The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-04-20
PURCHASING POWER OF WAGES

PURCHASING POWER OF WAGES
kent High by Protection - Under Free
Trade and Lower Wages the Articles
Bought by the Rich Would Fall In
Price, But Not Those Used by the Poor
Higher Wages, Not Lower Prices, il
What the MorkinRman should strive
for.
We often hear free traders claiming
that under free trade prices would fall
so much that even admitting wages
would fall, their purchasing power
would not be diminished. Suppose
wages do fall" says the "reformer,"
sis i. not true that, if prices also fall
rIcspondingly, the workingman will
be just as well off as before? We an
swer "Yes, undoubtedly he would"
If prices would really fall correspond
ingly, the workingman's coid;tion
would not be changed for the worse.
But this is a supposition which is op-
posed to all experience and facts. 1t is
true that if hand labor were the only
factor in production, lower wages
would mean correspondingly lower
prices, but under present conditions,
with the age of improved processes,
with many articles made almost en-
tirely by machinery, this could not be
So Let us take an illustration: When
rich man goes to shoemaker in this
country and has his feet IN ensured for a
pair of shoes, which are to be made to
order and exactly fitted to the peculiar
shape of his foot he undoubtedly pays
more than he would pay for similar
work in England or in Europe. Our
shoemaker gets two and three times as
| much as the shoemaker of other coun-
tries, and it is but natural that even
| allowing perhaps for his greater skill,
the product of his labor should be
| dearer.
But take, on the other hand, pair
OF shoes made by the wonderful ma
chimes which can be found in any one
! Of our great factories, which cut the
| leather, sew the shoes and finish them,
almost entirely without the interven-
ton of human hands, one machine
turning out hundreds of shoes daily.
Can it be for moment supposed that
the mere fact that the wages of the
workingman who tends to such ma
chine are lowered would make any ap
probable difference in the price of one
of those hundred pairs of shoes which
| that machine turns out? Certainly not
And yet it is just the laboring classes
who buy this kind of shoes. Rarely, il
| tha 10 n
gh-priced shoemaker and have hi:
shoes made to order; that is reserved
for the millionaire banker and the i'm
porter. The laboring man buys the
factory-made article every time, and il
must be said that it is just as good, just
as substantial as the other. So it is
with the whole range of articles tina
the masses of our people buy-cottor
goods, wooden goods of a substantial
quality, collars and cuffs. tools an(
hundreds of other things, are all the
products of those wonderful machines
themselves only made possible by the
inventive genius which protection ha.
stimulated Ma
That this is so every one %Hows
M any free trader has unwit w ad
mi tied, and even that rabid s're{og atr.
ex-Consul Schoenhof, has given {{alu
able testimony Oh this point whSn HI
said that all substantial articles o 'tht
whole sale process of manufacture" arr
cheaper here than in free trade En-
gland, but that things made entirely
by hand are dearer in the United States
So we see that while lower wage,
would undoubtedly mean lower prices
for the splendid raiments and luxurie'
of the rich, it would not make mucl
diff erence in the price of machinery
made articles purchased by our work
ing men; and thus lower wages coult
only mean diminishing purchasing
power, fewer comforts and a lowe
standard of living.
But this is not all. Cannot the work
ingman see that wages have not thu
slightest connection with the cost o
the hund red and one things that go Il
make up his expenses? Will the thou
sand dollar mortgage on his home be
come less than thousand dollars be
cause he earns lower wages? Will tn,
debt he owes be smaller because his in
come is less? VIII the ve-cent car far,
be reduced, or the price of newspaper
or the admission fee to the lecture o.
entertainment? No, these things viii
cost just as much as before, so tina
lower wages simply mean more labo
to purchase smaller amount OF them
The intelligent workingman canno
but see that higher wages, not lowe
prices, must be the watchword in tn,
battle to better his condition. AS Wen
dell Phillips used to say:
The handspring OF our progress is high wage
| wages at such level that the workingmal
can spare his wife to preside over u home, cal
| command leisure, go to lectures take news
| paper, and lift himself from the deadening leve
| of mere toll That dollar left after all the bill
are paid on Saturday night means education, In
| dependence, self-respect manhood 1t increase
the value of every acre near by, fills the tow
| with dwellings, opens public libraries an
crowds them, dots the continent with cities an
cobwebs it with railways. The one remaining
dollar iasures progress and guarantees million
10 its cNner, better than score of statutes l
is WORTH more thun a thousand colleges, an
makes armies and police superfuous.
| The Tariff Again.
The anthracite coal roads, controlling car
ital of S7OO000,OO0 have combined. Free Goa
would enable the people to escape in part fror
the clutches OF this monopoly. kansas Cit
Times.
viii the tariff editor of the Kansa
City Times please refer to his copy o