The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-10-06

here than In Europe.
While the law of supply and demand Is
primarily the regulator of wages, still, as
10 most occupations the demand for labor
Is generally constant the rate of wages Is
dependent on the product, and Is paid out
of 1t. No employer can continue to pay
high wages unless the product is large. III
his product Is small an his wages high, II
is only question of time when his affairs
will be wound up by the sheriff, This Is
H truth that any working man can under,
stand, But wages in the L. S. are high.
What is the Inference That prices are
high? But Harrison, Blaine ct 49, tell us
that prices are loD Notwithstanding wages
are hiqh. But they further insist that the
continuous payment of high wages indicates
an INABILITY to produce cheaply therefore
there must be a tariff tax on production
to make prices high? No, they say, 1t is to
t0'rer prices so as TO enable the manufac-
turer to continue &c pay nigh wages! If
they had said tax levied to raise prices,
they would have been honest and truthful;
bat they are not honest they are simply
trying to fool honest men with what any
sane man, who thinks twice, sees Is, on its
face, lie. Now, the fact is, that If high
rste OF wages is paid, 1t is proof that the
production is large and that the laborer
gets generous share of 1t, which the ems
ployer can afford to give. The continued
payment of high wages for small product
does Indicate an inability to produce cheap
ly; but the'paymenl of high wages for large
product means just the contrary. Wages
In America are high, and justly so, because
the American workman produces much.
wages and product of England
and Europe with those of labor in Ameri-
ca, and the latter will be found to be the
poorest paid. While he gets higher pay
apparently, compared with the European,
yet his production is so much larger in
to his pay that the American
manufacturer has the cheapest labor In the
world!
Stop and think of it. A man at So day
who produces SO worth of product is
much more profitable employee than a
man at 81 whose product is only Sc per
day. The Nllahs Of Egypt anu Ryots of
India at &c day cannot compete with the
American farmer, with his fertile soil, his
we'll fed, intelligent men, and labor saving
machinery, because the American farm
hand produces so much more In proportion
to his pay than the Fsllsh and Ryot that
the cost of bushel of wheat or pound of
cotton or pork Is less than the Ryot can
grow 1t for, even though his pay is but &c
a day. An American Bessemer steel con.
verter has an output of so per cent grearer
than similar plant In England, and EN-.
ploys fewer hands. An expert German or
French cotton weaver operates two looms;
an Englishman, three to four; the Average
American operates sir. The American
watch factory hand gets $1O71 week the
Swiss matchmaker In Switzerland about
$3.50; yet American watches and clocks
constitute one of the leading articles of
American exports. In these cases, which
labor is the cheapest? Manifestly, the
American. An American glass blower
making as much ware per day in England
would get as much pay per day there as in
America. That the Englisman gets less
than the American is not proof, as Blaine
ct al say, that the American cannot COM
pete with the Englishman, but rather that
the Englishman producing less per day
cannot compete with the American, all
things else being equal.
No man who studies this question can
fail to see that the high productive capaci.
ty OF American workmen is the chief
cause for American high wages; and that
when wages are analysed 1t will be found
that the labor cost in American manufac.
lures is less than In any other civilized
country. This result is not because of the
tariff, but in spite of It,
1t Is not because wages are high that
American manufacturers cannot compete
with all nations of the world. The fact that
wages are high, is the gerry best Evidence
that the laber cost of production Is low, be.
cause 1t means, In nearly every instance,
large production, and therefore competition
is not only possible, but is only prevented
by some other cause. What, In fact, does
make competition impossible is the tar on
raw materials. That tax limits production;
II confines labor to Its home market; II
narrows Its field; 1t reduces the rewards Of
labor. With all her enlightenment, Amer.
lea is the only nation in the world. civilized
or uncivilized, that commits the crime
against labor of taxing raw materials.
What the Mills bill proposes, what the
democratic party proposes, is not to take off
any protective tariff which is In fact pro.
lection, nor is 1t proposed to dlsorganize
business by reducing any tariff the reduc-
ton of which might cause disturbance Of
the existing coddition of things, rather
they propose to give to labor still greater
81 III