The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-08-12
BRYAN'S DILEMMA.
of the Benefits of n Pro-
tectiye Tariff.

| Fifty thousand men, who were on
strike the other day at tinplate works
scattered through all the great states
between Boston and St. Louis, are TO-
day receiving higher wages than they
ever received before, and higher than
have ever been paid IN the tinplate
manufacture anywhere else. Most of
! them are men of more than ordinary
| intelligence, and are likely to have con-
siderabl influence where they live.
They are certain to be assured that
the payment Of such wages would not
| be possible had not the many tinplate
concerns been united by the formation
OF one great company, and in view of
the intense competition which did pre-
vail in that business last October and
earlier, resulting in some reduction of
wages and the closing of some works,
they are likely to believe il. When
Mr.. Bryan comes before them and de-
mands the destruction of all these
| trusts" as enemies of the people and
cruel monopoies, the $4,000 tinplate
workers will consider among them
| SN-NCS NltlHtl lltl Noulu AZ
combinations and lower wages. They
will be likely to present the question
in that form to other workingmen
wherever they live, and Mr.. Bryan's de-
| nunciation may have kind of influence
which he does not expect or desire.
But this is only a sample. There are
over a hundred of these large corpora
tions recently formed, which employ a
great number of men. Though not one
| of them--not even the tinplate concern
itself-has complete monopoly, they
all have so far checked competition be-
TWEEN different works, and cut off eX-
| penses of management and distribu-
| ton, that they are able to pay higher
wages than were paid Il year ago. But
| The wages Of several hundred thousand
| men, not in these industries only, were
| raised within n few weeks last spring,
and similar changes have been made
| III all sorts of works throughout the
year. They have not been confined 10
works controlled by new corporations,
but il will be easily claimed that the
restriction of competition among those
which have been united has materially
| affected the market for others also,
| and to some extend influenced the
| wages they are able to pay. 1t is also
| the plain truth that this tremendous
change in the condition of industries
and in the wages of labor has not been
due to new corporations. either wholly
or in the main. but was in progress be-
fore they were formed, and would
| have gone far if they had never been
| formed. The question for Mr.. Bryan,
however. is whether he can charge pros
perity to the tariff or to the trusts"
1t is becoming clear that great
many of the workers, who have not
been educated to comprehend the bene-
ticent work of the protective tariff,
will be inclined to give credit largely
to the consultations which appear on
the surface of things most useful 10
the men they employ. While vast
number Of republicans, who know what
came TO pass under Cleveland and a
| Wilson tariff and what followed under
Mckinley and a Dingley tariff, will un-
derstand that the prosperity of all in
| dustries has been restored, and not of
those only in which consultations have
been effected, the other mutitudes with
which Mr.. Bryan has TO deal have been
educated in democratic notions about
the tariff. II will be easier for many of
them to refuse credit for wonderful
| prosperity to republican tariff, and to
conclud that the curbing of COMPETE
ton by industrial organizations has
been to them source of direct and inn
portant gain.
| The trouble for Mr.. Bryan and for all
democratic demagogues in the cam
paign they are planning for next year
| is that they will have to deal with great
corporations which have been adyanc-
ing the wages Of many thousand dem
ocratic workingmen. If they go up
and down in the land declaring that
| the corporations have been robbing the
public great many people will have
| doubts about that, because they find in
their own experience that wages have
been advanced. If others pay little
more for this or that article. there is
always the question how far the higher
cost of materials made that necessary,
and the argument on that point is too
complicated for ready popular appre-
citation, but the thing which every man
can understand is that his wages have
been raised. Since Mr.. Bryan will not
admit that any credit is due to the
tariff on that score. what luck is he
likely To have in denouncing the indus
trial corporations?-N. y. Tribune.
rTThe meeting Of the democratic
national committee at Chicago and the
various side shows connected with it
indicate pretty conclusively that Mr..
Bryan is to be the next nominee of his
party for president, and also that when
the time comes for making platform
he can make it to suit himself.-N. y.
Post (Dem.).
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