Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1895 — CAEAP WOOLEN GOODS. [ARTICLE]

CAEAP WOOLEN GOODS.

The export of passenger and freight cars for steam railroads decreased by 81,300,000 during 1894 as compared with 1893. The effect of opening the;‘markets of idle world upon the employ ment of labor in this country is very striking. ; - During 1894 our exports of agricultural implements were worth 8480,000 less than in 1893, and to this too, with the markets of the world open to us, which the manufacturers of agricultural machinery, as a rule, have claimed was all they wanted, and that Protection was no benefit to them whatever. • 1 ... The ship loads of foreign goods that are being brought in foreign steamships into this country are small satisfaction to the man who walks the street and does not know where he will procure his next meal, while he thinks regretfully of the year 1892, when he never had an idle day.

The only act so far of the Republicans of the present legislature wh ieh trenched at all upon Democratic methods, was the caucus resolution to take the ap. pointing power of benevolent institution trustees away from the Governor, fhis one objectionable action, we are glad to say, has been rescinded. Tuesday the House passed the Nicholson bill, as amended, by a very large majority. Its future fate in the Senate is in some doubt. Ihe House also passed the bill making Hammond, Valparaiso and Michigan City a Superior Court circuit. The Congressional Apportionment bill was also passed, as decided upon by the Republican caucus. Another important bill passing the House the same day, was one which permits a deduction of not to exceed 81000 from the taxation valuation of mortgaged real estate.

The Nicholson temperance bill ! is still in the as yet only moderately disfigured. The section punishing minors for fre-' quenting saloons has been stricken out. Anda more important change still is in the “local option” section. This has been so changed that a remonstrance signed by a majority of the voters in a ward or township, does not prohibit the granting of all licenses for two- years, but only prohibits the granting to the particular applicant against whom the remonstrance was filed. Thus if the people of any city ward or of any township, desire to keep out all saloons they must meet each applicant as he comes up, with a separate remonstrance. A startling discovery was made at the state house Tuesday, that accounts for the little work done by our republican legislature— a barrel of whisky in the basement. This is true, and the honorable body dares not deny it. It was furnished them by the Indiana liquor league. The above from a neighboring Democratic exchange is the same in substance that nearly all democratic papers published last week. It is, in all essential elements, a slanderous falsehood. One Cain, the engineer at the State House, a a Democrat and a son of the “Ould Sod” and naturally a believer in the remedial qualities of whisky, had a two quart jug of that liquor, in his room, purchased with his own money; and, on the quiet, he sometimes invited members of his acquaintance to par- , take with him. One day last week hearing Mr. Jackson of Carroll

county., say he was sick, Cain offering him a drink of the whisky. Without stopping to’ learn how: much there was of the liquor, or who bought it; Mr, Jackson at once assumed that if was “Liquor League” whisky, amlthat. there was a barrel full of it. He “blowed” the matter in the house and an investigation showed the facts as above given. Mr. Jackson failed to substantia e what he had asserted, and he now stands a good chance for expulsion. If he does not retract and apologize he will surely be expelled.

American Economist;' Prices for woolen goods are known to be extremely low. The consumption of wool has certainly increased since the wool schedule of the new tariff came into effect Jan. 1, but this consumption is not of American wool. It is of foreign grown wool and is being imported free of duty. Foreign diagonal worsteds are competing with similar American goods, as also are foreign dress goods, and of the latter it is interesting to note from a trade paper that “American importers are sold out and are re-importing from abroad.” These original imports and the re-imports coming, and to crime, must, of course, curtail the out put of American woolen mills. The re-imports are all coming from France and at slightly lower prices than were paid for the original imports. . That French lobby which worked so hard at Washington in order to secure the passage of the Wilson tariff will appreciate that its work was not thrown away. It would appear, in fadt, that the French manufactures are just beginning to warm up to their work, because we are told that “the full strain of foreign competition has not yet been met.” If the “full strain” is to be met it must be by still lower prices for American woolen goods. And these still lower prices must mean lower wages for the people who are working in the American woolen factories, unless ‘ perhaps, our woolen manufacturers may be able to sell some of the goods made in this country in the markets of France, or in some of those other markets, of the world that are now wide open to us.