Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1883-02-27
THE TARIFF.

10 the Hon. Samuel j. RoRdoN:
To the proof that labor pays all the pro-
lection.
Inc PRESIDENT OLA great iron company is
sitting i'll his office. His laborers enter this
Spokesman. whom We will call John. saws:
My. PRESIDENT, YOU have Il large property
here, worth nothing without our labor. We
arc making iron for you al Il cost to YOU not
exceeding fifteen dollars a ton. including in
tcrest upon your capital, which in consc-
quence OF The protection given you by the
government against foreign iron. YOU are
selling for twenty-five dollars per ton. Our
wages hardly procure Us the bare necessari-
es "i life. and we think you ought to in
crease thehl 50 Is to afford Us Il few of its
comforts
President: well, John, / wish il was in
our poWerto double and even quadruple
your wages, for then it would be so much
the better for us; but let Us look 1T it in y
common sense way. You know that every
business, III which a man engages. must not
only pay its expenses. but must furnish him
living, or he would soon break. I and the
other stockholders in this coroporation. oc-
cupy Il position in society. which compels
tlsto Keep UP very expensive style of liy-
Ing With all the economy we can exercise
in our business, it is now barely enabling MS
TO I'VE. am glad you mentioned protect
ION. Wepaya great deal forthc protection
oil "thers-wc pay IS per cent. on our car
pets, - per cent. upon our clothing. "a per
cent. upon our hats, 100 upon our nannels,
90 upon our silks. 100 upon our plate glass
lof inc windows i'll our elegant houses. from
III 10 l2O upon the marble for our floors
nantes and trimmings, and so on for every
thlng we consume, and all this for the pro
lection OF those who manufacture them.
we cannot reduce our style of living, with
out losing our position in society, which We
cannot think OF doing aud as we are de
pendent on our dividends from the business
Tor the means disappearing our style of liv-
ing, we must of necessity in dull times
reduce the expenses of the business and
the only way to do this is to reduce the wa
ges of our hands. You see that an increase
OF wages is for the present at least. impossi-
bic III fact. we are afraid that unless busi-
ness improves soon, we shall be compelled
to reduce them. The best l can say is, to
advise you TO cut off every unnecessary ex
pense, and get along the best you can until
better times. when we will consider the
question oil an increase OF wages.
john Il thank you Mr. President. for at
least one thing. The new light YOU have
given me. | have been fool enough TO be-
ilcve that when Corporations were spending
millions every year, to elect and to- bride
members of Congress to put large taxes up-
on foreign manufactures, they were doing it
for the protection Of labor, but YOU have
shown me that their object was to enrich
themselves by robbing it. You have so
many stockholders, who in keeping I'D soci
ETY. style have opay for so much protection
20 others thatit amounts to more than the
protection upon your iron. and instead of
cutting OLA few Of your luxuries when dull
times come you hold on to them and take it
from our wages. So the stockholders of ey-
cry manufacturing establishment pay SO
much for the protection of every other that
they take it out of the wages oflabor. We
too have to pay for protection for all
ofthem, but have nobody to take it from but
our wives and children
You see Mr.. Randall, that in IFS last an
aiysis,, protection is the poorly requited
toll OF the laborer and the suffering of his
wife and children. 1t is true of every bust.
ness employing labor. The first stem in
economizlng is to reduce the wages of labor.
1t Is so much easier to give 10 others the
privilege of exercising the Christian virtues
ofsacrtice and sclfdenial than to exercise
them ourselves. JAMES y. BETHuNE
NARRENTON, VA, Feb rs.