The Wilmingtonian., 1884-09-13
DOES PROTECTION PROTECT?

i"N|Aoi"o'o loSlc " ltS tuen iuu ldclS - dIBi'
ing the other way Mills closing down and
banks going up bespeak anything bat a
thriving financial condition among the com
munity. And there is another evil which
the advocates Of protection do not seem to
have foieseen, but which is forcing itself on
the attention of American working men in a
Mariner not to be gainsaii or mistaken.
Admitting that tile maintaining Of taxa
tion on scale originating in and justified
only by a gigantic war has necessitatel the
payment OF high wages to American arti-
sans, it has followed as natural conse-
quence that an enormous immigration OF
the pauper laborers Of the Old World has
taken place, and that in nearly every stale
these men are hired by contractors and
operators at figures which necessarily tend
to reduce the weekly stipend Of their fellow
workers Of American birth. The American
market being practically closed to producers
in the Old World their employees have
come over to us to share the golden harvest
whi5h was sought to be monopolizcd
Monopoly is magnificent boon to the few,
but it can exist only by sulicrance Of the
many, and in the end the many will have
their way. Water seeks its level and hydro
gen gas will leak through the closest rubber
bag. Only by the most incessant vigilance
and even at the bayonet's point can
monopoly be perpetuated.
AT present time the American aborer has
to pay taxes of 60 and even 20 per cent. on
real necessaries-while competing with the
thousands of immigrants who weekly seek
our shores and who, being possessed of
slender means, gladly accept the reduced
wages which the advocates of Protection
are the first to offer them The railroads of
the West built by Chinese labor, the rail-
roads of the East constructed in many eases
by italian labor, have demonstrated the fact
that railroad corporations are fully alive to
the fact that the tariff is a most convenient
and reliable source Of marginal profits. So
with the coal companies Of the Cumberland
valley, who employ large numbers Of Welsh
and Hungarians at low wages, a fact demon
strated in the dangerous demonstration al
the Frostburg mines three years ago.
To put the case still more plainly, let us
suppose tilae Il factory employs 205r hands
at an average wage of ten dollars week.
This would be considered low income by
an American artisan of the better class, but
is about equal to the highest earnings of the
same men in England and Scotland, and
greatly above the standard in France, Ger
many, Belgium and Italy. Every immi-
grant who comes to our shores has friends
at home to whom he communicates the good
tidings. Necessarily there is rush Of immi-
grants, and following the inhexible law of
supply and demand, wages fall in exact pro
portion to the number of arrivals. For
years past tie Great West has absorbed a
large portion of the immigration, and wages
have remained at the figures born of arti-
fetal initiation, but the time has already come
when manufacturers have become indepcnd-
ent of their operatives, and can reduce wages
almost as they please without the chance of
effective opposition. All this time the pro-
tective tariff is rigidly insisted or, SO that at
the present hour the American artisan is
actually not so well off as his English
brother, though nominaly earning wages
greater by from half to two-thirds.
To strike down the whole tariff business
at blow would be suicidal policy, but a
reduction of some sort is inevitable. The
Mountain would not go to Mahomet, but
Mahomet is coming over to the Mountain
with a vengeance. The secession of a large
number of republican journals from the
rigid standard of Protection is a sign of the
times, and proof that the intelligent work
ing man has a point to make at the polls in
November.
Mr.. Vests argument to the Mass Meet
ing at the OperaHouse on Tuesday evening
followed the routine line of Protectionist
addresses According to Mr.. West, the
Hon. j. G. Blaine is the friend of the Amer.
lean working man and has no dearer objcc
in the world than to protect the selfsam,
A. w, NJ, from injurious competition Will
the ''pauper'' labor of Europe. 1t woulc
have been well if the speaker had been quit
clear of all chance Of a demurrer to thi
proposition, for it seems to be establishes
beyond disproof that Mr.. Blaine is larg
shareholder in certain coal mines in Nes
! Virginia and that these mines are to.da
filled with foreigners, the company hapin,
secured theEuropcan market in search of Tia
cheapest labor to be had. Seeing that Goa
is protected by heavy import duty an
that the poor mau is compelled t. buy at
the enhanced price Supposed to be due t
high wages) while struggling in compoti
tition with the Hungarian for starvatio
wages, it is very hard indeed to see wher
the applicability of Mr.. Vests logic come
in. .-.... .
1t has been argued by protcctionist jourr