The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-08-23
A CASE CLEARLY sTATE0

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What the American workiueman
needs most is plenty of good work. and
~ seems to me he ought TO give his sum
port to that system which will most
surely provide HIM with it, The free
traders claim their system will prove to
De the best for us to adopt Let us see.
LIT us try their theory upon one of our
Industries. As they complain bitterly
against the tax on steel rails, let us ap-
ply 1t to that one. Mr.. Henry Waiter
son tells us that railroad building in this
country is too expensive because our
rails cost so much; but all the same. our
mileage exceeds that of Europe and Asia
combined. He tells us the duty on them
is Sl7 per ton, and that but for this we
could be supplied with English rails at
vi per ton, and that this tax of $17 per
ton, instead of las he asserts) going into
che pockets Of American steel rail man
utacturers, could then be applied to
building more roads, opening up new
territory and thus enable us to deyeIop
more rapidly, etc. Now, the facts are
these The difference in the price of
american and English rails is about 80
per ton, instead of SIT, as he claims, and
thus the foreign producer is compelled
70 pay large part of the duty, if he
chooses to export. Of this extra so the
American manufacturer pays out to la
DOR 1885 more per ton for pudding the
iron than his English competitor. In
the rolling mill he pays from 80 to 100
per cent. more, and 30 on. So l think
1t fair to assume that by far the largest
share of the 80 goes into pockets of the
American workingman, and thus give
him chance to live like human being
instead Of like beast. And here | wish
to say that while it may cost more to
build railroads in the United State than
in England, the fact remains that rail-
way fares are much lower here than
there. 1t would seem, then, that pro-
lection, instead of being burden, IS in
deed benefit, and serves us in several
ways First, by enriching the Treasury;
second. by providing American labor
with profitable employment; third, by
shutting out cheap foreign labor; fourth,
by preserving the American market,
Let us also bear in mind that, thanks to
protection, we have become the greatest
manufacturers of steel rails in the world.
and also that while staggering under
this tremendous tariff, the price of steel
rails has declined from $3.50 to $50 per
ton. Now remove or reduce the duty
and you keep from the pockets of the
American workingmen just 80 much
money, for any such reduction would
largely come out of labor. Now, while
am firm believer in the doctrine of
protection, and while believe we are
better off here than elsewhere, l am far
from conceding that labor even here ge's
its adequate reward. Neither am one
of those wild men who think that under
protection wages will be IS per day, or
that under free trade we shall be COM
PEELED to work for so cents per day.
What | do claim is that we shall be far
better off under protection than under
free trade. can well understand how
under protection even competition might
become 30 fierce as to force the price of
everything, labor included, to a very low
mark, but even then, can't for the life
of me see how wages are to be raised by
dumping upon an already glutted mar
ket thousands upon thousands of tons of
cheap foreign labor in the form of mer-
chandise done up in packages that eat
nothing, drink nothing, wear nothing
and consume nothing comparatively
speaking, but which are brought here to
be sold at some price, thus displacing
just so much American labor, that does
eat, that does drink, that does wear, that
does consume our own products, thus
making us mutually dependent upon and
serviceable to each other. The idea that
the price of labor can be raised by max
ing it more plenty is too absard for any
body except free traders. Tell the deal
ers around Quincy market to hold on to
their apples for rise as fresh invoice
of hundred thousand barrels is expect
ed soon from Nova Scotia. They would
laugh at you, proceed to get rid of their
stock on hand as soon as possible, well
understanding that apples fetch most
when scarce, So, fellow workingmen,
when voting time comes. let us turn a
deaf ear to the sophistries of the free
trader and understand, like the market
man, that labor, like apples, ,fetches most
when scarce,-[Edward P, Noyes in Bos-
ton journal.