Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-11-26
TARIFF AND WAGES.
The sham orr Of Protection 20 r.ahor a
CLOAK to Protection for Capital

sincere men who take that side OF the
case, he imagioes that the people OF this
country have only to pass law declaring
that they want wages TO be higher here
than In any other country, aud forthwith
IL Will be done. Passing over such Of his
questions as are not material to the Issue.
let us answer those which go straight TO
the point. "
First, he asks; dts Il not fact that
unless we have u protective tariff. skilled
labor would have 10 come In close com.
petition with the skilled labor OF Europe.
which receives very much lower WAGES
than 10 our own country2n
Whether we have protective tariff or
a revenue tariff or no tariff at all. skilled
labor In this country will have TO come In
close competition with skilled labor IN
Europe. No tariff ever did prevent this
or ever can do so. II by means OF HIGH
tariff the products OF European skilled
LABOR are shut out from this
country, an equal amount OF skilled
labor employed 10 this country
IN producing things which would be sold
In exchange for the products OF Eurupe
Is Immediately thrown out OF employm, Mt
Very slowly arrangements are made in
is country for the production Of the
things which formerly came from Europe,
but which are shut out by the tariff The
almost invariable method adopted for
such production is to import skilled la.
borers from Europe, and to give them
employment here, instead of in their
own country. This does not in
crease the employment OF American
workmen who were previously 10 the
country, and does not raise American
wages; on the contrary, it tends to de.
crease them. II these European work
men rad stayed at home, they, OF other
people like them, would have bought
some American products In exchange for
their European products. When they
come to this country they may improve
their own condition, but they certainly do
not improve the condition OF other work.
men who were previously in America.
In the next place Mr.. Thurber's ques.
ton makes evident that his whole inter.
est is in the welfare Of "skilled labor.n
But we see no reason why the unskilled
laborer should be left out OF account
We have no doubt whatever that the eff
feet Of the tariff Is highly injurious to
the unskilled laborer, while no one pre-
tends TO point out any way In which IL is
beneficial to him.
Second, r. Thurber asks: ais 1t not
fact that II 1t were not for our tariff our
artisans would have to accept lower
rate of wages than they now receiver"
Certainly not. II is not fact at all;
on the contrary, !, 1t were not for the ex
istence OF the tariff our artisans would
receive much higher wages than they
now do.
The protective tariff cuts down wages
in three different directions. 1t cuts
down wages by excluding from this
country a large amount OF importa-
tions which II they were admitted,
would be paid for by large expotra ions
of our own productions. In this way It
puts stop to the employment OF mul.
titudes of laborers, skilled and un-
skilled, who would otherwise be en-
gagged in producing goods TO send to
Europe. 1t will be said that the same
lanorers are employed In making the
goods which would otherwise be i'm
ported from Europe. They are not.
Foreign laborers are imported to do that
kind of work, aud, for the reason next
stated, they cannot earn as good wages at
this work as they could on that which
naturally would come TO us.
Every protective tariff further re.
duces wages by compelling our people.
to do work which is not as productive
as that which we should do II there
were no tariff in the way. Thus, we do
not now make tin plates, for the simple
reason that the few men in this country
who know how TO make them can ind
something else TO do which pays better
wages because 1t produces more profit.
But Mr.. Randall proposes to put heavy
tax on foreign TIN plates, for the express
purpose of Introducing the manufacture
into this country. That sounds very fine;
bat what does IL mean? IL means that
thousands of men who are now earning
good wages in making tin cans, tin
cases and tin roofs, or In putting up
fruits, vegetables and meats In Tin ms,
shall be thrown out of employment, by
making tin dear, for the sake of em-
ploying few hundreds of men In max
ing the tin plate out OF which tin cans
and roots are made. We have plenty
of men who know how 10 make cans and
roofs, but very few VINO know how TO
make tin plates 1t would be years be
fore we could make tin plates as well as
they are already ade for US abroad, and,
meanwhile, the sale nf Tin cans and canned
goods would fall off by reason OF the in
men would be discharged, and so the
general rate of wages would be reduced,
The reason why we do not now make tin
plates is that employers can make more
money out of other things. This fact
enables them to pay better wages aud
enables their workmen TO insist on hay'
ing better wages. When we compel our
people to make things which they arel
not disposed to make OF their own &C
cord, rs we do by means OF tariffs, their
production IS less than 1t would be II
they were left free 10 do that which
naturally pays best; and wages must
and do fall as producliyeness falls.
But our American tariff Is especially
arranged so as to cut down wages I'M
another way. Seven, eighths of the mer-
cbandise imported other than food ana
drink is used as the materials upon which
American labor Is employed. II mana
facturers could import these materials
duty free, they could afford, and would be
compelled by competition, 10 sell tneirl
products at cheaper rates than Is now
possible. This would increase the de-
mand, so that many more such goods
would be sold. This would obiige manu-
fscturers to call for more workmen 10