Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1888-08-30

for it from the government and settling
upon it and remaining settled upon it
given length of time. The consequence is
that with these advantages no man need
be dependent upon the good will of any
mOnopolist in the world, and that gives
our labOring men an Independence which
is not seen elsewhere upon the globe, ano
enables him, therefore, to demand, and he
does receive somewhat higher wages than
they receive elsewhere.
Then there is the effect of our free insti-
buttons; there is the effect Of the pride that
every man in this country, be he laboring
man or not, feels in the consciousness that
he is an American citizen. Applause he
helps to govern this country, and he makes
people govern il, as far as possible, for his
benefit. Renewed applause. But, gen.
tlemen, there is another thing that is con-
elusive on this point, and that is this, to
show that high protective tariff does not
increase the wages Of the labOring man.
II is conclusively shown by the fact that
labOrers in unprotected industries are
as we'll paid as those in the so
called protected industries Now, how
many laborers are in what are
called the protected industries; that is to
say, who are engaged in manufacturing ar
ticles which, when they are brought from
abroad, are charged with tariff tax, and
how many labOrers are there in the coun-
try engaged in industries which are in no
wise protected by tariff tax, and cannot in
the nature of things be protected by any
such thing? Why, my friends, il has been
estimated some place. think the highest
estimate I have seen placed upon the
labOreIs in these protected industries-at
between 800, 900 and 900, 900 men, women
and children. But 1 will put it
at 100000, and say that there are
100000 Of them, while there ar
EIGHT TIMES AS MANY
other labOrers whose industries and Occu-
pations are in nOwise protected by the tariff,
and, therefore, ifprOtection is for the bene-
fit of the labOring men the wages Of this
million men engaged in the protected IN
dustries ought to be higher than the wages
Of men employed in unprotected industries,
and yet such is not the fact. In round
numbers, the labOrers in unprotected
industries receive as high wages as
those in the protected industries.
Il do not know what the
wages of farm hands are here in Michigan.
In my own State they are about 81 day
fer farm hands, and you see that in the
State of Massachusetts,, according 10 the
returns Of their own Board, they are 81 O4
in these manufacturing industries, so that
there is practically no difference whatever
worth talking about between the wages
that one receives and the wages that the
other receiyes-they are both substantially
the same. If you take comforts and cost
of living and all that into account, the
agricultural hand in the State of Ohio re-
ceives quite as good wages as the labOrers
in the protected industries of the country.
MY friends, nothing is more common
for these men appeal to everybody
than TO hear the protectionist orator say
that the tariff is q benefit to the farmer.
How il can benefit the farmer have never
been able to find out. Let us consider the
subject in the light of experience We
had a low tariff from 1916 up to the break
ing out of the war. 1t was called the
Walker tariff, or the tariff Of '46. re-
member it very well, for was In the
House of Representatives at the time and
I
from the census and, therefore, l have to
take these years-frOm 1850 to 1860, while
that tariff was in force, farm lands In the
United States, according to the census
report. increased in value 103 per
cent. Then came the high tariff of 1861 or
1862, whichever it was. And from 1860 to
1870, another period of ten years, the in
crease in the value Of farming land in the
United States was only 40 per cert. Under
tine low tariff it had been 103 per cent. in
crease in value. Under this high tariff it
was only 40 per cent. But it may be said
that it included the period of the war and
don't make fair comparison. grant the
force of that to some extent, but the war
ended in 1866, and we can compare the next
ten years, from 1870 to 1880, and by the
same census reports il appears that in these
ten years of profound peace, from 1870 to
1880, the value of the farming lands Of the
whole United States have increased but 8
per cent.
CHINESE CHEAP LABOR,
Judge Thurman here made an argument
against the Treasury surplus, Ginning that
it is a great injury to the country, and
quoting John Sherman to sustain his pO-
sition. He continued:
My friends, before 1 conclude l want to
ask your attention for moment to another
question, to what is called the Chinese
question, the question of the importation
/ Of Chinese into this country. Now, what
l think upon that subject cannot be better
expressed than by reading what l said to
my own constituents in Cincinnati, in the
year 1870, five years before the Legislature