Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-10-08
"PRQEECTEDr WoRKINGuEN


"PRQEECTED' WORHLNGNEN.
When any man who has studied the
tsrif question attempts to say word
against the high protective system now
in vogue, the manufacturers and their
servants Immediately set up q cry that
thst he is trying to take the bread out Of
the mouths OF the worklngmen. This
cry has heretofore frightened the labor
ing men, VINO do the voting. and they
have gone to the polls and cast their
ballots to perpetuate In power the men
who have fastened the protective system
on the country. In vain WAS 1t shown
that large ms orlty OF the laboring men
Of the country were not engaged in pro-
tectec indusIies, snd, instead OF being
helped By the tariff, are hurt by it; the
old cry retained It's coriuring power ard
had the desired eject. The friends OF tariff
reform have thisyesr adopted boider plsr
OF argument. They aye now showing
and they are doing 1t by evidence that is
absolutely irreiutable - that even the
susll minority VINO work 1t protected in
dustries are not benefited By the tariff.
Aye, they 60 further, for they show that
they absolutely sUff3r from the eff3ct CT
the very tariff which it is pretended is
laid for their benef,, tariff which adds
rot nito 20 their wag3s, and 5ea Rises
the price OF almost every Article OF necas-.
sity they buy. The TACT Of the matter is
the scale OF wages is regulated By the
law Of supply sid demand. Whsp there
sre two places opsn 10 one Wors1ngman
wages are high; when there sre two
workingmen to every position, wages are
low. With Amerfcsn ports lying open TO
the people Of Europe, 70 difficulty
Is experienced .9y employers in
keeping wages q. the minimum.
And they have not been slow to take ad-
vantsgs Of the opportunities cffsred.
Hurgarians, Poles, Isafisns and laborers
OF other countries ct the Old World have
bean brought over by the thousand to
and employment IN the mines, in the
factories, in every industry in which
Drawn and muscle are requisite. Injured
from childhood to the deepest poverty,
and used to living on the cheap est food,
they are able to work for wages that
would mean starvation to American
whom they are crowding
out in many places. T. V. Powderly re-
Gently published the result OF G personal
examination into the condition OF foreign
Iaborers in Pennsylvania. He describes
; visit to tene nent known as "Kelly's |
row." occupied by this class of lsborers,
In Scranton, Pa:
1t contains four suits Of rooms, the largest |
apartment not over ten feet long by nine in |!
width. The cal ings in one of the rooms are |
eight feet high. In the first room 10 which |
sained entrance saw four men sitting a;ou1d |
a table eating. The only article of diet on the |
able was part of loaf of bread; the occu
pants OF the raom had chunks OF the bread In |
heir haEds, and were munching 1t IS 1 en-.
ered. a pail Of water sto I'd on chair by |
The table. and in 1t the men soaked the bread |
before ealing it. That table was innocent of |
cloth or cover; 1t had coating of grease and |
O III that kept the water from soaking through |
to the floor. The foor might have
bsen clean at one time, but there was not even |
he semblance of circumstant'al evidence to |
iove 1t. The walls we're covered with SCOT |
and dust, the doorwaJs reehing Wit filth. 4 =
Fns'one hundred and three men wao livsd In /,
that tenement existed In an area not over sixty |
feet long by twenty feet wide at the outside. |
.olated from the rest Of the world, ninety I!
els hit of them had no wives or other women to |
lake care of them and ninety eight OF them lad |
no wives Or families to provide for. Paying 81 |
a month for @ room or place on which to rest |
The Head, living On stuff that costs but s. |
week, Wearing the ssms clothing on Sunday |
and Monday from the time they land until
they 60 back home, as msny of them DO, how |
can the American workman ccmpese with |
them?
That any general Int reese in wages is |
while tie food Of immigra-
lion now passing into the United States
remains unchecked no sensible man can
doubt. These people are ahle and will
ling to work ior small wages, and the
owners Of thsimines and factories, and
furnaces where they are employed will
never psy higher wages than
they have tc, end will nsver hire
Americans when they csn get
foreign labor for less money. a reduc- |
ton OF the tarif ma7 not improve the
hard con iition Of the men thus forced to
compete with this cheap foreign labor,
but it vii! make i. no worse, and II will
prove CT very material bsusas to the
isrmer, the stock grower and thousands
Of others upon whom the protective sys.
tenn now SO gTisvously presses.