The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-08-14
WAGES AND TAXATION.



How One-sidsd Protsetion Robs the
Farmer and the Mechanic.
The Philadelphia Press suggests IS
another name for the Mckinley bill:
IAN Act to Prevent the Reduction OF
the Wages Of American Labor to an,
European Basis"
Wages are used to buy necessary sup
plies for tho family.
Now. wages are to be ssproteetedn by
compelling wage-earners to pay more
for all they buy.
Whether man works in the factory
or in the field is determined by the price
of farm labor. The American manufact-
urer bids not against the European
manufacturer, but against the American
farmer.
Why is 1t that to-day, after thirty
years of . protective tariff. it is neces-
sary to 60 to Congress to get law
the Wages of American Labor?''
What influences are at work reducing
wages in America2
Plainly the depression Of agriculture.
When, in America, agriculture pros
pers, wages advance; when it Is de-
pressed, wages in every factory in the
land decline.
In 1877, 1878 and 1879 farm products
commanded profitable prices and every
section had BOOM"
But in recent years the tendency has
been otherwise; the chief agricultural
crop has been the crop of mortgages,
with the result that wages have declined
In all industrial centers, and strikes
have multiplied.
Now, we are to have "bill to pre-
vent the reduction Of wages Of American
labor to an European basis. How is II
proposed to do this? Simply by increas-
ing taxation.
Here is an illustration: A farmer
city merchant and tells him to send in
exchange twelve dozen tin cans for
peaches, tomatoes, ETC., etc. Heretofore
| the Government would take for revenue
| thirty-three per cent; the farmer would
get nine cans instead of dozen. He
finds that this tax has been increased tc
| five, leaving only seven cans in dozen,
or seven dozen in gross
1t docs not matter what the farmer
asks in exchange for his products, the
effect of the Mckinley bill is the same
household utensils, farming nipple
ments, knives, guns, fertilizer, any
thing or every thing, he finds that In
exchange for his fruits and vegetables
for wheat or corn, for cotton or-fer cat
tie, by an increase Of taxation he mus
| accept less or he must send more.
This is the way farm wages are Tin
creased. ~ Under the Influence OF the
tariff, agriculture has declined, and
wages in the factories and mills have
followed. Labor has been imported
and is to-day imported free of any tax
and SO between the poorly-paid immi
grant and the poorly-paid farmer the
laborer in the cities finds that his wages
| and the wages of the English laborers
approach every year nearer and nearer
to level.
Wages come not from capital; they
come from the products OF labor. They
are highest when and where production
is highest per hand.
Any natural or artificial impeachment
to the highest production; any friction
any taxation, any tariff, lessons the pro
ductive power of labor and reduces it:
rewards. Taxation is always an evil
it's Atelerable- only when imposed *
meet the requirements Of the Govern
ment. When imposed to enrich thu
rich, to add to the accommodations o
the Forty Thieves, it is an outrage t.
every person, and an especial burden
upon American labor in the field or the
factory.
Deny it as our Republican friends
may, the tariff is tax. = Louisville
| Courier Journal.