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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1892)
IN FREE TRADE JAPAN f;. WHERE ABLE BODIED MEN EARN 06 CENTS A WEEK. Ami Whfrw Women Hlnre for Twenty Four Cents • Week — Labor la One of the Minor Considerations In All Free Trade Centers—In Amerlea the Chief. The British minister tit Toklo, In an interesting report reviewing the prog ress of Japan in establishing home in dustries, suggests that, at the present rat* of progress, ‘‘the Japanese t will after a time hold their own with their instructors, anil without any assist ance of a protective tariff shut im porters out of their markets.” Wo oro told that "since 1880 the amount of yarn annually produced in Japan has in creased nearly sevenfold. During this period—from 1880 to 1800—the impor tation of yarn increased steadily for a time. Home consumption and demand for export to Chinn encouraged the supply up to 1888, when the imports were nearly double those of two years before. In IS'.K) the importations had fatten off by one-third, while the home production had steadily increased. It is natural to suppose that this decline in imports is immediately connected with the growth of native manufact Fnrthor on, however. Minister Fraser lets in a flood of light on the secret of Japuncse ability to eopc with the for eign manufacturer. It is simply the low rate of wages that prevails in Japan. Minister Fraser describes as the advantages enjoyed by the Japan ese mill owner the fact .hat “he can keep his machinery going through the whole twenty-four hours, while he pays In wages the low rates of eight pence a day to men anil from two pence to five pence to women. ’ ’ The equivalcn t fn American money is sixteen cents a day for men and from four to ten cents a day for women. If the mill opera tives in Japan work six days in the week the women receive from twenty four cents to sixty cents a week, and the men receive ninety-six cents a •week. * It should be remembered that these 'figures are given in an official report from the official British representative in Japan to his'home government, anil are no doubt the result of careful in . ■qulry and accurate information. if American manufacturers should pay their employes the Japanese froo trade wages of from twenty-four vents to ninety-six cents a week there is no doubt that they could get along with out fear of British competition. But American manufacturers have no desire -to pay and American employes have no •desire to receive the free trade wages Sill,700, or about four to every hun dred of name nge. Eight in each hundred of those be tween 00 and 05 years, or 05,880 in all. are paupers. Over 05 years, twenty-six out of every hundred, or more than one in four, depend on public charity, of whom the total amounts to 313,002. These are the estimates made by lien, Booth of the Salvation army in his recently issued book, “Pauperism, A Picture.” While strength and health last, the sturdy Briton, as a rule, beurs up somehow, no matter how low his wages, against the burdens of his miserable free trade existence. Hut when old ago drawB near he is forced to the poorhouse to end his days. Hero are (len. Booth’s own pathetic comments on the sad facts ho sets, forth: “Old age fares hardly in our times,” “Life runs more intensely than it did, and the old tend to lie thrown out.” “The community gains by this, but the old suffer.” “They suffer beyond any measure of actual incapacity, for the fact that a man is old is often in itself enough to debar him from obtaining work, and it is in vain he makes pretense by dyeing liis hair or wearing falso teeth.” It will be a sad day for America when we experience such conditions here, as we surely would under free trade.—American Economist. Tlie Force BUI. There are Republicans who are in some doubt as to the kind of legislation needed to secure an honest ballot in the South and stop the prostitution of elec tion laws and machinery in that sec tion. They are ready to listen to any honest argument or suggesstion in re.-» gard to this matter, but it may ns well be understood at once that they will yield nothing to the bullying spirit and insolent falsehoods of the Democratic platform in its denunciations of the “Force bill.” “Plantation manners" have been squelched in Congress and it is about time the bullying insolence of slavery should bo omitted from the Democratic platforms. The ex-rebols have suffered enough by this time to know that the North is not to be bullied and that no cause is to be helped in this country by Democratic curses and falsehoods.—National Bulle tin. Democrats Never Resign Anything. Chairman Harrity will not resign his office ns Secretary of the State of Pennsylvania while running Mr. Cleve land’s campaign. Chairman Harrity holds the best paying office in the State of Pennsylvania with one excep tion, and is besides president of the THE GREATEST ISSUE. QUESTIONS FOR THE ENEMIES OF AMERICAN PROTECTION. It la on That Question That We Host Stand or Full—Can any of Tour Demo cratic Friends Give a Satisfactory Answer to These Questions? The American Economist occasion ally asks a few questions. The lust installment is as follows: If free trade and slavory did not go hand-in-hand, why was John C. Cal houn a protectionest until he became the representative of the Blave power? If trusts are due to the tariff, what was the cause of the anthracite coal trust? If the American laborers are so effi cient that they do not need protection, why do free traders doubt their ability to make tin plate? If Cleveland is not a demagogue, why does he misrepresent the condition of our country in order to gain a partisan advantage? If the Mills bill was not a sectional measure, why did it leave the duties on southern products unchanged while abolishing or greatly reducing the duties on the products of the north? If the result of free trade is to'in crease importation of competing articles, why will it not correspond ingly discourage their manufacture in this country? If invention is not stimulated by pro tection, why did it always progress more rapidly in protective than free trade policy? If free trade is productive of hard times, why were there hard times in every free trade era our country has had? If “cheapness” is desirable, why do the people of other lands where “cheapness” rules flock to this coun try? If protection is un-Democratie, why was Jefferson a protectionist? If it prevents us from exporting why are our exports greater than ever be fore? * If free trade would benefit labor, why were free traders from Adam Smith to Bonamy Price and Perry all opposed to shorter hours in a working day? If reciprocity is a “sham,” why is it detested by Great Britain? If “free raw materials" are the ne cessity, why did free traders repeal the duty on cotton ties and retain it on hoop iron? If wages are regulated by demand for and supply of labor, how will the destruction of American industries raise them? If mugwumps are not un-American, pgcRS ( DEM.0 <y Net ,n WAGES OF- ” #6,377,32.5*; IN THE -YCAH /89id /IS coiap^ep w/r/ys TWE /jMOlWT p/j;p^ /890. IN «**?■ *rp - , If " COMMISSIONER PECK’S REPORT. GROVER AND HIS CAMPAIGN COMPATRIOT GET A TERRIBLE SHOCK FROM THEIR OWN CAMP, l t , -ft V / . '• & &<!■ *?■ • :+.. (;i:V ^either of Great Britain or Japan. This report of Minister Fraser is of great interest and importance for another reason. At the present rate of progress the twenty-four-cents-a week factory labor of Japan will soon . produce more than enough for tho Jap ' anese demand. Should the protective tariff be broken down in the United States the American market would be most convenient and accessible for the products of J apanese t wenty-four-cents a-week labor, and the quick and intel ligent Japanese would be sure not to miss the opportunity. It should mot be forgotten that European competition is not the only com petition against which it is necessary to protect American industries. There is a vast field of cheap labor in Asia that is rapidly acquiring civilized arts and that ia rapidly preparing to enter any Western market that may be thrown ■open to the world. In Asia labor counts as a minor expense in manu facturing; herb, in America, it is the principal expense. Free trade would ultimately and 'logically mean the degradation of American labor to the Asiatic level_ Hew York Press. •U‘i i r Iv irt Tariff Sermon. Free trade and poverty are Siamese twins. In free trade England there were 3,317,104 paupers, exclusive of lunatics amd vagrants in the year 1890-91. They included persons of all ages. There were 315,437 under 10 years oi .-age, or about three in every hundred oi <t)M total population of similar age. Between 16 and 69 years, there were site im Equitable Trust company of Philadel phia. Senator Quay, who once held the same office, resigned it before un dertaking the management of another campaign. Chairman Carter promptly resigned his office of commissioner of the land office upon accepting the chairmanship of the National Republi can committee. Joseph it. Manley of Maine resigned the postmastership at Augusta. Maine, before even accepting a position for the campaign on the na tional executive committee. “Free Trade” Defined. Properly understood, the term “free trade” means not the abolition of all tariffs, but that import trade shall be free of taxes levied to protect home in dustry. Such taxes as imports can easily bear and still monopolize the American market are said to be im posed for revenue only. Thus large, revenues may be raised by taxing im ports, and yet there will be a condt tion of “free trade,” that is of trade free from protective, defensive or dis criminated taxes adjusted to benefit [home industries. I Free trade thus means simply trade free from protective, but not from revenue taxes. The Democratic de mand is not to destroy the tariff alto gether, but to adjust It so it will not j protect home industries, but merely raise revenue and not interfere with the control of the American market by, foreign manufacturers. The conflict between free trade and protection is irrepressible and must be fought out to the bitter end. We spit upon compromises, and propose neither to ask nor to give quarter.—Henry Wat teraon. wlyr do they sneer at the American flair? If British workingmen were bene fited by free trade, why did Cardinal Manning’ speak of the “world of wealth and the world of want,” as typified in the condition of the Eng lish peopled If patriotism means love of conntry, why is it not patriotic to support the products and industries of one’s own country before all others? If the decline of American shipping is not due to the want of protection, why did it always advance until pro tection was withdrawn? If the Democrats are not reaffirming the confederate constitution, why did they make that document the pattern for their free trade platform? If the mission of thd United States is to “produce cotton and wheat at low prices,” how comes it that we are the greatest of manufacturing nations? Hoi mam. Holman, the economist, is fairly beaten by the record of expenditure of Congress. He whines in extenuation that the increase over the appropria tions by the Fifty-first Congress are due to legislation .by that Congress. He means the pension legislation, nota bly the dependent pension bill. But no attempt has been made by the ■ Democratic House to repeal that legis lation. They had not the courage. At the same time it is safe to say that there will be no future increase of ex penditures made necessary by pension legislation enacted by this Congress Only native or naturalized citizens are permitted to work on the streets of New Bedford, Mass. How the Son 111 llrrelved tbe Olive Brandi of Pence Offered by (lie Peo ple’* Parly. Tba platform of the People’s party contains this noble sentiment: "We deelare that this republic can only en dure As a free government while built upon tho love of the whole people for each other and for the nation; that it cannot be pinned together by bayo nets; that the civil war is over, and that every passion and resentment which grew out of it must die with it. and that we must be in fact as we are in name, one united brotherhood of freemen.” Upon this platform they nominated an ex-Confederate general. Here was an olive branch laden with luscious fruit. With that in his hand General Weaver, the presidential nominee, went into tbe south to advocate his party’s cause. Instead of being given a respectful bearing he was mobbed. Think of it. The preferred choice for the presidency of the great party in America, denied a hearing in this land of free speech and freemen. Nor was that all. The ladies of his party, his wife and Mrs. Leese, the "Patriok Henry in petticoats” assaulted with rot ten eggs! And this in the land of boasted chivalry! When Miss Winnie Davis, tie “Daughter of the Confed eracy” was in the north some years ago, she every where received marked courtesy. The only lady who declined to receive her was Mrs. Cleveland. W’hat a contrast. Jefferson Davis’ daughter showered with kindness; Mrs. W'eaver showered with rotten eggs. The Georgia delegation voted solidly for Cleveland in the Chicago convention. The democratic party hopes to elect Grover Cleveland, who was nomin ated by the south, by throwing the election into the house of representa tives, which they hope to do by voting themselves for the Weaver electors. Will you aid them in this attempt? Will the true men of the north become the cat’s paw for the south? The votbrs.of Nebraska who were formerly republicans are earnestly re quested to read the following state ment before voting at the next election. Admitting that you believe in the prin ciples of the people's party, and in the measures advanced by that party to promote the general prosperity of the nation and earnestly desire the election of Weaver, how is it to be ac complished? If Weaver and Field were to carry all the following states, although they do not claim more than thirteen of them the result would be: Aianama .n Arkansas. 8 California. 9 Colorado.4 F.orida.. 4 Georgia.13 Idaho. 3 Iowa. . ..1, North Carolina.11 Oregon . 4 South Dakota.4 Texas. :.15 Washing on. 4 nunsas.1) Louisiuna. 8 Minnesota .0 Mississippi. 0 Missouri...17 Montana. 3 Nebraska. 8 Nevada. 3 North Dakota.n south Carolina.9 rennessee.12 Virginia.12 Wyoming. 3 I Total, Accessary to choice, 223. VVeaxer and Field would therefore . still need 18 votes in the electoral col | lege. But no one will now claim that I the people’s party can carry ail of j these 26 states. Weaver himself says ; he will carry 13 states. It is impos sible to name thirteen states exclusive of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio | which will give him a majority in the j electoral college. The only resuit ! therefore possible for his candidacy is | to throw the election into the house of representatives which insures the elec i tion of Grover Cleveland, who is op posed to every plank in the people’s party platform; is a gold bug. opposed to the coinage of any silver whatever; thinks reciprocity a •■sham”and is op posed to free speech especially by the speakers of the people's party. The democrats-are seeking to elect Cleveland by voting for Weaver elec tors in a few northern states and thereby throwing the election of pres ident into the house of representa tives, which is don6 when no candi date has a majority in the electorial college. They are very friendly to the people's party in the horth, but in the south it is different. The New York World of Oct. 9th. Cleveland's personal organ in New York, contains a two column extract from the speech delivered in Georgia by H. W. J. Ham of that state, accompanied by his port rait. To show his regard for the peo ple’s party and the respect entertained for them by Cleveland's supporters we (juote me iouowing extract irom the World's account of the speech: •‘After jumping1 on the women's guff, rage plank he asks the boys in a con fidential way if they have ever seen Mrs. Lease. “Well. I have, ” says he. “Well, bovs, she is a plumb sight. If I had a hound dog that would bark at her as she passed by the gate. I'd kill him before night She could sit on a stump in the shade and keep the cows out of a one-hundred-acre confield without a gun. She's got a face that’s harder and sharper than a butcher’s clever. I could take her by her heels and split an inch board with it. She’s got a nose like an ant-eater, a voice like a cat fight and a face that is rank poison to the naked eye." “The conditions in Georgia now," he will begin his speech, “are signifi cant because all * the old elements which have always fought democracy, the snollygosters. shoulder-hitters and sons of guns, the discordant elements, every atom of which is a storm center of political disintegration, are mus tered under this piebald banner of so called reform." “In describing what will become of the Third party he gives this little al legory: “I have somewhere read a story of a lion who lay asleep in a for est. There came along a pestiferous little animal whose name I will not call who. with an oid grudge against the lion, thought it would be some sat isfaction to slip up and bite him, for he thought be was dead. He awoke and simply placed his paw uoon this pestiferous little animal! and all that was left of him was a greasy soot in the sand and a little stench. ••I want to tell you, my fellow clti the democratic lion in Geor. gia is alive ana awake, and in Novem ber he will place the paw of his power upon this pestiferous little skunk of a Third party, and all that will be left of it will be a little greasy spot in the sand and a little stench.” What shall it profit a party to carry Nebraska for Weaver and thereby elect Cleveland and put in power a gang of men that treat them in this manner, and wbo ridicule and reject every idea advanced by it. If you fa vor free coinage of silver, why elect a man who openly advocates the com plete demonetization of that metal. If you favor 1 ’fair and liberal pensions” why vote so as to elect a man who does not believe in giving any. Price* of Perm Products. If the farmer will carefully study the changes in the market price of all farm products by a comparison of the far mer's price and the manufacturing price, or in other words, the price on the farm and the price at the factory, he will see what an advantage manu facturing states have over those which are purely agricultural. The manu facturing states during the past year have been paying an average of 91 cents for corn, 9a cents for wheat; 60 cents for rye, 35 cents for oats, 60 cents for barley, 58 cents for Irish po tatoes, and $11.25 per ton for hay; while in the agricultural states the av erage price for the same period was for corn 25 cents, wheat 66 cents, rye 34 cents, oats 20 cents, barley 40 cents, Irish potatoes 25 cents, and hay $5, SO per ton, being an average of about 60 per cent, in favor of the manufactur ing states. It cannot be said that the cost of production in Pennsylvania is any greater than it is in Wisconsin, therefore the comparison leads the thoughtful producer in this investiga tion to clearly see and understand that the farm needs the factory in order to secure the best prices. I The Farmer and Agricultural Imple* menu-Are Not the Prices Eonrer Than Ever Before KnoVrnl We have been living now tor nearly | thirty years under the protective sys | tem. It protection has oppressed the farmer by increasing his expenses, then clearly he ought to be paying more to-d^y for his necessaries than he paid, say, ten years ago; certainly, he would be paying more than the British farmer pays, for the British revenue system even longer than ours has been a protective system. But the fact is that the American farmer ’ pays in the American market less money for all his supplies in 1892 than he had to pay in 1880; he paid in 1880 less than in 1870, and in 1870 less than in 18C0, when we were living under a free-trade revenue; and he pays to-day in the American market, protected as it is from foreign assault, less money than the British farmer pays in the British market, open though it be to the production of the whole world, i We have been protecting all the ma. | chines mentioned and England has not, i and if protection raises prices and | free trade lowers them, as the dem ■ ocrats allege, how under the sun can it happen that farming implements here are cheaper than in England? In an address delivered at the Farmer’s congress, in Chicago, in 1887, the Hon. 'l'hos. H. Dudley, of New Jer sey, formerly our Consul at Liverpool, made this pertinent statement: "Something over three years ago I attended the national agricultural ex hibition of France. It was held in Paris, and a _ grand exhibition it was, quite worthy of the great nation it represented. I spent four days at the exhibition. There were fourteen or fifteen acres of ground covered with farming implements, tools, machinery, etc. All the exhibitors had their price lists upon their exhibits, and I was careful to obtain copies of them. The lowest priced horse-rake was 250 francs, or $50 dollars of our money. You can buy one just as good in any town in the United States for $27. The lowest priced mower was $102 in our money, and was no better than we sell for $00, if as good. The lowestpriced reaper, without the binder, was $185 no better than ours for $110. The plows, harrows and cultivators were 20 per cent above the price they are selling for in the United States. There was not a hoe, fork, shovel, spade or rake on the ground but was dearer in price and inferior in quality to ours. •■i mere lore repeat what X nave said before, that under our protective tariff tbe prices of all manufactured com modities, instead of being' enhanced, have actually been reduced, and that nine-tenths of all manufactured com modities now used by our farmers and latwrine people in the United States are as cr ■ -ip as they are in England, anti in m»uy instances cheaper.” I U lio \l|l| Vote to Hake America a I Free Trade Country? ! “It is an awful fact—it is really not ! sh°rt of awful—that in this country ' ; (Great Britain) with all its wealth, all its vast resources, all its power, 45 per I cent—that is to say, nearly one j half—of the persona who reach the j age of 60 are or have been paupers. I eay that it is a tremendous fact, and I cannot conceive any subject more ! worthy of the attention of the Legisla ture, more worthy of-the attlention of us all.”—John Morley. A Free Trade Flclnre. [By an Englishman.] “Though England is deafened with spinning-weels, her pople. have not clothes; though she is black with the digging of fuel, they die of cold, and though she has sold her soul for grain, they die of hunger.”—John Ruskin. Horses. Again, how many farmers are aware of the fact that there were 62,411 head of horses imported and sold in the i United States in 1888, and only 2,263 i exported. This is depriving the farm ers of the United States of the sale of over 60.000 horses annually; and the same is true for each of the past five years. Most of these horses came from Canada, and, under the old law paid a duty of 20 per cent ad valorem on a value of about $45 per head; while under the McKinley bill th«. will have to pay at least $30 per head. j which will undoubtedly stop their coming: here, and the farmers of tb> United States will reap the benefit! thereof. Calttle.. In 1887 there were 72,668, head et beef cattle imported into our markets thus adding to our surplus and depre. dating the valuer paying a duty of |y per head. The average importation for the past five years has been 88,000 per year. Now, the act passed by the republican party says to the Canadian (most of these cattle come from Cana, da), you must pay us a tax of (10 per head if you want to sell your steers in the United States.” Is not this all right? Buckwheat. Why not protect the farmers of tbs United States in raising farm products? Why should farmers of other countries find a market in the United States (or 65.000 bushels of buokwheat and pay only ten per cent, ad valorem duty? Why not make them pay us fifteen cents per bushel, as provided in the McKinley bill? It would take over 6.000 acres to produce the buckwheat that was imported in 1889. Flaxseed. Last year 1,583,941 bushels of flax seed were imported .ana none exported. So the republicans said: “We will put a tax of thirty cents per bushel on flaxseed, ” for the benefit of the far. mers. Saur Kraut. Canada sent $54,230 worth of saur kraut, $4,100 worth of peanuts, $2,564 worth of sweet potatoes, 200.000 bar rels of turnips, besides cabbage, caul iflower and other vegetables, which our Eastern farmers can raise just at well as not, instead of raising so ex clusively the less profitable crops of wheat, oats and corn. The duty on all vegetables not classified was in creased from ten to twenty-five per cent, ad valorem. Barley. We have been importing’ from Can ada some eleven million bushels of barley and malt annually. A large number of the farmers of the United States ask to have the tariff raised from ten cents per bushel to thirty cents per bushel (48 lbs.) The re publican party says “all right, we propose to help the farmer,” and so they increase the tariff on barley. JThe average yield per acre in the United States is given at twenty-two bushels per acre, and it will take 477,000 acres to produce what barley is imported from Canada. Potatoes* We Imported in 1888, 8,259,533 bushels of potatoes upon which a duty of fifteen cents per bushel was paid. Eastern farmers asked to have the duty raised to twenty-five cents per bushel, and this was done in order to help the farmers of the United States. ' Beans. The same year there was imported 1,942,864 bushels of beans and peas, paying a duty of ten cents per bushel. Our farmers requested this duty raised to forty cents per bushel. This was done, and at the same time the duty was raised on a long list of other vegetables for the benefit of the Eas tern farmers. This was ail right was it not? For if the Eastern States raise commodities they will not be raising wheat, oats, corn, and stock, and this will help the Western farmer. Hay. There was 100,269 tons of hay im parted in 178, paying a duty of two dollars per ton. McKinley and the Republicans thought they could help the farmers in this and so made the duty four dollars per ton. It will re quire 100,000 acres to produce the im ported hay. Hops. We are importing annually an av erage of about 7,000,000 pounds of hops more than we export, and it would require seven thousand acres to produce these. The tariff, formerly eight cents per pound, is now fifteen cents. A Farmer’s Letter. “Mono Valley, Kans. ••My Dear Sir: What will the Democrats and Mugwumps do with the tariff this session of Congress? As you know, I am a farmer and quite an old man, and I have lived in this country a good many years when we had de mocracy and free trade, and I know what they are. In those days I drew wheat from my farm in Indiana to Vin cennes, a distance of 45 milea and sold it for 33 cents a bushel, and took calico at S5 cents a yard, and very common brown sugar at 14 cents a pound, and as is generally known, there is much sand in Vincennes, and the merchants were troubled with optical delusions, and could not tell the dif ference between common brown sugar and yellow sand, and, as a result, when we would get home we would find our sugar badly mixed with sand. Bemembering all this, I say, as an old farmer, may the good Lord deliver us from democracy and free trade. • •Can’t you send me some docu ments?" [Laughter.] Yours truly, W. H. Harper, ••Hon. R W. Perkins, Washington, D. C." Ttae Truth About Van Wfck. Lincoln, Oct. 9, 1890. To all Members of the Independent People’s Committees, and to the Vo ters of Nebraska: __ It having become evident that Mr. \ an Wyck has turned squarely against the independent movement, and is using his influence to defeat the inde pendent candidates, we recommend that he be not invited to adrress inde pendent meetings nor given an oppor tunity to use his unfriendly influence. Geo. W. Blake, Chairman State Central Cons. C. H. PlBTLK, Secretary State Central Com.