The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1888-05-11
NEEDS OF THE NATION.
HIGH PRICES NEANIOW WAGES.
PROTECTION TRICKS LABOR.

PROTECTION TRICKS LABOR.
Tor the support Of Every Man W ould
DO 30 Man any Good.
No Will
The fact that the prntectionists claim
that high tariffs are chiefly beneficial to
labor will Justify little further notice OF
that fsliacy. 1t is about the only pretense
they have left to appeal to popular sym
pathy and catch votes, and yet it is the
boldest ever advanced by the ''slave- trad
ers" against the freedom Of commerce.
But because it so readily appeals to the
preiudices Of the unthinking multitude, it
Is made their principal stock in trade, and
Is relied upon when every other prop is
knocked from under their feet.
In my hast article endeavored to show
that under no circumstances could pro-
lection benefit even that portion of our
industries, but placed it at positive dis
advantages; whilst as to the remainder,
constituting six-sevenths of al American
laborers, it Was an unmitigated evil. A
fur;he elaboration Of that subject viii
not be ani>s here. The only possible way
by which protection could increase wages,
II at all. is by raising or maintaining the
prices OF manufactured articles. This last
1t does artificially, in defiance Of the law
Ol supply duo OcMAaO uC ~ say . CudI
The supply shall not be increased from
without unless by the payment Of a heavy
tax, and that is protection to the products.
Common sense teaches that labor can only
b- protected in the same way in providing
that the supply shall not be increAsed
from without also
To say that this purpose can be as we'll
accomplished by giving the increased price
o. products 10 the manufacturers on their
~ hat ill h,,A 40 thAv,
10 do 80 they will voluntarily pay the
workman higher wages has neither reason
nor truth in it. We KNOW that he will
and does buy his labor at the cheapest
figure in the market, and that In our
market the supply is constantly and freely
increased from without. With quite as
much reason we might as we'll impose q
heavy tax on every foreign laborer who
comes TO our shores, in order to raise
wages in the home market, and tell the
manufacturer with equal truth that 1t was
all for his benefit; that the laborer would
be enabled Ito pay him higher prices" for
his goods. In short, we could turn the
hole argument around and apply it to
the manufacturer just as it is now applied
10 the laborer. 1t is true, as every man
rho is acquainted with human nature
Knows, that SO soon as he got the money
the workman would naturally buy his sup
plies wherever he could get them cheapest,
II permitted to do so, and the manufac-
turer might whistle for his share of the
protection. Well, that is precisely what
the manufacturer does now with his pro-
ducls protected and his labor free
Now, the slave e-traders" claim that
protection not only raises directly the prices
Of manufactured products, but indirectly
ne prices of all other articles as we'll OF
course this is absurd, but it is necessary
for them TO say something in answer to
The charge that if protection does not go
All round it Is the taxing of one man to
support another, and Is, therefore, IN
eqnal and unjust. 1t is the old dilemma
81 the fasifed; the telling Of one false
hood forces the telling Of others to cover
il up. So, having started out with the
untrue assertion that protection raises the
wages Of the factory hands by reason of
the increase in price of the goods they
make, they advance without blush to the
supporting atsurdity that it also advances
the wages of all other labor whatsoever
for the same reason. If it does not do
tbi., there Is not = slave trader in America
but will admit it is not just or fair.
moments consideration will show
that protection cannot help oven the fac
tory hand. II his wages are increased, as
they say, because prices of products are
increased, then the price Of labor is de-
pendent cn tho price of products, and the
amount of the one must be in proportion
70 the other. 1t follows. then, as clear as
day, that the increased price Of everything
on which the laborer lives will precisely
keep pace with the increase in his wages,
aud his condition is not whit improved.
There is no escape from this on the theory
that protection is just aHd raises ALL prices
II the same proportion.
In this case it would be no protec, ion ut
al for tax levied equally on every man
for the support of every man would do no
man any good, and would be simply
nuisance. The only conceivable way in
which protective taxation can benefit any
body is TO levy it on and collect it from
one set of men and pay it over to another.
This is precisely what protection does, and
that is why the manufacturer olamors for
It and the consumer does not. Again, il
wages were regulated by the prices of pro-
ducts, it would follow inevitably that the
normal ratio between them would be pre-
served under similar conditions Yet, as
have before said. for many years past,
with more or less hucfuation, prices have
steadily fallen and wages have risen with
equal stsadiness. Sir Lyon Playfair esti
mates that even during the depression of
the past fifteen years the average wages
OF Great Britain increased 9.74 per cent.
whilst they did not quite hold their own
IN our country.
Prices, on the other hand, according to
the same testimony, (and that also of Sir
Lothian Bell before the royal commission
FELL as follows: Food. 25 per cent, me-
tails, IS; textiles, 35; hides, leather, indigo,
etc, $50 per cent. At the same time
the hours Of labor in Great Britain were
shortened 81 per week. In view of these
facts, how is it possible to make good the
claim that protection keeps up wages when
u Is not able to'keep mp the prices on
which they say the wages depend' The
mpossibility is made still moro apparent
by the fact that wages have risen more
aud been better mainf aimed in free trade
England than in slave trade America. In
truth, all economic history shows that
wages have always ben lowest when prices
have been highest, thus furnishing most
conclusive proof that the .workingman's =
reward has been increased as science has
enlarged his intelligence and improved his
Implements, and freedom has stimulated
bis energies, by all of which his products
have been multiplied and cheapened.
There important truths arc so evident
aud 80 simple ! cannot cease to wonder
that my intelligent working oountrymen
will continue to disregard them and suffer
\ AA L.