Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-09-06

from hearing 50 much said about it For
instance, let me give you the following
facts: according 20 tho last census Great
Britain had population of Ho1 to the
square mile, and the average wages paid
| was G5si cents per day. New England has
2l0 20 the square mile, and the average
| wages are sLG per day; about cents
more than zine England Ohio has eighty
to tho square mile, and the average wages
arc S1.06 day. Colorado has two to the
square mile, and wages in that State aver
age ST. 5 day. The entire United States,
not including the Territories and the Dis
tricI of Columbia, has tyyeRty-four to the
square mile, and the average wages are
Sd 10 per day. What fact does this cstab-
lisha Does it not prove that the more
dense the population the greater the COM.
| petition among wage-earnerS and the lower !
the wages, and the reverse proposition,
the less competition among wagc-earners
the higherothe wagesa No man can deny .
that who has arg regard for truth
hear a great deal o9saido' eoabout the
paup-r labor of England, especially 'be-
cause our chief imports are from Great.
L Britain, that is England, Ireland and Scot
4ands and yet you see In that most prosper
Gus State of Massachusetts,, the greatest
manufacturing State of the country, the
averages are only about four cents more
than they arc in England But if you take
the purchasing power into account. as gou
must do, the wages are just as high in
England as they are in Massachusetts, g IA
gentleman on the platform: "HigEer.n1 /
don't know but what they are. They are
as high, certainly because in order to as
certain how much man is obtaining by
his labor, how much his earnings tend to
support him and his family, you must take
what it costs him to live into account, and
if it costs him more to live in one place
than it does in another, although he gets
more wages in the first place than he does
in the second, he will not lay up one single
cent more money. 1 am ready to admit
that as a general rule American labor is
paid higher wages In money than the labor
Of any other country. But what are the
reasons for it! In the first place, labor is
more effective in this country. The Amer
| lean laborer produces more than the for
eign laborer in the same time All the
| authorities admit that All of them argue
that his superior industry, his superior
skill, his superior diligence, enable him to
produce more in the same time than does
| the laborer in any other country in the
| world Labor is, therefore, mere effective
here than any where else and ean be bet
| ter paid for, Again, American laborers are
better educated, more Intelligent, than
/ laborers elsewhere, and, therefore, they
| can take better care of their own interests.
| That is an immense reason why they are
| better paid in this country than elsewhere.
Now, I am not going to say whether labor
unions, Knights of Labor, and organic
| ations of that kline are benefit or not
| benefit. That is large question upon
which it is not necessary for me to speak
| to-day. But this L do say, that the labor
] unions and the Knights Of Labor hare done
| more to secure reasonable todgcs for the labor
ing men than oil the tariff ld,cs that crer ,rerc
passed in this tcorld. Loud applause] There
| is another reason why American laborers
| receive more wages, and that is the i'm
| mense area Of uncultivated territory in the
United States, the effect of which is to
free the laborers of that dependence which
| is very dear, that dependence upon the
! manufacturing or capitalistico class: sfor
| work in this country. A man can get land
| to labor upon to support himself and his
family by simply askingit OF the general
Government and settling upon it and re-
naming upon it a given length Of times
| The consequence is that with these ad.
| vantages no man need be dependent upon
| the good will of any monopolist in the
| world, and that gives our labOringa men an
| independence which is not seen elsewhere
on the globe, and enables them therefore
to demand and receive somewhat higher
| wages than olaborers0 receive elsewhere.
| Then there is the fact of our free institu-
| tions and there is0the fact Of the pride:that
i every man in this country, be he laboring
| man orr not, feels in the consciousness that
j he is an american citizen that he helps to-
| govern thiso country, and makes people
+ govern it as far as possible for his benefit.
| But there is another thing that is conclus-
i've IN this point and shows that high
/! protective tariff does not increase the.
| wages of the laboring men. It is concluS-
| lively shown Bye the fact that laborers in
| unprotected industries well paid as
those in the so-called protected industries.
I called protected Industries, that is engaged
| in Manufacturing rticIes, Wv ch'when they
are brought from abroad are charged with
| oa.tariff tax, and how many laborers arc
| there in the United States whose interests
are in no wise protected by any such things,
| and can notin the nature of things be pro-
tected by any such meansi 1t has been
! estimated that there are SEQ, 900 OR 900, 600
i 1aborerS, including women and children, in
the protected industries, but We will put
/ the figure at ], 900, Oo0 There are eight
times many other 1aborerS whose inter
ests and occupations are in nowise pro-
tected by the tariff. Therefore. if the pro-
I lection is for the benefit of the laboring
men, the wages Of this million engaged in
the protected industries ought to be higher
than those Of tae men employed in non
protected industries. In round numbers
| the laborers in the unprotected industries
receive as high wages a. those in the pro-
| tected industries. I don't know what the
| wages of farm hands are in Michigan In
my State they receive about one dolia
day, and you see in the State Of Massa-
| chusetts, according to the returns of her
own board OF industry, the average wages
is S104 a day in manufacturing industries.
! So there is no difference worth talking
about between the wages the one receives
and the wages the other receives. They
are both substantially the same. Looking
at the improved condition and ccmforts,
the constant elevation of the agricultural
hand in tho State Of Ohio, it Will be seen
| that he receives quite as good wages as
the laborer in any protected industry in
the country.