle men at good
wages, and desire to receive fair
prices for our lumber.
In 1892 an honest but misguided
people elected President and Con.
gress which gave to US the Wilson
bill oi 1894. From that hour down
to this time there has been blight
on all our industries, and no district
has felt it more than mine. | wish
that you, the opponents of the pend
ing measure, could go back with me
to my mountain home aud see the
happy condition existing under the
Harrison administration and com
pare them with the conditions that
exist to day. Then plenty and pros
perity rested on every home; now
penury and want are the unwelcome
guests at their fresides, Ah, Mr.,
Chairman, this is not, this cannot be
a question of politics, it is deeper and
broader than any question ofpoliticaI
views or advantages, because it reach.
es the hearthstones of thousands Of
honest men willing to labor, but de-
prived Of the opportunity through
your Wilson bill of 1894. | repeat
it is not a question of common poll
tics, but question Of common hu'
manity. These honorable miners dc
not ask for charity; they only ask
an opportunity to labor at fair wages
and as citizens of this great Republic
they have a right to demand of thi;
Congress that we enact such tariff
measure as will give them that op
portunity. [Applause.] promised
my people in the last campaign thai
if elected l would assiduously devote
myself to that duty, and l am here
nov trying in my feeble way to fulfil
that promise.
! have not the time to 90 into The
statistics on coal as | would like to
and will now submit a few remarks
on the wood schedule. | conteD(
that the Wilson bill bas nearly ruined
the lumber interests of this country
and l know its deplorable condition
in my own district. | want to Civ,
you a few statistics as to importation
under both the Mckinley and tn,
Wilson bills, and you can then easily
draw your owD CON lusiOns aud Sc,
how and why our lumber trade ha
been taken away from us and price
ruinously reduced.
Importations of lumber from Can
ada under the free list in valne hav,
been as follows: