New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-02-22


TO emphasize his own conclusion that tho wisest
course Is to reason from facts to laws, since
economic theories are not OF universal and per-
manent application. Inasmuch as the circular
served this useful purpose in the hall, and tho
cause of industrial progress was greatly Denepeea
by the publication Of so mastery an address IL
would be ungracious for us to quarrel Win INC
Brooklyn Revenue Reform Club. Yet the fol-
lowing letter seems to require brief response;
To heRdttor Of ThsTrfbuns.
eIRi Enclosed you have tract which was scst
tered among all who listened to Mr.. kasson on
Wednesday evening. Please reply to the msstatemen'
OF facts regarding prices OF labor hero aud In Europe or
England. Mr.. Porter has thoroughly refuted tne
assumption that foreign labor receive. higher wages
than cur own operatives In private argument can only
reach q small circle of acquantancos, whereas you can
address the thinking millions who are geng TO eject
Protsctionist President this year. wish 1t might 10
Mr. Baine) 90 to your paper for Instruction and am
an KlOus to have others believe asL do. Alb
Ne,- York. Feb IL, 1884.
The tract in question aims to provo that Pro-
lection lowers wages, and that Free lrade
raises them, not merely In purchasing power,
but also In actual dollars and cents. This
position Is supported at the outset by theories
observed, tell what ought to be the logical con-
sequences Of logical propositions, irrespective or
heactual facts. Then follows an appeal to prac-
tical experience. Russiais singled ont as main
tanning the highest Protective Tariff In Europe.
while wages are lower there than they are any
where else In Europe. Wages in England are
next declared to be "twice or three times as
high as in any European country maintaining
Protection" Finally. wages are stated to be
higher in England than in the United States,
Gin some important industries employing over
100000 persons"
Russia is country with a population almost
exclusively devoted to agriculture and recruited
mainly from classes that were emancipated
twenty years ago. Whatever its economic sys-
tenn might be, its labor would be the most
ignorant and the cheapest in Europe. A country
that is slowly emerging from medieval con-
ditions of semi barbarism and slavery is not to
be compared with a highly enlightened
and prosperous Nation ike England,
where wages would inevitably be higher with
out reference to the tariff system. The COM
paIison must be made between countries of the
same grade Of civilization; as, for example, be-
tween England and the United States, or be-
tween England and Germany. Now, Mr. Porter
has proved in his series of letters on Industrial
England that wages there are decidedly lower
than they arc in the United States. 1t is not
necessary to refer to the evidence in detail,
since the only serious attempt made in the tract
to cOntrovert it Is the empty generalization
about "sOme important industries employing
over 700, 900 persons" If wages were not de-
cidedly higher here than there, the tide of inn
migration would not be setting in this direction
year after year.
Mr.. Porter's testimony is not made up Of
high sounding generalizations but is specific
In its details. He has proved, for example, that
coal-mincrs in Pennsylvania earn in the course
of year wages 60 per cent in excess of those
paid in England and Wales. He has made a
minute comparison between the wages of Amer
lean and English operatives in twenty depart
ments of the woollen trade the surplus in favor
of the former ranging from So to So SO week.
He has shown that cup-maker in English
potteries earns So 90 and an ovenman So So q
week, whereas tho wages at Trenton for the
same classes Of work are $40 81 and $18 10 re-
spectiyely and that the total average wages In
thirteen branches of this industry are SIS 60 In
England and $18 so In the United States. lie
has tabulated the wages of skilled workmen In
the iron and steel trade at Sheffield, showing
that the maximum Is $14 90 week, that few
earn as much rs $12, and the averageis between
So and So; whereas in Massachusetts the max
imum is $28 81 and the average from $l5 to
$40 for skilled labor and $40 for laborers. lie
has proved that an industrious mailer at Lye
Waste cannot earn more than 81 week at his
forge; that skilled workmen in the iron trade
at Leeds get $6 % a week and seldom exceed
ST so; that felter makes less than 81, an en-
gine-tender less than So and mason little
over So. These comparisons, which might be
extended indefinitely, show tho superiority Of
American wages.
But what are the facts about Germany Is it
true that wages are "twice three times as high"
in England as they are there7 That assertion was
made in various Free Trade journals last year
and was nominally supported by tables show
ing the wages in various occupations. Unt0rtu-
nately for the argument, THE TRIBUNE sue
ceeded in proving that the figures in question
were 20 per cent higher OH the English side than
they ought to have been, and that the German
figures applied to wages in 1873, before the
Protective Tariff went into effect. When the
table was revised so as to be true comparative
exhibit of wages under Protection and Free
Trade, an equality was established in many oc-
cupations, whereas the discrepancy in the re-
naming trades was not 10y any means as great
as the present tract represents. The adoption
of the Protective policy in the course of four
years was followed by a remarkable increase In
wages, and probably at the close of decade
labor will command a better price in the Faith
erland than in Free-Trade England. AS for
Americans, the practical question for them to
settle, now as in the past, is that of labor be-
tween the United States and all Europe. Labor
here must not be reduced to a level with the
impoverishment of European labor, whether in
Free Trade or In Protection countries.