Street Chat

The politioal questions of the day have been the chief topics of the week. Gradually the people are coming to be more thoroughly posted on the tariff question. Business men let drop facts which must be admitted to be true. Grant the facts and a logical conclusión must ensue that if the tariff tax makes goods higher then ought it to be reduced to the cost of a government economically administered. John Huut, in a couversation overheard by the Akgus this week, stated that he was selling the knives of the American Cutlery Co. The same knife made by the same company, could be bought at retail in Canada for the price he had to pay here at wholesale. In other words the American manufacturers of knives can sell at prices competing with English goods. They do so sell for the Canadian trade, but they make people of this country pay more for goods than they charge foreigners. This is a case in the same line as the case of the Graham silverware, which as Mr. Ben. Watts has explained, sells for much less to Canadian dealers than to dealers in this country. Mr. Edward Duffy tellsofbeing down in New Jeisey purchasing crockery, wheu the company of which he was buying was agitating the placing of ten per cent. higher duty upon crockery, giv. mg as a reason that .it would enable them to pay better wages to their workmen. Oongress listened to their plea, raised the tarifï tax and the company at once raised the Wholesale price of theii goods ten per cent. Mr. Duffy said he feit considerable interest in knowing whether they raised ihe wages of their workmen or not and he states that they didn't raise wages a penny. The raise in the tarifi meant merely a ten per cent increase in the profits of the maiiufacturer. Rev. Dr. Holmes in making an address to the republican county convention, Tuesday, addressed the chairman, James L. Gilbert, as brother moderator -the idea of Gilbert being a moderator -and then excused himself on the plea that he was accustomed to addressing religious bodies; Col. Dean remarked sotto voce that it was a religious body and many others feit it to be a consolation meeting. The candidate for prosecutiug attorney, John F. Lawrence, spoke on the tarifï question. 11e said the Sagina w salt was the cheapest in the world. Ile ought to have recognized the absurdity of makins; a fight to keep a tarifí on salt, if we could undersell the world. It also ought to strike him as f unny that the rich pork packers, Armour & Co., of Chicago, import their salt, if they can buy it cheaper at home, and also see to it that congress pays them back what duties they pay. Kev. Dr. Holmes in his speech before the republican convention and Solon Chase in his speech a half hour later before the republicans in the rink flatly contradicted each other. Mr. Holmes argued that the tariff made prices lower in this country and yet the workmen were f ar better off than in any other country . Solon Chase on the other hand claimed that taking off the tariff would lower prices in this country and henee make wages lower. Aceording to Mr. Holmes, high tariff makes prices low. Aceording to Solon Chase, high tariff makes prices high and wages high. They are botn republican brethren in good standing. You pay your money and take your choice. Rev. Dr. Holmes in the course of his argument gave some very good reasons for opposing the republican platform . He alluded to the fact that there was absolute free trade between states and said it was true Michigan might raise oranges at twenty cents a piece but she üidn't ask for a tariff against Florida on that account. He thus stated an argument against protection in a nutshell. Oranges could be raised here in hot houses at a heavy expense. How mucjbetter for our people to raise,something that would not be so expen. sive to raise and trade for oranges with Florida, where artificial heat is not needed to npen the fruit.