The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1884-06-06

know who it is that pays this tax in
the end Is it not the consumers-those
who purchase and pay for the article
which is thus imported and upon which
the tax is laid ? OF the $4,000, 900 Of
people in the country, very large pro-
portion belong to tho middle or labosing
classes, and the wealth of the country
is mostly in the possession OF the few,
when compared with the other class.
1t follows then as logical and inevita-
BILE conclusion, that this tax must be
paid very largely from the results OF
labor, because the laboring man con-
sumes as much as the rich man of the
necessities of life, and more. Conse-
quently the wealth of the country
escapes, and thus it can be seen that
the burden is unequally borne aud that
labor pays tribute to tho Caesars of the
nineteenth century.
Let every ln5elins man ask himself,
to-day, this question: What is the
purchasing power of my labor as COM
pared with what it would be If this
tariff was taken of the common nsces-
saries of life, which must have in order
to support myself and family This is
thu true test no. necessarily the amount
the laborer receives, brt how much be
can buy with IT, How many of the
comforts of lifs can he get out of his
earnings ? How does he stand after bis
bills are paid I
Take all the manufacturing industries
in 1850, as reported in the census, and
we End that the hands employed num-
bered 966, 969, and the total wages paid
were 1886, 745, ,s5S, or s244s3 in golG
or its equivalent to each hand. Ia 1860
there were l,3ll ,246 hands employed,
and the wages paid were S37s,s7s,966
or s2S7 in gold or its equivalent TO each
hand, while in 1870 the hands employed
were 2,053, ,996, and the wages paid
amounted to S7-j,5S ,345 in currency,
being an average of s35sl2 to each
haad, bat the currency Was worth, ac-
cording to the reports from the office oi
the secretary Of the treasury, only s5.G
cents to the d,lIar, 30 that the 1858. II
ia currency was equal to 3306.55 only
in gold. Ii appears from these figures
that the increase of the annual wages
Of each hand in gold was Is per cont.
from 1850 to 1860, during what ID
sometimes denominated the free trade
era, while from 1860 to 1870, the period
Of the highss. protection we have ever
had in this country, the increase was a
little less than 7 per cent.
Is 1t not true then that tho chasm
between the laborer and the employer
is wider and deeper than it was %
years agol They ought to be nearer
together and more in harmony. Can it
be successfully denied that this is the
result of unwise legislation in regard to
taxation. Does labor get its fair and
lust division of the profits.
The purchasing power Of labor is not
what it would b. if these restrictions
were banished. Our millionaires are
steadily increasing in number, and cor
porate capital is adding millions to
millions and tn is dSne without rem
derins just equivalent. We need but
look about us to behold the tendency of
the times. 1t is an unnatural copdi-
ton of things, which makes it possible
for the few, by speculation and without
rendering an equivalent, to pile up their
millions in day or an hour, little
caring about the source whence il
comes. 1t would be we'll for these
spectators to under stand at least one
elementary principle of political econo-
nv, viz that all wealth is produced
by labor.
| rejoice that the time has come when
the people of this country are giving
this subject a thorough consideration,
and are not being controlled by blind
prejudices or mere party success.
There can be but one conclusion, after
careful investigation, and that if
against the doctrine of protection, for
the sake of protection Such is the
candid judgment of those who have
made it a study in an impartial manner
and who have no selfish purpose to
subserve. Even the Republicans in the
Massachusetts convention say "there il
necessity for an investigation of the
tariff upon scientific basis, to the end
that it may be considered as to its real
influence upon labor, capita, production,
aHd revenue"
How does this sentiment comporl
[ with their recent action in congress