The Portland daily press., 1888-08-17

than now This,Icertainly, is consumma-
ton which every workiDgman desires, ana IL
the guarantee that such a condition Will be
brought about by'free trade be sufficient, then
he ought to vote for free trade without hesi-
tation. But when doctor processes to have
discovered remedy that will work miracles,
the public is naturally suspicious, especially
If that doctor has been before reputed
quack, and hesitates to take the remedy lest
it may kill instead of cure. Now our friends
the Democratic party, are in much the same
condition as the physician who processes to
have discovered a wonderful panacea for
physical Ills. A policy that will make cheap
or articles the workingman has to buy and
dearer the article he has to sell-that is, his
labor-has suspicious look, but If it will do
what is claimed for it there can be no doubt
of its value.
But suppose we examine the process of
this policy. 1t is not complicated. When a
ship loaded with articles such as our people
need to clothe them or administer to other
necessities, arrives at one Of our ports, in
stead of compelling the owners of the cargo
to pay to our government sum of money be-
fore the goods can be landed and sold in our
markets, let them come in free. This
is the process, and it will, the free
traders say, cheaper these articles in
our market. Why? Because, answers
the free trader, these articles can be
made cheaper abroad than in this country,
and therefore can be sold cheaper. How
does this happen? Are foreigners more
skillful than we? No. The free trader says
the American mechanic is the most skillful
on earth. Do they work faster, and there
fore make more articles than the American
In given time? The free trader says the
American workingman Is more diligent and
more rapid as rule than the foreign work.
ingman. Then they must have superior ma
chinery by which they can economize time
and labor. But the free trader is full of
praise Of Americas inventive genius. Per-
haps they have some secret process unknown
on this side OF the water. The free trader
knows of none however. Still the fact re-
mains that they can produce many kinds of
articles cheaper than the Americana. There
must be an explanation, and If it is not to be
found in the superior skill, the superior dill
gence Of the English workingman, or the SUI
periority Of the machinery he employs. then
1t must be looked for elsewhere. The search
need not be long to find it. The English
manufacturer has no machinery superior to
ours, but one Of his machines, the most
important one, he Is able to run at
very much less cost than the same
machine can be operated for in America.
This machine is the human body. Arms
and hands, and eyes and brains work for the
cl
than they do for the American manufacturer.
This then is the secret of the ability Of the
Englishman to produce articles at lower cost
than the American can do. So the shipload
Of British goods can be sold in our market
for less than the same goods produced here
simply because the English manufacturer
can get the labor he needs to make them at
lower price. Admit, as the free traders
claim, that for time the workingman would
get many articles he needs cheaper than he
does now would it be for his advantage for
the markets Of America to be opened free to
the manufacturers of England? Ii he could
get the articles he needs cheaper, and at the
same time suffer no diminution Of his earn
ings, and the free traders say both thesere-
suits would follow, it certainly would be. Now
let the intelligent workingman put his own
sense at work upon this problem and test
this free trade assertion. Let him figure out
II he can how the American manufacturer
can continue to pay double the wages of the
English manufacturer while the latter's
goods are sold alongside Of his on precisely
the same terms. If he can solve that prob
lem in the way that the free trader proposes
to solve it and arrive at the conclusion that
under free trade everything that he has to
buy will be cheaper because the labor en-
ployed in it is got at lower price while his
particular labor will command high or
higher price than he should by all means
vote for free trade.