The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-04-26
MECHANICS AND FARMERS.
WAGES, COST OF LIVING AND THE
BENFIT OF INVENTIONS.

|
The telegraphc abstract of the abI
tariff speech, delivered in the Senat
Wednesday by Hon. Justin S. Morrill, o
Vermont, necessarily condensed the am
pliticaJlon of his points which added 81
much interest and strength to them
Therefore, from advance proofs of tn
Congressional Record, the following
concluding portion of the speech is Civ
en- entire:
The reckless assertion has sometimes
been made that the cheaper cost of liv,
ing in Great Britain fully compensate
for the lower rate of free-trade wages
In the 35 years ending in 1887, 4, 22O, ,O0I
immigrants from the British Kingdom
came into the United States, and theil
action brands the assertion as colossa
nacuracy. The meaning of this is fur
ther accentuated by the fact that thu
total number of foreign-born resident,
in the United Kingdom at the last cen
aus was less than the half of one PEI
cent. of the population. The British
low grade wages and living breed dis
content at home, and attract no Ameri
cans, but expelled last year 2Sl, ,4S7 o
their own subjects, of whom ~ per cent
came to the United States, and al
are swift witnesses against free-tradt
fabrications.
| The wages of labOring men, beyonC
all dispute, are far greater in the United
States than any other country in tn,
world. and the cost of substance here il
only increased by its higher grade ant
more generous amount. Undoubtedly
it is more difficult for our sixty TIVE
million of people to find profitable EN-
ployment in 1888 than it was for thirty
five or thirty.siX millions in 1861, anC
the difficulty would be greatly augment
ed should free trade or the policy of non
protection ever become dominat in tariff
legislation.
The attacks on a protective tariff
however masked or disguised, are aimee
at the wages of laboring men, and ar
not removed by the vain glorious as
sumption of free-trade orators, destitut
of all sympathy for manual labor. tha
Americans can do more work per da,
than the people OF any other country
If il were true, then this extra wear an,
tear of human life should not 90 unre
warded but it is not wholly true. For
eign wOTkingmen not only work Tor Ice
pay but more hours for days wor
than are required here. The output @
a great part of manufacturers is more
over, inexorably regulated by Inachiner
with fixed speed or revolutions for pei
feet work. The best machinery
eagerly sought after and quickly d:strit
uted throughout the world. 1t Is tn
lower and unequal wages of foreig
workmen alone with which American
have to.contend. We should not, how
ever, for any consideration impair tn
superior physique of American worl
men by compelling them to perforl
greater tasks than are allotted to an
other people,
1t cannot be doubted that protectiN
tariff has vastly increased and divers
fled American manufactures and mac
their economical and uniform productiC
a wide and profound study among II
people of every state in the Union
: has excited TIE brain power of n,
j. merely the men of science, but the il
p. born inventive faculties of great mu
j ttude of practical workiDgmen, and HI
8 prompted their happiness and thril
, There is hardlya state now without Il
name of some prominent inventor d
serving public gratitude and hOnorab
! remembrance.
! The new inventions relating to mani
faclures and to agricultural machiner
in all their major and minor aspects, a
identified with our industrial life; the
are discoveries of genius not only &
the benefit of the present, but also
future ages, and destined to give perez
nial fame TO America as the most prolii
land of their birth. They have dimi
d shed the hours of labor of workingmt
and increased their wages. They ha'
been and deserve to be encouraged by
proper protective tariff, as their encou
!, agement is impossible where such pr
1 lection finds no favor. The busy race
l American inventors should not peru
|, for lack of friendly care or by contemI
{ uous neglect. To deduct the intellect
{ al force of the authors OF these usef
aud wonderful labOr-saving inyentlo
from our history would leave the pos
ton and civilization of our people {
the poor level of many inferior nation
They are not the least of the great leve
of our prosperity, necessary in time
peace, but indispensable to our digni
ana ueIeUse III llllle VI WdE,
I Saxton's metallic cartridge, Ericsson
Monitor, Colts revolver, and DIR. Ga
Iing's gun, or machine, rank high
American contributions to the destruC
4 i've enginery Of war; but there is no ca
alogue of the many examples in the al
of Ieace. These might fill an encycl
pedia. They are, however, wide
known, and we are all proud of lheI
1 Many American industries trace the
origin to American inventors.
Nickel plating is only recent inve
ton, but its great advantages havil
been at once comprehended by the ma
ufacturers Of stoves, II has grown
1 rapidly in favor, according to Corroll
I Wright, that 80, 900 additional worke
| nave found employment in the busine
/ without disturbing any others.
Files, prior to the tariff of 1861, we
! nearly all imported, and those of the 0
4 binary size were sold at from SO TO
per dozen. Mr.. Nicholson of Rho
/ Island invented a machine for the
i manufacture which prove succe
/ and tod we have $50 file works esta
] lished entirely due TO protective tari
8 and find that files of equal merit q
1 now sold at from 50 to 81. 80 per doze
II OF files only TO the amount of $40 we
imported in 1887, but some thousands
American woTkmen now find emplo
Y ment IN their manufacture.
Y The Simonds rolling machine, said
be "the grandest mechanical inventi
of the age by Mr.. Simonds Of Fit
burg. is described as a machine in viii
two fiat surfaces. acting vertically
! horizontally, and moving IN opposite
= rections, with adjustable dies fixed up
them, roll in one motion a piece Of me
al of regular or irregular shape, and
almost any pattern desired. The wo
u is quick and accurate, and by one NOV
1, ment a conical shot, or chair-scre
D. bolt, axle or spindle IS produced, al
the machine is likely to supercede q
- lathe, the trip-hammer, and other met
to ods OF forging as to an immense nur
n Der Of useful articles.
: The history of the Waltham Wat
Co. is typical of many American man
e featuring enterprises. 1t started IN III
when the duty on foreign watches "
lie 8 per cent, only, and failed, The il