The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-05-03

| The productive capacity OF one
operative, taking 100 as the unit, is as
follows:
Cotton, Wool, Silk,
lbs. lbs. lbs.
{ United States, 100 100 100
Great Britain, 81 II S13
Germany, 273 80 68
The illustration of the relative ca
pacity of American and European la
| Dor in various other branches Of in
dustry could be multiplied indef-
| nitely.
This is due to his superior energy,
skill and machinery. In fact, the
price of labor everywhere beautifully
illustrates a great law of political
economy, which fixes the price of all
things on the basis of their value. A
careful comparison will show that
labor is paid in all the civilized world
according to its effectiveness, the
highest being the most profitable, and
the lowest the least profitable. This
runs through all European countries
in all employments, except, possibly,
few special handicrafts which are
affected by an element of art, and is
especially visible in what is falsely
called the cheap labor of Asia. Now
labor was higher here than in Europe
before we had a tariff, and whilst
Europe was highly protected it was
higher when our first tariff of 8 per
cent was in force it has continued SO
ever since without the least regard to
the state of the tariff A few months
after the act of 1888 had increased
the duty on crockery % per cent,
the potters of New Jersey reduced the
wages OF their operatives about the
same figures. One strong reason
given by the legislature who enacted
our first tariff laws was that these du
ties were necessary to our manufact-
urers because labor was higher In
this country thansin Europe. Now one
of them leopard lied his reputation for
candor and common sense by the as
sertion that they were needed to raise
wages above the old world level.
1t is also most important fact, in
which all good men rejoice, that for
more than century the wages of la
Dor have been continually increasing,
whilst, owing to the price of science,
the price ofthe products of labor has
been as steadily diminishing. The
testimony taken by the royal commits
sion which recently invested the caus-
es Of the depression of trade estab
fishes this beyond dispute, Wages
in the United States have largely
partaken of this increase and ben
Gifted by the the decreased cost of
products.
Our manufacturers, therefore, pay
higher wages than those of other
countries, not because they prefer to
do so OF try to do so, but simply be-
cause they can't help themselves not
from philanthropy, but from necessl-
ty. Their utmost efforts are exerted,
on the contrary, as L have already
shown, to reduce, not to increase wag-
es, and it is absolutely untrue to
claim that protection is the cause or
the intention of this high reward of
labor. 1t is quite true, as protection
lists assert, that manufacturers tend to
increase wages by diversifying indus
tries and thus increasing the demand
for labor. But to give high tariffs
the credit for this is to assume that
manufacturers can not exist without
protection whereas we know that
England and Belgium-the one a
free trade the other a very low
tariff country are, in proportion
to population, the greatest msnufac-
turing nations on earth. In no posi-
BILE way can it be established that la
Dor is benefited by protective tariffs.
But even if it did inure directly to the
advantage of the operatives, if it stop
ped with the factory man it would be
an outrage that ought not to be tol-
Grated for moment. That it does
stop there cannot be honestly doubted.
Promising, as set out in previous
article, that it is wrong as well as inn
polite to tax one man to support an
other, let us see how protection oper-
ates-not on the whole body of con-
men themselves American labor.
In round numbers the total Of all per-
sons engaged in labor in the United
States is 100000. For the purpose
of considering the effects of tariff tax
alton upon their callings, these may
be divided into two classes-the pro-
tective and the non-protective-the
protective class being those engaged
in the production of articles which are
taxed by tariff duties, whilet he 9TH
er class is engaged III labor of slch
charactar as cannot be benefited or
aided in any way by tax on its for
eign competition. The whole num-
Der of those engaged in the protec-
ted industries is aboat 3,500,00
leaving the remainder, about H.
100000 workers, and the unpro-
tected industries, a little more than
six to one. Now for the effects of
protective tariffs on these laborers :
Suppose it placed on wooden goods an
average of 81 per cent, it includes
foreign waolens and enables the home
manufacturer to place at least 80 rer
cent increase on the price of his
goods, and according to the protee-
ton theory, 80 per cent. increase on
wages also. Very well the people
who work In the wooden factories all
over the country, numbering some
$3.50 900, get large increase of wag
es and thrive as much as protection
| lists say. Now who pays for it .
Undoubtedly the remaining 16, ,800,-
O0O laborers; every other man in the
United States who works and wears
WOODEN goods all are taxed to give
prosperity to the men IN the woolen