The Globe-republican., 1891-10-01

\0OOAt 4COJ Il oil IlC6AS, WllOs VI
course, have had to learn, but who, &C.
cocding to the testimony of the firm,
are just as efficient as the English.
A statement of the comparative wages
paid by Salt & Co., at their Bridgeport
works and in England has been fur
nished US and is very suggestive.
Bridgeport, Conn, U. S. 4.
Per ,ceeE.
WeaverS S5 to ST
2,
Average wages in other branches re-
curing skill. ......... ~
Average wages to unskilled labor. 10
Average working day. 9 hours.
Bradford, England.
Per Ueek.
Highest wages to skilled labor, less
Average wages to skilled labor........ 9
Average wages to unskilled labor =. 4
Average working day, l2 hours.
In other words, we find that the es-
tablishment of the Bridgeport works
has been tho mean of employing about
$50. American laborers at double and
triple the wages paid for the same work
in England. So much for the direct
benefit to American labor. Indirectly
it has created a demand for labor
necessary to start the plant and get the
works in operation, and has brought to
the United States about $50 skilled En-
glish laborers-a very desirable class of
immigrants who, instead of being
british paupers," are now American
freemen. and whose ample wages, be-
ing spent ip this country, go to remun-
crate the laborers in boots and shoes,
clothing, hats and other industries. So
that directly and indirectly the benefit
to American labor is too apparent to
need further explanation.
But how about the farmer? Accord
ing to the statistics of the United States
department of agriculture, every work
er at manufacturing in this country
consumes over $50 worth of our agricul-
ture produce per year, while every
worker in similar industry in England
consumes but S4.42 worth. Hence the
employment Of 300 iaborers in the
United States has furnished a market t o
the farmer of sa7, 900 worth of agricul-
tural products, whereas before the estab-
lishment of the Bridgeport works the
$50 workers in Great Britain consumed
only 1868 dollars worth. The market
for American agricultural products has
thus been increased by SCI. 1881, all of
which goes into the pockets of the far
mer. To further emphasize this fact,
we need only state that since the estab-
lishment of the plush works at Bridge
port, land in the vicinity has doubled in
value. AS for the well-worn free trade
contention that the tariff has increased
the price of pushes, we quote in an
swer the words of superintendent Pear
son, of the Bridgeport works, to a rep
re~sentative of this paper:
The statement that pushes have risen in
price is due either to entire ignorance Of the
facts or to objectionable Misrepresentation.
Pushes are being marketed to-day at the same
prices as before the passage Of the bill, the
effect Of the duty being merely to more surely
reserve the market to the American producer.
Under the old rate We in England could break
down the American manufacture every time.
Reduce the Mckinley tarif and plush manu-
facture in the United States becomes impossi-
BILE: the higher rate of wages paid Is the irre-
concilable element which prevents competition
with the foreigner. Our present plant is but An
experiment.; We are gradually enlarging II, and
Is our facilities for manufacturing increase,
and the American competition, which 10 sure to
follow the enactment Of the tarin. begins, q fall
in price Is inevitable.
Having now shown how the plush
duty in general, and the establishment
of Salt & Co. in particular, have bene-
6ted the American laborer, farmer and
consumer, let us turn about and ask
our free trade contemporary what
would be the effect of taking the duty
of pushes? In the first place, the
American manufacture would be de-
stroyed and the laborers now employed
In it would be thrown out of work. As
they would have to be absorbed into
other industries, the demand for labor
remaining the same. the average rate
of wages in these would fall. and the
market for agricultural products would
be correspondingly narrowed: or worse
still, the discharged laborers would b.