Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-01-15
The workingmaH's Question.
from the New York Herald.]

trrom Inc Nc" III n ne'aie'l
| PHILADELPHIA, december oo, 1906
"Would not the abolition OF protective dm
ties injure the American worklngmenr
asked Herald representative oI MT. VII
liam ID. Mann, the well-known manufac
turer of sleeping cars, who has Tor many
years been an extensive employer OF LABOR
and is intimately acquainted with the con
dition of the working classes.
''On the contrarv." was the prompt an
swer, 'they would be decidedly better OIL
l see from the papers that wages are grow
ing less all around here. Strikes are
threatened 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 Ia
borers who come in to compete with them.
Manufacturers never erumble when they
see sbipload after shipload of immigrants
| landed at Castle Garden to swell the great
crowd or labOrers who are competing one
with the other for chance to make lv-
ing. All our manufacturers are very glad
to see this sort of free trade 90 on. But
| if it be suggested that the American laborer
| be allowed to bring in weolen blanket.
free of duty, Congress is besieged imme
di tely with host of patriotic wooden
manufacturers who insist that the inter
ests' of American industry demand high
tariff on woolen blanke-s. The result is that
while every man, woman. and child has to
| pay double the value of a woolen blanket
in this country in order to protect some
man who pockets the difference. wages are
in no way protecred against the connect.
tion from O, her countries. IF workinomen
could once get this matter straight in their
minds they would sweep this whole protee-
tion idea clean ont of the countrv ,,
"But are not the American w0rkipomen
better off for receiving hicher WAGES al.
though thew NAV nav more for their Goods.
than those of Euronea''
"Rut they don't pet biobor waoes IT.
has been nv business to stndv nretty closely
this wage question. not only in ENGLAND. bnt
in every c,mntrv of Enrone Rnow that
the Enulish mechanic has a moro comforta-
ble home. a better snit of clothes more
leisure hours and more loose change in his
pockets than his mate in America in the
same grade of work. This is not random
talk. but the real state of tbinos Ash the
first workman Won meet in anv of orr shons
and he will tell Won how we'll off he ia
Cnmnare his condition with on Enn1;sl
mans in tine ga mo GRADE Of yvorL ord vo,,
ge,;us of our ;,st;tnt;ops epoonrooo q
i7iob Grade of Iivino We bav. nona of tho
destinations of classes that mar Enronean
society A man here 10 measured not h1,
what his Observation-Disclosures was bnt for
what he is intrinsicallv. We sbonId hv
every means in our power. foster this feel.
inu Rut onr tariff disconrages r Tho
workman who seeks tn rive his family tho
comforts his neiohhor en;ovs ;s h;ndered hv
enormous duties on all sides feom which
his transatlantic peiohbors are exemnt. If
he wishes tn buv n new shawl for b;s rv;fa.
if he seeks To adorn his walls with n;ctnres.
If he wants a Garnet f,r his h,or he finds
that the cost of everything he touches is
made artifcially dear bv a protective tariff ;,
s.Now.. what has the tariff done for the
workinpinan2 Has If piven him steady
workP Look at the condition of our indus
tries TODAY and YOU can answer that ouick-
ly enough Has it given him more COM
forts than he would have had otberw;se2
On the contrary. the condition of the
American laborer is worse TODAY than it
was before the war under an almost free
trade tariff. The fact is. the cost of living
has gone I'D fully one-tbird since 1866
while tie wages of labor have not advanced
but a small fraction-perhaps one TENTH"
sNow. on the other hand.' continued
Mr.. Mann, "who do the palaces belong to
which our millionaires have raised in the
last ten years? Who are the men that have
forced into painful prominence the popular
ad ge that the rich are growing richer, and
the poor poorer?' Who are emphasizing the
discouraging spectacle of increasing luxury
amid increasing poverty? With the excep
tion of few Wall street railroade,s, YOU will
find that this little tax here and that little tax
there have been the means of raising fortune S
to the luc.:y owners of privileged mills and
factories The sudden acouirement IF
wealth by host of manufacturers in pro-
tected industries is a thing we'll known.
Every manufacturing section of the conn
try Can count up few -ch who in a few
years have rolled up capital enough to ena-
ble them to retire and build palaces in
which to spend the remaifde Gf their days
Now have workingmen any reason for
gratitude to these employers? While the
mills were prosperous, these same capital
lists were lond in demanding protection for
American industry but did they ever pro-
pose to share THEN earnings with their men,
or did they.ever hesitate to cut down wages
whenever possible? That man must indeed
be cnnfiding if he thinks that 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
heavily as at present. 1t is not foreign Ia
Dor that we manufacturers are afraid Of 1
think it is well demonstrated that our high
priced American laborer can, other things
beng equal, do better work than any Ia
borer more poorly paid. But we cannot
compete against Europe if the material we
use in our manufactures is taxed"
''What we want to-day is to export our
goods. We are manufacturing more than
our people can consume. Unless We ship it
abroad it .ill lie on our hands and make
all our mills close up until the country
catches up with us again Now. the tariff
ON imports makes all our manufactured
| articles so expensive that we cannot sell
them to other countries. Mexico, which is
on our border, buys nearly 80, 500 600 worth
of cotton goods Of England against only
$500, 900 worth from US. This condition Of
things is discreditable to country that
has SO good an opportunity of exerting a
great influence on Ibis continent, CONNER
cially and politically"