Daily Republican., 1888-01-28
Tarin an d wages.

Some politicians wish to convey the
idea that the tariff question is 80 intri.
cate ~ to be beyond the oomprshension
OF ordinary minds. Thare may tie some
teohnioalities connected with It that 1
do not understand, but IL 10 clear to my
mind heavy importAti0ns In the past
and present hnvs weakened and over
stocked our market and red uoed the
sellit & price OF goods, consequently
com mptlliDg our wofkmen TO tAke 10 We r
wages. In the years 1878 to 1881 bust
ness was brisk In this country and
wages good, but our selling prtces went
to that height that 1t admitted importa.
tlons Of foreign goods, then we enjoy ed
2 years such rs free traders would have
us 10 endure all the time; wages were
low AID many establishments Idle;
stesl rails fell to SIS psr ton, may OF our
IestabliAhmeEts having to shut down as
they could not com pete ~ the prices
Places suoh rs Scranton, Pa where the
iIon company own their own mines and
furnaces, not having to buy raw ma
nrial, could com pete. Then when the
tionable what aide the President took
on the question OF tariff And Whsn 10
his hrsI inaugural address be assured
the conatry his Naturalization would
be for tho protection OF American In.
duttry and mAnufac.ureJ, In the mean,
time the two sucoeeding years had bee U
Of such character there lad been but
| little importations, rs our market prices
we're 20 low NJ not TO permit Of impor
tAtione. consequently the R'ut imported
from 1s78 10 1882 had gradually worked
of coupled with this the ASSURANCE si
protection principles on tha par of the
President. Then Agsin In 1884 we
| started In an upwAyi tendency OF cur
markets, steel rats goiug FROM S2B 10
b38 per ton. all other irJ1s also In
creasiuR. In 1885 We imrortsd only
20 600 tons Of steel rails, but 10 1886 we
imported 120. goo tons, completely flood-
| ing the market. Down goes eteel rails
to S3l. all other lson also following.
This Is the cause of the present
low price OF iron ard consequent
Reduction OF wages. We daily
zee In the papers do not alone blame
Presidents.
Oleveland's message as working this
mischief, as the prlos Of iron prior To
this had been gradually falliog, but his
tmesssge was ~ n wet blanket to the
already depressed condition When our
steel rails arose in price to Sl38 per ton
those working by the scale had THEFT
wages proportionately raised, each dol
lar that rails arose 10 price they got o
portioa Of 1t; had there been suficien,
protection TO keep them Mt that price,
tnatead OF silent mills and idle facto
| ries, yen would hAvo heard the busy
hum Of labor on every side. Yet somc
are foolish enough 10 think universal
free trade would awe US q ohanoe
| with the markets. OF the world. Who
will we sell 10? Other countries produos
moro than they consume; IL anything
we produce less than we consume, and
would give our capital chance to fur-
thtT build man ufactorlep. Our market
never gets overstOoksi with our own
roduc!ions, and 70 keep out foreign
goods we now have to keep our selling
prices low, which TO Us means low
wages. Yet President Cleveland still
wautB to further reduce the tariff, which
will mean still lower selling price fol
our goods and consequently still lover
wARes. GREEEBACKER.