The Forrest City times., 1891-02-27
THE CYCLONE OF FEAR.
REDUCED WACESIN PROTECTED
 INDUSTRIES.

iNOO . l hlGo
 McNinicy's Promise and the Manufactur-
 CTS Performapce-How tho Workman Is
 Failing to Get tho Tariff SPoils-How Labor Strixes-Figures of Strikes and
 Lockouts
 No one of the many superstitions la the who c system of protection is being so much damaged by tho light of experi- ence and fact as the superstition that protection raises wages. It was shown in the last Presidential election that this old standby of protectioniSt catch words was losing It's power among the working men in factory towns. In nearly all of the manufacturing centers of New En- gland where the European pauper labor argument" was used persistently by the protectionists. the Democrats made gains iii that election. "The cy- clone of fear" which had been predicted by Chauncey NJ. Dcpcw as the thing that was going to sweep the country was not realized among the working people.
 If the cry of high tariff and high wages failed then much more is it doomed to become q derision and jest to day. The Mckinley tariff law went into operation on Oct. 6 last year with higher duties and the promise Of higher wages What has been the result on wages thus far? In two or three unim- portant cases higher wages have been reported, but in a very large number of cases reductions have been made. Here is only partial list of reductions of wages. nearly all of which have been made since Jan. |:
 Brooke Iron Company. Birdsborough, Penn. closed Feb 2, and 40 men thrown out of work because they refused to ac- cept reduction of about per cent.
 Ellis lS Lessig Steel and Iron Com pany, pottstown. Penn, closed Feb 9: zoo men out of work because a reduc- ton of l2li per cent was rejected.
 Hopedale Fabric Mil, Hopedale, Mass: wages Of weavers reduced 2}a cents a yard
 Silk mill at Warehouse Point, Conn.,; wages of windcrs and doublerS reduced from Sl 37 to Sl per day.
 Sturtevaut Blower Works, Jamaica Plain. Mass reduction of from 10 to 90 per cent.
 Pottstown Iron Company, Pottstown, Penn; reduction of about per cent,
 Bethlehem Iron Company. Bethlehem, Penn; reduction of 10 per cent. Feb. 2
 Pennsylvania Steel Company, Steelton, Penn. reduction of from 8 to 10 per cent Feb l.
 Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, Scranton, Penn; an average reduction of 20 cents day on Jan. I.
 Homestead Steel Works, Carnegie, Phipps & Co.,; 10 per cont, by agreement.
 Pullman Palace Car Company's works; new scale. making a reduction of about 10 per cent, brought forward Jan, I.
 Otis Iron and Steel Company, Cleve- land. Ohio; reduction Of 30 per cent.
 Coal mines, Duquoin, H., reduction from 60 10 so cents per ton.
 Ribbon weavers in Paterson, N. J.; re- ducuon of l5 per cent.
 Goa mines, near Ieavenworth, Kan. reduction of II per cent.
 Cocheco Manufacturing Company; wages of weavers reduced 4 per cent.
 Manufacturers of pottery, Trenton, N. l.; wages of sanitary ware pressers re- duced 22 per cent
 Merrimac Mills, Lowell, Mass; wages of mule spinners reduced 3 cents per hundred
 Buckeye Mower and Reaper Works, Akron, Ohio reduction of from 30 to 6o per cent reported on Feb }. Saxony Knitting Mill Little Falls, N. Y. reduction of about 21 per cent
 Southern Steel Company Chattanoo- ga. Tenn. reduction of 10 per cent Tho official statistics of strikes and lockous for the six years, lsSl's6. as published by United States Labor Com missioner Carroll n. Wright in his third annual report afford striking com mentary to the oft-repeated assertion that protection raises wages and insures steady employment
 In the whole country there were dur | ing these six years 22. 304 strikes aud 2.2t4 lockouts Of the strikes, 9.43s were for increase of wages, 4.344 for re ! duction of hours, l,734 against reduction i of wages, i,G9@ for increase of wages l and reduction of hours, and SO on to the l smaller classes in which some specia form of the wage question was under dispute Of the 2,sl4 lockours. 3l4 were against demand for increase of wages and 2ao to enforce reduction of wages | Does protection then guarantee steady employment? Does it keep wages up te point which satisfies the laborer? I, 1 Il not the height of folly to mako claims ! about what protection can do in raising ! wages in tho face of the evident fact 1 that { doas not give the laborcr suca wages as will keep him from striking. l As the lahorer Is compelled to contest every inch of ground he gains by trade, | unions, by strikes, and by other means 1 it will be difficult to persuade him thai protection is good thing for him.