Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-10-17
WAGES And PROTECTION
An Able Expose of the Economic
fallacies Put Forth by Con-
gresham La Toilette,
And of the Absurd Talk by Gov.
Hoard About Protection Keep
ing Up the Price of Wheat
Tariff and Wages in Old World
COuntries-FOrcible IlluStIa-
tions-A Splendid Letter.
To the Editors.

tSss
Toilette speech in which he wakes elo-
quent in the defense of labor. Hear him:
! There is no escape from the conclusion that
labor IL the great issue involved. The workers in
every field of industry the vitally inter
ested. The cost Of the labor in eUery product is
Practicatiy tie cost Of tie product. Nowhere in
the world is the standard of living as high, no
where are The earnings so large as with US here.
| If we repeal the protective duties must con
test for the arkets with labor paid less and living
poorer.
In other words large earnings (wagesl
are a great benefit, which is secured
through protection; but large earnings
are great disadvantage which must be
offset by protection, or we must have pro-
lection (high taxesl because 1t gives large
earnings (wages) and we must have pro-
lection (high taxes because earnings
(wages) are large. High taxes cause high
wages; high wages are the excuse and
cause of high taxes.
Heads, win, tails, you lose.''
'You pays your money and you takes
your choice
No wonder our congressman has been
termed the little giant, nor is it singu-
lar that cheap republican papers are say
ing that ''by his speech on the tariff he
rises easily into the realm of statesman
ship" Is it a mere accident that a COM
panion-piece to such stuff should drop
from the lips of none other than w. d.
Hoard the farmer (?) governor of this
commonwealth. He felt called upon at
the farmers institute to defend the pro-
tective tax. At PlatteviIe he defended it
in this airy and graceful language:
Wheat in Chicago is selling at 65 cents bushel,
IN New York it is selling at IS cents bushel, at
Liverpool, England, it is selling at 90 cents
bushel Now, if it tcere not for OUr protective
tarff on ,cheat the toheat from lie OLD s00rid
'00uld Ro0d our market!
And open-mouthed credulity received it
nth applause.
However, l think the governor knew
perfectly well who he was addressing. He
knew that men who nearly trampled over
each other in their eagerness to vote
for him as the farmer (?) candidate,
could be depended upon to clap and stamp
in ignorant glee at anything he said.
So in regard to Mr. La Toilette. after
securing his first nomination in face of
better and ADLER men, and because they
were better and ADLER men, he was elect
ed. This heightened his arm, so that he
could reach out and furnish offices with
salaries paid from the large earnings of
the people, to men in his party who might
make it hot for him to keep his seat in
congress. As for the politicians of lighter
weight. postoffice, census enumeration,
or revenue collector suffices to insure care
fully watched caucuses and dummy dele
cations, and the people-well, keep the
bloody shirt at half mast that they may see
that they ere saving the country every
two years by voting for more taxes and
less chance to sell what they raise.
This aside: Let us see what there Is in
Mr.. La FolIette's statement that ''the cost
of the labor in every product is practically
the cost of the product" Going back one
step further than he does, do we not find,
other things being equal, that the cost of
the labor in an article depends upon the
amount of labor spent in producing that
article? Do we not find further fact
that since the labor cost is practically the
cost of production, that, if it be possible to
do So reducing the amount of labor will
practically lessen the cost of the thing
produced? Is it not true that labor,
if left to itself will naturally
seek those channels in which the least
amount of labor (hence the least cost will
produce the greatest return? That part
of the earth to which nature has been
most lavish in her gifts will Of course be
| the region where labor, if left to itself,
can receive its greatest reward-greatest
reward because of the superior advantage
nature has given. With natural advant
age, natural superiority, mines of wealth,
a teeming soil, acres of lumber, unequalled
water power. genial climate, labor must
be most profitable here, must receive
if left to itself, its greatest reward, be-
cause production will then be at its highest
as it will be natural
Goods produced under these circum
stances will find the highest market if let
alone, because of superior advantage in
their production; then labor which the
goods contains must receive its full re-
ward. Our labor. if let alone. in those
lines of natural advantage and superiority
will put American goods into the house
holds of the earth, and no sane man doubts
that the world is better market than any
one country, let it be ever so large.
As an instance IN point. England. in
1S46, loosed her labor from the grip of law
| that it might follow in the lines of natural
advantage open to it. What followed? !?
| John Bright affirms that wages have in
creased there an average of 40 per cent.
since 1876 Consular reports show that
labor in England is 80 per cent better fed,
| 40 per cent. better clothed, 50 per cent.
better housed and 100 per cent. better edu-
Gated since labor was made free than when
it had protection. England is today and
has been for years paving the highest
wages in any country in the eastern hemis-
! phere.
Mr.. La Toilette contends that were IT not
for protection wages here would fall to the
level of wages paid in competing coun-
tries. He regards the tariff as the Atlas
upon whose ample shoulders rests
the wage-earners in America Is
he right or Is he everlastingly
wrong? Does protection increase wages.
or is the democratic party right when ii
declares the protective tax to 5e a damage
to the wage Garner? Naturally we expect.
if Mr.. La Toilette Is right. to find highly
protected laborers getting high wages.
How Is it In Mexico? Labor there Is
highly protected. Scarce country to be
found with a lower waee-rate! How Is il
IN Russia? Her labor Is more highly pre-