Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-09-11

pie who are now being robbed by ex-
tortionate prices enacted under the
shelter for tariff
$50 the issue is again drawn clearly
and plainly, tariff for protection
against tariff for revenue only.
"a tariff for protection should be so
levied as to collect the bulk of our re-
venues from goods imported and which
we can ourselves produce, thus giving
our own producers the benefit of our
own market.
Our Own Market.
"And why should we not have this
market? 1t is the product of our own
industry. 1t has proven to be the
great source of industrial success and
commerce, and consumes 81 per cent
of all of our products.
"Our home market is preserved TO
us through the operation of the pro.
tective tariff, and after the lesson OF
the Wilson bill, the present generation
is not ready to renew another such eH-
perience.
Our opponents, on the other hahd,
declare in favor of tariff for revenue
only. To levy a tariff for revenue only
means to so frame 1t as not to give
protection to our industries. A pro-
tective tariff is levied upon products
which we do or can produce. tarlll
for revenue only is levied on the things
which we do not produce. For instance
the duty on raw silk is tarlH for rev
enue only as we do not produce II. "A
tariff on manufactured silk is for pro-
lection, because we can and co manu-
facture sill, goods from the raw prod
ucts.
FREQ Coal.
This congressional district contains
nearly 1000 coal miners. There Is no
employment requiring more severe 'oii'
and they should be we'll paid
1.-THE distance from the sea coast pre-
vents competition with their products,
directly. from abroad. But not so as 20
the states along borders of the ocean.
washington must compete with British
Columbia and Pennsylvania, and west
Virginia with Nova Scotia, and every
ton of coal imported into our sea coas.
cities takes the place of like amour.
that would be mined by American
MINERS, The miners who may be
thrown out of employment in Pennsyl-
yania. Virginia or the State of WASH
ington must seek employment else
where and SO the miner of Iowa IS
brought face to face with the erect "
tho democratic proposition OF free coai.
'The miners we'll remember how the
Wilson bill affected their Interests.
They were cut in all directions. me
foreign coal brought to the sea coas.
MT men out of employment and sent
| them to Iowa for work, in competltlol,,
with our own workmen. But free coal
is nv no means the worst threat OF the
Iowa democratic platform against the
| 900 miners of this district.
rL T.. M.roorv
"A tariff for revenue only ana inc
decrease in American manufacturers az
tendant thereon would greatly de-
crease the consumption of coal and
thus diminish the employment OF MN
ers I saw. with full belief, that TINS
| would be the case, because 1t always
| has been the result; and the experience
| of our mine workers under the wilson
bill is recent enough to be fresh IN inc
memory of this important and nutner-
Gus class of toilers
zone of the best tests of the work
ing of protection is the operation OF our
! coal mines. >, 49,,
..In the year 1896, miners IN Iowa
were employed at digging coal at sev-
enty-five cents per ton IN Mahasha
county, Monroe and Wapello, and other
counties having similar veins ana
quality Of COAL
Minimum Loss.
"They were not fully employed but
at the low rate of digging lost more
than the normal or natural amount o.
time for lack of market for their OUT
put In 1906 miners are receiving nlne-
ty-f1ve cents per ton for the same klnc
of work and their loss of time for wan.
of a market is almost wholly confined
to the summer season. Work Is stead
Ter and wages higher In the mining
regions Of the state.
"The proposition to allow all foreign
coal free entry into the United States
and to change the tariff to the revenue
basis will certainly not be enthuslas'
| tically received by the coal miners Of
Iowa or any other part of the Unitee
States.
"They know what happened wher
the Wilson bill reduced the duty or
coal to forty cents ton, ana now
is proposed to make it wholly free.
I'm 1896 underground day workmeI
received $2.10 in winter for ten hours
work: in 1905 they received $2.56 fol
| eight hours work The miners nov
work twenty-five per cent more days II
a wear and work two hours less PEE
day. :,
Il 'In 1896 coal sold at the mine fol
$125 per ton to s1.4o. In 1905 1t sells
for $3.50 to $1.75
Y Work Shorter Hours.
Though miners work shorter hours
sanitary conditions have been improv
ed, thanks to organization. better laws
and better understanding with en-
ployers; and the average output is tel
; per cent greater in the eight hour da!
; than in the old ten hours.
These are gratifying results. l
needs no diagram to enable the miners
Of Iowa to understand that If two mil
lions of tons of free duty coal are i'm
4 ported for use in the sea coast cite
and on the railways, that that mucl
less coal viii! be dug in the United
States. and somebody will again be on
Of a job and 1t will be the American
miner who will be hit.
1.-The present congress has been on
of promise and Of performance. 1t ha
been we'll called Congress Of Achieve
rlent" The President has don
things" and the congress has enabled
him IT, do them.
Sixtieth Congress.
I'm the year 1894. in the second hal
of Mr.. Clevelano's second term, tn
people found that the change they he
voted for in 1892 was something Whir