The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1898-07-23
THE COTTON INDUSTRY.
How Protection Has benefited THIS
Important Product OF Ame~i-
can Farms.

tions Ii has developed! It's magnitude
is almost incomprehensible; its bless
ings 10 America and American labor are
not within the realm of computation.
/ stood i'm the corner of room OF the
Borden mills, at Fall River, and watched
the belts chase their daily course In a
never-enGing race from pulley TO pull
ley; saw the spindlcs go humming their
thousands of rounds a minute; observed
the rows and rows OF machines; saw
the workers going from place to place,
a small army OF them; and felt lost
for words to express the magnitude OF
the sight.
The shafting was arranged so that
one belt was running two machines;
vet IL required over three miles o. belt
ing TO keep in motion all the machinery
on but one floor. In all Of the four large
buildings of the establishment there
were $500 persons at work, their wages
going to buy American products OF fac
tory and field.
without protective tariff the cotton
mills. OF which this is but n repre-
sentative, could never have thrived,
could never have contributed their
share to Americas industrial growth,
could never have given their employ
ment to American labor, could never
have created the market that there is
for American beef, and pork, and bread
stuffs, and butter, and eggs, could not
have added their part to the prosperity
OF the American farmer
Under the protective tariff the man
ufacturer has prospered. II is neces-
sary that he should in oElcr that labor
may get employment and pay, but la
bor has not been without its rewards
American labor all along has been the
best paid on earth, and is to-day. Not
over paid, nor as well paid as all would
like to see, but the best paid, just the
same.
There are no goods on earth like
those o. America, no consumers OF man
ufactured goods like the people of this
land Were our markets open 10 the
free competition of goods made by the
cheap labor of the eastern world, no
one in reason could expect to see the
magnificent institutions now estab-
| lished on American soil, nor the armies
| OF the employed that keep up their
| homes with wages drawn from cotton
mills.
| Americas greatness, her towering
strength, her future is in her homes
! About the fireside. in the family circle
are sown the seeds Of good citizenship
patriotism, morality and all that IS best
| in nation. America is greatest IN
/ these qualities because il has the best
homes, and II has the best homes be
cause its labor has most with which tf
provide them. Its labor has most be
| cause a protective tariff has shielded i
from competition from the cheap prod
net OF underpaid workers in foreign
lands.
And yet protection has been argued
against from moral standpoint. VIVA
moral right has a nation like this, Will
its cotton, and coal, and labor, with III
wonderful resources in all branches o
industry, 10 let these resources go unde
veoped and buy Of other nations simpl,
because those nations have succeeded II
beating their labor down to lowe
basis Of wages than oursP
The party and people who favor pro
tectiye tariff have often been accused o
friendship for the manufactures. The.
are friends Of the manufactures, but NJ
less friends Of the laborer. True friend
ship for the toilers is not in setting la
Dor against capital and capital agains
labor, but in harmonizing their inter
ests, which are identical. That party
the true friend Of labor which spend
It's time. not in AMUSING capital. but !
making it possible for capital to sell 1t
products so that labor may have en-
ployment i'm producing more. In shut
ting out or restricting the importatio
Of the products of foreign labor til
party of protection has reserved on
home markets for our home manufat
turers. and has been the real friend Z
our home labor. This is as true in tn
cotton industry as IL is in others. Wha'
ever competition there may be at hom'
whatever disturbance there may be owe
, the wage basis 81 one section rs con
pared with another, whatever dissatii
faction there may be over an adjus
ment Of that difference, il must be r.
membered that an opening to foreig
competition would be infinitely wors
would complcate matters, would pr
: vent on adjustment that is sure TO CON
while competition is confined to on
own land, and which could never CON
! with foreign goods a strong factor
the contest.
The American cotton mill work'
4 must stand upon the sure rock OF a pr
E tectiye tariff. In that Is his hope Of u
y future; IN that has been his prosperit
( Of the past.
i L. G. PIPP.
- worthy of the Trust.