The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1888-09-05
oughly acquainted. Hence they arc
Objectionable as officers, even though
deserving of personal esteem as citizens,
On this ground he pressed the adoption
of his mendment.-Farmer.
The Tariff and Wages.

Mr.. Harrison in his Toledo speech said ,
1.-The one fact that do not need to stop
to demonstrate by statistics is that the
scale Of American wages is higher than
that OF any other country in the world, !"
and then he proceeds to explain why
this is so by saying: "It is because We
have for years by our protective tariff
Disseminated in favor of American man.
ufacturers and American workingmen.
This is little better than deception,
1t is true the scale ofwages in this coun.
try is high, but why? William M.
Evarts, certainly good republican author
ity, said in his report of 1879: "The
average American work imam performs
from once and half to twice a. much
work as the average European workman"
James G. Blaine, who Is now trying to
deceive the American workingmen into
the belief that the cause of good wages
is our tariff, said, in his report dated
June 25th, 1881: Undoubtedly the
inequalities in the wages Of English and
American operatives are more than
equalized by thegreater efficiency of the
latter and their longer hours Of labor"
That was when Mr. Blaine was in Office
and had no Inducements to make mis-
statements about the cause of high
wages,
Mr.. Blaine was right in 1881 and he 10
untruthful in 1888.
The American workman receives more
than the English or French or the Ger
man because he produces more and ID
more efficient. He receives more be.
cause he earns more. and in 1881 Mr..
Rlaine declared that this more than
equalized the differences in wages,
There was then no claim that this
inequality was, even remotely, due to the
tariff.
But we need not take the words of Mr..
Evarts or Mr.. Blaine for evidence OF this
great truth, for the facts demonstrate it.
The census of 1880 gives the value Of
each workingman, in both the metal and
textile industries, in the United States
as 81 ,6S4 per annum, while in England
it was only $3.50 year. But while the
value-the earning power-of the Amer
lean lahorer in these two branches Of
industry, which are the leading ones
both in this country and England, is
116 per cent greater than the English,
the former does not, according to Sena.
tor Chace Of Rhode Island, receive more
than 65 per cent greater wages.
But if Mr.. Harrison is truthful in his
statement that the tariff is the cause Of
our high wages we ought, since We have
a uniform tariff in the United States. to
have something like uniform wages in
the same protected industries. But such
is far from being the case. The average
annual rate in cotton manufactures was.
in 1880, according to Carroll D. Wright,
chief of tile bureau of labor statistics,
s25S in Massachusetts,, $216 in New York,
$ls2 in Georgia, and $136 in North Caro-
lima, while in England it was about $24O.
why uuSc uot y
Harrison declares is the cause of our
high wages, bring up wages under it to
something like an equality Or, worse
yet, why does it not bring the wages of
New York, Georgia and North Carolina
all blessed witha tarif-up to an
equality with "the pauper labor" Of En-
gland?
Again. ifthe tariff is the cause of high
wages, will Mr.. Harrison tell us why il
is that in fIee-trade England wages arc
four times higher than they are in highly
protected France and Spain, or why in
free-trade Belgium wages are higher
than in potected Germany?
In Mexico the duties are higher than
in the United States, but wages are very
much lower. Whatever the reason may
be, the tariff has no more to do with the
rate of wages than the duty on hens
eggs has with their Matching Qualities
Chicago Times.