The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-02-09
THE TARIFF AND woRKrNGMEN.

under the auspices of the New York Associa-
ton for the Protection of American Indus
try was significant as giving utterance to
the sentiment of class of men whose opin-
ions must carry weight. The venerable
Peter Cooper, than whom there is no man
in America more sincere and more actively
opposed to monopolies of all kinds, was
called to the chair. Among the vice-presi-
dents were men such as Hamilton Fish,
John Jacob Aston E. D. Morgan, Jesse Selig-
man, Jacob D. Vermilye and Hugh J. Has
tings, all prominent in the business interests
OF New York city and the country at large.
Mr.. Cooper, as chairman, made the opening
address, in which he said:
SHOULD they be adopted our mechanics
would be forced to work for starvation wages
or abandon their trades and become Compel
itors of the agricultural laborers of the coun-
try. Our country would, if those theories
prevailed, be reduced to the condition of Ire
land, Spain and Mexico. We would produce
the materials, and others would do the
manufacturing. Such policy would bring
ruin upon hundreds of thousands of Ameri-
can workmen who have nothing to sell but
their labor Should the tariff be reduced 25
per cent. it would cost us at least thousand
million dollars"
scarcely be magnifed. 1t is in harmony
with, but stronger than, what the Journal
has constantly said during the whole discus
sion. Mr.. Cooper, as is we'll known, is not
Republican. 1t cannot be charged that his
judgment is biased by partisan prejudice
The Republican party, as the defender of
American industries built up under Repub
lican legislation, is pledged to protect Amer
| lean workingmen against all the world. But
Mr. Cooper comes of another and wholly diff
terent political organization. He is actuated
by neither political ambition nor the hope of
personal gain. His judgment is strongly
convinced of the great necessity of still
keeping out the fatal competition
of poorly paid labor His con-
victions are those of an honest
man, arrived at through long investigation
and thorough experience as a man of bust
ness The lifelong friend of the mechanic and
laborer he still is interested in their behalf,
and points out the dangers now threatening
the welfare of every man in America who
depends on his labor for living
The question of free trade or protective
tariff should not be a partisan one, but
should be discussed with the desire of arriv
ing at the wiSest conclusion possible. The
Republican party is pledged to tariff reform.
There is ground for many changes in the ex-
isting customs laws, and these changes
should be made now. The term of the pres
ent Congress expires by Limitation in four
weeks The necessary reforms ought to be
| effected at once The 4th of March will
usher in a Congress whose majority will be
hostile to the present order, and If it
be left to it to readjust the tariff, it will be
murdered incontinently; for while some
members OF that party favor protective
tariff as a shield to our industries, there are
many who are pledged to its destruction.
Never, in time of peace were vaster interests
at stake. ii left to the Republican party, a
modified protective tariff will be maintained.
not for the benefit of capitalists, syndicates
| and monopolists-they will be able to take
care of themselves in any event-but for the
purpose of preventing American laboring
men from being brought into competition
with the hundreds of thousands vino work
much harder for little if any more than half
the sum paid for the same character of work
|
are enabled to run only because the mills of
Sheffield cannot come into competition
| The print works of Massachusetts, give work
to thousands of employees only because
those of Manchester are not al
lowed to underbid them The
glass-works at Pittsburg and the great plate
glass works at New Albany are running be-
cause a protective tariff prevents the half
paid workmen of France and Belgium from
doing the work that must be done and
should be done in America, if we are ever to
be anything else than an agricultural people.
Strike down the tariff and introduce free
trade, and the furnace fires and FORCES in
France and En- gland at Brussels and Biz
mingham, will grow brighter as those in
Pittsburg and Paterson go out in the de-
serted shops. There is only one way to pre-
vent our manufactures from staying closed
forever, and that would be by cutting down
the wages of the workingmen to a level with
those across the Atlantic. With no protec-
ton against foreign competition, ton OF
iron must be made as cheaply in Pittsburg
as in England and Wales. There is no
help for it. 1t is principle of polt-
ical economy that allows of no exceptions.
The indianapolis rolling-mill, employing
hands at certain wages, is able to sell manu-
featured iron at certain rates, and make q
living profit Another mill (English) gets
its work done at a much less cost by paying
its men about half the wages paid in Indian
apolis. How can the home establishment
compete with the English mill? First by
the Intervention of protective tariff; and,
second, by reduction of the wages paid en-
ployes. Iron glass, prints and everything
made by hand or machinery can be made as
cheaply in America as in Europe-on one