Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-10-03

Twenty Reasons Why Protection Does \
Beget High Wages.

Twenty Reasons Why Protection Does Net
Beget High Wages.
The Young Mems Democratic Club of
Boston has issued little slip containing
Twenty reasons why it is not true that q
high tariff makes high wages.n The slips
are for distribution among the working
men, who are particularly liable to the at-
tempted scare by the Republicans. Below
are twenty tariff reasons:
l. Because to say that wage-earners as
body can increase their wages by paying
high-tariff taxes, which fall mainly upon
them, is to say that a man can increase his
wealth by picking his own pocket.
2. Because the value of wages consists
not in money, but in the articles which
money buys, and the express object of q
high tariff is to make these articles dear,
thus increasing the real reward of labor.
8. Because the high-tariff policy, while
taxing the wage-earner upon nearly every
thing that he has to buy, gives him no pro-
lection upon the only thing he has to SELL
We have free trade in human labor.
4. Because wages represent the wage
earner's share of what he himself produces,
and are high or low according as his pro-
duction is large or small
5. Because the wages of even the one
wage-earner out of ten claimed to be "pro-
tected y are determined by general causes
rather than by the tariff.
6. Because if high tariff raises wages at
all, its first and greatest effect must be in
the protected industries, whereas the
rate of wages is considerably lower in
these industries than in the unprotected
ones.
z. Because the high rate of wages in the
United States is due to other causes than
high tariff, such as the extent of unsettled
territory, the large returns of agriculture,
the National resources of the country, the
extensive use of improved machinery, the
intelligence and energy of the working
population and the greater efficiency of their
| labor.
| s. Because at least nine wage-earners
out of every ten in this country are engaged
| in occupations not subject to the competition
of foreign importations, so that the rate of
wages which they receive can not be in any
| degree dependent on high tariff
9. Because high tariff upon raw mate
rials raises the cost of manufacturing, re-
stricts the market for goods, and prevents
the manufacturer from paying as high
wages as he would have to if his materials
! were free.
TO- Because the rate of wages increased
faster in this country in the low-tariff pc
riod between 1850 and 1860 than it ever has
since under a high tariff.
United States compared with those paid in
other countries before it ever had high
tariff or any tariff.
12 Because China has enjoyed for thou
sands of years the full benefits of high
| tariff protection" while her wages for
skilled labor are twenty cents a day, and
Chinese immigration in search of higher
wages has become a menace to American
wage-earners
13. Because there are greater differences
between rates Of wages paid in different
parts of this country, ali subject to the same
high tariff, than between rates Of wages in
Massachusetts and in England.
IA. Because the rate of wages has in
creased from so to 100 per cent. in England
since she abandoned the high-taritf policy,
and because her wages are from so to 100
per cent higher than in the higb-tarif coup-
tries of continental Europe.
Is. Because high tariff fosters trusts
and other combinations of capital for rais-
ing the price of every thing but labor, and
DESTROYS that competition for labor between
different employers which is the great agen-
cy in raising its wages
16 Because if the manufacturer really
believed that high tariff compelled him
to pay high wages, he would be low-tariff
man.
|
raise his rate of wages when he gets q
higher tariff duty upon his product; the
manufacturer who makes large profits out
of the tariff can undoubtedly pay high wages,
but he DOESN'T.
is. Because the average amount of wages
paid by the protected manufacturer in the
production of 81 worth of goods is less than
20 cents, while the average tariff tax is AZ
cents, leaving % cents for the profits of the
manufacturer and the extra cost of raw
materials due to the tariff.
19. Because the theory that a high tarin
makes high wages is principally advanced
to r.en who have never shown any sympa,
thy with legislation to promote the welfare
of the wage-earners, by doctrinaire protec-
tionists, political partisans and manufact
ures who have selfish interest of their own
20. Because this theory is opposed by the
Democratic party, made up principally OF
wage-earners, and ever seeking to promote
their true interests.