From A Workingman's Point Of View

Tu tlie Editor of the N. Y. Sun: - The issue now pending in Congress betweni the representatives of home and foreign industries is most important to the woiking-ciass in this country. It is a questlon whether our own working people or tbe cheap labor of foreigu countries shall be ' employee! to supply the demands of our own niiirkct. This Tariff bill is so ingeniously contrived and so assiduously pressed by its supporters as to deceive the lepresentatives of the people. It is plaln that an efTort Is nowbeing made by the HeraXd, the World, and otlier organs of cheap labor interest?, to work up ii sentiment in favor of this bill and l.'i.s it olf as the opinión of American workingmen. But it is an incontrovertible fact that the intelligent workiDjfineu of the country re opposed not only to free trade, but to any ineasure tendiug in that directiou. The people ara told tlmt all they need to do to compete successfully for the markets of the world is to take the duty oñ' raw materials. When that is done, anl tho8e einployed in the production of raw material are thrown out of employment, the difference in the price of lubor will yet remain. American laborers will still demand one dollar for lubor whicli the manufacturers of England, France afld Germany can buy for fifty cents, and we will be us far from foreign markets ;ts before. The only benefit to be gained by the Kiim is-ion of raw materiuU will be u slight reduetion in the cost of living. The rich man will fTiiin, but the luhorer will ose bot only by a decline in wmgto, but by loss of employment. We have 110 nwd to go abroad for our ruw material. Our hlllsidc? teem with ore, and men stand iille on every streit corner, n burilen to Ihemselve and 11 menace to the peH6 of the coimti y. It is a plain fact Chat our own country is an inexhaustible storeliouse of we.ilth; that our own labor is equal to the task of producing at home all that is neceanry to the most extravagant use of all the people; and that millions of capital are seekinff investment. Why not employ the surplus labor of our own country in prodneing what we want from abroad? Our free-trade friends teil us that the depressiou in the labor inarket Is due to overproduction, and to relieve us from that burthen they have conceived the brilliant idea of converting a Democratie administration into an agency for the purpose of dumping the surplus products of all Kurope on our shores. Wc are unblushingiy invited by the foreigners who father and support the Mills bill to sacritice our own market for i chance to get pos.-rssiiui of othcis that are already overstocked. The woikin;uicii of Amcricii nniy as well DDdeMaod in time that the Mills Tari ff bill was not designed for their benellt. It was planned by the rich for the beuelU of the rich, and they alone will proüt by it, as they can draw on cheaper markets while labor here will be bronght to the level of that in foreign countries. If the American laborers wlsh to see this result, there is oue way to obtain It, namcly, by acceptinjr the declaration of the NW York World, which was enunciated sonie years ago,irofessedly for their beneüt. This is it: "The workingmen of the United States are DO better than the workingmen of any other country, and they should be content to till the place and" condition in life which it pleased Almifihty God to make for tliem." Now, workingmen, if you want free trade, commence now to economlze on the European plan. Keep meet off your table; brush up your working clothes for Sunday; crowd your fauiily Into one room. Don't drink beer nor smoke cigars; those luxurles belong exclusively to the rich. Don't read anything but free trade papers; you might learn something useful. Teil 3'our employers to reduce your wages to the precise figure paid for sucli woi k in other countries. Theu you will be fully equipped for the change contemplated by your frec-trude friends aud prepared to accept the servile place and degraded condition in llfe which it has pleased not Almighty God, but the framers of the Mills Tiiriff bill to make for 155 Harrisoii Street, Brooklyn May 2, 18S8.