The labor world., 1900-09-08

the money power and state legisla lures
threshold Of action and prove help
less for relief. Even Congress ever
devoted to the good people it is al
legged to represent, if not influenced by
the spirit of corruption which ever and
anon sWells the lobbies Of legisla ture
halls, proves itself recreant to duty
and session after session, it's members
are found occupying their time not
in the construction of laws and meas
ures advantageous to the advancement
and welfare of their constituents, but
in partisan Wrangle and contention
and what best means can be conserved
for their own individual return to
place and power to longer misrepresent
trifie with and deceive those who have
delegated them to act.
But there is a way in which the evils
Of trust enormities can be checked if
not entirely suppressed. If courts and
national and state officials refuse to
act or are really helpless to act, it is
in the hands of the people to force a
remedy which will in time bring about
the needed relief. AS before stated it
is not the exercise of money as a power
which alone produces the evil results
upon us. There is not@a trust of any
considerable force in the country that
is not backed, encouraged and sustain
ed by the national government itself.
There is not a single trust that could
maintain itselfsa year if it did not re-
ceive aid and assistance from the
national customs tariff upon imports.
Every cent of duty placed upon articles
imported into the country is added to
the selling cost of the. article, and is
paid by the consuming buyer in addi-
tion to the nominal value of the arti-
Gle produced. This immense money
surplus of which the government
never derives a cent of aid or advan-
tage, goes into private pockets of the
money barOns and is the basis of a
monopoly which destroys all competi-
ton: which corners and controls all
ticular class; which, crushes out all the
smaller. and weaker industries, raises
prices to satisfy the voracious and
ravenous greed Of it's projectors;
drives thousands Of struggling freemen
into hopeless idleness, improverishes
hundreds of homes and reduces hun
dreds of. thousands to beggary and
starvation.
A tariff of customs sounds very we'll
as protection to-. American indus
try" VIII any one Of these working
men. who follow the flag Of "protec-
.tion" take out his pencil and note
down all those among his fellow me-
chanics who are receiving one infini-
:tesimal part Of a penny Of benefit from
to American industry? After he has
done that, let him make further use of
his pencil in adding up his domestic
expenses for the year past. Let him
realize that over fifty per. cent. of this
cost Of domestic consumption is i'm
posed by the customs tariff duty, and
while it has imperceptibly =. slipped
from his possession in necessary ex-
penditure, it has passed from his pock-
cts into the pockets of the monopoly
money barons, who, with the very
money of which they have thus robbed
him, form pools and combina tions in
trust monopoly form and proceed to
further crush him by wiping him out
altogether. Let any ordinary mechanic
who may find his expenses for domestic
and household uses, say as low as
-four hundred dollars, calculate that
fifty per cent of that sum is imposed
by a tariff framed for his protection.
He will find some explanation for his
Increased struggle for the mainten-
ance of himself and family in the fact
that about twenty-five per cent Of his
$400 expenses is traceable alone to
the imposition Of trust monopoly; so
that his cost of living is increased at
the ratio of $10O per year. Now if he
has had no increase in wages over
the year previous, it is not difficult for
him to see that the increased cost Of
living has reduced his income at the
rate of about 50 perweek. 'a.' '.. ,..'
A sure and certain relief can be
found in modifying if not wiping out
altogether the "custom tariff imposi-
ton. Every article now controlled by
a. trust should be put upon the free
list. This is a policy at once simple
and practicable. There would be no
need for litigation. ....... ..a. 49,.
It is a difficult thing to convince a
man against his will; at least one
half if not more of the American
workingmen believe that a custom
tariff brings them more remunerative
wages. Is such the fact? The laborer
to meet with the favor of the boasted
profession of "protection" should en-
Joy share of the profit of his labor;
whereas by the means of monopoly
trusts, prices are enhanced to the con-
sumer of which he one, and he is a
loser instead of gamer.
It is in the hands fo the WOrkingmen
to solve the problem of their own re-
demption The elections for congress-
men are near at hand. If the work.
ingman regardless of partisan bias or
offilia ton, shall wisely choose the one
to do his bidding the riddle will un-
ravel; if he should do otherwise he
may continue in the same old rut, and
instead of relief which he so much de-
sires and may obtain for the seeking,
he may in course of time find himself
still further engulphed in a. despon-
dency Of gloom from which he may