Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1891 — SOME PROTECTION FACTS. [ARTICLE]

SOME PROTECTION FACTS.

What McKinley Does for Labor. The List of Reduotions in Wages, LockOuts and Strikes Since the Now Tariff Took Effect—How Labor Has Been Benefited. [lndianapolis Sentinel.] "A peculiarity of the tariff discussion is that, while free-traders are always dwelling on theory, protectionists are always pointing to facts. ” Thus sagely comments the Journal. Every one will remember that the chief argument on the stump and through the newspapers in favor of that cap sheaf of protectionism, the McKinley bill,l was that its enactment into law would greatly benefit the workingmen. According to the protectionist theory--for protectionists theorize occasionally as well as free-traders—the passage of this bill was to immediately result in the great advancement of wages in all protected in-, dustries and with a like sympathetic effect in the unprotected industries. Let us see what the effect has actually been. Below will be found some facts taken from the news columns of the Indianapolis papers, showing how labor has been faring since theJMcKinley act took effect last October. Not all th adductions Jihat have taken,-ef-fect have been covered, as a matter of course, Jbut there are enough for illustration. They all tend to prove what all socalled free-traders believe) that protection tends to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It is not at all probable that the protectionists will be “pointing to facts” as found in the following list of labor troubles occurring since Oct. 1, by months:

OCTOBER. Jacob Sohetzberg, cloak manufacturer, New York, reduces wages 10 per cent. Haugh, Ketaham <fc Co., iron factors, Indianapolis reduced their working force. Nordyke & Marmon, iron factors, Indianapolis, reduced their w .irking time to five hours. Indianapolis car works shut down. The Malleable iron works, Indianapolis, reduced its working force. The Woodbum-Sarven wheel works, Indianapolis, reduced wages. Carpet factory, Hartford, Conn,, reduced wages 10 per cent. Silk mills, Pateison, N. J., reduetion of 20 per cent. Plush mills, Catasaque, Pa., reduction. Woolen mills, Valley Falls, R. I„ reduction of 25 cents a week on girls. Polk’s canning works, Greenwood, Ind , reduction of $1.50 a week on certain branches. Carpenters of Cleveland. 0., reduced cents an hour, to take effect Nov. 3.

NOVEMBER. Coal operators at Morris, 111., advance prices 25 cents per ton, bat refute an advance of 10 centi for labor. Strike begun. Two thousand miners strike for $2 per day at Brazil, Ind. Merrimac mills, Lowell, Mass., reduction of 15 cents a day on spoolers. Thompson-Houston company, Lynn, Maas., ar nature- winders reduced. Woolen mills, Ashland, Pa., wages of seventy girls reduced. Cotton-weavers, Lonsdale, R. 1., reduced 15 cents per cut and size of cut increased five yards at the same time. DECEMBER. The Lackawanna shuts down all its mines in the vicinity es Wilkesbarre. Two thousand miners on a strike in the vicinity of Fairmount. United States rolling stook company, Anneston, Ala., strike because they could not get their pay. Oliver iron and steel mills, Pittsburgh, shutdown indefinitely, throwingeut3,ooo men. Carpet t a ck m akers ,B irmingham, Conn., reduction of 20 per cent. Underwear mills, Birmingham, Conn., reductioh of 20 per cent, on women’s wages. Merrimac mills, Lowell, Mass., reduction of 3 cents per 100 on mule spinners Potters, Trenton. N. J., redaction of from 10 to 20 per cent. Tool works, Plainfield, N. J., reduced the working force by discharging a number of their men. Cambria iron company, Johnstown, Pa., reduces wages of 5,000 men 10 per cent, to take effect Feb. 1. Reduction of wages of iron miners, Ishpeming, Mich. Potters in Bell Bros’, pottery, Findlay, 0., strike against a reduction. Bell Bros, are in the recently organized pottery trust. Three hundred and fifty men in sanitary ware potteries, Trenton, N J., strike against a reduction from 10 to 25 per cent. South Chicago plant of Illinois steel company closes down. Iron mines in Marquette county, Michigan, reduce wages 10 per cent.

Menominee and Gogebic iron mines dischaige several thousand men. Hopedale fabric mills, Hopsdalo, Mass., JANUARY. Pittsburgh marble, slate and encaustic tile layers, with their helpers, strike for eight hours and $4 per d <y. Four hundred men laid off at ths Scranton, Pa., steel mills on account of dullness of trade. Window glass works at Zanesville, 0., shut down for an indefinite period, throwing out 100 men. Eighty-five weavers in Clay & Groocock’s silk mills, Paterson, N. J„ strike against a reduo ion of 7| percent, ongros grains. Meding mills, Paterson, N. J., reduction of |7| per cent. Lackawanna coal and iron company, reduction of 20 cents a day. Pullman car works, reduction of 10 per cent., 1,500 men effected. Shoemakers at Rochester, N. Y., and Massachusetts reduced. Clark’s thread mills begin the importation of ram spun in Scotland in order to break down organization of American spinners. Two thousand employes in Carnegie, Phipps & Co.’s Homestend steel works reduced 10 per eent. Fairfield Chemical Co., Bridgeport, Conn., gave their employes a Christmas present of a reduction of 10 per sent, in wages, although the McKinley bill takes sulphuric acid, the principal product of this company, off the free list, and imposes a duty of one* fourth of a cent a pound. Coal miners, Birmingham, Ala., strike against a reduction of wages, reduce wages of weavers 2| cents a yard. Silk mills, Warehouse Point, Conn., reduce wages of winders and doublers from $1,37 to sla day. Glass works of United glass company, Ranesville, 0., close for an indefinite time.

Glass factories at Blossburgh, Wellsboro and Covington, N. Y„ close. (Concerning the closing of these works the Philadelphia Press, a high protection paper, says: “As a result of the shut down more glassblowers are seeking employment than at any time since 1885. ‘) Scottdale rolling mill and pipe works, Scottdale, Pa., close. Charlotte furnace, Scottdale, Pa..closes, I, men thrown out. Girls in Jsrvis’ hat factory, Newark, N. J. engaged as trimmers, strike against a reduction of 15 cents a dozen. Bellefonte nail works, Bellefonte, Pa., general reduction of 25 per cent. Potters in sanitary potteries, Trenton, N. J. strike against a reduction. FEBRUARY. Mineis of Belleville, 111., strike for a uniform scale of 2 cents a bushel. Illinois steel works, South Chicago, shut down by the strike of the furnace men for higher wages. Pullman car joiners who strike for $2 a day are notified to retauux to work or be blacklisted. Chicago boss plasterers deoline to accede to the demand of the union for an advance of $3.50 to $4 per day after April 1, and the men will strike. Miners in Connellsville Coke regions strike for an advance of 12J per cent., and against a reduction of 10 p r cent. Still on. Brooke iron company, Birdsborough, Pa , closed and 450 men thrown out, because they refused a reduction of about 7 per cent. Ellis & Lessig steel and iron company, Pottstown, Pa., closed. Seven hundred men refuse a reduction of 12£ per cent. Sturtevant blower works, Jamniea Plain, Mass., reduction of from 10 io 30 per cent. Pottstown iron company, Pottstown, Pa., a reduction of 7 per cent. Bethlehem iron company, Bethlehem, Pa., reduction of 10 per cent. Otis iron and steel company, Cleveland, 0., reduction 30 per cent. Coal miners Duquoin, 111., reduced 7 cents per ton. Ribbon weavers, Patterson, N. J., reduction of 15 per cent. Coal miners, Leavenworth, Kansas, reduction of 11 per cent. Cocheco manufacturing company weavers reduced 4 per cent. Buckeye mower and reaper works, Akron. Ohio, reduction of from 30 to CO per cent. Saxony knitting mills, Little Falls, New York, reduction of 20 per cent. Weavers in Hargreaves mills, Fall River, Massachusetts, strike against low wages, Tenny’s hat factory, Methuen, Massachusetts, reduction of 25 per cent. Southern steel company, Chattanooga, Tennessee, reduction of 10 per eent. Raney & Bergen blast furnace, New Castle, Pennsylvania, reduction of 10 per cent a day for labor and 15 cents for twelve hour men.

Smithville cotton Connecticut, strike against a reduction and succeed. Bates’ mills, Lewiston, Maine, reduction proposed in beaming department, amounting to 2 per cent. Operatives strike. Strike in underwear mills, Jacksonville, Illinois against a reduction. Coal miners near Huntingburg, Indiana, strike against a reduction of wages. Emma blast furnace, Cleveland, Ohio, reduction of 10 per cent. Adelaide silk mills, Allentown, Pennsylvania, reduction of wages Feb. 13. American knife company, Waterbury, Connecticut, reduction of 20 per cent. Fisher’s pipe foundry, Allentown Pennsylvania, 5 cents a day on outside, and 10 cents on inside. • MARCH. Three hundred and forty weavers in Wausuckmill , Providence,Rhode Island, strike against a reduction. Crane iron company, Allentown, Penn- i sylvania, reduce wages 10 per cent. Employers in coke regions threaten to make a further cut of 10 per cent, in addition to the 10 per cent reduction wh ch caused the strike. Pottstown iron company, Po<ts ,z 'wn, Pennsylvania, cuts puddlers from $3,75 to $3,50 per ton. Third cut since February 1. Standard steel company reanmes work with non-union men. Pennsylvania coke minors strike against a reduction of 10 per cent, and demand an eight-hour day. Three hundred employes of the Labasfe glass works of Ottawa, Illinois, locked out by tbe proprietors Eight hundred weavers employed at the Atlantic mihs r Providence, Rhode Island, strike on accou t of excessive fines. Illinois stool company shuts down its

Joliet works indefinitely on account of the strike in the rolbna mill department. Work ou coal mines at Rendville, Hocking county, Ohio, suspended several weeks. Miners in a destitute condition. Strikers go back to work at the Cochrane plant, near Rainey, Pennsylvania, at the old prices. Disclosures show that the State of Pennsylvania has been robbed of $1,095,000 by eight stalwart Republicans in the management of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ schools. Governor Pattison unearthed the rascality and is after the rascals.