Arizona republican., 1891-04-04
WAGES IN AMERICA.
THEY ARE NOT VET AS HIGH AS
 THEY SHOULD BE.

Hut They Exceed by Far the Wages ip
 Any Other Country--wbat Win Make
 Them still Highcr Hcref-Morc Indus
 tries Win Do It.
 There is no reason whatever why every man in the United States should not be willing to pay such rates of wages and such prices for commodities as shall naturally result from the free and un- restricted competition of all our own people.
 When trade between people is per fectly free, as in this country, there can not, on the average and in the long run, be higher wages paid to those employed in one industry than to those in another. Whenever any one industry gives indi-l cation that the compensation paid to those engaged in 1t is on the average greater than the compensation paid in other occupations, the industry paying the higher compensation is invaded by men from the occupation paying less, and thus wages constantly tend to an equalization. This invasion may con tinue to point at which, by the over stocking of the labor market in the favored industry, wages may finally de- cline to point lower than the average rates prevailing in other industries.
 Under the Democratic policy, if wages fall in Europe our indus. ries stand in danger of destruction. On the other hand, while protesting to be the special friend of the workingman, the Demo cratic party would set on foot policy which would render impossible any in crease in the wages of our own people.
 A tariff wall should be erected so high that no possible reduction of wages in Europe would enable the foreign manu- facturer to scale it. It tshould be 80 high that absolutely nothing but the compe- tition of our own workmen with ons another would fix wages m this country. That is competition enough among 23,- 100000 workers. The people in this country are entitled to such wages as re- suit from the unrestricted competition of their own producers.
 In the debate on the tariff in both houses of congress long discussions were had as to the exact amount of duty which should be levied on imported goods to make up for the difference be- tween wages in this country and wages abroad. In these discussions the Demo crats affected to admit that their object was to keep the duty at such a point as would provide for the differencs.
 But such an admission presupposes that wages in this country are now ex- actly what they should be. This is de- nied. The proper rates of wages for American labor should result from the unrestricted competition of our own people, and the American laborer as yet does not get his full share of the prod ucts. Wages are not yet what they will be-
 The true wages that should obtain in the United States will never be known until, first, all our workmen shall be protected absolutely against the squalid competition of other lands. and second, until they shall receive the equivalent of the value which they severally contribute to the products of their industry.
 b.. It is sometimes charged as a reproach against the Protective policy that in some special protected industry wages tend to minimum. Where this occurs it is. an unerring indication of the vicious distribution of industries and one of the most distressing consequences of their maladjustment. The remedy indicated is not a reduction of the tariff, but wider diversifcation and distribution of industries, so that all persons who want employment may not be compelled to seek 1t in the same occupation.
 It is obvious that if industries be rela- lively few, with large numbers of men seeking employment, those men must distribute themselves as best they may, and without intelligent adjustment, among the few industries in operation. If larger number enter into any special pursuit than are needed to meet the de- mands of production in that pursuit wages will inevitably decline. The function of a Protective tariff, carried to its farthest limit, is to obviate the neces- sity for this. Its tendency is to encour- age the establishment of variety of in- dustries, andsso to increase opportunities for employment, not in one or two but in great diversity of occupations.
 Noinference injurious to the tariff can therefore be drawn from the fact that at times in some occupations wages tend to a minimum. This is rather a sign that the tariff is too low to encourage the es- tablishment of a sufficient variety of in- dustries to absorb all the labor of the community.
 But whatever the condition of labor in this country it is infinitely superior to the conditions of labor in the home of