Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-01-01
THE WORKINGMAN'S QUESTION.
From the New York Herald.

nOL tne aDOlltlOn OF protective dulles lDJule
the American workipgmen 2" asked a Her.
aid representative of Mr.. William d. Mann,
the well known manufacturer of sleeping
cars, who has for many years been an ex-
tensiye employer Of labor, and is intimate
ly acquainted with the condition OF the
working classes.
sOn the contrary was the prompt an
swer, 'they would be decidedly better oil.
| see from the papers that wages are grow
ing less all around here. Strikes aret threat
ened in the coal and iron regions, and in
other places employers are discharging their
men because they cannot Afford to keep the
works going. Now, these poor fellows who
are going on strike have no protection
against the importation Of laborers who
come in to compete with them. Manuiac-
turers never grumble when they see ship
load after shipload of immigrants landed at
Castle Garden to swell the great crowd OF
laborers who are competing one with tho
other for chance to make 4 living. All
our manufacturers are very glad to see this
sort of free trade go on. But if it
is suggested that the American Ia
borer be allowed TO bring in a wooden
blanket, free of duty, Congress is bcsescd
Immediately with host of patriotic wool
len manufacturers who insist that the in
tercsts' of American industry demand a
high tariff on woollen blankets. The result
is that while every man, woman AID child
has to pay double the value Of II Woollcn
blanket in this country in order to protect
| some man who pockets the difference,
wages are in no way protected against the
competition from other countries. If work
| oh
in their minds they would sweep this whole
protection idea clean out Of the country
'But are not the American workingmen
better OF for receiving higher wages, al
though they may pay more for their goods,
than those of Europe?"
But they don't get higher wages. 1t has
been my business TO study pretty closely
this wage question, not only in England,
but in every country of Europe. know
that The English mechanic has a more COM
| Portable home, q better suit of clothes,
more leisure hours and more loose change
n his pockets than his mate in America IN
the same grade of work. This is not ran
dom talk, but the real state Of things. Ask
the first workman you meet in any of our
shops and he will tell you how well oil he is.
| Compare his condition with an Englishman'S
| in the same grade of work and you couldn't
get them to change places. The genius Of
our institutions encourages q high grade oil
| living. We have noue Of the distinctions Of
classes that mar European society. \ man
here is measured, not by what his great
grandfather was, but for what he is intrin-
sicaly. We should, by every means in our
power, foster this feeling. But our tariff
discourages it, The workman who seeks to
give his family the comforts his ncighbor en-
Joys is hindercd by enormous duties on all
sides, from which his trans atlantic neigh
bors are exempt. II he wishes to buy Il new
shawl for his wife; if be seeks TO adorn his
walls with pictures; if he wants carpet for
his floor, he iiEds that the cost OF everything
he touches is made ariiicialy dear by pro-
tectve tariff.
Now, what has the tariff done for the
workingman? Has it given him steady
work? Look at the condition of our indus
tries to-day and you can answer that quickly
enough. Has it given him more COM
forts than he would have had otherwise l.?
On the contrary, the condition Of the Amer
lean laborer is worse to-day than it was be-
fore the war under al almost free trade tar
it, The fact is, the cost Of living has gone
up fully one-third since 1860, while the wa
ges of labor have not advanced but q small
fraction--perhaps onc-tenth"
Nov, on the other hand continued Mr.
Mann, "who do the palaces belong To which
our millionaires have raised in the last ten
wears? Who are the men that have forced
into painful prominence the popular adage
that the rich are growing richer, and the
moor poorer Who are emphasizing the
discouraging spectacle of increasing luxury
amid increasing poverty? With the cxcep-
ton ofa few Wall street railroaders, you
will find that this little tax here, and that
little tax there have been the means of rails.
ing fortunes to the lucky owners Of privi-
legged mills and factories. The sudden ac-
quirement Of wealth by host Of manufac-
lures in protected industries is a thing well
known. Every manufacturing section Of
the country can count up a few such who in
few years have rolled up capital enough
to enable them to retire and build palaces in
which to spend the remainder of their days.
Now have workingmen any reason for graft
tude to these employers? While the
mills were prosperous these same
capitalists were loud in demanding protect
lou for American industry but did they
ever propose TO share their earnings with
their men, or did they ever hesitate to cut
down wages whenever possible? That man
must indeed be confding if be thinks that a
protected workingman ever got any more
than the market price for his labor"
But can he compete with the labor Of
Europe %
Not if the raw material is taxed so hcav-
lily as at present. 1t is not foreign labor
that we manufacturers are afraid of.
think it is we'll demonstrated that our high
priced American laborer can, other things
being equal do better work than any laborcr
more poorly paid. But we cannot compete
against Europe il the material we use in our
manufactures is taxed.
"What we want today is to export our
goods. We are manufacturing more than
our people can consume. Unless we ship it
abroad it will lie Oh our hands and make all
our mills close up untIlthe country catches
up with us again. Now, the tariff on i'm.
ports makes all our manufactured articles
so expensive that we cannot sell them to
other countries. Mexico, which is on our
border, buys nearly $500, 900 worth of cot