Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1904-10-20
GOES AFTER HEPBURN
Hon. A. F. Parker Replies to
his Grangeville Speech.
Grangeville, Idaho, Oct. II, 'O4.

EDITOR FREE PREss:-
In his speech here last week Sen.
ator Hepburn held up to the people
the same old scare crow of dem
ocratic free trade which has done
such good service for the republi-
can party in times past. The sem
ator was especially solicitons that
the tariff on wool and lead should
not be touched. III e said that
under the free wool policy of the
democratic party under the Wilson
bill wool sold for five cents a
pound. Under the Dingley act,
with tariff duty of IL cents a
pound on imported wool he claims
it is selling for 13 cents per pound.
If this is the case the flock should
desire free wool, for without the
II cents duty he is only getting
2 cents per pound for his fleece.
1t the tariff on wool raises the price
OF wool to l3 cents per pound and
makes sheep raising profitable
business, why does not the tariff on
hides increase the price of cattle?
which, under republican tariffs are
now selling at D CENTS per pound,
AS to lead: There has never
been time in the history of the
United States when there was not
tariff on lead ore, the tariff vary
ing at times from one cent to three
0nnfG Vrv1n~
called Free Trade Wilson bill there
was tariff of cents per pound,
or $50 per ton on lead ores. The
only time that lead was ever on
the free list was during the admin
istration of republican President
Garfield, whose republican secre-
tary of the treasury, John Sherman
placed lead on the free list, under
a ruling of the republican judiciary
committee Of the U. S. senate. At
that time the republican tariff act
of 1888 was in force, and it imposed
a tariff tax of two cents per pound
upon imported lead ores. By some
manipulation it was held by secre-
tary Sherman that certain ores
coming from Mexico was not lead
ore, because it contained silver.
How this decision came about is
not pertinent here, although !
could make some highly interest
ing revelation concerning it. The
railroads running from Mexico to
to the U. S. may have urged it in
order to increase their freight ship
ments, or the smelters on the
American side may have wanted
it to flux with our native ores.
The how or why is immaterial
now. The one prominent fact
which stands out with all the
brilliancy of an electric light in
the cloud of ignorance and misrep-
resentation with which the subject
is presented to the voters, is the
fact that a republican secretary of
the treasury, under a republican
president, and by and with the
advice, consent and knowledge of
a republican judiciary committee
of a republican senate, put a forced
and strained construction upon the
republican tariff act of 1888, and
nullified that act SO far as lead is
concerned by inaugurating Free
Trade in Mexican lead ores.
These are frozen facts which can
be verified by the official records of
our country. There is no occasion
for dishonesty or Misrepresentation
to enter into the most spirited cam
paign, and those who descend to the
use of such weapons are charlatans
who presume to impose upon the
ignorance of the credulous and
unthlnking. Men may, and do
honestly differ about the merits
of the protective tariff and free
trade theories, but there can be no
dispute about the facts as have
given them above, and if my state
ments are proved not to be facts I
will give $50 to the republican
campaign fund, though it breaks
my heart to do it.
4 hS SNhoVoi presumably udS
some acquaintance with mining
matters in the Occur d'Alenes. He
should know that nobody mines for
lead this side of the Missouri river.
1t is not the lead, but the silver
that the Occur d Alenes are inter-
ested in. The lead is simply by
product. The silver is what gives
the Coeur d'Alene ores their
values. There is additional pro-
lection for lead in the fact that it
is heavy product, and the freight
on it is high. The freight rate on
ores coming from Mexico to Dem
yer, for instance, is 500 per ton.
/ should like the senator to ex-
plain how it comes about that the
tariff on lead is responsible for the
high wages paid in the Occur d.
Alenes, while the people who mine
for "salt lead" in Illinois, Iowa,
Kansas and Missouri only pay
their labor 80 cents per day? And
ought we not to have a law to pro-
tect the Idaho miners from the
cheap mining labor of the states?
And what about the Lead Trust
which controls the supply and fixes