Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-10-28

FIVE CENTS.
aid certain favored persons in their par
tlcular enterprises. Now, know this That
when your Government gives aid to one
citizen it takes from some other the
full measure of the aid given. Where
else should it get it? For our Govern
ment has no assets save what it has
through the tax-gatherer. These exac-
tions for such purposes are contrary to
the constitution under which this Gov
ernment exists, and they are wicked in
the sight of the Lord, for they are con-
trary to his express command, "Thou
shalt not steal"
THE PROTECTED CLASSES.
Now, who are these protected classes
Tor whom we are all taxed? The Repub.
llcans try to make US believe that they
are the laborers. (Groans and yells Of
"Rats!') Now, for myself. i
will say that if protection lifted
one burden of the many that
rest upon the shoulders of our to:ling
multitudes, then it might receive from
me an unqualified support. But it does
not benefit labor. Fortunately we have
the statistics collected year after year in
this country which expose the sophistry
that this system is to the advantage of
the laborer. 1t is true that in the pro-
tected industries the ratio of profits is
larger than elsewhere, but on the other
hand the wages are smaller. In the
cotton industry the ratio OF profit is 1921
per cent, while the wages Of labor are
IS cents day. In the wooden industry
the rate of profit is 353 and the laborer
gets 81 cents a day. In iron and
steel the profits are 66.97 and
the laborer gets 1915 week.
Taking the protected industries as an
aggregate the general profit is 3771 per
cent. while the laborer gets Ito day.
These figures only confirm the conclusion
to which intelligent reflection leads.
The desired effect Of protection is to shut
out foreign competition and to enable the
manufacturer to charge for his article the
cost of the foreign article plus the rate of
duty. The advantage of this scheme is
direct toward the man who has anything
to sell; but does the laborer sell the ar
ticle which he helps to make? Does he get
the profits? There is only one aspect in
which it may be made to appear that
this increased cost of the protected
article is an advantage to the laborer
who helps to make it, and that is in the
fact that it makes it possible for the en-
ployer to pay higher wages if he chooses
to do SO? But does he do so? [Chorus
of mo! Non"l Wisely answered my
friends. Never in the economic history
of the world have the wages of men
been rated by the employers ability
to pay high or low, but al
ways by the law of supply and
demand. He simply goes into the
market and gets it for the lowest figure
that he can; and if he can't get it here
in America, too often he turns to the
slums of the great European cities and
summons the pauper laborer, or, worse
still, the coolie slave from Asia, to take
the bread from the mouths of those he
boasts he wishes to protect. A grosser
imposition never was practiced than this
effort to make sensible workingmen be-
lieve that they are paid better wages by
reason of the protective tariff. One
Gould, who is perhaps better able
to pay the boy who blacks his
boots in the morning 81 900 than many
of us are to give him the customary
dime. Now, when he gets his shoes pol
ished does he say to himself: 81 am so
we'll able to do it that l will give this
boy a rich fee," and fork over the thou
sand-dollar bill? Not much; he pays q
dime like the rest of Us, and if he has
any Of the characteristics displayed by q
good many of his class he will probably
try to get off with five-cent piece.
IT'S ORIGIN.
This scheme of protection, be it remem-
bered, never originated in the homes of
the poor among the laboring classes, but
in those marble palaces where the rich
revel in the wealth they have wrung from
the Drawn and sinew of labor. The high
tariff comes as free gift to people of this
class. The profits in protected industry
are not the legitimate results of produc-
ton, but they are bounties levied from all
classes and paid to the one. Nearly
eighty-seven per cent. of the population
of this country are by this form of taxa
ton made the slaves of the rest. No
wonder that we grow wrathful under
such yoke as this, and call aloud for it's
removal. 1t is gigantic scheme of le-
galizing robbery, and an outraged people
is at last on the march to achieve its de-
struction. The statesmanship of this
country, which shows itself even down
to the calm decision of each voter, was
never engaged in nobler occupation
than in the present crusade against q
legalized wrong. And we. shall succeed.
Resistance to unjust taxation is tradi-
tional with every hberty-loving peo-
Pile, In the Old World tyranny
has long struggled for the exercise
of all unlimited taxing power. On this
issue Kings have been led to the scat
fold, and rotten dynasties have given
away before the peoples wrath.
IN THE NEW WORLD
The determined and successful resistance
Of the colonies to unjust taxation from
England forms one of the grandest tri-
umphs in the history OF the great strug-
gle for liberty. This resistance to an un-
just tax kindled the fires of patriotism
which burned so brightly at Lexington
and at Bunker Hill. 1t sustained
the patriots at Valley Forge, and asserted
itself in the crowning achievement at
Yorktown. The same evil is now on
trial again, and in the gigantic struggle
which ia to come in which the Democratic
party must dislodge the monopolists from
the fortress in which they have securely
intrenched themselves, may God give
victory to the right
Having thus outlined the general ef-
fects of the protective tariff, wish to
point out one or two special results of the