, 1890-01-07

JNo. =. CARROLL. Editor
A BRILLIANT ARTICLE.

W L. OiaAoNOuCs IL ihhAOAhNibk Mo ~
tile he expresses a fear that it may be
considered an intrusion for a citizen of
one country to enter into the discussion of
the local affairs of another. He then
ment, high wages by protection, low
wages by free trade as an old friend with
a new face. All the protection argu.
ments ingenious and specious, which are
now being used IN the United States have
long ago been co1futed and thrown aside
as cant which nobody in England any
longer pretends to believe.
The protective argument, hewever. at
this stage is" says Mr.. Gladstone, How
can the capitalist engaged in manufacture
compete with his British rival who OBJ
tains labor at half the price2 But this is
also to US neither more nor less than a
repetition OF the old familiar strain. The
argument is so plausible that, in the early
DAYS Of our so-called corn laws contro
versY, it commended itself even to some
of the first champions of repeal. They
pointed out that during the great French
war the trade of our manufactures was Sc
cured by our possession OF the sea; but
that when, by the establishment OF peace,
that became an open highway. it was i'm
possible for our manufacturers, who
had to pay their workmen wages
based upon protection prices for bread
as the first necessary of life ANY longer
to compete with tho cheap bread and
cheap labor Of the continent. And, In
truth, they could show ut the time
that their trade was to a great ex-
tent, either stationary or even r~eceoing.
These arguments were made among us in
the alleged interest of labor and OF cap
ital, lust as they are now employed by
you; for America may at present be said
to diet upon the cast-off reasoning Of
English protectionism. They were so
s~pecious that they held the field until the
genius of Golden recalled us from con-
ventional phrases to natural laws, and
until a series of bad harvests (about
ls3s-4l) had shown the British workman
that.what enhanced the price of his bread
had no corresponding power to raise the
rate Of his wages, but distinctly tended to
depress them"
But our experience has pro-
oeeded a stage further than that OF Amer
lean people. Despite the low wages of
the continent we broke down every pro-
tective wall and flooded the country $50
the phrase then ran) with the corn and
the commodities Of the whole world; with
the corn Of America first and foremost.
But did our scale Of wages thereupon
sink to the level OF the continent? Or
did it rise steadily and rapidly to a point
higher than had been eve7 known be.
fore? " = That the American rate
OF wages Is higher than ours. | concede.
Some, at least, of the causes of this most
gratifying fact | shall endeavor to enum-
crate. " = That protection may CO.
exist with high wages, that it may not of
itself neutralize all the gifts and iavors
Of nature. hat 1t does not, as a matter of
course, make a rich country into a poor
one-all Of this may be true, but is moth
ing to the point. The true question is
whether protection offers us the way to
the maximum Of attainable wages. This
can only be done by raising tot he utmost
attainable height the fund out of which
wages and profits alike are drawn. If
Its tendency is not to ~iucaease but to d.
minish that fund. then protection is a
bar to high wages. not their cause; and
is, therefore, the enemy, not the friend,
of the classes on whose wages their llveli-
hood depends"
Mr.. Gladstone, in disputing the state
meuts made by an American political
pamphleteer, says: My contention on this
head will be two fold: First, he has been
misled as to the actual rate OF wages il
England. Secondly. the question is MOI
whether that rate is lower than the rate
in America, nor even whether the Amer
can workman land this is a very idifferen.
matter is always better off than the work
man in England. 1t is, wha; are Englisl
wages now, under free trade, compare,
with what they formerly were under pro
lection. The highest English authority
Mr.. Giffen, of the board OF trade, says
that general wages have advanced from s.
to 100 per cent; that in unskllled farn
labor the improvement is from 20 to o
per cent; that the hours of labor hav,
been reduced by one-iith; that the price
OF the main articles of consumption hav,
declined, and that between lS43 and 1883
while the income from capital has riser
from $3.50. 900, 900 to $500, 900. 900, or 2lt
per cent, the working class income has
risen from 1926, 900, 900 to 1921, 900, OO),
or at the rate of loo per cent.
In Tomorrow issue we will give a 81 n
opsis of Mr.. Gladstone's concluding argu
ments, which he presents under thes
heads: Protection viewed in its frs
aspect" Relation between protection
and high wages" ''On tho reasons VIII
protection only Injuries and does not rui
the United States" and "The mora
aspect of the subject"
THE Chicago Tribune in summarizing