Show POLITICAL POINTERS The GlobeDemocrat as is well known is a radical Republican organ despite its name and of course is vigorous vig-orous in its assaults on the tariff reform re-form inaugurated by the Democratic party It says in the latest issue which has come to hand The Wilson bill is the crowning atrocity atroc-ity of Democratic hostility to American Ameri-can industry It was just after the elections of 1S90 showed so disastrously for the Republican Repub-lican party that the GlobeDemocrat recommended a measure similar to this crowning atrocity as the only remedy for the destruction that was threatening threaten-ing Republicanism It said then after remarking that the doom of McKinley isni was sealed If a statesman held the Speaker I ship at this moment and was at the head of the ways and means committee commit-tee or was in any way in a position to dictate to the Republican party in Congress he would bring about a thorough revision of the McKinley law at the opening short session Every article advanced by that act would be reduced to the old rates or lower the rates which were cut would be permitted per-mitted to stand and in some cases which will readily suggest themselves would be cut still further and the free list would be enlarged It would place the party in harmony with the sentiment senti-ment of the people and would close to the Democracy the avenue now open to it to strengthen itself with the country That shows how partisanship rules in politics What would have been right for the Republicans to do in 1890 is a crowning atrocit when attempted by the Democrats in > 1894 Among tile misrepresentations made by opponents of free wool is the statement state-ment made in the first part of the following fol-lowing letter to the New York World which is effectually answered in the latter part of the letter We direct attention to the facts it discloses I A Republican paper publishes this morning a dispatchstating that Mr Roberti Blpakie the prince of the woolen mill owners objects to free wool at once and because Fully onehalf of the wool needed to clothe our people is imported and it is fair to say that 50 per cent of the stock on hand in the mills throughout the country is foreign wool This statement is so far from being accurate in fact It is so conspicuously inexact and Mr Bleakie is so lamentably lament-ably misinformed trial I pray you to permit me to correct him and to do what I can to get the facts before him and before the people Our total importajidns of foreign cloth wool combing and clothing for the past fifteen years average under 30000000 pounds in the grease It has never reached 50000000 pounds The mills consumed In 1SSO over 800000000 pounds of raw material and in 1885 over 1000000000 of which less than 3 percent per-cent was imported under 27 per cent I was domestic wool and 70 per cent was shoddy mungo cotton and wood fibre Our imports of foreign wool comprise com-prise but 3 per cent or even less than 3 per cent of the raw material of our woolen cloth mills It is not 50 percent per-cent it is not 3 per cent though I would be willing to grant for the sake of argument that it was 5 per cent Mr Bleakie shoulrl TPVISA hie f t n Here is another letter to the World which is quite suggestive on the wool question As you know the price of American wool has steadily declined ever since the McKinley bill was in force and inasmuch in-asmuch as the American wool cannot be used except as it is mixed with foreign for-eign wool did it ever strike you that our wool manufacturers who have the matter all In their own hands have been taking the amount of tax they were forced to pay on foreign wool off the prices they paid for American which is the only way one can account for the decline Every one buys as cheap as he can especially manufac turers In regard petitions which are pouring pour-ing in from all parts of the country to Washington in reference to the tariff the Chicago Times remarks that they ought not to sway a single vote It saysThe The more than 5000000 voters who gave their ballots to Benjamin Harrison Harri-son did so upon the issue of protection and their names with those of their dependents might fill many a ponderous ponder-ous petition The New York World says on this subject Since reform is to come let it come quickly The people have demanded relief and they are entitled to it without with-out needless delay It is not the prospect pros-pect of tariff revision but the uncer tainty as to its precise character and the time when it will take effect that nuns business When it is known what the changes are to be and how soon they are to take effect business will quickly adjust itself to the new conditions The Republicans have revised re-vised the tariff twenty times in thirty years They who have revised it so often In the interest of monopolies should consider themselves estopped from objecting to one revision in the interest of consumers We have been asked by several persons per-sons interested in the progress of events what it was that Mr Carnegie the man of millions made in Pennsly vania under a protective tariff has to say on the present movement for tari iff revision Following is Sis letter to the New York Tribune t Sir Upon the eve of sailing J should like to say a few words to my fellow e manufacturers upon the position of the tariff question I confess that I had some hopes that President Cleveland with his usual good judgment would realize the situation sit-uation and decide that owing to existing exist-ing conditions the nation as a patient is not in condition to undergo a surgical sur-gical operation even from the point of view of those who think that an operation oper-ation is required for its permanent health This has not been done and the patient is to be operated upon immediatelY im-mediately Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the wisdom of this decision all will agree that If twere done when tis done then twere well that twere done quickly Every days delay de-lay will alarm and exhaust the patient Six months discussion of the Wilson bill with its varying fortunes means six months of stagnation in business and perhaps such a brood of failures as we have not yet seen Rather than encounter this I believe the Democratic party would make reasonable rea-sonable modifications in the Wilson bill There are quite enough Democratic Democrat-ic Senators who would unite with the Republicans upon the platform of moderate mod-erate concessions and the danger of the peace of the country in my opinion opin-ion lies chiefly in the fact that some Republican Senators may refuse to cooperate co-operate with these The question with some will naturally be Is it good party policy I do not assume to speak for the manufacturers man-ufacturers of the United States but I know I speak for some of them when I respectfully urge that it would be infinitely in-finitely better to have a moderately satisfactory tariff bill passed by the Democratic party than even a more satisfactory bill passed by the Republican Repub-lican party It must be acknowledged that a large number of the people have been led to believe that the present tariff is unjust that it favors the few at the expense of the many Employers and employed employ-ed have been set at variance and much illfeeling has been aroused It is not a sufficient answer to say that this dissatisfaction dis-satisfaction is groundless It is sufficient suf-ficient that it exists and what I wish to submit to my brother manufacturers manufactur-ers is that the first consideration should be the total obliteration of this dissatisfaction Is it not far better for manufacturers as a class to have the party which has opposed the present tariff frame a tariff which shall pass as just to all Interests and for which it is responsible Should the Democratic Demo-cratic party pass a tariff bill it will be its own work and it will be stopped from attacking it as made for the few and not for the general interests of the nation The question would be removed re-moved from politics for many years The party who made it could not attack at-tack it and the other party would have no disposition to do so I submit that it is far better to obtain ob-tain a moderate Democratic tariff bill securing us stability and permanence satisfactory to all rather than a high protective bill passed by the Republican Republi-can party and certain to be the object of continual political attack We all know that uncertainty in regard to import duties is ruinous to our interests inter-ests Partisanship is all very well but when the question before us as we all believe involves the prosperity of our country no supposed party advantage should be allowed to prevent a settlement settle-ment which if not all that could be desired would yet be most desirable under the circumstances I am not without grounds for believing believ-ing that it is in the power of the Republicans Re-publicans in the Senate to obtain the necessary modifications required in the Wilson bill to make it one such as our industrial system can adapt itself to and prosper under The position that the Republican party took as to its duty to support President Clevelands silver policy I believe to be its duty total to-tal < e in regard to the tariff What seems most desirable in the interests in-terests of manufacturers of the United States is that a tariff bill should be passed by the Democratic party and thereby that the suspicion that even one robber tariff baron exists in the broad domain of the republic cannot remain in the mind of the most ignorant ignor-ant citizen I for one am quite ready to accept greatly reduced duties judiciously ju-diciously framedto accomplish this result Yours very truly ANDREW CARNEGIE |