"TL-
'Cbe Conservative *
Exports are increasing rapidly and
were 50 per cent greater than ever before -
fore during the last six mouths of 1899.
The total exports of wire for the first
eleven months of 1899 were 241,922,967
pounds ; of wire nails 62,996,401
pounds.
These tremendous exports and the
prices at which they are made indicate
that there is no need of protection and
subsidies at home except for the officers
of the trust who are trying to capture
" 90 per cent of the world's trade. "
Will the farmers who are building
rail fences because barb wire is too ex
pensive feel like voting to continue a
tariff system which compels them to pay
88 per cent more for fencing wire than
foreigners have to pay for the same
wire ? Largo quantities of barb wire
were exported from Now York in
December , 1899 , at $2 20 per hundred
although the home price was raised at
the end of the month from $2.88 to
$4.13.
Canadian * * Not Mont Favored Foreigners.
Apparently all foreigners are not
treated alike. To be most favored and
to reap the full blessings of protection
you must not only'be a foreigner but you
must reside at least 8,000 miles away
from the land of McKinley and Dingley.
Thus our neighbors , the Canadians ,
must pay for the privilege of living so
near to us. However , the trust treats
them better than it treats Americans.
On December 2 , 1899 , Canadian Hard
ware , a Montreal publication , said :
"Retail dealers in the United States
pay $3.70 f. o. b. Cleveland for carlots
for barbed wire and $3.80 for less than
carlots , while the figures quoted to the
retail trade in Canada is $3.25 f. o. b.
Cleveland for carlots and $8.85 for less
quantities.
'Plain wire is quoted to the Canadian
dealers $11 per ton lower than to the
home dealer.
"The explanation of these differences
in prices is that , in the home market on
account of high customs tariff , the
United States manufacturer has a mon
opoly , while , in catering for the Cana
dian trade , he has to bring his prices
down to a point that will keep out the
product of British and German manu
facturers. "
How to Exalt Our Farmers.
As the duties on barb wire and on
wire nails are less than the difference
between home and foreign prices and as
our trusts , especially our tariff-nurtured
ones , always display a decided preference
for foreigners , it might be that the
abolition of these duties would not put
us on a par with Europeans in the mat
ter of prices. It would , however , be
certain to elevate us to the level of
Canadians. It would be some satisfac
tion to our farmers to feel that they
were as good as Canadians ; and perhaps
the reduction in price of only one cent
per pound on wire and nails would again
start the building of wire fences and of
houses and barns. We suggest that our
statesmen at Washington try the experi
ment.
WujfCH and Labor.
It somehow happens that every time
this trust raises wages in one of its
departments the increase is heralded as
one of the beneficent effects of great
combinations. Recently many ponder
ous articles in great republican papers
have been based upon the assumed fact
that the supposed 86,000 employees of
this trust are getting 40 per cent higher
wages than before the trust was formed.
Such misleading statements undoubtedly
have a common source.
The facts appear to be that the new
trust did on March 1 , 1899 , raise the
wages of its employees who were getting
less than $2.50 per day from 5 to 10 per
cent. In June , 1899 , a few of the steel
and wire workers probably shared in
the general 25 per cent advance obtained
by the amalgamated association of Iron ,
Steel and Tin Workers. On January 1 ,
1900 , the trust advanced wages of ton
nage workers , workers by the hour and
day laborers 7 per cent. As usual it
was announced in the papers that this
"advance unsolicited and
was unex
pected. " Possibly ! But the Iron Age
of January 4 , 1900 , contains a telegram
from Pittsburg which says that "the
National Association of Rod Mill Work
ers has presented a scale of wages to the
American Steel and Wire Company call
ing for an increase in present rates of
from 8 to 21 } per cent. The men have
asked for the restoration of the wages in
force prior to 1898 and a uniform scale.
The company are given until January
15th to answer and it is not expected
there will be any trouble in arranging a
satisfactory settlement with the rod mill
men. "
Going back to the steel and wire trust
of 1898 we find that in July , 1898 , it
reduced wages from 10 to 45 per cent in
nearly all departments of all of its mills.
In Newcastle , Pa. , the reduction was 10
per cent ; in Cleveland , O. , 88) percent
for fine wire drawers ; in Anderson ,
Ind. , 10 per cent for the rod men , 45 per
cent for the wire drawers , and nail men
required to run twelve instead of seven
machines. At Anderson , Ind. , Findlay ,
O. , Cleveland , O. , Salem , O. , and
Beaver Falls , Pa. , the mills were closed
because the workmen would not stand
the heavy reductions in wages. At
Cleveland the men were still on strike in
Ootober,1898 , and the trust , according to
reports , was refusing to arbitrate.
It is probable that the totals of all the
pay rolls of all of the mills and works in
the trust were less in 1899 than they
were in any previous year since 1890 ,
although the Iron Age of January 4 ,
1900 , says that "the tonnage in wire and
wire nails of 1899 was very much the
largest in the history of the trade. "
r
Mr. Gates admitted that five plants
had been closed and dismantled. It is
probable that many others are closed
much of the time. Thus the New York
Times of January 5 , 1900 , when an
nouncing the 7) < < per cent increase of
wages , stated that only two of the trust's
fence-wire plants were in operation.
But the wage workers will more fully
appreciate the benefits of this trust when
demand for its product falls off greatly
and when it attempts , by closing mills
and restricting production , to maintain
high prices and pay dividends on its
highly diluted stock. Such a time will
surely come.
JOHN DEWITT WAKNEB.
New York , January 9 , 1900.
AKBOR DAY.
OMAHA , Jan. 8 , 1900.
EDITOU CONSERVATIVE :
Enclosed please find a slip from the
Montana Journal , published in Butte by
my nephew , Hermann Rosenzweig , who
learned the printer's trade in the office
of the Nebraska Staatszeitung in the
early seventies. The article , translated
into English , reads as follows :
"The secretary of public instruction for
the Kingdom of Italy , Bacceli , conceived
early in 1899 the idea of introducing the
American "Arbor Day" in Italy , for the
double purpose of inculcating thereby
on the youthful minds a proper esteem
and reverence of the works of nature in
general and of promoting tree-planting
more especially.
After the sympathetic holiday had
been celebrated in hundreds of com
munities with the greatest success , it
has recently been observed in Rome for
the first time.
The selection of the grounds for the
solemn and yet exhilarating perform
ance could not have been more magnifi
cent , four kilometer ( about three miles )
beyond St. John's gate on the historic
Appia Road , where the old Latin graves
are situated.
All the scholars in Rome in the higher
grades of study had joined in the march
and after singing in front of the queen's
pavilion a "Hymn to the Forest" they
planted thousands of small trees , the
festal excursion being favored by most
delightful weather. "
P. S. It is fair to presume that the
founder of Arbor Day is mentioned fre
quently and due credit given him at
every recurrent celebration in Italy and
other countries , and upon this subject I
would like to hear particularly from
Church Howe , our consul in Palermo.
Very truly yours ,
DR. F. RENNER.
PRAYERS.
now closes his
speeches with prayer. He asks God
"that the democratic party may go down
to death when its principles are gone. "
The colonel may have a baggage check
for alleged principles but never takes
them with him onto the rostrum ,
