Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-10-08

IL DC dOundant, competition viii lower
the price. If it be scarce, the price will
remain high. There is no tariff to pro-
tect American labor from foreign COM
petition. The protection of the Ameri-
can labOrer is found in the fact that the
country is new, the population compar-
ative.y sparse, the opportunities for
work unlimited, the demand for labor
large, the supply comparatively small.
How If the manufacturer quit the
business? Every workman takes the
chances of his employers closing down.
If the employer be a private person,
his death may close his manufactory If
the employer be a corporation. financial
disaster may put ont the fires. In either
case any one of thousand accidents
may cause the employer to cease to en-
plOy. These are sporadic cases, and the
general tide of business flows on with
out being disturbed by them. There is
no decline i'm the rate of wages The
wOrkmen experience a temporary incon-
venience and then find employment in
other manufactures. Take now little
wider view. Every workman runs the
risk that some new discovery or inn
provemcnt in the art may make his Labor
valuclcss and leave him without employ
mcnt. What happens then? In
Europe, where labor Is superintendent
and work is scarce. where the laboror
whose occupation is gone knows not
how or where TO look for new one.
there is riot, soon suppressed. A few
Starve; some emigrate; some find other
employment. No one proposes to abol
iSh the new discovery or improvement,
though that would be to protect labor.
In America, where work is everywhere
abundant and labor in every department
comparatively scarce, there is tempo
rary Inconvenience until the laborer
Seizes one of the plentiful opportunities,
and finds good wages in a new field.
". MORE WAGES.
IL may be all very well with the
workman if a single manufacturer here
and there goes out of business. 1t may
not be so very bad if, 10y reason of some
| improvement in the process a whole
art is rendered useless, and its artizanS
left idle. This happened long ago when
the Spinning-jenny was introduced, and
more recently when the introduction of
| BcSSemer steel put out the fires in the
pudding furnaces, which have still
more recently been rekindlcd. These
artizans did not remain idle. They were
soon merged in the great body of work
men, finding plentiful employment in
other directions Nor did Il general de-
cline in wages follow.
But how if, for lack Of protection, all
the factories in the country shut down?
| This leads me TO enquire what classes
of things we should produce in this
country. | do not know much about
| farming, but have been told that the
| Intelligent farmer selects the grain he
will SOW with reference to the land in
which he will SOW it. Even in my
modest garden l put my verbenas in the
sunny places. and tuck my panSieS into
a shady nook where their own fitness for
| their surroundings gives them adequate
protection And do we not produce
| bananas in Louisiana, oranges in
| Georgia and Florida and cereals in the
great west? So we should apply our
energies to the production of such things
which our country is best suited to
produce. There need be no lack
Iof variety. The farmer is as
sailed with the threat that, if
lall the manufactures are closed,
there will be no one to buy his grain,
| But no one suggests that, so long as
there is market. we will not be able
/ to hold our own in il with our cereals.
Our natural advantages for producing
cereals are far superior TO those of Eu
rope or Africa or South America, while
the central half of Asia consumes all it
can produce 80 with regard TO manu-
l . t,ar ~ -
manufacture OF which no other country
is so well adapted a ours. Without
any protection from the tariff, there
| fore. we can compete on better than an
even footing with our less fortunate
neighbors. If some manufactures must
/ be abandoned. others will present them
selves The demand for labor will0 con-
tinue and wages will remain proportion
ately high But what manufactures
would be abandoned If the tariff on all
imports were abolished? Have we not
already selected our manufactures with
special reference to our natural advant-
ages? Our coal is not raised from I'M
fathomable pits. Our ores are not Ia
bOriOuSly wrought from mines whose
precariOuS roofs extend under the
ocean. Our vast mineral wealth lies
accessible on every hand. Without
great natural advantages. who shall
say that, when our manufactures are
left to fight their own way in the
markets os the world, they must either
reduce wages to the European standard
or suffer defeat?
To this cry that the tariff must be re-
tanned in order 10 protect labor. have
ALWAYS one answer If the purpose i
10 protect labor. why do that Indirectly?
There is an obvious and certain method
bv which labor could be projected. If
Won are sincere. adopt that method.
Put n stop 10 the influx OF foreigners
who. by their constantly increasing
competition, do more 10 lessen wages
than could possibly be done by any tariff
legislation. The labor market, like
every other market, Is governed by the
laws OF supply and demand. As the
supDly equals or exceeds the demand,
prices 90 down, and the price Of labor
will 90 down rs the supply of labor in
creases. and will not be kept up by
holding up the prices OF our manufac-
lures. The market for gudgeonS IS not
governed by keeping up the price OF
plums.
Y. OLD FOGNISM.
In our compound system we have
two kinds of governments, devised on
exactly opposite principles. One can
do everything which is not expressly
forbidden, the other, nothing which Is
not expressly permitted. The latter,
the government of the United States Is
one of defined powers, and possesses
none which are not found in the ConSti-
tuition, either in plain terms or as neceS-
sary incidents to powers plainly
granted.
The Constitution of the United States
i the supreme law of the land. 1t con-
tains proyiNons according to which
amendments can be proposed, voted
upon and adopted. To disregard the
Constitution, or to modify it IN any
other than the regular and prescribed
mode. is revolution. If, therefore, any
of us are coddling a pet theory with re-
gard 10 what the government should do,
let Ms find warrant for it in the ConSti-
Triton. or else wait until the C0nstitu-
tion can be amended. our theory, being
one of the eternal vcriticS, will grow no
worse by waiting Surely, in govern
ment whose existence depends upon the
stability of its Constitution, the success
of no theory can make amends for an
unwarranted departure from the terms
of that instrument.
The constitution provides In terms