Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-01-19

i Because there is distress amongst
some of the miners in certain places
in Pennsylvania, and because there is a
general strike amongst the nail-makers,
it does not follow that protective tariff
il the cause Of it, as the New York
Herald would have the country believe.
In order to be better understood we
Igive the Herald's article in full;
"lfa protective tariff Is q sunny fscoc
blessing to the w0rkingnan every one who
iab0rs IN any branch of the iron industry
'hon q be rlch ana happy, ior more thor,
Ioughly protected" business WOULD be hard
to ind. Yet thousands Of iron workers can
ind uOthiHg to do al present but drink heef
nd mOpn about being out IT work. serL
Gus reduction in the wages Of nailmakers has
lust been ordered, and now 1t is re,crted
hat number Of irol-mners in pennsyl
gania are destitute and suffering, their wages
having he. reduced to sixiy-five cents per
lay. Il extreme potection had n induced
men to erect many m0re iron works then the
demand for iron warrants, there would not
be for every contract Tie fierce competition
hat coDpels producers either 10 shut down
or lower wages 10 the starvation point.
When iron miners n he United States have
10 work ten or twelve hours daily sixty
ave cen they are worse of than the pa per
labUrers VI Europe"
| 1t has only been the last year that
the wages of those who work i'm any
branch Of the iron industry has suffered
a serious reduction, and this reduction
seems to have commenced AZ soon as
Congress reduced the tariff on iron.
Parties were so nearly balanced that the
Democrats in Congress, aided by few
free trade Republicans, compelled re-
ducton of the tariff on all kinds of iron.
This opened the way for English manu-
featured iron, when, of course, there
had to be Il reduction somewhere in the |
manufacture Of American iron to com
pete with the imported article. AsI
English manufacturers of iron, through
the cheapness of labor, were enabled to |
undersell the American markot, it was
not strange that the laborerin his coun- |
try had 10 be called upon to MI Ike things
equal by working for less wages.
This is why so many iron workers
are ont of employment at this time. The
reason is not so much that work is
scarce, and had to he scarce, az it is
that this country cannot compete with /
England in the manufacture of iron /
without reducing wages to the same
low English standard.
The argument that miners in some
sections of Pennsylvania are working
through the winter tor 65 cents a day,
cannot be- used against protection. It'll
is not "A pleasant picture to look at, es-
pecially To the poor miners, neither is
the fact that there are more iron works
than the demand for iron warrants, an
argument against protection. A candid
question is, why has the demand for
iron fallen of? Our answer is that so
much iron is not needed. The demand
has been supplied. There were not so
many railroads built the last year as
for two or three years back. AnotherI
question is why have the wages of
wOrkInen connected with the iron in
duStries fallen in a greater proportion
than the decrease in the demand for
IRON Our is that though the
demand for iron has decreased, England Il.
supplies large part of that demand,
and just that far takes the labor away
from our own workingmen, and the
bread and butter from our mouths.
1t is not home competition that redu-
res the wages of the workmen; it is COM
petition with the free trade, unprotected
labor of Europe where delicate women
and young children work at nail max
ng and other light labor connected with
ron manufacturing. OF course compe-
itiOn with this kind of labor must ne
;e 'sarily reduce the wages of working
men.
The Herald says that when iron
miners in this country have to work ten /;
o twelve hours daily for sixty-tive cents
day, they are worse off than the pau !
YER laborers Of Europe. We think that e.,
, very true, at least we pity the man,
whether he be he al American or an
who is compelled to work 4
II SiXty-fve cents II day, but we must
AXE into consideration that while such
Nv wages are the rule in England, they
ave up to this time been the exception }
n this country. There is, however, a
respect Of them becoming permanent,
the Herald's free trade theory is to
revail.