Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-20

were under the low tariffs of 1916 and |
1857. Wages never have advanced as
rapidly under highly protective tariffs as
they did under very low tariffs, except
during the war period, when the cause
OF high wages was evident to every
one. To-day multitudes of protected"
American miners and mechanics are
working for fifty to eighty cents day,
without even steady j,b at that. The
average wages in our protected" cotton
mills have shown in this column to be
actually less, in proportion to the num-
Der OF hours OF work, than they are IN
England, and in many other branches OF
protected industry the rate of wages
has fallen almost to starving point.
SIR-The papers, including the special
advocate of protection, the Press, pub
| lished yesterday the testimony given be-
fore the Congressional Investigating
Committee by female shirtmakers, to the
effect that their wages, running from 81
to $40 per week in 1882, have so reduced
by the competition of Russian and Polish
Jews, that they consider themselves
lucky when they make $5 per week. For
shirts that they received so cents per
dozen for in 1884 they now receive 40
cents; for those that paid So per dozen
only So is now paid.
| Well, the tariff on shirts and thread
needles and linen and cotton is still pur-
suing the even tenor of its way; and it is
to be hoped that The Press will soon pub
lish tariff talk with some one who
knows why it don't work better than
this. And if the explanation is not
somewhat more clear and convincing
than the explanations of The Press usu-
ally are 1t may occur to somebody that
shirt-makers do not sell shirts-their
employers attend to that part of the
business, and when prices go up they
become so interested in the market that
they forget to raise wages. The shirt
makers only sell labor-a commodity
which is only on the free list-and tariffs
on goods do not interfere with COMPETE
tion among laborers.-[New York World.
Another Reminder That the Tariff
Doesn't Affect Wages, Except TO
Hurt Them.
The removal of the raw wool tax which
is proposed by the Mills bill would tend
to reduce the surplus in two ways. First,
it would absolutely wipe out the six mill
ions of revenue We collected in the last
year by the tariff on wool. The second
and most important effect would be to
stimulate and diversity American
woolen manufactures, creating con-
slant and increasing demand for Ameri-
can wool and resulting in production of
good and cheap American woolens to
such an extent as to considerably reduce
the imports of foreign manufactured
woolens. The benefit to the workers,
who under the present tariff are making
half time or no time at all in our mills,
would be direct and rapid. Ready de-
mand for American goods means lots of
work for American workmen, tariff or no
tariff. And when work is plentiful
wages are high, tariff or no tariff.
BY the way, keep in mind the fact
that the tariff has got no more to do with
wages than the man in the moon. For
80 per cent. OF our industries there is no
foreign competition, except the competi-
ton that comes through Castle Garden.
In the other five per cent. who are sup
posed to be protected" the protection"
is Tor the monopolist every time. The
workingman gets none Of it. A manu-
facturer never pays cent more wages,
as rule, than he is actually obliged to.
The best he ever attempts to do is to pay
|
his particular line, and tha
standard is fixed, not by the
tariff, but by competition or trade
unions. 1t isn't once in twenty years that
you hear OF an employee coming forward
voluntarily and saying to his men after
good years business: "Here, my men.
have made, by the assistance of the
protective tariff, 100000 clear profit last
the worklngmen, of course 1 must share
its benefits with you. 1 will set aside
$4,000 to be divided among you as ex-
ira wages"
Now that is Just what the Protectionist
manufacturer Is supposed to do. Does
he do it?
SPECIMEN PRoTECTIONIsT PARALYZED.
| The Orange, N. j., Chronicle, published
in hating district, says:
The largest hat jobbers in the country are
nmaklng arrangements. to- import largely of
nnlsned hats from England the coming season.
sweet, Dempster e. Co., of Chicago, probably
the largest 1obbers OF hats in the country if not
IN IN me world, have just placed large orders One
nave recently returned from abroad, and ex.
press themselves as enthusiastic over the sue
cess ay they met with in placing, their orders.
| among the other jobbers who have gone into
cago, Friedlander l. Kock of San francisco,
ana A. taufer Of New York. The aggregate OF
tneir orders Will reach to about So 600 dozen,
which, at only $5 dozen for labor, would
mean loss to the working hstters Of the coun-
| try of about $4,000.
10 this the Halter and Furrier, the
Leading trade organ of the hatters, re-
plies:
Putting the hats at an average of $40 per
oCzen, which would be low, it would make
gross amount of 1920, 600 purchased by four
lobbing houses. Allowing that these goods are
to be delivered within three msnths, it would
duction of 1000 dozen per week esch to turn
| them out in that time. One of the beauties of
| arithmetic is the fact that you can calculate SO
easily ny lts rules, and the simple calculation as
above shows that the Chronicle is to be credited
with the dandy story of the season. The work
ing hatters need not forego any clam. .bskes on
N 0f fhn 1ncc Of Ia