Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1903-01-01
AS SEEN BY WOMAN.
PROTECTION FROM THE HOUSE
WIFE'S POINT OF VIEW.

burdens or free VraUe Ocprebo1On.
Woman, trusts and protective tariff
Is a subject well worth discussing, in
asmuch as the three are today largely
interesting the thoughtful portion Of
the political world-woman, because
Sc understands and takes into account
heavier questions nowadays than most
men have heretofore given her credit
for; trusts, because every eye is CEN
tered upon their action; protection. be-
cause Democratic demagogues are try
ing to persuade the people, both men
and women, that tariff is the mother
of trusts and that only free trade
policy will reduce the threatened swal-
lowing up of all small concerns by
giant capitalists.
The American wife and mother has
gradually merged into the financier of
the home and Is much more interested
in tie price Of meat, sugar and other
household necessities than her hus-
band. If the expenses of the family
increase, due to rise in commodity,
how quickly the woman will demand
reason for 1t of her marketmanl
Take for example, the late rise In price
Of meats and the wave Of Indignation
incident thereto which swept the entire
country from Maine to California. Both
Republicans and Democrats raised a
unanimous cry against it. The large
beef packers were dubbed robbers,
thieves and other less elegant epithets,
and The general clamor for antitrust
law resulted in a mild denunciation on
the part Of the men in authority, which
caused the beef trust to make certain
important concessions, showing that
ADLER leglslat ton Is all that is needed
to bring the trusts to the public mind
and to less arrogant self assumption.
The present active life OF all trusts is
due to the unparalleled prosperity of
the country. That the gigantic cor
porations live and thrive upon protec-
ton is an Idea as erroneous as it is
dangerous. Let no woman confound
the two nor lay her grievances at the
door of the tariff, for without 1t she
would not have the money with which
to buy the mere necessities Of life that
under tariff protection her husband
may be earning in factory, clothing
house or other home industry.
The trust agitation in connection
with the tariff was started for Demo
cratic campaign purposes by men who
do not care whether the families Of the
workingmen starve or not, SO long as
they gain their own heinous end.
Who could hinder the beef trust from
gaining control Of the live stock and
dressed meats shipped here from for
eign markets provided the tariff We're
removed from these articles? In very
short period Of time that trust would
have its agents in every cattle growing
country on the globe buying wherever
there were herds to sell, and the first
shipment of foreign meats that landed
in New York would be In the name of
the American beef trust. Do you
think that would induce lower prices
on meat? Don't delude yourself, good
wife. You would pay even more for
the family steak or roast than you do
now. Free trade England has as many
trusts today as the United States, and
beef is cents higher on pound in
London than here in this country. Can
it be, then, that the tariff keeps up the
price of meat when 1t sells for more
money under the operations Of foreign
corporations in free trade countries
than it does here under protective
tariff? The whole thing is a case of
supply and demand.
If, with our enormous supply of flesh
food. the American laboring people con-
sumed as little meat as the working
ella sses abroad, dressed meat would sell
here for very much less money. In the
highlands of Scotland the housewife
gives her family meat but once a week.
1t is cooked on Saturdays, ready for
the Sunday meal, and the children as
sociate their bright plaid holiday dress,
which they wear to the kirk, with the
small piece of cooked flesh they are to
receive for dinner on the Sabbath day.
The supply Of cattle is so small in that
country that an ordinary soup bone sell
ing for cents in New York costs Is
cents in Scotland.
Last year In the United States the
supply of corn was GOO, 100000 BUSH
els less than the previous years. 1t
does not take an expert mathematician
to figure, and any woman can see that
If corn is produced in smaller Quanti-
ties than usual the farmer will Of ne
cessity have to raise fewer number of
corn eating cattle,
Butchers Who Swap Meats.
A housekeeper who went to live on
the far east side of New York asked
a butcher why she couldn't get from
him the best cuts of meat. His shop
was in Second avenue, above Thirty
fourth street The housekeeper. al
though she was economical, occasion
ally wanted fine steak or Il choice
piece of other meat for special occa
sion She learned that while the
butcher bought whole OK he did not
keep the best parts Of it.
Every day." he said, 81 send the
1T meats l buy to the shops farther
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