Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1888-09-18

to get o tool or implement Oh any hlnu,
he is taxed by this high protective
tariff and he is compelled to pay q
higher price than he otherwise would,
40 fhat as far as he is concerned, there
can be NO ~pretense Whatsoever that the
tariff Is anything but an unmitigated In
Jury to him. He has nothing to sell which
he is benefited by; he performs no labor
that by any kind of argument he can be
said to be benefited by. He sells his cotton
at a price fixed by a foreign market because
he can't sell for any other price, and upon
everything that he consumes, upon every
thing that he purchases for his consump-
tion, he has to pay an increased price ana
is thereby injured. Now I do think that
our Abolition friends especially ought to
take this under their most serious consider
alton. They say that they freed the negro
from slavery. lam willing to grant them all
they claim in that regard, although there
mfeht be something said about who dldlt
Perhaps two millions of Democratic SOL
diera in the army had something to do with
1t. lGreat applause. After giving them
all they claim, do they mean, after having
sdven him freedom, to make him a slave
By compelling him to pay higher K
upon everything that 1t 10 a necessity 10
use, not for his own benefit, but for the
benefit of somebody elseP Is it not enough
that they make him q slave by requiring
him to vote for them and swear not TO vote
for a Democratr Is that not enoughf
TApplause. Must they also take all his
little earnings by compelling him to pay
for everything that he wears, and every
thing his wife and children wear, more
than they ought to be required to pay 7
[Renewed applause
Now, my friends while I am on this
subject of the laboring man let me speak
of American labor rs compared with b
In other countries. It Is true that In
America laboripg men generally receive
more wages In money han they do in for
eign lands, but NOT by any manner OF
means to the extent that You may suppose
from hearing 30 much talk about it. For
instance, let me give you the following
facts: According to the last census taken,
Great Britain had q population Of 401 to
the square mile, and the
AVERAGE WAGES PAID
were s72 cents per day-that Is in Great
Britain. New England has a population
Of 21Oa to the square mile, and the average
more than in England. Ohio has a popu-
lation of SO to the square mile, and wages
average 81. 0s a day. Colorado has two to
tho squnre mile, and wages ont in Colorado
average $1.45 q day. The entire United
States, not including the Territories and
the District Of Columbia, has "a to the
square mile, and the average wages are
$1.12.
What fact does this establish Does it
not prove that the more dense the popula-
tion the greater the competition among
wage sarners and the lower the wages,
and the reverse of the proposition, the less
the competition among wage earners the
higher the wages. No man can deny that
-orord fnr thu frnfh
Now, my friends, you hear q great deal
said about the paupsr labor Of England,
especially because cur chief imports are
from Great Britain-England, Ireland and
Scotland. And you see that in that most
prosperous State of Massachusetts,, the
greatest manufacturing State in the United
States, the average wages are only about
4 cents more than they are in England.
But if you take the purchasing power of
money, as you must do, the wages are as
high in England as they are In Massachu-
setts. "a voice "Highsr."1
Judge Thnrman-Higher? I do not
know but what they are; they are as high
certainly in England as they are in Massa-
ehusetts, because in order to ascertain how
much a man Ia obtaining by his labor and
to ascertain how much his earnings tend
to support him and his family, you must
take into account what it cost him to live,
and If it costs a man more to 1--we IN one
place than it does in another, although ne
NAV GET more wages in the first named
place than he does in the second, he may
not lay up n single cent Of money.
Now, lam willing, however, to admit that,
"a a general rule, labor Ia paid higher
wages in America than it is in other
countries. But what are the reasons
for III In the first place it is more effect
i've in this country. An American laborer
makes more in the same time; all authori-
ties admit that. All of them agree that
his superior industry, his superior skill,
his superior diligence enable him to pro-
ducem more in the same time b does the
laborer in any other country in the world.
n ia. therefore, more effective here b
anywhere else. and consequently can DO
ers are better educated, more intelligent
than the lsborers elsewere; and therefore
can take better care Of their own interests.
That is a principal reason why they are
better paid in this country than elsewere.
REyBFIT OF LABOR UNIONS.