Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1892-03-17
THE DUTY ON TIN PLATE.
A British Authority thinks That IL Pro-
tccis Our Wages

techs Our Wages.
1t is worthy of note that English free
traders, however much they strive by
voice and pen TO help on the cause Of
their friends in America. are often
found adducing Iacts in prov. vI ..a4.
theory which are stoutly denied By their
strong siding champions" on this side
of the Atlantic.
The cornerstone OF the tariff contro-
versy in this country is us to whether
our higher labor cost makes tariff on
competing foreign products necessary
to the life of the American industry
concerned. The protectionist's plat
form has always been that we should
manufacture for ourselves whatever
nature has fitted the country TO manu-
facturo us we'll as other countries are
fitted. But we may be unable to make
the things nature has equipped us TO
make because of the low wages prevail
ing in other countries The products Of
this cheap labor may come into this
country at so low price rs to prevent
the production of similar goods by
American high-priced labor.
II, for instance an English manu-
facturer pays fifty cents a yard for the
labor in yard of cloth, and the Ameri-
can manufacturer is forced to pay 81
yard for making similar cloth, it is
plain that the Englishmau can under
sell the American, close his American
factory and throw his American high
priced labor out of work. In such
case the protectionist insists that n
tariff of at least fifty cents yard must
be charged on that cloth when it enters
this country, so that the American cloth
factory may live.
Now, the American free trade ire
former" denies that there is any need
of tariff for this purpose, that labor
cost Is as low or lower in this country,
and that the tariff only helps the Ameri-
can manufacturer to raise his price.
These opposite views present the fun.
damental difference on the tariff ques-
ton between the two great parties In
this country.
The protectionist holds that tin plate
Is exactly analogous TO the supposed
case of cloth given above. We have all
facilities for its manufacture, and are,
in fact, the greatest producer Of iron
and steel in the world, and should make
for ourselves the sheets of iron or steel
known as tin plates Since the labor
cost OF producing them here is much
greater than in Wales, we need the
present tariff on them. The American
Cobdenite opposes this view at every
point The British Cobdenite agrees
TO dot with the protectionist. Hear
him speak through, the columns
of the Iron and Steel Trades
journal, of London, January 3:
There are many difficulties TO be successfully
COPIED with before they THE Americans) can
manufacture tin plates with commercial success
in competition with this country even with tho
help Of the present import duty, which Is equal
to a bounty Of from 20 to 90 per cent. on tho
price Of the manufactured article In the country
Of production. The question Of labor In tho
United States Is the most dificult TO be dealt
with successfully. In Wales the adult work
people have been engaged in the trade from
childhood, and their children, as soon as capa.
BILE, assist In the mills. II IL, indeed, not an un-
common occurrence TO find whole families work
ing together, The making OF tin plates az the
children grow to men and women becomes u
habit, and they acquire great dexterity saving
much time and labor, and the wages OF the 10
male laborers and children are hut titho OF
what American skilled worKmen would demand
u whole American families were
forced by poverty to work side by side
in the dirty, laborious empl oyment of
tin plate making, we might make tin
plates in successful competition with
the Welsh. 1t is beca use the spirit Of
our institutions and the social instincts
of our people demand that the mother
and children be kept at home and in
school, and that the father receive suf-
ficient pay TO support them decently
and in comfort, that tariff is kept on
tin plates Make them we should, but
American womanhood must not be de-
graded nor American childhood dwarfed
to enable us to do so.