Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-04-28
The Tariff Made CITY.

Ida M. Tarbell has written an arti-
Gle, which is printed in the May num-
Der of the American magazine. under
the title of "A Tariff Made City
What 1t Does for the Workingmen."
She evidently is describing and de-
nouncing Pittsburg, Pa. The burning
Indignation which she shows rs
founded on two facts-firSt, Pittsburg
is a city whose chief industries are
founded on a high tariff; second,
recent investigation shows the most
awful condition of poverty and over
work among Pittsburg workingmen.
Miss Tarbells article ought to con-
vince dGubters that the robber tarlh
is not made to better the conditions
of labor. but is made to enable tariff
protected industries to lay heavy
tribute upon the people. A high pro-
tective tariff has the effect 10 make
the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Miss Tarbell, among other things.
says:
among the worst illustrations of
these typical conditions are certain
properties owned by the very corpora
tions who are reaping wealth from the
tariff protected products. These bene-
ficiaries of the generosity of the
American people. these gentlemen VINO
when they see the taxation in their
interest threatened hold up the laborer
and his good as a reason for continu-
ins it, what do. they say when these
conditions are pointed out to them:
We don't want to go into the housing
business. We are manufacturers, not
real estate dealers. We may be forced
to build houses in certain new districts
in order to attract and hold labor, but
in an old, settled community let the
laboring man take care of himself. We
don't believe in paternalism.'
"They have no more interest In pre-
serving the lives of the men who do
the terrible toll necessary to their
wealth than in giving them decent
housing. For years the death rate from
typhoid fever in Pittsburg has been
the highest of any city in the civilized
world. Everybody knew it. Every
body knew why. There was no supply
of pure drinking water. A filtration
plant was needed. Did any Pittsburg
millionaire offer to build it-insist that
the industries which called the vast
army of labor to Pittsburg should
build it? No, they left corrupted
city government to fight over the ap-
preparations for the work and scat
tered in endowments and in institu-
tions in other cities and other states,
many times the five millions needed in
Pittsburg to save the lives of the
workmen. They hold up to the world
for admiration their love of great
material problems-they argue with
the American people that their skill in
solving these problems is a good and
sufficient reason for continuing general
taxation in their favor. But prob
lem which worked out would benefit
nobody but the humble two-dollar-a
day man who sweats out his life IN
the heat of their profitable furnaces
does not interest them. 1t might SAVIOR
of paternalism!
This Pittsburg survey is the most
awful arraignment of an American IN
stitution and it's resulting class pro-
nounced since the days of slavery. 1t
puts upon the Pittsburg millionaire
the awful stamp of greed, of stupidity
and, of heartless pride. But what
should we expect of him? He is the
creature of a special privilege whic!
for years he has not needed. He has
fought for it because he fattened on
Lit. He must have it for labor, But
| look at him and look at his laborer
and believe him if you can.
"Justice takes terrible revenge On
those who thrive by privilege. She
blinds their eyes until they no longer
see human misery. She dulls Their
hearts until they no longer beat with
humanity. She benumbs their senses
until they respond only to a narrow
horizon of what they can individually
possess. touch. feel She makes, as she
has in Pittsbmg, generation of men
and women who day by day can pass
hundreds of tumbled down and filthy
homes. in which the men and women
who make their wealth live, and fee
no shock; who can know that deadly
fevers and diseases which are pre-
ventable are wiping out hundreds OF
those who do their tasks, and raise no
hand. Little children may die or grow
! up stunted and evil within their sight
and no penny of their wealth, no hour
of.their leisure is given them. Women
may pass hours of incessant toll and
die. broken and unhonored within their
sight, and they raise no hand. Wealth
-