The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1871-05-12
yailp ARGUS.
Official Paper.
The Printers and Protection.

AAS = AAAASOAS . s1AA0 - AotOStkU4e
The PhiladelphiA Industrial Protector has
an article on some resolutions adopted by
the printers in that city In reference to a bill,
recently pass ed in the House of Represents.
nves, requesting the Senate TO increase ths
speclhc duty on books to at least Is cents
per pound, in order that 'the printers of the
United States shall not be forced 70 com na,s
with the underpAid labor of Europe" The
Protector says
Az present, II is well known that the
PAuper-lsoor system of England has so re-
aueeo the cost of paper and of composition
In tnat country that our authors find il
oheaper to send their manuscripts land even
10 Garry them1 across the Atlantic tor pubG
cation than to patronize American publish.
log houses and give employment TO Ameri.
can printers and paper mills. We are relia.
oiy informed that printed sheets can bs OBJ
tanned from England tor q less price than
the white paper costs here. And, as init
mated In the above resolutions, the propos.
ed duty of fifteen cents per pound ia not
enough to Offset the difference In cost of ma
per aud composition in the two oouptriss
1t Is manifest, therefore, in Justice to these
three classes Of persons, to-wit, publishers
printers, and paper manufacturers the dutv
ought be placed at . considerably higher
figure"
Indeed The printers of New York would
be glad to get the same reward "a the "pau.
per conpositors of London. Let us com
pare their wages. The London "pauper'
compositor pays his rent for month By four
days labor. The New York protected com
posltor must work ak days for inferior &C
com modalions for the same period.
The British pauper can exchange the
wages of nine days' six hours and thirty
minutes labor for a good suit of brosdclosh
clothes.
No less than twelve days' wages are ne
cessary to obtain the same result for ap
American printer.
The cOckney compositor has to slave two
days, Eve hours, and fifteen minutes to
obtain pair of calf skin Wellington boots.
The MAnhAtten printer amusss himself
three days and four hours for g protect
article of inferior description.
The Britisher uses occasionally Sheffield
pocket knife, for which he tolls two hours and
thirty minutes.
Six hours labor is the price our .unpAu-
psrized printers pay for snch khife.
The EuglishmAn manages to get SIX
shirts for three days and f We hours labor.
The American secures that u num ber in f ve
days.
Ought we not to be thankful that our
New York cOmpositor has not such oppor,
tunities of spending his time as his London
comPeer? The oockney leaves his work oD
Saturday at noon, puts on his untAxed bea
yer hat and gloves, looks in an untaxed
glass to see if his untaxed toilet 10 all right
enters the untAxed railway car, driven by
untAIed coal over untaxed rails to the sea
shore, to 60 on board the untAxed ship,
blilt and furnished with untaxed material
the uutaxed hAwssr is cast off, and the poor
pauper sails away reveling the while in the
perRicious thought that Englishmen have
the right 70 buy in the cheapest and sell in
the dearest market. Well might we rejOoe
that our compositOrs are not alOWed to spend
their time thus they have q nobler mission
TO ill-to toll for the iron master, the coal
proprietor, the salt manufacturer, the wool
Ell and "cotton lords," and few tax col
lectors, (some 100000
No wonder our authors 60 to the pauper
labor of London to get theirsbooks manu-
fsotured on untAxed paper, made of untaxed
rags, oD untaxed machinery, bound BY an
uutaxsd binder, sewed with untAxed thread,
covered with untsxed muslin or leather, or
namented with untaxed gold, and then sent
to this oar country to be taxed as desired
by our taxed cOmposisors Is cents a pound
and sold By the taxed bookseller to people
who are taxed for everything they see or
handls.-Free Trader.