Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-10-29
FACTS ys FICTION.

Iuully SLOTlCSs ttHtl Idlk dUOuC SLduO- ing pat" Yes, and they can talk tariff, free trade and protection until they are black in the face or hoarse in the throat, but what will it amount to in the way of giving the workman more wages, or. reducing his butcher, his tailor or his grocer's bills? We say to the workmen and others interested to read up, look around you, use your brains, and see how much better off you are to-day than you were eight or ten years ago. How much more pay are you getting now than you were ten years ago? We venture to say that in the great majority of cases the wage scale is no higher, and in some cases we know it is lower. We have only to turn to the columns of the Democrat within the past two weeks and we will see where workmen in one of our largest factories were asked to work for 15 cents per day less than was being paid.
 And this is not the only case, for the tendency is to reduce the pay of the wage earrfer. Perhaps bosses are not altogether to blame for this, for there is so much competition, we are told, that it brings the price of the nanu- factured articles down. Consequently, the first man to feel the competition is the man who tolls. On the other hand, how about your expenses? Have they or do they go down when your pay de creases? Not bit of it. On the con- trary, they have gone up and up, and up, until We are told that the cost of living is more than one-third higher than it was eight or ten years ago. And yet republican spellbinders will tell us the tariff is responsible for it. Bah! we say to them.
 This tariff bugaboo is held over the people like stbig stick and dire things are predicted if it is tempered with. The ordinary mortal would be just az happy and contented if he nev CT heard of a tariff, for it has got to that point where it is worked for the benefit of the chosen few, and the cho- sen few are the. trusts who regulate and control what you eat, drink anu wear. Workmen and democrats of Waterbury, do you remember the coal strike of year or two ago? You re- member how the price of coal went up. and if you will stop for five minutes and try to bring to your mind what happened at that time you will say to the dickens with the trusts and tariff. Coal was brought to this country from Wales and sold at a lower rate than the coal barons of this country, would allow you to buy it. If the tariff can be juggled and twisted during a coal strike, to meet the emergency, why can't it be arranged for your benefit, or at least so that it will not oppress you at other times? For the simple reason that the coal trust wants it there, and it stays and you pay the bills. 'H x 1T sessq Now, what on earth does the man who is working for from $1.25 to $2.OO day know or care about the tariff ? If he stops to think minute he knows that at the present time it takes $2 to buy what $1.25 or $1.5O bought ten years ago. He is working for the same pay or less, and yet he must pay more to live. How is he going to do it? He can't. It is impossible, and the result is he is going into debt. Per- haps he has few extra mouths to feed, and yet his daily stipend is the same, while his grocer's bill has gone up. Look the facts straight in the face, workmen, and ask yourselves if you can be any worse off than you are now. You don't need to be told about republican prosperity. Look around you and see for yourselves the condi. ton of affairs. The Cannons, the
 Kings, the Kenealys, and the rest of
 them must think you are fools, and if
 you continue to vote for the republican
 party they will come pretty near
 thinking right, When Cleveland wenl out of office you were paying about $4 for barrel of flour; to-day you are 
 paying $7.25; you were getting 21 pounds of sugar for $1; to-day you arc
 getting 16 or IS; you were buying coal
 for about $5 ton, to-day it is more
 than ST; you were paying B cents g
 bushel for potatoes, now you are pay
 ing T5 cents; and so on through the
 whole list of things you find it neces
 sary to have to keep body and soul to gether.
 This talk about tariff anu free trade
 is poor consolation for yot1 with tho
 price of everything nearly doubled un
 der republican rule, and yet we arc
 told this is republican prosperity. Ii
 you workmen, who find it so hard tC
 live and bring up families, think so
 republican spellbinders and republican
 office holders, who are now feeding a
 the crib, will continue to ding it int I your ears. What do you suppose