Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-14
BeIutnttt Chronicle.
THURSDAY, JULY IA, 1892.
PUBLIC OPINION.

STRIKES AND A PROTECTIVE TARIFF.
New York Press.
Nothing seems to send such thrill OF
glee through the nerves of the average
Anglo Mugwump editor as strike in
some American industry. He welcomes
it as physician in poor practice may
be supposed to welcome an epidemic OF
grip or scarlet feAer, or as starving
lawyer might welcome the news of a
tragedy likely to bring him a client.
"AhT" he exclaims, with one ear cooked
for applause from London, "behold the
fruits of American projections What
have Republicans to say to this? Look
at the results of the tariff
Well, to all that we have to say that
in one way the Mugwump editors are
right. If there had been no protective
tariff there would be no strikes in the
protected industries, no trouble between
employers and employed, no differences
as 10 wages. The reason is readily
given. There would be no such indus
tries. The labor of Europe would dc
the work for wages far lower than any
ever made the subject of dispute in
America. There would be an end to
strikes in American industry, because
there would be nothing to strike about
In the past ten years the workers in
the iron industries have received over
$500,O00,O00 in wages, and Edward At
kinson, the eminent free trade statisti
oio ch hat
from 40 to 100 per cent. higher than the
wages paid for similar work in Europe
FREE TRADER GEORGE is HAPPY.
New York Press.
Free trader Henry Georges enthusi.
astic cheer for the Cleveland ticket and
the free trade Chicago platform ought
to wake up the American workingman
to his danger. Here it is:
"Thank God! r At last, quicker
even than we had more than dared to
hope, what we have struggled for and
waited for has come to pass, and the
two great political parties of the United
States stand fronting each other on the
naked question of protection or free
trade"
Mr.. George is a very keen minded
man, and he knows as well as anybody
that free trade is the logical meaning of
the Democratic declaration that protec-
tive duties are unconstitutional. The
principle of free trade is affirmed when
the principle of protection is denied
Import duties become only a matter OF
revenue, and revenue is to be raised by
duties on articles that we do not produce
and must import. So it actually is free
trade in the articles which our labor
produces. Mr.. George tells the truth; it
is the naked question of protection or
free trade. The workingman has to
face it as well as everybody else.
Here are two examples of protection
and free trade respectively which the
Press invites the workingman to con-
slider. The protection example is taken
from page 139 of the "World Almanac"
for 1892, and relates to the monthly
wages of farm hands in New York
State:
1879 1890
Without board S20.61 S2445
with board. 1873 1855
The free trade example is taken from
jhe British WdrehOusenlGn, a trade
ournal published in free trade England,
and one as little likely to "cook" figures
in the interest of protection as the World
or its almanac. The WdrehOusenlGn
says that under the competition of
the silk mills in France and Italy
the wages of the silk workers at
Macclesfeld, in free trade England, in
1890. were "fullY 30 per cent. below the