The Portland daily press., 1869-01-27


ropean manufacturers the advantage in COM
peting with our own, we should naturally ex-
pect those countries where wages are the low.
est to be most successful in maintaining the
competition. If the doctrines of the extreme
protective party are right, the countries Of
continental Europe would undersell and
drive from our markets not only our own, but
English manufacturers. That this is not the
fact proves that this portion of the protective
theory is false. England with higher wages
than any other European country can defy
the competition of the world, while Russian
manufacturers must be protected against their
English rivals who have to expend more than
three times much in the matter of wages.
The fallacy consists in confounding two
things which are not necessarily the same
The rate of wages is one thing, the cost of Ia
Dor is another The former is measured by
the sum which the laborer gets for working
certain length of time; the latter, BY what he
gets for producing a certain result A laborsr
who receives four dollars day and can pro-
duce two yards of cloth is as cheap as one who
works for two dollars day and produces but
one yard. The rate of wages varies much
more in different countries than the cost of la
Dor. Labor in the United States and England
either from the superiority of the laborer him
self, or from the more favorable circumstances
in which he is placed, is more productive, and
therefore yields higher return for a given
amount of time. In respect to the money cost
of producing equivalent industrial results, diff
ferent nations stand very nearly on the same
level, and it is this money cost which deter
mines the ability of one nation to compete
with another. In all branches of industry in
which the peculiar qualities Of American la
borers are available, their services are but lit
tie more costly than those Of Europeans. To
employ them in occupations in which these
qualities are not available, would be the same
sort Of economy as to set a l1borer to picking
rags who possessed the qualifications and de-
manded the wages of an overseer. To employ
the intellect of a Newton in the mere routine
duties of a copying clerk would be waste of
power similar in kind if not in degree.
1t is necessary for those who have the inter-
ests Of the Republican party at heart to look
at these matters as they are. For some who
are prominent as leaders of the party, under
the pressure of supposed necessity, have
yielded to the solicitations of the ultra protec-
tionists and have lent their sanction to meas
ures that are not only uncalled for but are alb
solutely injurious to the country and to the
party 1t is folly in the protected interests to
be extravagant in their demands. What they
need most of all, is stable legislation. But 1T
is impossible for tariff so high as our present
one to be durable. Every dollar added to the
price of q protected product by such 'eglsla-
ton is tax upon the consumer, the compen-
sltiou for which is the present or prospective
advantage either real or imaginary, derived
from the establishment of the protected indus
try. The people of this country have thus far
shown themselves willing to bear moderate
tax of this kind. The attempt to extort more
has always defeated itself. Our high tariffs
have all been short-lived. That of 1928 lasted
but five years, that of 1912 but four years.
The necessity for large revenue is all that |
has preserved our present tariff. Thistoo will |
have to share the fate of its predecessors as
soon as the public become convinced that a
lower one will answer the purpose. The he
publican party may save itself by discouute'
nancing in season these ill-advised measures
for which the ultra wing of the protectlonlsts
have been clamoring. Otherwise the archi-
tects may be buried under the ruins OF the
structure they have created. whether pro-
faction be wise OF unwise, considered in rela-
ton to its own merits, it would not be judi
tions to abrogatc at once policy so closely
inter woven with the whole course of our IN
dustry. But if we must have protection, sure
" let It be confined within reasonable limits