Plattsmouth weekly journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1881-1901, January 18, 1894, Image 3

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    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