Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-23
THE TARIFF QUESTION COMING TO The
FRONT.


and Germany, and the rates of the wages
Of labor in Europe, together indicate that
the session just opened will be devoted
largely to these subjects. Hoar's bun
combe speech about the workingmen of
was very neatly capped by
Beck, in the remark that notwithstanding
the nominally high rate of wages in Massa-
chusetts, $500 there will purchase less of
the necessaries of life than $500 in Eng
land. And Mr.. Hoar might also have been
asked whether it is equitable to make every
thing dearer for four-fifth of the labor OF
the countryin order that one. fifth shall have
artifciaAy high wages, for that is about
the proportion of 'protected labor to
unprotected. No doubt Mr.. Hoar finds it
necessary to stand up for system which
is enormously supposed by very infu-
entail part of his constituents to improve
their condition, but it does not follow that
all the rest of the country ought to take
the same view of the matter, and it would
not follow even if his political economy
was as correct as it is incorrect. And Sem
ator Beck struck one of the weakest places
in the armor of Protection when he re-
ferred to the vital question of the relative
purchasing power of wages. For the truth
is that the tariff takes away with one hand
what it gives with the other, even in the
case of the workingmen who are supposed
to profit most by it. 1t may sometimes
raise their wages, though this is by no
means necessary, and in fact Mr.. Blaine's
late pamphlet on the cotton trade, which
VIC reviewed recently, shows that at the
present time the New England mills
pay very little higher wages, even nomi.
nally.. than those of Manchester. The
rates of wages in Massachusetts and Eng.
land, in that trade at least, are almost on
level, but when we come to examine the
relative purchasing power of those wages,
the comparison is all in favor of England.
During the past few years there has been
steady rise in prices in this country, and
it has been recently estimated that this rise
at present amounts to an increase of not
less than thirty per cent. A great part
of this is the result of that insidious infa-
ton of the currency which has been going
on under the silver.eoinage law. Other
causes, however, have helped the enhance
ment, and the tariff has forced it home
upon the consumer. And the consumer is
the protected laborer, among other people.
Whatever increase of wages he receives
through the tariff is much more than eoun-
terbalanced by the increase in the cost of
living which that instrument causes Nor
have wages risen to keep pace with the
rise in prices. They have rather fallen,
and the general consequence is that despite
or indeed because of, the tariff, the condi-
tion of the Eastern workingmen is less sat-
isfsctory than it has been for years. Sen.
ator Hoar of course does his best, being of
counsel for the Protectionist mill-owners,
to convince the laborers that it is their in.
terest to resist any modification of the tar
if. Yet if they understood their own in
terest they would realize that they are los
ing far more than they gain by the legisla.
ton which makes them pay three and four
prices for everything they wear and use,
and that they could afford to live much
better upon lower wages, if the purchasing
power of their money was increased by al.
lowing them to buy in the cheapest market.
But whether the New England working.
men 90 or do not understand thei1 own in.
terests, the workingmen and people gener.
ally outside of the traditional strongholds
of Protection ought by this time to realize
that they are being sacrificed in the most
unjustifiable way. The great West, in
short, is being made newer of wood and
drawer of water for the East, for Massa-
chusetts and Pennsylvania and Maine and
New York. The millions who labor to
produce our breadstuffs and our stock have
no tariff to bolster them up. They are
being forced to pay as high as forty per
cent on an average for the pleasure of see.
ing few hundred thousands of Eastern
workingmen receive a wage which is not
ten per cent. higher than the English rate,
and which falls below the latter in pur-
chasing power nearly fifty per cent. This
is the mathematics of Protection. It is on
a par, as regards intelligence, with the in
genuity of the Chinaman in Lambs story,
who could imagine no better way of roast
ing pork than by burning his house down
every time he wanted feast. Protection
is the most costly hobby nation can ride,
and it is also one of the most demoralizine.
For when men have learned to cheat and
swindle one another under the pretext of
benefting the whole country, they are ripe
for reputation, fraudulent bankruptcy, de-
falcation, and general corruption both in
and out of politics. And Protection is a
doctrine which necessitates dishonesty in
practice, because its essence is inequity. 1t
is patent method of supporting industry
by making those who do not share its pro.
fits pay for it, and in that sense it is ne
better than highway robbery.
If the State Department furnishes the
information for which the Senate has
applied, without doctoring the statistics in
any way, there will be very embarrassing
showing for the tariff men. As matter
of fact much of the information required
is already available. 1t is to be found in
the Consular Reports on Labor in Europe
which were published by the Government
in 1879. Since that time all the changes
which have occurred have been unfavorable
to American labor. Prices have risen gen,
orally, and wages have remained stationary,
or have fallen. 1t is not true that, as Mr..
Hoar says, the wages of The American
workingman have been maintained at q
high rate for twenty years. We are salts.
fed that a perfectly unbiased comparison
will prove the present American rates taking
relative purchasing power into account)
to be considerably below the prevailing
English rates. We know that the English
workingman has an advantage of at leas.