Evening journal., 1888-10-09

! United State has received So per cent.
while the dairy products have measures
70 per cent; cotton products f12 pc
cent wool consumption, 1870 per cent.
pig iron products, 2S5 per cent, and con
struction Of railways, 223 per cent
what has been the result of population
/ increasing in such small proportion to th
large increase in products2 II prove
that the people are making more thai
they can use. The result is that tn
people Of the United States can manu-
facture in seven months all they requir,
in twelve months. What is to become o
the workingman for the remaining fy,
months? We are told there is a hom,
market. Thank God there is one. An,
one can get anything from one end of tn,
United States to the other. But whai
are you to do with that home market il II
is overstocked2 Not only is the home
production increasing but inventors hav,
found means Of keeping food so that al
the end Of ten years it will be as good a.
at the present time What is the effect ot
this state Of affairs that produces ii
seven months what you use In twelve
The eject Of over supply is the KNOCK
down IN prices. A small over production
| viii affect the whole amount Let Us
see what is the natural product of such q
state Of things The manufacturer comes
in and forms combinations of strong and
powerful men. What TO do? They stor
production. They put their finger upon
the artery and stop circulation What
becomes of the workingmen2 They call
these combinations trusts. Thoy say they
regulate production. Indeed they do.
They say they regulate prices Indeed
they do They have hemmed themselves
IN and they cannot get out and like hun.
| cry monsters they deyour themselves.
DO you not see that the government in
keeping ont manufacturers Of other
countries, keeps in the manufacturers of
our own country. The wall is just as
high on one side as the other We can
not get over the wall TO get our goods into
his market. They say protection was made
barrier Indeed it is The French prior
to 1889 had famous great wall about
Paris. They farmed out the taxes to
privileged classes and they collected them
mercilessly. They taxed all food that
came into cities. The result was great
revolution and when these men tried TO
escape they found the wall they had built
was their own destruction. We will re.
turn to trusts and the result is that all
smaller competitors must go to the wall.
Ask any manufacturer OF petroleum.
miner Of coal owner of small salt wells.
or farmers what was the meaning of the
Interstate Commerce law. 1t was pro
lection against accumulated capital
which had made laws for its own benefit.
In an old law book of Benjam Frank
lin found an act against forestalling,
to make provisions dearer by purchasing
them all Wilmington has an ordinance
of the same kind that is in force to-day.
There are numerous laws enacted pro
hibiting things that are against public
policy, The question Of public policy IN
the shape Of trusts is one that confronts
us, but laws have been made for them and
will be made against them though a trust
has been said by higher authority to be
nearly private affair. IL was something
more than private affair however where
the other day 1000 men were thrown out
of employment in Brooklyn by one Of
these trnsts.
The effect Of a protective tariff Is to
exclude competition.
During the war, when everybody was ex
cited, they placed what tariff they pleased
upon everything. A tax OF "a per cent
was put upon coffee and the resnlt was
that the coffee interests fell into the
hands Of a few men. The profits Of this
trust has been enormous On capital Of
two and half millions they have made
thirty millions and the stock is worth
ten times its par value. Not only do they
control the production Of this country.
but they have reached out and formed a
combination that gets them the control
OF the worlds products. Trusts can be
mentioned by the score. They are Of
numerous articles. | do not believe that
high tariff makes high wages, nor as
they say wherever there is high tariff
there Is high wages. If that be true then
we have ready escape from the prime
val curse of the Garden of Eden.
Mexico has the highest tariff IN the
world, the wages are the lowest on the
continent. England has revenue tariff.
not free trade. and she pays double the
wages Of Germany, the latter with
tariff three times as high France paws
more than Germany with lower tariff
ana Russia pays less wages than any
civilized country in the world If Russia
Is IN the civilized world. aud has the
highest tariff. Finally we come to China.
Here we find the perfect triumph of the
doctrine Of protection. This country has
a veritable wall that for
bids all strangers from working
within its borders. Chinese wages
reach the beautiful sum Of 81 Go cents
a day. Laws cannot fix wages or estab.
lish contracts. God forbid that the time
will come when a mans wages will be
fixed by law. The rate of wages will de-
pend upon the productiveness Of labor.
The best paid labor is the cheapest. The
greater the production the larger the
share for both labor and capital. The
interests Of capital and labor are insepa-
rably bound. There are different condi, |
tions however Capital can wait flor its
profit labor cannot The workingman
must have IL or he cannot live. is II a
proper way to treat labor as
a mere commodity2 Is not the
reasoning shallow that places mans
labor as dead material as If il was a stone2
Is not a man something more than bone
and gristle2 Is he not also a creature Of !
hopes and fears. with heart to feel ana
a mind to comprehend, aud was he not
created after the being of the Almighty |
Rnlerg It is a grave error to forget that /
you are dealing with men, Let us dis. I
card the word commodity as applied to /
the labor Of human beings. Eliminate /
ambition and hope from a man heart /
and what do you leave him. Won Moltke /
gave as his opinion that the condition Of 1
Russia to-day was due to the lack Of a /
future to the peasant and no hone Of /
bettering his condition.
believe that the higher the tariff the /
lower the wages, and | believe that under 1
hoo Z 4l,ak 4 AI..A z u