Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-05-08
FACTS FoR FARMERS



Dries and FARM.
/ mean now 70 demonstrate to my
friends, the farmers. the undoubted
fact that, far from the most protective
policy that the world has ever seen dur
ing q quarter of century in this coun-
try elevating and lettering the condi-
ton Of the working classes, it has had
the tendency of degrading domestic life,
and putting labor and hardships ON those
that are least able to bear them First,
I will compare the female labor in fact
cries of this country in 1860, under II
years of revenue tariff. with that in
1850, under 30 years of q protective tar
III.
In 1860, after IA years of revenue tar
i'll. this country employed in manufact-
cries the following hands, namely:
Males above Is years LOO $40
Females above Is years old-...... SOsg7
Now, call the attention of my read
ers to the most significant fact that in
the factory labor under revenue tariff no
Sands-whether male or female, accord
ing to the official statistics-were en-
ployed below the age of Is years Now
let US turn to the year 1850, after 20
years of blessed protection. which. it is
claimed, made this Nation happy:
In 1880 there were employed in manu-
factories. males above 10 years.. ss5
Children from 10 to Is 49,, 921
In the first place we find that protec-
ton has naturally doubled the hands
employed, but it has, unfortunately,
nearly doubled the female labor, viz:
from 27O, s97 in 1860 to 531, $50 in 1850.
If protection is such blessing and
gives full work and good wages to IA
theirs of families and husbands, why
should the female labor double? Be
sides this, what a sham, swindle and
disgrace is protective tariff which has
enlisted 1s1, 921 children under the age
of Is years to work in factories? Is it
not as clear as sunshine that this slaugh-
ter of the innocents of ISL, 900 children
in the factories is simply for the pur-
pose of having cheap labor? If these
ISL, 900 children were not allowed to be
employed would not their places have to
be taken by persons above the age of
fifteen years, who naturally would get
higher wages? Again. by employing
531, $50 women the factories are only
employing cheap labor. OF what earthly
use is protection of So 90 and even 100
per cont on wooden goods, or 40, so.
and eScn 20 per cent on cotton goods, if
we have to employ the same class of
labor which, when it is employed in
Europe. we sneer down as pauper labor?
Has not this protective tariff proved a
curse by introducing the employment
of children at all? We have it on sta
tistical record that no children below
Is years old were employed in factories
before 1861. and anybody who chooses
to consult the census returns of 1880
can find that fact in the compendium,
vol. 2, page $50.
And now as to the employment of fe-
males. Let me show the contrast be-
tween the farmers employment of fe-
male labor and the employment of fe-
male labor by the pampered protective
industries.
The farmers in 1880 employed in the
United States and Territories
Male iaborers 7Uoo Ss5
Female labor .- o94.oiu
which is little over ~ per cent. The
manufacturers employed
Males above IS wears old ...............2,05.3S
Females above Is years DID,. ........ 530.659
which is about 81 per cent, besides the
1s1, 900 children
But this is not all. OF the agricult-
ural employment of the 594, $40 females
| we find that the IL cotton-producing
States, namely, Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Ten
nessee. Texas and Virginia, employed
537, 314 females, which, as every Ameri-
can will understand. is colored labor by
females who for the last $50 years have
been, as it were, to the manor born, and
who. after all. are mostly employed in
picking cotton. which compares to the
close labor in the walled factories as
roast beef compares to oatmeal cakes.
Anyhow, we find that the farmers who
live in the West and Southwest and pro-
duce our breadstuffs, cattle and dairy
products only employed in 1880 81, 1876
females as laborers on their farms. All
honor to the farmer. He does not look
for cheap female labor. He does not
press children Of tender age into en-
ployment- He pays full and manly
wages, and treats his white help as his
equal. l speak of course of those mill
ions of farmers employed in raising
breadstuffs, dairy produce, etc But
they are taxed by those of their fellow
citizens who employ weak women and
| children of tender age, and who by the
| grace of protective tariff make them
| pay so per cent in average more on
| nearly all manufactured articles they
| use on their farms and in their house
| holds.
The other day Senator Dawes made a
speech at the paper manufacturers
meeting. The worthy Senator is a IA
nous protectionist and took occasion
to deplore the inadequacy of protection
ON worsted goods Now, it is fact
that in the worsted-mills of the United
States there were employed in 1880 the
| following hands:
Males above IS years a, 40
Females above Is years Alb
Children less than Is years ass
This is an edifying exhibit is it not,
when we find an industry that employs
double as many women and children as
| men? OF course. the reason is simple;
| cheap labor is sought for and got
Well, then. The Senator. as said, de-
plored the inadequacy of the tariff on
worsted goods and wants the duty
raised, which in other words means
that the people in general and the
farmer in particular. who use most of
the worsted goods, shall pay higher
| price for it Now, my worthy friends
I mean you, tax-ridden farmers-what
10 you suppose is actually the duty on