The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-05-05

the protective theory of the balances of trad
idea. that the whole world owed the Unite
States balance of $50, 000, 900 on that year
trade, which was paid in precious metals, IN
same custom house returns show that our eX
port of precious metals exceeded our lmpor
by S34. 900, 900. 1t is commended by the pro
tective theorist that the excess OF merchan
disc exports came back through the silent am
unobserved channel of bills of exchange.
that be true, it is the heaviest blow TN
balance of trade theory can receive, LOT
proves that the custom house returns do no
include all or even the most essential lniof
nation as to the trade of the country WIN
foreign nations. But the custom house re
turns do exhibit in part the operation OF th'
tariff, and show that the $685., O0O, OOO worn
of American exports, when exchanged 10
the goods of foreign countries and such goool
are brought back to our shores, they are me
with an average duty of 40 per cent, when
Notwithstanding S2l2, 900, 00o of these good;
were admitted duty free, the remaining S414,
900, 900 were increased in cost, but not u
value, by $751;, 800, 600 to the consumer. Ihh
latter sum is the premium exacted by pro
lection" to which must be added the untold
millions which duties that are prohioitorl
enable the protected classes to fitch from tnt
people.
If the protective policy is to be perpetu
ated, let tariff duties be so laid that those wnt
nav them may know how much they pay the
Government for revenue and how much iol
"protection." Such a method OF levyins
duties would enable the people to set OIL ZIG ;
cost against the benefits of s'pfoteehon, a1so
to intelligently decide whether 1T Is worth
continuing The sum we are made to pay toI
it is an unknown one, and hence we are lei
without any certain means OF ascertalnlng the
wisdom of the outlay. Moreover, 1t is
right of free people to know TOR what pur;
pose they are taxed, yet this right is abridged
by the manner in which duties are now levied
But the protectionists will oppose any change
in LAYING tariff duties whereby the masses may
learn how much of their substance is saeri
feed to selfish greed, for well they know that
the protective policy could not long survive
the ACQUISITION of such knowledge by the
people.
The impossibility of commercial independ'
ence is shown by experience, the home
market illusion disappears before the fact
that after providing for our people more
beautifully than any other people on earth
are provided for. we send for sale abroad
more than $500, 100000 Of agricultural pro
ducts, because we can not consume them al
home, and the balance of trade mystifcation
is made plain by the application of the prln'
ciples of trade. Though these fallacies may
still cloud discussion, they are sqbordinated
TO the claim that protection guards the
American laborer against competition with
the ''pauper labor of other countries.
Let us examine the merits OF this claim,
and if it be established, | will never consent
to change a system of taxation which really
improves the condition of the American work.
I cboI hou rnnnb regard
for the Constitution Of my country il It be
shown that in its operation it tends to drag
down the American mechanic to the level OF
the ll.fed, ill-elothed, and oppressed laborerS
of Europe.
| find in foot note in McMaster's History
of the People of the United States, an account
of wages in this country in 1900, which states
that
by the day, bought their own food, and found Their
own lodgings. But in the country, on the iarms OF
wherever hand was employed on th some pp GTS
and given few dollars month. On the PennsyI
yania canals the dggers ate the eoarsest diet were
housed in the rudest sheds, and paid 20 month
Novemberto May. HOd-carriers and mortar-mlXers
diggers and choppers Who from lbs 70 iso Ia
and avenues of Washington City, received 20 a
year or if they wished, $50 for all the work they
could perform from March to December ~ Lne
70 sunset, Wages a. Albany and New YORK.
were shillings, or as money then went, ~ Gems !
PENNSYLVANIA workmen were content with 50 IN
summer and 50 in winter. At Baltimore men were
glad to be hired at Is pence day N9ne Gy u, ,e
price of labor from IS to 81. In Virginia white
men employed by the year were given ti6, curren'
cy slaves when hired, were clothed and their mas
ters paid Fl a month. A pound, Virginia money
was in Federal money, 333- The average rate o.
wages the land over was, therefore, so year. with
food and perhaps lodging. Out OF inns slnaL sum
the Yorkingman must, with his wife's help, main
tain his family,
Here we have starting point, the lowest
in the scale of wages during the present cen
tury. From that point the rate of wages has
risen, not only among manufacturing opera
tiyes, but with every class of wage workers.
The Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics, in
their sixteenth annual report, shows that from
1880 to 1860 there was steady, gradual rise
in the rate of wages, and that though occa-
sional fluctuations apparently retarded the
advance, yet the increase for the whole period
was steady and regular. Commercial panlcs,
like those of 1857 and 1875, checked the rise,
but with returning confidence and renewed
business the advance went forward, and that
from 1860 to 1873 the rise in the rate OF wages
continued until the panic in the latter year
checked the advance, which yielded to the
general stagnation that pervaded the country
until 1880; and that from 1880 to 1886 the
advance was 1886 per cent.
In England the advance in the rate OF
wages has likewise been steady and regular;
but there, also, fluctuations were occasional.
Mr.. George Lord, president of the Mapchest-
or Board Of Trade, shows that from 1850 to
1883 the advance was SO. Is per cent. Ifpro-
tective tariffs in the United States were the
sole cause, or even material and important
cause, for an advance of %. So per cent, the
policy of free trade in England must be
credited with the larger advance of 80. Is per
cent. But the fact is that to neither protec-
ton nor free trade is the advance in the rate
of wages to be credited. The advance came
independently of both policies and from other
causes.
In this country two important factors con-
tributed to the increase, Our vast unpeopled
public domain, with our bene6cent homestead
laws, drew a great number of ill-paid opera
tives from the factories to the fields. That
immense army of tramps, which but a few
years back were marching over the country
seeking bread by begging, have found on our
public domain a camping ground, and have
almost entirely disappeared from the kitchen
gardens of country houses, and have become
useful members in the ranks of production.
Improved machinery had driven them from
The factories, and our public domain took
them in and ministered to their wants.
The second cause for the advance Of the
rate of wages is to be found in the fact thai
manual labor has been supplanted by machi-
merry. 1t has been roughly estimated that in
some industries one man in 1888 can do the
work that required scores of men to do in
1900. 90 that whilst the Improvement in