The state chronicle., 1888-10-19

each State in the Union. We shall fin,
on examination. as has been shown again
and again in this Chamber and elsewhere
that wages vary in every State, in various
paris % the SNmn State, and often in th
same county or city.
But = 'hapS the most absurd, not to sa1
ldiotic Of all assertions is that free trad
(Which j. now understood to be any dut,
below 4: per cent is correct in theory bu
false III fstct. BY this is meant that though
he theory of a proposition is absolutely
correct, al the processes by which it il
worked ont and demonstrated to be {
theory show that the theory is false. Bu
so long as the manufacturers of our coun
try can force people by law to buy al
things which they use from them, at price.
fixed by them in the absence of competi
ton. whilst they themselves buy their la
Dor and their food in markets cheapened
by the competition of the whole world
they may be expected to cont nue to MA k.
and adhere to these assertions IN the face
of truth and experience.
The committee in their report dissent
altogether from the estimates of the labor
cost of a product adopted by the great
| bulk OF political economists all the world
over That Is, to take the wages paid to
the laborer who converted the product
from what was raw material for that pro-
| cess OF manufacture, and ascertain what
proportion those wages bear to the entire
| cost of the product. They contend that
| the labor cost proper of finished product
in its last form ready for consumption
should be estimated by the wages paid all
the way through the entire p! ocesSes, from
the time when the law material was taken
| In the state that nature originally fur
nished it. and should be compensated by
tariff duties embracing the whole.
| In one sense this Is true, but the com
mittee in making their argument for the
purpose of showing that the real labor cost
of finished article is about 80 per cent
of its total value, instead of 20, fail to re-
member Or omit to mention the fact that
every sale of the article includes the price
of all labor previously expended upon it,
| and that the final sale of the finished ar
| tlcle includes all the labor in all the pre-
vlous forms of the material of which the
| article is composed. If the labor of dig
ging a ton of ore from the earth was paid
protective wages sufficient to equalize the
| difference between American and English
labor in ore digging, when that ore was
sold to the man who smelts it those wages
were Included III the price aud paid for.
When the ton Of pig iron was finished,
if the workman who smelted it Was paid
protective wages sufficient to maintain the
natural difference his wages and those of
the English smelter, the sale of that ton
of pig iron to the mal who rolls it into
bars includes those wages, and they can
not require to be compensated by another
tariff. When the man who rolls it into
bars sells it to another artiticer to be con
red into still another form the high
protective wages which he paid to his
workmen are again included in the price ;
and so on to the last form in which it is
consumed. And therefore, if the manu-
facturer of the ultimate form of the iron
gets a protection which eQualizes the diff
ference between the wages he pays and
those which are paid to the English work
man who makes the same article, it is all
that in reason or logic he could ask But
according to the theory of the committee,
it would seem that he ought to be com
pensated By a duty which would cover the
cost of every stroke of human labor which
had been expended upon the product in
All its history, not remembering that this
had all been paid for, and that every sale
Of he article, at every stage of its manu-
facture, had extinguished the question of
lobor.
Perhaps, however, there is no greater
error connected with this subject, or one
more persistentiy urged, than that con-
cerning the advantages of the home mar
ket 1t is very true that if man could
sell readily at home for remunerative
prices all that he could produce, it would
be happy and prosperous state of
things. Especially would this be so if it
could be done naturally and without
violation of the established laws of econ
omy in other words, if the home market
invites him by offering the best prices.
But when he desires TO go somewhere else
to sell his products and to buy his sup
plies he does SO because that other place
invites him by Offering him the best mar
ket. His interest prompts him to accept
it.
Then when the law steps in and fOrbids
him to follow the dictates of his interest
and tells him that he shall both buy and
sell in the home market. that law in viola
ton of all good economy and of the high
est and dearest rights of the people. And
when it is found that all these praises of
the home market emanate from the home
producer whose wares are for sale, and
that the law which forblds man from
seeking the best market is inStigated like
wise by the home producer. then both the
praises and the law become the proper OBJ
jects of suspicion to every honest mind.
The farmers of this country are the vic
tins of this selfish and illogical policy,
more perhaps than any other class of the
community. If protective tariffs operated
to raise the price of his products AS it does
those of the manufacturer, then the re-
strant upon his rights would not be any
worse than upon other people.
But unfortunately for him, whilst the
price Of all his supplies is increased by
tariffs, the price of ali his produc; ions is
lowered by the ree-trade markets of the
world. For him the great maxim of poll
teal economy that men should be permit
ted to sell in the highest market and buy
in the cheapest is precisely reversed and
be is compelled to sell in the cheapest
market and buy in the dearest. This is
not true alone of his surplus products, but
of all for the price which he obtains in
| the home market is fixed by the price of
| his surplus which he sells abroad. The
| manufacturer takes advantage of this
| forces the farmer to pay him protected
prices for his cloth, blankets and all i'm
plements Of husbandry, and then buys the
| farmers flour, meat and cotton at free
trade prices. A Southern farmer makes
cotton for sale. The price which he OF :
| tains for it is that for which it would sell
in Liverpool minus freight, insurance,
| and commissions
That Liverpool price is cheapened by
the competition of the cotton grown in
every quarter of the globe. Being com
PEELED then to take that price, common