Waterbury Democrat., 1902-10-20


 If any proof were needed to estab. fish the iniquitous character and US consequent oppressive effects upon the people, of the tariff act now in opera | l ton, it is supplied by the great anthra- cite coal strike. If a lingering doubt still troubled the mind of any intelli- gent citizen that a partnership existed between the great trusts and the re 1 publican party, an impartial investlga- tion of all the circumstances connected l with the strike, including the aid which the monster anthracite trust received 1 through the present tariff act, must have dispelled that doubt.
 The settlement of the coal strike did 1 not come before the people had learned through inquiry, stimulated by the dan- ger of fuel famine, that they had been victimized by one of the most out rageous pieces of legislation ever per- petrated on a people. It had been the popular belief that coal, especially an thracite, was on the free list 1t now transpires that instead the tariff upon l it is of such nature that it is almost l prohibitive. If it had not been prac- I tically prohibited the miners would have won what they cOntended for i'll one month and the coal barons would have been compelled to yield to the just demands of the honest toilers.
 It is now we'll known and admitted, even by honest republicans, that if con- ditions permitted of the importation free of Welsh and Nova Scotian an thracite, there would have been no danger of a fuel famine for at least one winter.
 Anthracite coal had been practically on the free list, placed there by the l Wilson tariff act passed in 1894 during the democratic administration of Gro yer Cleveland. But this did not suit l the coal barons. With this grade of .I coal on the free list they foresaw that in any conflict with the miners which might result in the closing of the l mines, as happened in the recent pro- 1onged strike, they were bound to lose.
 Wales and other coal producing coun- tries would undoubtedly have been en- couraged to send their product to this .I country and there would have been grave danger that the Pennsylvanian monopolists would have permanent 4 competitors for the home market. Ac- cordingly when the republicans came into power in 1897. the coal barons lost l no time in seeking the aid of their nat +i ural friends in the national congress to render possible, competition powerless
 and to make them masters of the coal I domain. They were not disappointed; I their servants i'll the republican con- I gress meelSIy acceded to their demands,
 although worried by democratic sena-
 tors of the result. The coal barons
 were saved from all possible competi-
 tion by one of the most fiagitious pro-
 visions that ever disgraced any legis-
 lative enactment in ancient or modern
 times.
 or1o 4n, I,s sI1. IL.
 bitum1nous coal and all coal contain
 ing less than 92 per. cent of the fixed
 carbon shall pay CT cents ton The
 purpose of the nefarious provision is
 now plain. The anthracite produced
 1n other countries is of q grade inferior
 in the spercentum of carbon than that d which the anthEaeite produced in Penn { flsylyania contains. Then, as if to hide
 from the people the atrocity perpe-
 trated by this nrolibitive provision.
 under the head free list' paragraph
 was inserted which reads. 'Coal, an
 thracite not especially provided for in } this act" Even importers of coal, who
 may be presumed to be an intelligent
 class of men. assume that this para graph in the free list exempted anthra- cite from tariff duty. But they were
 brought to a rude awakening by the
 decision of the circuit court of Cali
 foFnia given in April. 1899. in the ap-
 plication of Charles F. Coles for the
 review of the decision of the board of general appraisers relative to the classi- fication for duty of a cargo of anthra-
 cite coal. Coles imported a cargo of coal from Swansea. Wales, and the col lector of the port of San Francisco classified the Importation as "Coal con- taining less than 92 per cent of fixed n 1SI
 ley tariff act at the rate of CT cents
 ton. The importer paid the duty and l. then applied for relief to the United States circuit court, northern district of California. setting up the paragraph
 in the free list to which reference has been made regarding anthracite coal. The decision of the circuit court reads: : Under the traiff act of 1897, anthracite , coal containing less than % per cent of
 pure carbon is dutiab1e, being clearly embraced within the language of para graph 415, which imposes a duty on scoal, bituminous coal and all coals E containing less than 92 per centum of
 fixed carbon" and thus brought with
 in the exception contained in para
 graph 523 placing on the free list,
 coal, anthracite not specially provided for in this act.'
 The decision cleared off any doubt which might have existed as to wheth- CT anthracite coal was dutiable or not. It also brought home to the minds of
 those who give the matter of tariff
 any thought the enormity of the out rage perpetrated by the republican ) party on the entire fuel consuming peo- 7 pie.
 Secretary Moody of the navy depart ,, ment. in a campaign speech delivered at Madison. Wis, while admitting that ? the duty of 67 cents was an outrage, ) said that it was smuggled into the tariff act in a sneaky and cowardly manner" Tn a remarkably able edi- torial the New York Times, one of the most conservative and able newspa- : pers in the country, deals with Mir 2 Moody's statement. The editorial is I here reprinted:
 1 The Anthracite Coal Duty. It is a curious illustration of the 1. real character and mode of crea-
 fia4, 1F fho raa.ofaafiva 4ariff xvhnn