The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-08-25
A WAR 1ARlFFITe CRUSHED.
Will he Reduce Wages Because Raw Ma
terial Is CheapY

tertal Ii Cheap?
Capt. Silas F. Miller, who. in the inter.
est Of the Republican party, Is organizing
q protective tariff league. expresses the
opinion that Iii au attempt Is made to
reduce wages here to the level OF wages
In Europe, revolution will result"
The captain is right; indeed some Of
the wooden manufacturers of Louisville
have had an experience Of that kind.
They attempted to reduce wages not all
at once to the European level, but In that
direction. and there was strike. 1t cost
the mills something, but agents were sent
east and hands were brought to Louis
vile to take the places Of the strikers,
No attempt" has been made in Amer.
lea to reduce wages to the European level,
except by protected manufacturers. The
most recent attempt, which failed. was
made by the iron manufacturers, who
tried to cut wages 10 per cent.
Taking the entire product of manufac-
turers IN the United States the relation
Of wages to materials is ten to thirty.
four Or, in an article costing forty.
four cents wages counted for ten cents
and raw materials thirty four.
Now observe: Capt. Miller says that
If the tariff puts wool on the free list and
reduces the cost of the raw materials
which he has to buy, say to twenty-five
cents from twenty-s seven cents, he will,
because he has cheap raw materials, be
forced to reduce wages also.
That is surprising proposition for
business man to state.
1t will not do to say that the Mills bill
will also reduce the tariff on manufac.
tured goods. That tariff is go per cent.
on an average. Say on the jeans Capt.
Miller makes it is reduced to 4S per cent.
The protection at existing rates would be
twenty cents; at revised rates it would be
sixteen cents, or only reduction of four
cents, which is made more than good by
free wool.
We see that if Capt Miller is protected
at 60 per cent, it amounts to eighteen
cents on yard of jeans, which is twice
the amount Of wages paid. Paying wages
of nine cents yard he gets protection to
the amount Of eighteen cents.
Now let us examine what Capt. Miller
says about his carders. H. pays 81 day,
he says, while in Belgium the pay is only
IS cents. We would like to know how
many days each year his carders work
Wages in Massachusetts do not compare
to the wages Capt. Miller insists he pays
his men. In Massachusetts, wool sorters
get $9.43 q week; scourers, 1884; dyers,
1871; spinners, f9.05; which is less than
half what Capt. Miller says he pays In
Great Britain the wages are about two.
thirds of the Massachusetts, rate.
Now, the point we make is that If Capt.
Miller has to pay wages twice as great in
Kentucky as are paid in Massachusetts,.
the only way to prevent his ruin is to
establish an interstate tariff Or paying
these high wages, higher than in Massa,
chusetts by 125 per cent, if Capt. Miller
has been able to meet competition with
goods made by cheaper labor without an
interstate tariff, his experience shows
that not wages, but skill, executive
management and abundant raw materials,
counteracting the effect of high wages,
fix the cost.
High wages follow the line of greatest
production.
The less capital has to pay for interest,
for mach. cry, for raw materials, the
more it can pay for wages.
So you see that free wool, cheap jeans,
wider markets. cheaper machinery do not
mean lower wages, but they compel
higher wages.-Louisville Courier. Jour
nal.