The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1888-07-19
Misleading the Wage
Workers.

The wage workers of this country
are asked to believe that their pros
perity depends upon their maintain
ing the existing tariff system and
that if there should be any reduc-
ton of tariff taxes wages would be
reduced accordingly and there
would be less work to do. Inasmuch
as these tariff taxes are levied upon
articles of common use, the neces-
sites of every day lifc, for tho mist
part, the wage workers have to bear
the burden of them, but they arc
told that they ought to do so cheerful
Iy because of the compensating adj
vantage these taxes are alleged to
bring in The way of providing good
work and good wages. If it is true
that this alleged compensating nd
vantage actually EXISTS, and as a
matter of fact the high tariff does
make work plenty and wages cheap,
then it might be justificable on the
part of the high tariff advocates to
demand of the wage workers their
support, although even then 1t
might be debatable question wheth
er the compensatlng advantage is
adequate or not. But suppose this
advantage does not exist; that the
wage workers are made to bear
these heavy burdens without return;
that the ella i'm made for the high
wage producing quality OF a high
protective tariff IS a sham and q
fraud +; that the benefit of high
tariff TO workingmen is a mockery
and delusion, what then? ssWilI it
not seem to be the most intolerable
baseness to thus delude honest men
into fostering system that is an op-
preston and a most bitter wrong
to thems Ought 1t not be regard
ed as q cruel deception, amounting
indeed to monstrous crime, to
thus deceive men into course of &C.
tion that can only work them harm?
And yet 1t is precisely Esuch de-
ception that the high tariff advo-
Gates practice upon the workingmen
when they tell them that the tariff
is for their benefit and that insures
them work and good wages. For if
there is any one thing that can be
asserted positively of the operation
and relations of economical forces it
is that a high tariff is absolutely
without power to maintain high
wage rate or to secure constant en-
plOyment for labor. So far from
being true that q high protective
tariff like that now in force benefits
the wage worker, it must follow in
the very nature of things and be-
cause natural laws are everywhere
and always uniform. that such a tar>
IF cannot affect the wage worker
otherwise than disastrously.
1t Is only necessary for any candid
man to dismiss his prejudice and ap-
peal to the elementary facts of his
experience to be convinced thpt this
is SO? What is it that gives value
TO labor. The tariff, answer the big
capitalists who employ labor but
they answer falsely, as every work
ingman would know if he stopped
TO think. The tariff may give cap
iiaIists extra profit, but does he di-
vide that profit with the wage work
ers? Never IN any instance. He
puts it in his pocket and when he
hires men to work for him he pays
thom Just what he has to pay and
never a cent more. He pays the
market value of labor and the mar
ket value of labor depends always
upon the relation of demand to sup
ply. If there is much work to do
and few men to do it high wages
will have to be paid. but If there is
little work to do and many men to
do it wages will be low, and the cap
italist.. will pay the lowest wages he
can get his workmen for. This is
the inexorablc natural law that
governs the whole wage question
and it operates independently of tar
iff enactments. The only way Q
tariff legislation can affect it Is bv
varying the relations of supply to
demand, or in other words lncreas-
ing the amount OF work or the num-
Der of wOrkmen or vice versa. This
is the one elementary truth that
every workingman should start with
in working ont for himself the prob
lem whether or not high tariff does
him any good.
Having done so, he will not be
long in reaching conclusion that it
does not. For, let him ask the high
tariff advocate what the The first cf-
feet of high tariff is and he will
be told that it is to restrict The Pro-
duction of commodities to what
will supply The home market. That
it is the last refuge OF the extreme
pretectionist. We must not trade
with The rest of the world. Our
own market is sufficient. Therefore
We restrict production AT the
same time The food of foreign en-
igrahon is constantly increasing The
number of men seeking employment.
The supply OF labor increases, while