Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-02-03
Mr. clADsToNe,s VIEWS.

To q kind OF International controversy on
their respective merits To interfere from
acres the water in Such controversy is an
act winch may wear the appearance of i'm
peri iueucc
The constant tenor of the argument Is this.
high wages by protection, low wages by free
tra,!e II l. even as the recurring burden OF
a Sing Ana / state with truth that |
have heard this very same melody before;
nav HAT | am familiar with it. 1t comes
"a u now with Il pleasant novelty: but once
upon = time we British folk were surfeited,
may almost bored to death, with il. IL is
simply tire old song of our squires, which
they sang with perfect assurance to defend
the corn laws Protectionists terrify tine
American workman 10y iI-"7 tening him with
the wages of his British comrade, precisely
a. tie English landlord coaxed our rural
L,i, Trrs, when used TO get our best wheats
from Dautzig. by exhibiting the starvation
waeeS OF the Polish peasant.
These arguments were made among us, IN
the ALLEGED interest of labor and of capital,
just Is they are now employed by you; for
America may at present be said to diet on
tile cast off reasonings of English prOtec
tiOniSu
But we broke down every protective wall
and flooded the country $50 the phrase
then ram with the corn and the commodities
of tile whole world. with the corn of Amer
ici first and foremost. But did our rate of
wares thereupon sink TO the level of the
continents No; it rose steadily and rapidly
To- a point higher than it had been ever
known before
GREAT GAINS OF THE BRITISH WORKMAN.
Air GifTen of the board of trade, whose
careful disquisitions are known TO command
the public confidence, supplies us with tables
which compare the wages of 1888 with those
Of 1888 in such way as to speak for the prin-
3 of
miners, we learn, have increased in Stafford
shire (which almost certainly is the mining
district of lowest Increment by 80 per cent.
In the great exportable manufactures of
Bradford and Huddersfied the lowest aug
mentations are 20 and 30 per cent, and in
other branches they rise to 80, IS, 100, and
even to $50 and 16O per cent. The quasi
domestic trades of carpenters, bricklayers
and masons in the great marts of Glasgow
and Manchester show a mean increase of 63
per cent for the first, % per cent for the
second and AZ per cent. for the third. The
lowest weekly wage named for an adult is
twenty-five shillings las Against seventeen
shillings in 1888, and the highest thirty-six
shillings But it is the relative rate with
which have to do. and, as the American
writer appears to contemplate with peculiar
dread the effect of free trade upon shipping,
| further quote Mr.. Giffen on the monthly
wares of seainen ill 1888 and 1883 in Bristol
Glasgow, Liverpool and London The per-
ceutage of increase, since we have passed
from the protective system of the navigation
law into free trade, is in Bristol 66 per
cent ia Glasgow 81 per cent, in Liverpool
dor different classes from p per cent. to 40
l'.r cent, aud in London from 40 per cent. to
T. cent No such return, at once exact
"a commemorative can be supplied in the
ross. If tie rural workman. But here the
facts are notorious. We are assured that
gue- !. IiGs ir.eu an universal rise somewhat
,.--;-i..-J / fear, by the recent agricultural
l-l winch Card and other authorities
'..-rg ,.3 80 per cent Together with this in
t...,~e ui Day there has been a general diminu-
/. . of The hours of work, which Mr.. Giffen
g. al t.ne-fifth If we make this correc-
ul..n the comparative table, we snail
...,i that the cases are very few i'll which the
Increment does not range as high as from 90
and towards 100 per cent.
Within the same period the prices of the
main articles of popular consumption have
certainly declined The laborer's charges,
except for his abode, have actually diminished
as whole For his larger house rent he has
n b, tier house To the government he pays
ultc! less than lie did, and from the govern
mcnt lie gets much more, and 1.-The increase
of Ills money wages corresponds TO a real
gain If it he said that the tale | have told
Is insufficient, and that wages ought still to
rise this may be so, and rise hope they WILL
but protection had no such tale to tell at all
For The working population st large 1t meant
sta giiGt on, depression, in many cases actual
Tnd daily hunger and thirst in some unques-
T:ouaiIr and even gross degradation.
GREAT WASTE OF PROTECTION.
International commerce is based, not upon
al hitrary or fancifuI considerations, but upon
the unequal distribution among men and re-
EyiorlS of apttudes to produce the several COM
mOditieS which are necessary or useful for the
sustenance comfort and advantage of human
life
The argument Of the free trader is that the
legislator ought never to interfere, or only to
interfere so far as imperative fiscal necessity
may require it. with this natural law of dis
trIbuton
All interference with it by a government
i'm order to encourage some dearer method of
production at home, in preferencet to cheap
er method of production abroad, may fairly
i,s termed artificial. And every such inter
ference means simply a diminution of the ma
Lioual wealth Ii region A grows corn at
home for fifty shillings which region can
supply at forty, and region B manufactures
cloth at twenty shillngs with which region
\ car supply at fifteen. the national wealth
of each IS diminished by the ten and five
shiiugs respectively
So much for the wa ste unavoidably attach
III. 20 ,ie3rness of production. But there are
other and yet worse descriptions of waste, as
To- which know not whether America suf-
fers greatly from them, but | know that ia
this country we suffered from them griev-
Ously under the sway of protection When
the barrier erected by protective duty is
high that no foreigner can overlap it,
that duty enables the home manufacturer
not only TO charge a high price, but to force
on the consumer a bad article. Thus, with
an extravagaut duty on foreign corks, we
had for own use the worst coFks il
Europe. And yet again, protection
waste of another kind in large class of cases.
Suppose the natural disadvantages of the
home producer to equal Is per cent. but the
protective duty to be so. But cheapness re-
quires minute care, economy and dispatch at
all the stages through which production has
to pass This minute care and thrift depend
mainly on the pressure of competition. There
were among us, and there may be elsewhere,
many producers whom Incidence tempts to
neglect; who not sufficiently drawn to
resist this inertia by the attraction of raising
profit a maximum, for whom the prospect
of advantage is not enough without the sense
of necessity, and whom nothing can spur TO
a due uimbeneSs of movement except the
fear of not being able to sell their articles
In the case ] have supposed, the second 10
per cent. is a free margin whereupOn this in
dolence may disport itself: the home pro
ducer is not only covered for what he wastes
through necessity, but for what he wastes
from negligence or choice; and his fellow
countrymen have TO pay alike for both. We
suffered grievouSly from this in England, for
ofteatimes the rule Of the producer is, or
was, TO produce not as well as he can, but as
well only as he must And happy are you if,
through keener energy or more troublesome
conscience in production, you have no simiiay
suffering in America.
There Is Yet another point which 1 cannot
pass without notice. | have not admitted
that protection keeps at home any capital
which would otherwise go abroad. But |
now for the moment accept and reason upon
the assumption that this is effected. And ]
ask-Indeed. by the force Of argument | may
almost reqUire-you TO make an admission 10
the which is of the most serious character,
namely. this: that there is a great deal Of
CAPITAL undoubtedly kept nc home BY protec-
ton. NOT for the purpose Of dear production,
which is partial waste, but for another kind
N waste which is sheer and absolute and
totally uncompensated. This is the waste In