The Brookhaven leader., 1890-05-08
FACTS FOR FARMERS
female Labor In Tariff Protected Fact
cries and on Farm.


try elevating and lettering the condi-
tion of the working classes, it has had
the tendency of degrading domestic life,
and putting labor and hariships on those
that are least able to bear them. First,
will compare the female labor in fact
cries of this country in 1860, under IA
years of q revenue tariff, with that in
1850, under 20 years of protective tar
i'll.
In 1860, after IA years of revenue tar
iii. this country employed in manufact-
ories the following hands, namely:
Males above 10 years old .I.0mSi9
Females above Is years old .............. 27O.Soi
Now, call the attention Of my read
ers to the most significant fact that in
the factory labor under a revenue tariff no
hands-whether male or female, accord
ing to the official statistics-were ON
ployed below the age of Is years. Now
let us turn to the year 1ss0, after 20
years of blessed protection, which, it is
claimed, made this Nation happy:
In 1880 there were employed in manu-
factories, males above Il years.. 2,CEl5.S&5
Females above Is years ..-..... 53l .031
Children from 10 to l5.................... 1881
In the first place we find that protec-
ton has naturally doubled the hands
employed, but it has, unfortunately,
nearly doubled the female labor, viz:
from go, S97 in 1860 to 531, $50 in 1850.
IL protection is such a blessing and
gives full work and good wages to fa-
theirs of families and husbands, why
sh Guild the female labor double? Be-
sides this what sham, swindle and
disgrace is protective tariff which has
enlisted 49, children under the age
OF II wears to work in factories? Is it
not as clear as sunshine that this slaugh-
ter of the innOcents of Isl, 900 children
in the factories is simply for the pur
pose of having cheap labor? If these
ISL, 300 children were not allowed to be
employed would not their places have to
be taken by persons above the age of
fifteen years, who naturally would get
higher wages? Again, by employing
81, 6S9 women the factories are only
employing cheap labor. OF what earthly
use is protection of so, 90 and even 100
per cent. on wooden goods, or 40, So
and even 20 per cent. on cotton goods, if
we have to employ the same class of
labor which, when it is employed in
Europe, we sheer down as pauper labor?
Ras not this protective tariff proved
curse by introducing the employment
of children at all? We have it on sta
tistical record that no children below
Is years old were employed in factories
before 1861, and anybody who chooses
to consult the census returns of 1880
can find that fact in the compendium,
vol. ,, page $50.
And now as to the employment of fe
males. Let me show the contrast be-
tween the farmers employment of fe-
male labor and the employment of fe-
male labor by the pampered protective
industries.
The farmers in 1850 employed in the
United States and Territories
Male labOrers 7015,9S}
which is little over - per cent. The
manufacturers employed
Males above Is years Old ,025 335
Females above Is years old. ........ 530639
which is about u per cent, besides the
Isl, 300 children.
But this is not all. Of the agricult-
ural employment of the 594, $40 females
we find that the II cotton producing
States, namely, Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Ten
nessee, Texas and Virginia, employed
537, 314 females which, as every Ameri-
can will understand, is colOred labor by
females who for the last $50 years have
been, as it were, to the manor born, and
who, after all, are mostly employed in
picking cotton, which compares to the
close labor in the walled factories as
roast beef compares to oatmeal cakes.
Anyhow, we find that the farmers who
live in the West and Southwest and pro-
duce our breadstutfs, cattle and dairy
products only employed in 1880 81, 1856
females as laborers on their farms. All
honor to the farmer. lie does not look
for cheap female labor. He does not
press children of tender age into en-
ployment. He pays full and manly
wages, and treats his white help as his
equal. l speak of course of those mill
ions of farmers employed in raising
breadstuffs, dairy produce, etc. But
they are taxed by those of their fellow
citizens who employ weak women and
children of tender age, and who by the
grace of protective tariff make them
pay so per cent. in average more on
nearly all manufactured articles they
use on their farms and in their house
holds.
The other day Senator Dawes made a
speech at the paper manufacturers
meeting. Tho worthy Senator is ia
nous protectiOnist and took occasion
to deplore the inadequacy of protection
on worsted goods. Now, it is a fact
that in the worsted-mills of the United
States there were employed in 1880 the
following hands:
Males above Is years ................ 435
Females above - years ,...................9 473
Children less than ID years ,............... 2S95
This is an edifying exhibit, is it not,
when we find an industry that employs
double as many women and children as
men? OF course. the reason is simple;
cheap labor is sought for and got.
Well, then. The Senator, as | said, de-
plored the inadequacy of the tariff on
worsted goods and wants the duty
raised, which in other words means
that the people in general, and the
farmer in particular, who use most of
the worsted goods, shall pay higher
price for it. Now, my worthy friends
| mean you, tax-ridden farmers-what
do you suppose is actually the duty on
worsted goods under the present tariff?
Let me enlighten YOU.