The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-27
HIGH TARIFF AND LABOR.

For twenty years the jackson Mining
company, of Michigan, has been paying
an average dividend Of over SO per cent.
per annum. In one year Andrew Car
negie drew from the Thompson steel
works s1,50O,Ooo, nearly 5000 day.
In the musical repertoire Of the advo-
Gates of the Mckinley bill, there is one
favorite chorus. How they love the dear
American laborer! What sweet crea-
ture he is! What pleasure to attend
to his interests! Such musical treat,
Of course, costs money. All great artists
charge high figures. 1t would never do
for the manufacturers to "bear" the
market. And they don't. They play
the part of the foreign noblemen OF dis
tinction who, driven from home by
political troubles and the persistent adj
vance in the use of soap, seek in foreign
climes perpetual summer, cheered by
the music of the Internal machine they
call and-organ. They are not selfish
these manufacturing noblemen. The
workingman must have his share. And
he does. He has the share of the festive
animal whom the foreign nobIemen
carry around with them to excite public
sympathy and attention.
There is no protection on labor. Ii
high protection IS great benefit to the
wage worker, as its advocates claim it
Is, where are the results? Why do not
American workingmen get larger
share of the price of manufactured arti-
cles than they do? Why do they not
have some share in that SO per cent.
dividend? Why does not Carnegie spare
them some of those 5000 per day? In
spite Of all that is told him about the
of his condition over that of
his foreign rival, here is one point for
the American workingman's considera-
ton: Proportionately to the value Of
each country's industries, he gets less
money for his work than either the
English or the French workman.
Facts are facts. The census of ten
years ago gives the total value of articles
in the United States as
600; the value Of raw material
consumed in the factories as S3,397 ,00O,-
coo; and the total amount paid for labor
as $948, 100000. That is, labor receives
of the value of the finished goods Is per
cent. According to recent figures, in
England Sc per cent goes to labor. in
France Il per cent. For every hundred
dollars worth of work turned out, the
American workmen gets S18; the Eng
lishman, $50; and the Frenchman, Sal.
For this state Of things there can be
only one cause It is the excessive cost
Of raw material in this country. Make
the relative proportion of that cost
smaller and the laborer's share in the
profits becomes by that much larger.
The conclusion is inevitable that Amer
lean workingmen have direct personal
interest in cheapening the cost of raw
material to the manufacturer.
We quote from report of Mr..
Blaine's, when he was secretary of state
before:
American spindle consumes sixty-six pounds
of raw cotton, while each British spindle
consumes only thirty-two pounds. less than
Each American operative works
up Us much raw material as two British
operatives, turns out nearly $1.5O worth of
to the British operatives one
dollars worth. Even in piece goods, where
the superior quality and weight of the
American goods are SO marked, the Ameri-
can operative turns out 275 to $50 yards by
the British operative. Undoubtedly the in
CAPABILITIES in the wages of English and
American operatives are more than equal
lied by the greater efficiency of the latter.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer pre-