The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-02-01

to have the privilege Of examining the Brit
tsh stateslnan's paper As will readily be
seen. this gives MIR Blaine some advantage,
but the argument OH both sides Is indeed
able The following extracts give only the
most salient points.
MIR. GLADSToNE's VIEWS.
The existing difference Of practice between
America and Britain with respect to free
trade and protection of necessity gives rise
to a kind Nf international controversy on
their respective merits To interfere from
across the water in such a controversy Is an
act which, may wear the appearance of Inn.
pertinerce
The constant tcnsr Of the argument is this:
high wages 10y protection, low wages by free
trade 1t IA even as the recurring burden of
q song And | ran state with truth that l
have heard this very same melody before;
nay, that | am familiar with it. It comes
to Us now with n pleasant novelty: but once
upon q time we British folk were surfeited,
nay. almost b'red to death. with it. 1t is
simply" the old song Of our squires, which
they sang with perfect assurance to defend
the corn laws Protctionists terribly the
American WORKMAN by threatening him with
the wages of his British comrade, precisely
a. the English landlord coaxed our rural
labrers, when we used to get our best wheats
from DMDtzig, by exhibiting the starvation
wages of the Polish peasant.
These arguments were made among us, In
the alleged interest Of labor and of capital,
just as they are now employed by you; for
America may at present be said to diet on
the cast of reasonings Of English protec-
tionism
But we broke down every protective wall
n "indel the country" lso the phrase
then ran with the corn and the commodities
Of the whole world. with the corn of Amer
lea first and foremost But did our rate Of
wages thereupon sink to the level Of tho
continents No. it rose steadily and rapidly
to q point higher than it had been ever
known before
Z GAINS OF hi BRITISH WORKMAN.
MIR Giffen. of the board Of trade, whose
careful disquisitions are known to command
tn public confidence, supplies US with tables
which compare the wages Of 1881 with those
OF 1881 in such a way as to speak for the prin-
cipal branches Of industry. The wages of
miners, We learn. have increased in Stafford.
shire (which almost cer.ui!y is the Eiuing
district OF lowest creme 10y 50 per cent.
In the great exportable manufactures of
Bradford and Hudderstield the lowest rug
mentations are ~ and 80 per cent, aud in
other branches they rise to 81, u, 100, and
even to $50 and leo per cent. The quasi
domestic trades Of carpenters, bricklayers
and masons in the great marts of Glasgow
and Manchester show q mean increase of 6
per cent. for the first, is per cent. for the
second. and ~ 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 we have to do: and, as the American
writer appears to contemplate with a peculiar
dread the effect Of free trade upon shipping,
! further quote Mr.. Giffen on the monthly
wages Of seamen in 1883 aud 1888 in Bristol,
Glasgow, Liverpool and London The per-
centage of increase. since we have passed
from the protective system Of the navigation
law into free trade, is in Bristol 68 per
cent, in Glasgow s. per cent, in Liverpool
dor different ~classes) from - per cent. to 70
per cent, and in London from ~ per cent. to
69 per cent No such return, at once exact
and comprehensive, can be supplied in the
case Of the rural workman. But here tho
facts are notorious. We are assured that
there has been an universal rise somewhat
checked, | fear, by the recent agricultural
distress), which Card and other authorities
place at ~ per cent. Together with this in
crease of pay there has been a general diminu-
ton Of the hours of work, which Mr.. Gifen
places at one-ffth. If we Hnake this correc-
ton upon the comparative table, We shall
find that the cases are Eery few in which tho
increment does not range a. high rs from 50
and towards lou per cent.
Within the same period the prices Of tho
main articles Of popular consu. aption have
certainly declined. The laborer's charges,
except For his abode, have actually diminished
as a whole. For his larger house rent hethas
. better house. To the government he pay
much less than he did, and from the govern
ment he gets much more. and "the increase
OF his money wages corresponds to q real
gain. II it be said that the tale I have told
IL insufficient, and that wages ought still to
rise. this may be 80, and rise l hope they viii,
but protection had ne such tale to tell at all
For the working population at large it meant
~stagnation, depression, in many cases actual
and daily hunger and thirst, in some unquss-
tionable and even gross degradation.
GREAT WASTE OF PROTECTION.
International commerce Is based, not upon
arbitrary or ~fanciful considerations, but upon
the unequal distribution among mon and re-
gions Of aptitudes to produce the several com
ulSNlltlGS "u1Cu y ueSo0aIy OF uS9kUl lO1 C0O
sustenance, comfort and advantage Of human
life. a.
4 The argument Of the free trader b that the
legislator ought never to interfere, or only to
interfere 30 far as imperative f.cal necessity
may require it. with this natural law Of dis
tribution.
All interference with 1t by . government
In order to encourage some dearer method Of
production at home, in preferencet to . cheap
er method Of production abroad, MAY fairly
be termed artificial. And every such inter.
~s"raH,s r,onuS simply a elimination Of the M.
t!3r.@. 1a=:..a. II region A grows corn q
home for fifty shillings which region B can
supply at forty. and region B manufactures
cloth at twenty shi;lings with which region
A can supply at fifteen, the national wealth
Of zach IL diminished ~ the ten and i've
shillings respectively. q
81 ser the waste u~navoidably attach
..sl .tsssasSS@>4 II lection But there are
asossr ss,ti yes slrse descriptions Of waste, as
Y, u .;-;;>.a J kaow not whether America sui