Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-27
TIE TARIFF AND THE MASSES

The venal San Francisco Chronicle, which
is never so happy as when it is trying to
cheat somebody, is just now endeavoring to
make its readers swallow series of almost
incredibly fallacious statements and phe.
nomenally foolish apologies for argument, on
behalf of the protective tariff. Being no
doubt considerably bothered by the show
ings we have heretofore made, of the man.
ner in which the tariff robs the masses,
it now tries to get over the difficulty by
the easy but not safe method of misrepre-
senting the facts in wholesale way. 1t
has undertaken, in fact, to maintain that
the masses in this country can live more
cheaply than the masses in England, and it
'proves this position by simply asserting
it to be SO. Apparently without knowing
or caring anything about the actual facts OF
the situation, our disreputable contem-
porary has the effrontery to declare that
"on the whole it may be said that from
the sole of their feet to the crown of their
head our toiling masses are clothed in
goods OF American manufacture, the cost
"of ,chich is almost entirely unaffected Jy
"he tariff !" We have here italicized a
really remarkable statement, for it conslu
sively demonstrates that the sheet from
which we quote actually has no conception
of the character and operations of that
protective system which it has so rashly
attempted to bolster up. The assertion
that the price of goods of American manu-
facture is "almost entirely unaffected by
the tariff is really as refreshing piece
of imbecility as we have encountered for
very long period. We shall be told next
that the price of Bessemer steel is al
"most entirely unaffected by the tariff. ="
But it is not necessary TO waste time discuss.
ing such fragrant nonsense. The facts about
relative cost of living in this country and
England have been collected, and the gen.
eral result may be stated in the following
terms The American workingman now
pays about 90 per cent. more rent than the
Englishman. For wooden clothing, and for
clothing of all kinds, including hats and
boots and shoes, he pays from 40 to 80 per
! cent. more for household furniture of all
kinds, 80 per cent. more for all kinds of
tools and implements, 90 per cent. more !;
the price of food in England and the United
States in 1882 was very nearly the same
while beer and liquor is fully twice as dear
in this country, and all amusements from
twice to fouS times as much. Fuel in most
parts of this country is three and four
times as dear as in England. Gas is from
two to FIVE times as much. And the inev-
liable result of this enormous difference in
the purchasing power of wages is that even
when American wages are nominally from
25 to 35 per cent. higher than in England,
the American workingman is far less CON-
fortably off than his English comrade. A
journal, however, which is so profoundly
ignorant OF political economy as to assert
confidently that the cost of American man.
ufactures sis almost entirely unaffected
"by the tariff cannot be expected to
know anything about relative prices. Oh
course it is just such ignorant writers that
are the most ready to lay down the law
about the matter, nevertheless.