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About Plattsmouth weekly journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1881-1901 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1894)
THE TARIFF. ynopU of the Debate In the National Hoom mt Ueoreitentatives. A quorum baviig been secured in the bouse on lbe Mb a rule was adopted fixing January 23 as the time for taking The roie on tbe Wil-on bill. Mr. W'iIQ. in committee of the whole, then opened the debate In favor of the pending measure. He said no great question bad boen bo ttiorourhly brought out before tbe American people as the qielion of tariff reform. It had been thoroughly discussed, loth as to the ren eral print iples and as to its practical workings, and the people had finally reached a definite juclpment and clven to this administration their definite instructions. The bill about to be con sidered presents a scheme of tariff reform pre pared by the appropriate committee of the bouse, which it Is now for the house to a n slder and to deal w 1th in its own deliberate Judgment . Any bill passed by conpress under present conditions, at least, must te essorily represent in lis ce'.ails seme compromise of opinion among those intrusted wi;h its preparation. He cid not believe that the country would underrate the difficulties confronting those who to attempted to revise ar.d reform our tariff ystem. Among these difficulties were the dropping away of friends whose leal for reform as In proportion to the square of the distance from their ow n localities and their own itdus tries, und otl.er friends who differed in Judg ment as to the method now to be pursued. The pTiat commercial distress which has in recent months come upon the country, parilyz tt? so manv industries and throwing so many thouaanus out of employment, made the tank of reform the more difficult, while it made the nec essity lor tlie reform more inperious than ever. At what time couid tales be lessened wi h frreatt-r justice and creater humanity than at a time wheu thousacda are strwrnling for tue bure necessaries of life, and when could we with greater timeliness arid benefit strike some of the fetters from production and trade than when prediction is suppressed by its burdeus and trade humored by m restrict. ons A third Oifflculty in the way of reform now is the emptiness of the treasury. We are caileJ upon to reuuee tases at a time when government debts are runtilng so low that daily revenues have ceased to meet daily expenditures. During the four years of the last adminis tration we had plunged headlong from an over Eowing treasury to a bankrupt treasury, and thai, loo, without any lessening of the burdens of taxation upon the people, but rather by a most substantial and oppressive increase of taxes. The Flfty-tlrst congress dealt with the treas ury surplus after the true aud traditional methods of protection, which was to lessen or tbolish those taxes w hich pass directly aad un diminished from the pockets of the tax-payer to the public treasury, and to increase those taxes which were intercepted in their pas mr'e trom the pockets of the tax-payers to the public treasury by the private toil gatherer. The McKinley bill reduced the in ternal revenue taxes on manufactured tobacco, abolishing siiecial taxes on dealers and manu facturers of tooacco, and wiped out the duties on raw sugar, which lor years pnat bad been our chief revenue-producing article on the cus toms list Both of these tuxes were in a just and proper sense revenue taxes and neiihf r of thm should have been touched so long as the rales of du;y upon clo.ninj and oilier necessary articles of consumption were so enormously oppressive Tobacco taxes were reduced under the theory that tobacco hac becom a necessity tor the poor as well as the rich, but new an J Leavier taxes were laid on the w oolen Coining of the poor man. so indisper:s.ibie to his health and his productive euergy. Sagar was untaxed to give the American work ingmau a free breakfast table, but new taxeti were placed on bis cupk aud saucers, his plates and dishes, his coCee-put, bis kuives and forks.hi food and his table cover. In a word, he was relieved from the tuxes he paid his fovornm-n'. in order mat he mi?hl be made to pay much crt-ater taxes to the i-euefl-ciar.es of that bill These taxes would have yielded us tn the interval since their omission more tbin HaO.DJO.iAiU and would have saved us Irom any danger of a treasury deficit. The mac niacent surplus turned over by the Cleveland ailministra iion was thus scattered. A large portion of it was used to purchase at high premiums bonds noi yet due. In the first seven mouths of the Harrison administration tru.uou.oOj bonds were thus purchased at premi urns rarging Iron: 5 to 8 per cent- on thi bonds of 1-1, una from iTT to tZSt per cent, on the bonds due in 1J.". In the first five months of the fis cal year, liegihiiins July 1, 1SJ, over i&3,lM),iXW w as disbursed in the payment of bonds and in t jc prepayment of interest not yet due. The Fifty-first congress refunded tho direct tax to the states, a mere log-roiling scheme to pel at the tr?asury surplus, w h'.cu Mr Cleve land cad vetoed when attempted in a previous congress. This was a pure gratuity, but it has taken out of the treasury over iI4.uoo,0.nj. .ext came the sugar-bounty act. under which ecms amounting to I7,iaX,Unjo have been paid to sucar growers. L.ast of all. as the cLief means of distributing the surplus, was the uepen lent pension bill, under w hich our an nual pension expenditure has risen more than I6u.0ij0.uu Whatever rirht or justice toere might have breu in thin bill, it is very certain it would never have become a law but that those other pensioners, our protected indus tries, might have the nrxt pull and the largext profit out of the taxes gathered to pay the pen sioners. I do not believe those who voted to put the last administration in power expected ai-y re vision In m it :n tbe direction of Increasing tariff rates. The campaign of lbs was fought or the queMiou of reforming and reducing the existing tariff and not on the question of revising and raising the tariff of ltfcii No single interest in the country, either in congress or elsewhere, had the h-irdihood to asnert that it meant to de mund any increase of the protection accorded it by the till of lb;S, and it was only the wan tonness of self greed, rapacity and selfishness and the know ledge thai tneir demands, no mat ter how exorbitant, would be graciously ac corded, thai brought them to Washington in UM) to write, in their own interests, the suc cessive scheuulea of the McKinley bill. Under the operation of that bill taxes in every one of tbe important schedules have been mercilessly and needlessly increased In manu factures of wool they have been raised from an average of 70 to an average of luu per cent In manufactures of g.ass they have been talsed from an average of 51 to an average of 04 per cent- In manufactures of iron and steel, al though the year of 1857 had been a year of im mense production and prosperity to those in terests, tbe tariff was raised from an average of 36 to an average of (U per cent On cotton roods, although the tariff of 188.1 had boen made by the manufacturers themselves, duties were increased from an average of 40 to an average of i per cent Such i the bill we have been called cn to re vise in the interest of the people w ho consume, of the people who labor and of the people cum. prism thrt country in general, and of tae pros perity of the country itself. Mr. Wilson, who was in poor health, sug gested that he wouid like to finish his speech n the mix and on motion the committee rope. Mr. Wilson concluded his speech on tbe 8th. He began with a reference to tue legend which be said had always been vnscribed on the demo cratic banner: "'ioual rights to all and special privileges to none. ' The people had brought the democratic party into power on t'oe broad principle of equal justice to all He said: "The democratic tiarty raises Itself as one man. takes up this great cause, plants its standard here to sink or swim, survive or per ish, that the democratic party may continue in power. We will plant ih-i tanner here. W e mean to I ave a fight and we will call every tri e believer in democracy to rail to our side. Lei us call upon the American people, the silent masses, me farmers, scat tered, unable to organize Mho plod their way ui.der the burdens of taxa tion. Our petition boxes are fiiied wi:b protests of tbe trusts ana combinations of this country. Let us be true to our faith. Let us go forward until we make this a country where every man shall ste the gateway of opportunity- op ning before him. w here every man fehall see before him the opportunity to rise to such influence, to such prosperity as his own merits justify, not weighted down with burdens of taxation. Let us labor for a country free to all, equal to all, wi.h opportunity planted in every bome. In eveiy humble fireside in the laud." As Mr. Wilson finished the democratic side I broke into cheers and a wave of applause swept over tbe galleries. Mr. Burrows (rep., Mich.) replied to Mr. W ilson, and his remarks were liberally ap plauded by bis republican colleagues. Be said the measure under consideration had for its avowed object a radical modification of the tariff act of le& It involved not only a change j of rates, tut a complete reversal of an economic policy, lbe act of 1KM was enacted not only I with a view of securing revenue for the sup port of the government, but for tbe further ! purpose of glvirg encouragement to the crea- ' tion of new enterprises and protection to ' American industries and American workmen against unequal and Injurious foreign compe- j tluon. In its practical workings it accom- I plished both these renults. i The act went into effect October , 1890, and ; as a measure for revenne It met, so long as its I operation was undisturbed, the needed require ments of the government Since July 1. lnOJ however, there bad len a marked decline in the revenues until they bad actually fallen below the requirements for the public service. Thin de cline in the public revenues during the pres ent fiscal year was not attributable to any de fect In the law of 1830, but rather to the general derangement and prostration of business throughout the country. Tho ascendency of a political party pieaged to tho destruction of ocr protective policy had not only crippled and j suspended the operation of our domest.c manu factures, but the importer of foreign fabrics naturaUv curtailed his importations in the hope of securing their admlision into our mar kets upon more favorable conditions. He con fidently asserted that if the election of 18L2 had resulted in the retention of the republican party in lower, accompanied as it would have teen with the assurance of continuance of the American policy of protection, tne effect upon the public revenue, as well as general pros perity of the country, would have been entirely reversed. President Harrison only affirmed the truth of history when in his last annual messacre to congress he said: "So high a degree of pros perity and so great a diffusion of wealih were never before enjoyed by our people" This ex ultant declaration made but a little over one year ago. as it seems in tbe midst of present appalling conditions, was, nevertheless, grounded on Indisputable facts. W e are justified in asserting that the act of 1890, co'. Id its permanency have been assured, would have accomplished the doubln purpose for which it was enacted revenue and protec tion. The McKinley tariff never closed a mill in the United States, shut up a mine, stopped a wheel, blew out a furnace fire or drove a single workman into the streets. This general par alysis of business throughout tbe country comes solely from the ascendency of a political parly pledged to tbe repoal of the act of and the substitution therefor of a tariff divest ed of all protective features. With such a party in full control of the government is it any wonder that domestic manufacturers susiend operations until advised of the conditions under which they must market their output? Mr. Burrows then took up the tariff plank of tbe last democratic national platform and compared it with the South Carolina ordinance of nullification. He assorted that, whatever may have been the purpose of the majority in making this bill, in so far as it conforms to the democratic platform of lSSKi. it will, if enacted into law, prove disastrous to the interests in volved, and in so far as it seeks to redeem the pledges, it is either a confession of error or an exhibiton of cowardice. He said it wouid not escape notice that upon exam ination of the list of articles transferred from the dutiable to tbe free list the interests of the farmer seem to have been selected for special assault and destruction, as nearly one half of toe items embraced in this proposed traLsfer are the products of domestic husban dry. The bill is a free donation to foreigners, at a time, too, when the treasury of the United States is in pressing need of Increased re sources. There is cot in it even a suggestion of reciprocity. It is a told free trade gift the price paid for a democratic theory After calung attention to individual items of the pending bid, and. declaring that tbe minor ity in the bouse intended to rvsist to the last this wanton destruction of American indus tries, he said if there was any provision in the b.ll which would stimulate a single domestic industry or give employment to labor it had not been pointed out. Under the proposed policy of ad valorem for specific rates, coupled w-i-.h the induction proposfd, revenue aud do mestic industries will alike diminish and the latter in many instances disappear. Alter quoting from leading authorities a to the aJvanluge of specific duties, Mr. Hurrows sa.d ttarvmg families, clutching for th" la-' morsel or food, cannot be lulled into forgetful ness of present misery by the announcement oi lower ad valorem duties on the necessaries of Hie. Tramping tho streets, out of employ ment, receiving aims, lower ad valorems will net heal the wounueJ pride of the brave men wno never before were dependent upon public ci-arity. The laboring people of this country ask not lower ad valorems, but work. They prefer high ad valorems, constant employment and abundant wages to low ad valorems, idle ness and w ant After showing the growth of the country in recent years Mr. Durrows concluded as fol lows: "The record of this year's industrial an-i in d.vidual suffering resulting from this proposed legislation wUl Lever be made up It exceeds the possibility of human calculation, and I im plore you to abandon this suicidal policy. Have you not pursued i; far enough to be convinced of its disastrous consequences? You have it within your power to instantly relieve this appalling situation. You have only to substitute for the pend.ng measure a joint resolution declaratory of your pur Iise to maintain existing law in full force and effect during the continuance of this ad ministration and business aciiv.iy will instant ly lake the place of business depression. It would arrest the slaughter of our fioctts. open c ur mines, relight the tires of our furnaces, un chain the wbeeis or our industries, start every bpindle and loom, while whisdes and factory bells would call the tramping, starving millions liack from enforced idleness to profitable em ployment and the American republic would leap with a bound to its accustomed place in the van of industrial nations " Ail the conclusion of his speech there was a great outburst of republican applause. Mr. Black idem. 111 ) ben took tbe floor, and referred to Mr. Burrows' picture of dire disas ter in ibis country and said the suffering de picted by him existed after thirty years of laws written by his own party. Not a law baa been placed on tbe statute books by tbe demo cratic party since ISoO. The democratic party's responsibility for the laws came only with this congrea "'Before we took charge." said he. "the present condition of affairs had begun If that condition is due to existing law you can not say we did it So far as tne law is respon sible for the present conditions it is the law of the high protective tariff." Mr. Black proceeded to discuxs the condition of the agricultural classes, w ho are now, he said, borne down by the lowest prices since records have been kept. In referring to the state of affairs antecedent to tbe inauguration of Ih? protective policy he declared that no public and little private indebtedness existed then. Mr. Hopkins creo.. Ill; said that the bill that had been reported by the ways aud means coram i i.ie was certainly an anomaly of con pressiimal legislation. It neither comes up to the standard of the bold and defiant declarations of their party platform nor meets tho expectations of the more con se.rva;jve element of their party. As a revenue measure it is a confessed failure With the treasury almost dep'eted and the gov ernment marching on the high road to bank ruptcy. tLis Lill still further reduces the rev enues of the government and cuts off its power to meet its obligations to the enormous amount of rC'.0.J0,iAX) annually. He then proceeded to maie a long review of the history of tariff legis lation in this country. Oa the 10th Mr. Johnson (dem.. O.) de nounced the attitude of his partv in the pro longed delay of actioa upon the tar.ff question afler coming into power. Jf Mr. Cleveland had bhown the sugacitv and courage the situation demanded, the ink could not have been dry on tbe commissions of his secretaries ere congress would have been called into executive session to relieve the country of its burdens of taxa tion. But instead of that we were expected to rest on our laurels and divide the spoils. At last bovever. the committee charged by the bouse with the duty of bringing in a bill for the abolition of a system which the majority bad declared a fraud and robbery bad been beard from. They had given us a democratic report and a republican bill. The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are tbe bands of Esau. It is a bill for which they have taken the MclCinley bill as a model and of which the best that can be said is that it is the McKinley bill shared down: or a redistribu tion of spoils of pro lection. He would vole for the bill if he couid get nothing better, but be did not like IV That the bill contained some good points, he said, was true. Tbe McKinley bill contained some g'KKl points; it put raw sugar and some other thine s on the free list. This bill goes farther and puts wool. coal, iron ore and un dressed lumber on the free list, aud in so far makes some show of redeeming the pledge to abolish protection. This was its little sprinkle of saving salt w hlch commended it to him. The bill might suit tariff reformers, whatever they may be, b t be was pioud to say that he never , was a tariff reformer. He was only a plain j frw trader. J Put before a republican house by a republican ways and means commltte. the per id, tig bill would fitly represent the idea of "protection amended by the friends of protection." But ! proposed by a democratic ways and means com j mutee to a democratic house as representicj the idea of an administration elected on a p'.at j form declaring protection an unconstitutional fraud and robbery, it is an evasion of a promise auJ a political blunier of the gravest kind, a confession that the dcmoci-wic party lacks courage and honsty. Mr. Johnson proceeded then to show that the bill, ifenaci-cd into law, would Injure but on , trust, the sugar trust , Mr Dalzell rep . Pa.) followed Mr. Johnson. He said: "In lbe few months that tbe dominant party has held the reins of government it has proved itself conspicuously incompetent to deal with a single important question presented by the responsibilities of civil administration. In this deplorable condition of things, clouds and darkness all around us. hat do those , who rule our destinies propjse by way of relief? A tariff bill that, ir enacted, ' 1 predict posterity will pronounce the ' most intamous legislative crime of our history. Instead of relief It brings aggra- ! vation. To the manufacturer whose idle capi tal is bringing him no returns, whose plant by diEuse is depreciating and whose Income has been sadly uarroweJ or entirely cut off. it offers the d-ceptive lure of free raw materials and the ignis fatuus of the world's marvels, while -it strips hiru of the ability to compete in any market and be just to his employes. To tho , farmer It offers instead of protection an en- ; larged coir petition from abroad in the products : of the farm, instead of a vast and growing home market, a market abroaJ in which his increased surplus cannot but degrade' prices." j The speaker then proceeded to a discussion ! of the schedules of the bill, and in conclusion ' remarked: "Tnere is not a single industry in which we compete with our fellows across seas in which our laborers do not reap richer : rewards than their fcllovv-toilers abroad" Mr. Warner (dem., N Y.) followed Mr. Dal ! rell, speaking in defense of the Wilson bilL In urging its prompt passing he adm.tted that it bad grave defect- For one thing it did not go . fur enough. He thought in some places it bore ' unevenly, and he protested particularly j against the retention of the sugar boun- j ty, and be protested still more strona- ; ly acainst th tax of one - quarter of a cent a pound by which it w-a proposed to protect the sugar trust And he protested against tlie reciprocity which was now pro posed to be revived for tho benefit of the Stand ard Oil company. In conclusion he urged tha passage of the bill, not as a compromise but as an attack on the outworks of proiection in order that the guns might now be turned upon the citadel and complete the work at a future day. Mr. Coombs idem.. X. Y.) followed, speaking on the same line, and when he had finished a reces was taken, Messrs. Snodgrass (dem., Tenn.) and Curtis (rep., X. Y.J occupying the time of the evening session. On the 1Kb Mr. Breckinridge (dem, Ky.) opened tue discussion. He said he had always considered himself the foremost free trader in the house, but since the recent speech of Lis Iriend from Ohio, Mr. JoUnson. he had learned that he cMr. Breckinridget aid not occupy the most distant outpost of free trade democracy. In some particulars the v ilson bill did not m-t his approval, in that it did not go far enough. lie would like to have seen tin plate put on the free list even if a heavier tax would have to be levied on whisky. He would like to see tbe bounty on sugar removed, but he want ed the sugar men of the south and the Surgnum men of the northeast placated, in order that !hey might be brought into the demoi-ratic fold, for it was only by union that the reform cou'.d be consummated. By our policy of large prof its on small sales and our imposition of taxes upon merchant vessels our carrying trade has been thrown into the bands of the i:ilisli. The speaker favored the ad valorem feature of the pending bill. W hile it did not meet with his unqualified approval b was ready to vo e with his party on the experiment of an :n c me tax In conclusion be said he hop-U to "live to see tbe day when tbis continent will be one fer freedom an t the tariff restrictions lie wipeJ out from the St Lawrence to the Colum bia, when free religion, free government and free education will be put side by s.di with free tru.'o. ' Mr. Dinley (rep.. Me.) spo'ie. in opposition to the bill He said instead of being a meas ure, as termed, (o provide revenue, it was in fact a bill to abolish revenue. He are ued in favor of protective duties, and said protection simply tars to tbe foreign manufacturer: "You must pay our government as a duty the difference t-etween our wages and your wages in tht proouction or manufacture and distribu tion of any article which you have wTthheld from your labor and which we have paid ours." He said the democratic majority, deaf to tho prolent of the people in the recent elections, are hurrying forward their scheme of warfare on domestic industries, under tha misuk'-n idea that they received a commission in 180J to enact into law the tariff theory enunciated in the Chicago platform. Mr. Sir;n;-er (dem. 111.) said it was unjust to attribute all the distress which had been pre vailing to the threatened Chang's in the Mc Kinley act There were other and substantial causes contributing to this condition of dis tress. Under the protective system, whl-'h had prevailed for thirty years, private indebt edness bad largely increased in this country The sooner the pending bill was passed the bet ter It would be for the country. "And mark my words," he continued, "just as soon as this bill is passed every loom in the country will be started, every furnace fire will be lighted and every instrument of production will be put in active operation and there will be witnessed a revival of prosperity such a tbis country has never before Been Give this country free wool, free ores, free coal and free raw material, workingman's industry, and we will take a front position in the markets of the world." Mr. Iolliver (rep., Ia ) took the position that the remedy for the present depression is the employment of our own people, not giving it to those of other countries. The opportunity to work created the wage fund on which the pros perity of our people depended. Mr. Harter (dem., O. ) said that there was a greater difference between the wages of pro tected France and free trade Great Britain, in favor of the latter, than there was between America and Great Britain. A protective tariff put down and lowered their purchasing power by putting up the price of goods. Mr. Brosius (rep.. Pa.) was the last speaker in tbe afternoon, and at the evening Session, Messrs. Maguire (dem.. Cal ) and Cockrell (dem.. Tex.) spoke in favor of tbe pending measure, arraigning the system of protection as one which served chiefly to foster monopoly. IMPRISONED MINERS ESCAPE. Ksciliu Experiences of Eiht Men in California Mine. Grabs Valley, CaL, Jan. 1L Late Tuesday night fire broke out in the hoisting works of the Idaho--Viaryland mine, imprisoning seventy eight miners 2,000 teet below the sur face. The wildest excitement prevailed throughout the town. The miners finally escaped by climbing 2,000 feet up a perpendicular air shaft. Two , hours had elapsed before the last man reached the surface and the men were aimubi eiuBusiea. j.ne toss to the I hoisting works will be $75,000. j OUTCRY OF THE TRUSTS. Efforts of Protection Favored Barons to Obstruct tbe Wilson Bill. The favored beneficiaries of McKin leyism are making- a great outcry against the Wilson bilL Beaten in two peneral elections, in spite of their cor ruption funds, they now seek to nullify the verdict of the people by intimidating or wheedling congressmen. They even Btoop to the despicable artifice of driv ing their operatives, under fear of dis missal, to petition ag-ainst the passage of a law to relieve them of burdensome taxes on their necessaries. Congress is not likely to be deflected from its duty by this post-election cam paigEin?. The facts of recent history are not so soon forgotten- The collar and cuff manufacturers of Troy and the pottery men of Trenton are among the loudest of the protestants, and these are in brief the facts in relation to them: The McKinley act increased the duty on linen collars and cuffs from 43 per cent- to OS per cent. The combination of manufacturers not only failed to in ci ease wayes proportionately, but with iu ninety days after the McKinley act took eilect they reduced the wajres 10 per cent. The girls struck, and after a contest lasting three weeks, in wbich they received the support of the Fed erationof Labor, the employers yielded to a threatened boycott and tools them back at the old wages. In other words, tbe men who "bought and paid for the tariff," as the Penn sylvania ironmaster Baid, kept all the advantage of increased duties to them selves. Neither Gov. Campbell nor any other democratic speaker was able to find one case of increased wages due to the tariff in the great campaign of 1890. The case of the potteries was similar. The McKinley act pave to the makers of crockery and pottery the equivalent of a 5 per cent- increase in duty. Within three months seven members of the Trenton pottery trust made a reduc tion of "1 per cent, in wages. There was a strike, which attracted attention all over the country. At the end of several weeks a compromise was made under which the workmen accepted a reduction of 7 per cent. Early in lS'J-2 the Philadelphia Press, which is now clamoring for a perpetua tion of the worse-thaa-war tariff, pub lished a statement showing that the profits of five members of the pottery trust for isa: were ,'$410,000, or almost one-third of the capital stock invested." The prospectus of the combine "guar anteed 8 per cent, on $1,2."J,00.1 of pre ferred stock and estimate! the dividend on $1,759,003 of common stock at over 15 percent." The Wilson bill puts the duty on col lars and imffs at S5 per cent., which ia but 5 per cent, below the tariff of 1SS3, and is, as the Times points out, "ex actly the rate proposed by the repub lican and protectionist tariff commis sion of ISSi" The Wilson bill puts the duty on crockery and pottery at from 20 to 45 per cent- a reduction cf 5 to 15 per cent. Considering that these articles are common necessaries of the people the trust ought to be thankful that it has so much protection. There is not a schedule in the demo cratic bill that is not as high as the ad vocates of protection deemed adequate when our "infant industries" were forty years younger. The outcry of the trusts and com bines i3 both impudent and ill-timed. The people have twice demanded a re formed tariff, and their will must be made law. N. Y. World. NOTES AND COMMENTS. Republican newspapers are howl ing upon one page for a. settlement of the tariff and upon another pajre are jubilant over the efforts of republican congressmen who are filibustering to prevent .he bi'.l being brought before that body. Durlington Gazette. Ben Harrison has authorized the statement that he will not be a candi date for the presidency in 1890. "Grandfather's hat" evidently covers a very long head. Bill McKinley will no doubt smile audibly when he hears the news. St. I'aul Globe. Gov. McKinley advises the Ohio legislature that it would be wed to get along with very little legislation just now. If he had understood and acted on this in the Fifty-first congress the country would not nw be suffering from the ills of his tariff legislation. Louisville Courier-Jour naL McKinley's Ohio knitting is keep ing him very busy at this time, lie has landed the state up to its neck in debt; his party is fightinsr tdoth and nail over the flesh pots; there is a lot of official crookedness to be straightened out, and the little major is not much of a business man at best. Detroit Free Press. The speech with which Repre sentative Wilson, chairman of the ways and means committee, opened the tariff debate in the house is a masterly expo sition of the democratic position on the tariff. Ilis elucidation of the prin ciples of tariff reform was clear and convincing; his condemnation of Mc Kinleyism sweeping and complete. Chicago Times. A reduction is never in itself feared by the American people as a whole, but only by the very limited number of manufacturers who are in trusts for holding up prices. Doubtless they can stand a radical change in the tariff much better now than they could when they were running under full headway. To the great army of con sumers a reduction in the tariff is al ways welcome. St, Louis Republic The stress which republicans are laying upon the results of the recent elections and their vociferous asser tions that the republican gains should be construed as an expression of na tional opposition to the democratic tariff policy are political arguments which a reference to recent history readily punctures. JXhe people have not yet forgotten the sweeping demo cratic victories in the congressional elections following Ilarrison's inaugar aiion, nor have they forgotten that the Harrison programme was carried to completion despite this reverse. Chicago Times. FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. A BRAVE BOY. There was a little boy. Vlih the cognomen of Hoy, fVao said one day: "1 guess I'll learn to skate, skate, skaie." But though striking out with care His feet new in the air, aJid he landed on tus curly little pate, pate, pate. "Never mind.' he bravely said, "I have a splendid sled ro Downing down the hillside X will go, go go!" Perhaps he couldn't steer Just why Is not quite clear But they dug him out of seven feet of snow, snow, snow. "Oh! never mind." said he, "My roller skates I see. And swiftly o'er the pavement I will roll. Toll roll I - But prone upon the protisd, fctar-gazmg. he was found. With a bruised and sorely aching little poll, poll, polL Still he said: "Oh! never mind. My cycle I will find, through Central park, my wheel will glide along, 'long, 'long." He merely rubbed his knee. As brave as brave can be. When a "header" threw him in the crowded throng, throng, throng. But invariably a plunre. Escapinc soap and sponge. When Ncrie his trrimy hands and face would lave, lave, lave I From lunps both deep and strong Ctime how Is both loud and long, And all lavatory efforts he doth brave, brave, Wave. Hannah Sedgwick, in Our Little Men and Women. FU i w w . Two Experiment Combining Science and Amusement. Take a small piece of colored woolen stuff and fasten on one end of it a glass tube or a long nail, the weight of which will keep it well stretched. Trace on the material the letters of any word, using a glass pen which has been dipped in a strong acid. Have ready 'in a glass a solution of chloride of potassium. The letters traced on the cloth are invisible, but on plunging the latter into the glass they imme diately turn white, the materi&l re taining its color. In our illustration the experiment is shown at the point of plunging the stuff into the glass, when the word "science" appears in white letters. Care must be taken to withdraw the iaateriafas soon as pos sible, or it, too, will suffer discolora tion and spoil the experiment. THE CAPTIVE COKK. Procure a good-sized bottle with a wide mouth and an ordinary cork stop per; also a piece of wire and another Diece of cork, fiat and round, such as usually found in a mustard jar; with these materials you may make an ap paratus that will present a very inter esting trick. j Insert the wire in the under side of : the cork stopper exactly in its center; the other end of the wire, when the bottle is corked, should be at some distance from the bottom of the bottle. Next pierce the second piece of cork with a circular hole exactly in its een ter; half fill the bottle with water, then drop into it the perforated cork, and, while it is lloating, pass tne wtre through the hole in its center and push down the stopper; you will then have the apparatus shown in the right hand, figure of our illustration. The trick consists in removing the captive cork without removing the stopper. This can be done by turning the bottle round quickly in a circular movement several times in succession; then set it on tho table and the cork will be re leased. The quick circular movement will draw tbe water from the center to the sides of the bottle, leaving a con cave depression in the center. The water that has supported the cork being thus withdrawn, the cork will drop down off the wire as in the left- hand figure of the illustration. Once a tVek. BILLY AND THE EOY. The Story of si Horse Who Could Take Care of Illrunelf- Billy was a veteran among horses, tie had lived twenty-nine years and six months when I knew him, and all that time he had been learning how to take care of himself without troubling others to look after him. Ilis reputa tion had never been good, though the older he grew the worse he grew, ac cording to his master's statement. For aiy part I always thought the horse x-as justified in his treatment of those who ill-treated him. Perhaps if he had been better tem pered he might have been turned out to grass in his old age and had little or nothing o do. An it was no one was fond of him, and since he was able to draw moderately heavy loads he was harnesse.1 regularly and made to work, lie had been known to bite, to kick, to run away, though no one believed that he had really been frightened. "It Is just ugliness, wanting to show what he could do to be hateful,' said his master, one day. when the Mred man came home with the new that Billy had Bhied at a bicycle, had run into a wagon And broken It and the one to which he was harnessed into slivers," as the man expressed it. This "fright," if it really was one. cost his master fifty dollars, and Billy forthwith had blinders put on him. H never shied again, but the blinders did not improve his temper. One day when he was lust a bona finishing a meal which he was taking1 out of a pail set in front of him on th ground, a small boy came past with long wisp of straw in his hand. Ha MARCHED DOWX THE STREET WITH HOC did not know him, but he knew small boys when he saw them, and had no love for any of them. The boy stopped and Billy kept on eating. The boy went nearer and nearer the curb, and at last reached over and tickled Billy's nose with tb straw. Billy made believe at first that b did not feel it, and the boy becama bolder and bolder and tickled harder. Billy finished eating, and then had time to attend to him. Suddenly ha tossed his head, caught the boy by tha back of his jacket, lifted him off his feet and marched down the street with him. The boy screamed, but no one was near enough to seize him. Thev did not rro far. and before anf one interfered Billy stopped and shook that boy exactly as a man might have shaken him for punishment, the a dropped him, turned and walked back home. Ko small boy dared to meddle withs, Billy after that, and, although the lad was not hurt, he had one of the worst scares of his life. Louisville Courier- Journal. SAVED BY A EUFFALO. How rarsmrloni Ball tnt s Hanr Xlcer to Klisrht. The forest land of southern India, possesses a breed of buffaloes vastly superior to the bare-skinned, ungainly creatures common to the plains of In dia. They are shaggy-haired, massive and short-jointed, with short, thick, symmetrically-curved horns. They are trained as beasts of burden and pos sess immense strength. A bull of thia breed is a match for a tiger. A herd of buffaloes was grazing on the outskirts of the forest at Soopah, with the herder on guard a short dis tance awaj". A tiger came out of tha forest and tried by roaring to stajnpeda the herd. The herdsman maniiested great bravery. lie shouted, beat his heavy quarter-staff on the ground, and tried to scare the brute off, not thinking of his own danger, but of that of his herd. Suddenly the tiger rushed forward, sprang upon the man, knocked hub down and stood over him growling. The bull of the herd, a pugnacious creature, now charged savagely upon the tiger, and rolled him over and overJ The bull was so quick in his motions that the tiger, taken unawares, was at a disadvantage. He neither bit nor scratched the bull, but gathered him self up and galloped off into the forest The bull shook himself, bellowed, pur sued his enemy a few yards and thea went quietly to feeding as if vanquish ing a tiger were an everyday occur rence. The herdsman was not injured by the tiger, but received a wound in the leg from the bull's sharp horn, inflicted when the buffalo knocked over thai tiger. One m Slav of Hearr C)y. A colored woman who was once a slave of Henry Clay died at Springfield, I1L, recently, at the advanced age of 10T years. Her name was Maria Todd. She? was born in Kentucky March 24, 17S6V and was a slave until Lincoln's procla' mation made her free. At an early age she was sold to Henry Clay, then a practicing lawyer near ber birthplace. Her master was indebted to Clay for seven hundred dollars, and Maria was transferred to him to liquidate the debt. AVhen she was nineteen years of age Mr. Clay sold her to Paul Christian, of Randolph county, Missouri. She passed into his hands and remained his property until her race was freed.' The oldest of her living children, Ln cinda Perkins, now living somewhere in Missouri, is 78 years of age. Aa Good m a log. In South America, a boy who wants, to own a pet animal gets a monkey in stead of a dog. Sometimes h can buy a monkey already trained, and if he. can do so he is a very happy boy, be cause wild monkeys are ugly little fel lows and it takes a long time to teach them how to live with civilized people. A South American boy has to pet & monkey because there are not enough dogs in South America. But with the South American boy a nice tame mon key with soft fur hair and snappinjr black eyes is very highly prized, and he becomes attached to it, just as an American boy becomes attached to hie collie or bis Newfoundland; so he dee not feel the need of a good dog. Very Likely. "I should like to hav a chance to jilt him." "I know yon would. J'ou'd acoeetj Mm." Life. S
