The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-07-25


United states therein On page 9sa thu
report, after comparing the wages paid In
4 the cotton mills 81 Massachusetts and those
Of Lancaster, England, showing Sigh
difference In favor Of Massachusetts,, and
stating that the wages paid In that State Art
slightly higher than those paid elsewhere
In cotton manufactures In this country
says !" Undoubtedly the inequalities In thu
wages Of English and American operatives
are more than equalized by tho greater
efficiency Q! The latter and their Longer hour
| Of labor. II this should prove to be a fact
In practice, as 1t seems 10 be proven Iron,
official statistics, It would be 10 very i'm
portant element In the establishment Of
Our ability TO compete with England fol
our share Of the cotton goods trade Of the
world" And this Is the result OF Mr.
Clay's "iavorite maxim" Of competition
under a protective tariff! Operatives In
Massachusetts, cotton mills working for the
same wages as the pauper labor OF England
receives IN Lancashire! Are you moi
aware, also, that In Massachusetts the
struggle for existence among tho working
classes under this wonderful protective
tariff has become 80 pressing that children
scarcely able to do the slightest manual
labor have been crowded into the cotton
and wooden mills TO such IN extent thu,
the legislature passed law forbidding any
person to employ in mill child under
ten years OF age! We knew TINT this had
been the result Of protection in old Eng
land, but protection in New England Is all
1 for stn Il % j ~ kt,o n-l.t
Whittier, then, have all these benefits Of a
protective tariff to the workingman van.
ished? 1nlEgi
In your article Of Nov. II, 1881, you said:
zone OF the most important features Of the
tariff Is that 1t gives the American work.
inginan such wages as enable him 10 live
well and raise his family respectfully
What your standard Of living and respect.
ability for workingmen may be, do not
know; but hope it is something better
than the net result OF protection in the cot.
ton mills Of Massachusetts,! ~
| Arc you not aware, also, that England,
which seems 10 be the one object OF dread
to all protectionists, enforced the system OF
protection for more than 200 yeas by laws
whose severity almost rivaled those OF
Draco, and brought her working people, Us
the net result OF it, to such q condition OF
poverty and starvation that a popular agi.
tation Of seven years resulted in tho com.
plete abandonment OF the system? Are
you not also aware that since England de.
clared for free trade In 1916 her commerce
has doubled, her consumption Of foreign
products has doubled, and yet the lraga Of
her working classes hare increased, while at
the same time The price OF her manufactured
articles has dtcrea,ed 20 to 100 per cent
And Is not the working Of your protective
tariff producing the same result here as It
did in England / showed in my second
article that the average wages paid to your
protected workmen in the iron industry in
1850 was 81 81 per day. In discussing
"The Labor Problem" on July Sth, you
say: 1.-THE great influx OF unskilled labor
which has marked the immigration to this
country this year, and the present struggle
for employment at wages hardly remuner-
alive, are leading to some remarkable oc-
cnrrences." And then you quote from the
Utica Herald that number Of raw foreign
laborers are employed in building rail-
road in New York State and receiving 81 81
per day. This you say is unskiiisd labor,
and the wages hardly remuneraiire. How
does this look alongside OF the 81 81 average
daily wages paid in the iron industry pro-
tected by the tariff which you say gives
the American workingman such wages as
enable him to live well and raise his fam.
lily respectfully? Truly the benefits OF pro.
lection are past finding out!
But let us look for moment at another
phase Of this question. asserted in my
urticle in the Netrs on "the strike" that
while the tariff protects the American
manufacturer against the competition OF
the products OF the cheap labor OF Europe,
it does not protect the American working.
man against the competition Of the labor
itsst. What do We see in the Cumberland
coal region? The miners on a strike for
higher wages and the owners sending off
and getting foreign miners or raw foreign.
era 10 take their places. Here is no pro.
lection to the workingmen against compe-
tition. In Cleveland We see the Cleveland
iron-rolling mill company employing for.
eiguers TO take the places OF the striking
iron workers. In Michigan we see the
Canadian foreigners brought over the Dor.
der to tale the places Of the striking lum.
ber-workmen who want reduction Of work
from eleven to ten hours. In New England
ne See the mills becoming crowded with
Canadians also, who come over and earn
all they can, and 90 back across the Dor.
der, thus not only taking the bread out Of
the mouths OF our own people, but also
carrying out OF the country the wages they
receive. This was the great objection to
the Chinese. You say you do not want
any Chinese cheap. labor in thi. country.
Why do you not, therefore, do something
protect the workingman in tacl as well
as in name.
Your whole protective scheme is fraud
and a false pretense. You probes to be
the great friend OF the workingman, and
yet you give him less wages than he can
earn on farm. You profess to be the
friend Of the farmer, and yet you compel
him to buy in a dear mdrta, while you will
not take his products except ut q price fired
by what you call in derision the pdupsr la.
Dor markd Of England. You become the
great national beggar, and go to Congress
and beg for your Infant" industries, in or
der that you may employ workmen ut high
wages, and yet you 60 back to your mills
and pay your workmen starvation wages
(else why do they strike?) and you pocket
dividends varying from 20 to 100 per cent
on your capital. Yon say that goods are
cheaper than ever before and that compe-
tition under the protective tariff brings
down the price, and yet if any one then
proposes to reduce the tariff you throw up
your hands in holy horror and all exclaim
with one accord that any reduction to our
tariff will be ruin to our infant industries,
and all our rich workingmen, who are get
ting such high wages, will be thrown out OF
employment and will compete with the far
mer and lower the price OF his products
and the country will all 80 to the "demni-
ton bow-wows" II any one in Congress
proposes to reduce the tariff on any partic-
ular article, Nj. Pig.iron Kelly, Of protected
Pennsylvania, jumps to his feet and says:
This tariff isl system. You cannot touch
one part Of it without hitting it all over.
Congress must not deal with this subject.
1t is too vast and intricate and Congress is
not smart enough. We must have a com.
mission to investigate this question and in.
struct Congress in its duties" And SO You