St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-07-05
LABOR AND TARIFF REFORM.

Good can come out of Nazareth. AS
an evidence of it there has been organ
lied in Philadelphia workingmen's
tariff reform association pledged to the
support of the candidates of the party
which promises tariff reform and the
transfer to the free list all the materials
used in our industries. The last num-
Ger of the Chicago Labor Inquirer pub
fishes an address by the Workingmen's
Tariff Reform Association of Philadel-
phia, which is a well-seaSoned and
cogent document and makes all earnest
appeal to the workingmen of the coun-
try to consider the tariff question unin-
fluenced by political or industrial
bosses.
The address starts out with the state
ment that prohibitory tariff is the root
of all the labor evils which are affecting
the country. 1t is useless for the work
ingmen to combine and organize for the
purpose of raising their wages as long
as the high tariff system eXists-a sys-
tenn that is creating an ever-lncreaslng
array of idle men by stimulating produc-
ton while it places restriction upon
trade, thus preventing the free eX-
change of our products, whereby alone
they can be brought into consumption,
which is necessary to make room for
our products in order to furnish the
laboring classes with the opportunity
for work.
The address quotes the confession
made by Prof. Won STEIN. of Vienna,
the ablest of protection advocates, that
a protective tariff means the taxation of
labor and the exemption of capital. 1t
takes from the poor laborerS twenty
times more in proportion than from the
millionaires ut insidiouSly rObS labor
of two-thirdS of its possible savings
and deprives it of four-fifths of it's nat
ural wages, largely for the aggrandiZe-
ment of the favored few, who are thus
tempted, and even encouraged, to eX-
pend large amounts of these ill-gotten
gains in effolts to maintain the system
which brings them in more than COM
pound interest, as well as enlarged pow
ers and privileges"
The address then proceeds to expose
the fallacy of the argument that high
y
wages of labor i'll the manufactures
are but little more than II per cent of
the product. In other words, the
amount that falls to labor out of the
total value of the products is only Sl7
out of every 800. If the object of a
tariff is to product American labor,
then an average tariff duty of II per
cent would be amply sufficient to pro-
tect American labor against foreign
at all. Yet the Republicans insist upon
retaining the AZ per cent, for no other
reason than that the additional 80
per cent is clear profit to the
manufacturers, and to enrich them
must be taken out of the pockets
of the consumers by process
of legalized robbery. The workingmen
are the consumers, and while they get
the II per cent protection they are
robbed of nearly double that amount
for the exclusive benefit of the capital
lists. Such are the beauties of prOtec-
ton as they appear to the Intelligent
workingmen of Philadelphia, and they
unite in this address to the wOrkingmen
of the whole country, appealing to them
to stand together in an effort to
strike down system whose only
effect is to reduce the wages of the
workingmen on one hand and to in
crease the capital of the millionaireS on
the other.
The address merits the careful con-
sideration of every workingman in the
United States. 1t is thoughtful docu-
ment, and is altogether the best state
ment of the workingmen's case that has
yet been presented. The champions of
the spoliaton system will not find it an
| easy matter to counteract its influence.