The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-09-20
their position after a few

their position after a few
Ational trial would be any
1eCter than it is to-dayY The
dearer window glass IS made
the higher the cost to the
working man. who, as long as he
can get house or a hut to live in,
must be a purchaser of it; and by
natural law, therefore, he will insist
upon corresponding advance in the
price of his labor, in order to make
both ends meet. At the last session
OF congress an effort was made to cut
down the excessive tariff on an article
which is now almost a necessary of
civilized life, but it met with only a
partial success. In the revision the
duty upon common window glass
ranges from is cents to 27s cents per
pound; the finer descriptions of pol
ished pay from 81 cents up to 80
cents per square foot; looking-glass
plates pay from cents to 60 cents,
and when the frames are imported an
additional 80 per cent ad valorem is
put on. The plate-glass lobby was
pretty strong at Washington last
winter, pending the revision, and
hence the only descriptions that could
be got on the free list under that head
were eve quote from the tariff itself
''broken pieces and old glass which
cannot be cut for use, and fit only to
be manufactured" 1t was hardly
worth while to place such things as
these on the free list.
The next thing that arrests atten-
ton in this movement of the glass
manufacturers is the re-eXposure of
the faliacy that high duties imply
either good wages or protection"
to home industry. The workmen al
lege that present wages barely enable
them to live, and that, rather than
submit to the reduction, "they will
stand the consequences of a lockout .
etc. But we know very well from
experience what all these aSsevera-
lions amount to. The workingmen,
after brief show of resistance, will
| have to capitulate or Starve. They
cannot afford to fight the wealthy
manufacturers, who, it is pretty GER
tain, have worked protection" for all
that it is worth for their own benefit.
AS to their solicltude for the Ameri-
can woringman, of which we hear so
much when the tariff is under dis
cusSiOn, we see it stated that
some manufacturers in Baltimore
and Ohio have gone so far as to i'm
port Belgian and other European
workmen, to be employed in their fac.
tories under contract. Thus, 1.-THE
pauper labor of Europe" is a good
enough scare-crow with which tC
light the free-traders on the platform
but when it comes down to actual
business and question of reducing
the wages of "home industry" we see
Just what it is worth; the pauper Ia
Dor, without the slightest compunc
ton, gets the preference.
Finally, what further eXciteS obSer
walton in this movement Of the glass
manufacturers to pare down opera
tiveS' wages in the indignant protest
which they enter at the same time
against the trades unions, which in
sist upon debating to them in vari
ETY. of ways.
Mr.. Porter and his employers must
excuse us if we reiterate that Penn
sylvania and Southern Ohio just a
this moment are much more becom
ing fields for his economic studies auC
his investigation of "labor and wages
than the workshops of England ant
Germany. American working peopl
would like to hear him explain tn
blessings to them of protective tari1
from the class manufacturing 4O@12
per cent standpoints, and why, evel
with that enormous protection, manu-
facturers are importing 'paupe
labor" from some of the continents
countries to compete with them il
the labor market? 1t is to be hoped
therefore, that he will return forth
with and explain just how all this ha
come to pass.