r j
Conservative.
" Pilling & Crane of Philadelphia have ,
during the past week , sold for spring
delivery between 175,000 and 200,000
tons of Newfoundland ere to nine
different concerns in eastern Pennsyl
vania. " But whatever the price of this
imported ere in the open market our
consumers must pay 40 cents a ton duty
in addition to that price. This reduces
by 40 cents the force of the competition
which the trust ought to be obliged to
meet and therefore enables the trust to
extort 40 cents a ton more for its ere
than it could extort if it were not for the
tariff. But little ore is now brought
across Lake Superior from the Cana
dian side ; the removal of the duty would
probably result in extensive competition
from this quarter and afford some relief
from the exactions of the trust.
But the district which now suffers
most from the duty on ore because the
diity bars its only avenue of escape from
the trust , is the eastern section of the
United States. This section produces
considerable non-Bessemer iron and
needs only large supplies of cheap
Bessemer ore to enable it to make
Bessemer steel. As early as 1890 Major
L. S. Bent , president of the Pennsyl
vania Steel Co. , said to the house ways
and means committee , "Give me free
ore and I will sell pig iron in Liverpool
and send steel rails to London. "
Because of the duty the mills of the
Pennsylvania Steel Co. at Steelton , Pa. ,
and at Sparrows Point , Maryland , have
been idle much of the time during the
last eight years , while many eastern
mills have been permanently closed and
the iron and steel industry of New Eng
land has become almost extinct. "With
out tariff restrictions iron and soft coal
would be as cheap in Boston as in Pitts-
burg. With tariff restrictions New
England's iron and steel industry exists
only by consent of the iron and coal
trusts of Pennsylvania and the lake
district. These trusts have always in
sisted that tariff duties should be re
tained.
It is evident that while the removal of
the duty on iron ore might not kill the
ore trust it would at least cripple it
somewhat and prevent it from extorting
quite such excessive prices from all sec
tious of the country. As in the cases
of so many other trusts it is clear that
the first step inthair treatmentshould be
the removal of tariff duties. This would
clear the svay and would show how
much of the trust evil was tariff and
how much something else , which would
require different treatment.
In view of the monopoly uses which
the various iron and other trusts are
making of the tariff there is good reason
why all duties on products controlled by
trusts should bo repealed. Delay in
taking the duties off simply encourages
trusts , and monopolies , hinders the de
velopment of all industry and prevents
the-jnst distribution of products which
is the best guarantee of a stable govern
ment.
It is fair to assume that trusts will
never bo suppressed by statute law.
The effective remedy for trusts and
their evils must lie in the removal of
the conditions that create and foster
trusts. These conditions are the result
of special laws and can bo changed only
by repealing special laws. One of these
special laws gives us our tariff system ,
which , if it is not the mother of trusts ,
certainly fosters and protects them. Had
tariff duties been abolished twenty years
ago , we should not now have as many
trusts and most of those formed would
be innocent affairs incapable of fixing
prices at exorbitant figures.
BOLTON HALL.
p THE CONTEST.
Now that it has boon announced that
an attempt will be made to seize the
state by a legislative contest , the respon
sibility for this premeditated revolution
should be clearly established.
As might have been expected , those
now urging forward this contest are
the men responsible for the music hall
convention and the campaign that
followed. Realizing that they have
burned the bridges behind them and
that for them there is no forgiveness ,
these men are working to seize state
offices and then fasten their machines
upon the state.
It is but natural also that those news
papers which saw nothing in Goebel's
treachery during the convention but an
admirable diplomacy , and nothing to
censure in his killing of Sandford and
betrayal of Carlisle , should extol this
movement. They are plainly in the
same plight as he is , and must rise or
fall with him. Since the election , by
printing false affidavits and by constant
ly slandering this city , they have been
working to prepare this contest. The
story of tissue ballots , originating either
in the brain of Goebel or in the office of
the Courier-Journal , was printed in that
paper long before any information could
have been received from the remote and
inaccessible counties where these ballots
are alleged to have boon used.
This contest will injure Mr. Bryan ,
the next candidate of the democratic
party for president. Mr. Bryan came
to Kentucky fully cognizant of what
had taken place at the convention. Ho
know that Goebel had obtained his
nomination by violating a personal
pledge. Ho also know that Mr. Black
burn , for whose election he professed to
be so anxious , had four years previous
denounced Goebel for killing Sandford ,
and had sworn to devote all his energy
to secure hia punishment. Conscious of
all these things , Mr. Bryan came to
Kentucky and spoke in the interest of
Goebel.
The election followed , and Goebol was
defeated. The result was published in
every part of the country , and must
have oven reached Lincoln , Nob. Only
one or two Goobel newspapers disputed
the result , and oven those admitted
that it was in doubt. In the face of
all this Mr. Bryan sent the following
telegram :
"Lincoln , Nob. , Nov. 9. To the Hon.
William Goobol , Frankfort , Ky. : I
have just learned that returns are near
enough complete to insure your election.
Accept hearty congratulations. I am
sure your administration will strengthen
the party. WILLIAM J. BKYAN. " _
It will bo remembered that Mr. Goobol
speaking after Mr. Bryan in this city ,
said that the same election machinery
that ho expected to elect him would bo
used in a precisely similar manner to
carry the state for Bryan in 1900. This
promise seems to have gotten the bettor
of Mr. Bryan's conscience. If Mr.
Bryan is consistent ho will now address
letters to the members of the Kentucky
legislature urging them to seat Goobol
and Blackburn regardless of the law and
the evidence. The Louisville , ( Ky. , )
Post , December 20th 1809.
POLITICAL.
"If these who say that the tariff
question is settled and must not bo re
opened on any account moan to imply
that the duty on hides is to bo per
petual , " warns the Boston Advertiser
( rep. ) , "they are not helping the cause
of protection in Now England by such a
dogmatic line of argument. "
"Popular enthusiasm over the exten
sion of our territory hns always assumed
that the merit system of appointment
would apply as a matter of course , " re
marks the Rochester Times-Herald
( rep. ) . "Without this assumption there
could have boon no enthusiasm , and the
anti-expansionists would have had their
way from the beginning. "
"Senator Hoar is right , " declares the
Philadelphia Lodger ( rep. ) . "Wo
blundered terribly in the beginning of
our dealings with the Filipinos , but it is
not too late to retrieve our errors. Wo
have paid dearly for them in blood and
treasure ; but , if congress will approach
the question in a patriotic instead of a
partisan spirit , all may yet be ordered
for the best. "
ItriSTKANSLATION.Looking over the
ItriS-TKANSLATION.
glebe this Christ
mas morning , 1899 , THE CONSERVATIVE
concludes , from the number of prepara
tions by big governments , with big
armies for manufacturing corpses at
these agreeable international expositions
called battle fields , now visible on
all four quarters of the glebe , that
"peace on earth and good will to man , "
is a mis-translation. Properly it should
read :
"Pieces on earth , " because man wills
that "pieces" are bettor than peace.