The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-02-23
KEOKUK, IOWAs
FREE TRADE AND Low wAeEs.


FREE TRADE AND Low WAGES.
There are some persons stiu left in Eng
land who protest againstth efusl bshffSarity
of free trade, in its universal tendency to
cruah tAelaborer.v We attract from aspeech
made BY an c~ppcnehto Of The system in York.
shire, some years since. The speaker said
of the free trade system;
THAT the system Is based ON foreign ccrnpet-
ton. Now / assert, that under the buy-cheap-
and-sell-d dear principle, brought to bear on foreign
competition, the ruin * shs working and small
trading classes must 60 on. Whys Labor il the
creator of all wealth. A man must work before .
gnin - grown, or ayArd j. WOVEN Bat ther~ is
noself smp1oyment for the working - il tAis
county, Lsbef Isl hired oummodity<-5aboeb .
thing n the mark t that il bsug ht and eed ooA-
sequently, as labor creates all wealth, labor is the
first thing bought-'Buy cheap buy cheap La
Dor is bought in the cheapest market. Bnt how
comes the next: Sell dear. sGil deArY Gall what7
Labor's produce. To whornf To the foreigner
ny and to the laborer i mself-for labor, not be-
ing self-employed, the laborer is not the partaker
of the first fruits Of his toll. Buy ehsAS, sell
dear, How do Jon like iti Buy shsaP, ssu
dear. Buy the workingmsns labor cheApfy, and
sell back TO that very workingman the produce Of
his own labor dear! The principle Of inherent
loss il in the bargain. The employee bugs ~
LABOR cheap-he sells, and nthe sale he must make
a profit; he sells to the workingman himself; and
thus every bargain between the employer and en-
ployed rs = deliberate cheat on the part Of the en-
ployer. Thus labor has to sink through eternal
loss, that capital may rise through lasting fraud.
But the system stops not here. This brought 70
bear on foreign competiton-which means, We
must ruin tho trade Of ethcr countries. ~ We have
ruined the labor Of our own. How does it work.
The high taxed country has to undersell the low
taxed. Competition abroad is constantly increas-
ing, consequently cheapness must increase also.
Therefore, wages in Engfand must keep constantly
falling. And how do they effect the fall2 By
surplus labor. How do they obtain the surplus
labor? By monopoly of the land, which drives
more hands than are wanted into the factory. BY
monopoly of machinery, which drives those hands
into the street by woman labor, which drives the
man from the shuttle; by child labor, which drives
the woman from the loom, Than planting their
foot upon that living base Of surplus. they place
its aching heart beneath their heel, and cry, Star
yationl Who'll work. Ahalf lon6i il better than
no bread at all and tho writhing msss grasp
greedily at their terms. Such il the ayatem fog
the workingman. But, electors, how does II op-
crate on you how does II affect home trade, the
shopkeeper, poor's rate, and taxAtionl For every
increase of competition abroad, there must be an
inrreAsS Of cheapncss at home. Etay increase
of scheapness in labor is based on incrssss Of abor
surplus, and this surplus is obtained By m in
crease Of machinery. | repeat, how does this op-
crate on you2 The Manchester Liberal on my
left establishes q new patent, and throws three
hundred men as q surplus in the streets. Shops
keepers, Three hundred customers less Rate
payers! Three hundred paupers more. But, mark
me- The evil stops not there. These three hun
bred men operate first to bring down the wages of
those who remain at work in their own trade. The
employer says, Now l reduce your wages The
men demur. Then he adds, DO you see those
three hundred men who have just walked out ?
YOU may change places, il you like; they re sigh-
ing TO come in on any terms, for they re starving
The men feel it, and are crushed. All you Man
chester Liberal Pharisee Of politics those men
are li~stening-have | got you now But the evil
stops not yet. Those men, driven from their own
trade, seek employment in others, when they swell
the surplus, and bring wages down"
So, when by the sharp compettion of British
manufacturers, under a low duty, our wooden
aud other manufactures are broken down,
the laborers thrown out Of employment, will
bein the labor market in this country creating
an over supply and bringing down wages.
And the wool growers, withtventy millions
of sheep, finding the business Improbable,
will sell them as mutton, overstock the neat
market and bring down the price on the cat
tie and hog ~raisers. And then, to make the
matter worse, these wool>growers will convert
their sheep pastures, to the extent Of some
eight or ten millions Of acres, to grain fields
and meadows, devoted to the production Of
cereals aud the raising Of more cattle and
hogs, to orerstock still more a contracted
market with agricultural products.
Laborers and farmers look these matters
square in the face, and decide for yoar-
selves, and don't surrender your common
sense TO the humbuggery of free trade or
gans. Adopt free trade, and under that sys-
tenn the cheaper capital and cheaper labor of
Great Britain will break down all our v
manufactures, and throw the surplus labor.
ers and capital employed in them irto the one
only remaining branch of industry, agricul>
ture, Then, without a home market, the en-.
tire energies of the country must be devoted
to producing cheap food in competition with
Ireland and the North of Europe, and tire
British Provinces, for the British market.
And in order to succeed in the competition
with Europe in the British market, our farm
ers must furnish their products very ehesp,
and to do that they must obtain laborers q.
very low wages, aud put up with very small
profits on an average, and very greatlosses oc-
casionally. Great Britain undertakes to sup
ply the world with cheap manufactures, and
she must get the main element Of their cost,
labor, at low rates and if we undertake to
compete against the world to supply Great
Britain with cheap food, the prime element of
cost, its labor, must of necessity be re-
duced to the lowest rates also. So that labor
and agricultural products here, where food is
raised, may bear a fair proportion to the
cheap labor and cheap manufactures of Grea.
Britain, where manufactured articles are sup-
piled.