The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-12-26

Here was another 100000 sent abroad
last year, which should have been kept at
home and paid out TO our own skilled work
ingmen and women.
This is department of production of pc
culiar interest to the thinking workman and
the patriotic economist, for in no other is so
great proportion of the total expenditure
devoted TO the payment of wages, and so lit
tie of it for the purchase of raw material.
AS we have said before, the first axiom of POI
litical economy is that All wealth is the re-
suit of labor" and consequently the greater
amount of labor we add to any raw
material the greater is the absolute in
crease of the wealth of the country
Matchmaking affords fine illustration
of this A ton of iron ore when it is
first dug out of the ground is worth, say, s..
That is all that it adds to the country's
wealth, and the proportion that has been ex-
pended for labor il, let us say, ST. II we
convert it into iron il is worth 500 While
there is no more of it than in the first
place, it is worth four times as much, and
the country that much richer. The diff
ference of SIS is the result of the labor per-
formed In its conversion, and large portion
of the difference has gone into the pockets
of those who performed that labor If we
continue the process until il is converted
into watch-springs, screws, etc, the ton is
worth about 100000. The country has got
Si99 995 more out of ii than would have
been the case if it had been sold in the shape
of ore, and at every step in its conversion the
proportion of the wages to the total cost has
greatly increased.
In no other department Of industry has
the benefits Of protection been more conclu-
siyely shown than in this. Before the war
clocks and watches were comparatively rare
aud very high in price Only men of some
means could afford the luxury of watch,
and only rich men could afford good
one, Almost all of these came from
England and Switzerland, and an
American watch was a rarity The i'm
position of the duty was followed by
wonderful activity in watch and clock
making in this country. Our ingenious peo-
pie set about deyising methods for making
better and cheaper watches than could be
bought abroad, and they succeeded wonder
fully, as they always succeed, where there is
sufficient motive given them. The American
watch factories are the wonder of the world
The American boy of to-day gets hand
somer watch and better timekeeper for 81
or So than his father or grandfather was
able TO buy for 500. American watches are
sold all over the world. They are made so
cheap and so good that even the beggarly-
paid men of Japan, India and China can
afford 80 carry the time o day in their
pockets" and they buy hundreds of thou
sands of American watches every year.
The census of 1850 showed that there were
1860 establishments engaged in mannfae-
turing clocks, watches, and the materials for
the same. These employed over 5000 opera
tives, to whom they paid s. 100000 year
in wages, and their products were valued al
about 50 O0O O0O Tbera ia nm onas+;o, .i,t
if not interfered with by injudieious tinker
ing with the tariff, this industry will go on
developing at even much faster rate, which
will not only bring great benefits to the
country at large in the increase of its total
wealth, but will benefit each individual, even
more than it has in the past, by giving him
better goods for less money.