Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-10-15
Look on That Pictureaaud Then on This
A gentleman writes to the Herald in thu
following strain:-

| A gentleman writes to the Herald in the
following strain:-
| l an poor man; one of the despised
Knights of Labor. Ny opportunities for
study have been fsw acd my opinion Oo
matters as comprehensive as the Mckinley
| bill are therefore witho 1t weight. Won't
you kindly answer these two qaestions:-
Will the effect of that bill be to restrict the
market for American products? And if it
| will be, is not that an injury rather than o
benefit to the country?
Mighty important questions these, but
they are easily answered and the answer
will not be favorable to the bill.
First-If you raise ths prics of a given
article you thereby decrease the demand
for it. If people can get it at a cheap rate
| they will buy it; if it is dear they will man
age to do without it. That is one of the
axioms of supply and demand.
Make woollen goods, for instance, 80
plentiful that they come within reach Of
| every body's purse and everybody will buy
them, because woollen is necessary to
health in the winters cold. Make them 50
scarce that they become dear and you at
once put them out of reach of the wage
earning class, which is the largest class in
all communities.
Second-If the demand is light because
the goods cost too much, then the manu.
facturer, very naturally and properly-for
he doesn't pretend to be philanthropist-
runs his mill on three-quarter time and
consequently on three quarter wages. He
cannot afford to pile up loss, aud 30 in-
forms fifty per cent of his men that he does
not need them any longer.
There you have. say, five hundred men
thrown out of work because the price of
woollen goods is so dear that people will do
without them as much as possible.
Third-Now extend the range of high
prices. Make the general cost of liviLg
dearer. A little more must be paid for
this, that and the other article of household
comfort, a few cents more for every kitchen
utensil, few shillings more for the bed
blankets, for the baby's clothes, and 80
forth and so forth, until the whole domain
is covered. what then2
Why, that thousand manufacturers
limit their product, for there is no sense
and no profit in flooding the market. Then
these same thousand manufacturers dis
charge a part of their working fcrce, and
| the unemployed are found in every nook
and corner of the country.
That is precisely the effect of the Nc
Kinley bill, and you can see 1t with one eye
shut.
Now, look at the other side. Suppose
the democratic policy of worlds market
for American manufacturers were estaD-
lished, what would happen2 We could un-
dersell any country in Christendom, for we
have the machinery, the genius the enter.
prise and the educated labor. The motto
would then be, Cheap goods, large sales
and small profits.
Start up all your mills, for what you
make is within eyerybody's reach. Run
them long hours. Double the number of
hands, for there is brisk trade and heavy
demand. You can afford to pay fair wages.
The great army of iders who are willing
to work, bat cannot get it to do, are COM
Portable, we'll housed, well fed, we'll cloth
ed, happy and contented. This ever]ast-
ing warfare between capital and labor set
ties ITSELF for all the men in the country
are SO busy that they cannot stop to grum-
bic.
A big market, plenty of work for all ex-
cept the criminal and lazy, general bzs-
tling, rustling, hurrying, scurrylng time
what more do men want, and what is there
better on this planet to have?
Can you get such condition of affairs
fits for the trust and monopoly aud all crea-
tion full of unemployed men2 As well try
to squeeze sunlight out of a cucumber.
But give US cheap goods and plenty of
them, fair wages and work for all. and you
are as close to millennial prosperity as cir
cumstanees permit. You can't have these
things, though, under republican admin
istration.-N. Y. Herald.