Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-08-28

ne V000 0U0Bmo0 u To 0DWAoo-lD Wo
heed "Protectiea" Against D0oDoS LooG
ThaA Our Ovae-asns vsfusble 1asff-
aoDy 1BoA K1-SDePOtaylss B0UB ao0
BlAfneAfAsy Fe1nd THAT We Co Co.'S
1ess With KsroRs d Dsassa0 Or cene
In the debate in the Sensss ca the
Tariff bill the wages question came Up
recently ia . way that vss vsey annoy
ing to the proteetionist Senapora AH
George. of Mississippi. made the state
ment that the labor cost or nshiAg .
ton of steel rsils in this country YES
only SLS4 Thia statement vss denied
and denounced very earnestly by Sena-
tor Plat of Connecticut ana Senator
Hawley, OF the same. State. supprted
his colleague in his denial
Then Mr.. Jones. OF Arkansas. under
took to confirm Mr.. Georges statement
about steel rails By the oAcisl report of
Mr.. Carroll d. Wright in pursuance Of
. duty imposed upon him by Congress-
The Yav material OF the steel Ysil man
ufsctuFer vas the steel ingot and Mr..
Wright had given the cost Of making
the rail from the ineot - IL st per ton
The Senator from Mississippi Aad said
(Mr. Jones sreued) nothing 70 the coa-
trsry.
HereupoA Senstos EdmuAdS OF Yer
mont attempted % convince Mr. Jones
that he vas entirely mistaken in the
matter. His e1plaAstioA vas that the
d ference in cost between the steel
ingot and the steel rail sas esz, of
which amount labor got 81 81.
But even IL Senstor EdmundS be cor
rect his statement here is nothing 70
the point The orthodox protection
position is that the labor cost in this
country must be compared with the like
cost in Europe; and when the cost of
In Dor is greater here protection must be
given equal to this excess of labor cost
That is what Ben Butterworth means
by his famous expression, equality of
opportunity"
Nov If Senator EdmundS had exam
ined the report which vss referred to in
the debate, he would have learned some
thing about the comparative labor cost
in making . ton of steel rails here and
In Europe. Thst report of Labor Com
missioner Wright contains a highly i'm
terestinG table giving the labor cost in
making . ton of steel rails in two Amer
lean, two English, and seven Continent
al rail mills This cost is given simply
on the process of making the rails from
the steel ingots or bars. and it is 81. 81
in one American mill and 81 50 in an
other, the average being 81. 40 per ton
In the two English mills the average
was 81 95 per ton On the Continent of
Europe the average in seven mills was
s. g.
This fact brushes the explanation of
Senator Edmunds rather fat The
point of chief interest is that the labor
cost Of turning ton of steel into rails
is much less here than in Europe.
1t has long been known by those who
take the trouble to inform themselves
that this 'tpsuper labor cry" is nine
tenths humbug, for when the labor cost
of any given article is taken into &C.
count American labor is found in nearly
every instance to be the cheapest La Dor
in the world This is caused by the
greater efficiency OF labor with us and
by the greater use OF labor-savine ma
chinery.
III any Republican wants to find out
the facts about this matter he can very
easily get them. and does not have TO
take them from British free traders"
either. Mr.. Blaine and Senator Evarts
have thrown some very bright light on
| this question
During President Hayes administfa-
| ton Hon. William NJ. Evarts. then Secre-
tary OF State. made report on the Estate
of Labor in Europe" This report bears
date OF May Ii, 1879
The American Consuls n Europewere
| directed to examine into the condition
| and character of European labor, and TO
report their observations to the Depart
ment of State at Washington Their re-
ports were so striking that Secretary
Evarts made liberal extracts from them,
introducing these extracts with the fol-
lowing strong assertion:
The average American workman per-
forms from one and one-half to tGice as
much work in given time as the average
European workman This il so Important
Q point in connection with our ability to
compete with the cheap labor man ufacturers
of Europe, and il seems at first thought SO
strange, that will trout BILE you With some
what lengthy quotations from the reports in
support thereof
The Secretary then gave a number of
extracts from the reports of the Consuls,
a few of which are worthy of reproduc-
ton here. They are as follows:
France-At his work the French laborer or
mechanic lacks the energy of the American
of the same class, and the amount of work
executed by him Is much less in the same
number of hours The hours of labor are
from eleven to twelve. but an average Amer
lean workman viii accomplish a. much in
zine uOuIe-r run t0S 6tPOES VI TIC SO1A1 "a
1T Bordeaux.
Germany-I am satisfied that an ordinary
working man in the I'm tied States will do a.
much again will one In this district in the
same time.-From the Report Of the Consul
at Chemnifz, Saxony-
An active American workman viii do as
much worn in . given time. ct any employ
III nt, two or three German Gorkmen--
From the Report of the Consul at Leipsic.
There can be no question that, speaking in
general terms, the quality as well as the
quantity of the cork of the German artisans
is inferior to that produced by the Ameri-
cans. The workman here is inclined to be
sluggish, and chat he accomplishes Is rela-
lively smail--From the Report of the Consul
1t Sonneberg.
The reports of these good Republican
Consuls led Mr.. Evarts to say:
For the first time our manufactures are
now assuming international proportions.
At a time OF universal depression We have
met those nations which hold monopoly
of the worlds markets-met them in their
stron9holds, and established the fact that
American manufactures are second to the
manufactures of no other nation; and that
with a proper and patriotic understanding
between a capitalist aud laborer we can
command a fair share of the buyn worlds
patronage. and command that patronage
with larger profits to the capitalist and
higher wages to tine laborer than can be
fr,o rfy inf