Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-08-18
WAGES AND LABOR COST:

The more one knows about HepuDlicau
protection tho less ono believes In It, and
thorough knowledge Of tho subject would
put to flight the last particle OF faith ir
this humbug still left among tho people oi
tho United States. The most absurd pre-
tense AZ to protection is the pretense thai
IL enables protected manufacturers u
pay tho difference between tho wages oi
American and foreign workingmen II
does NOT. because In most protected indus
tries there IN no such difference o. the Ro
publican protectionists pretend to discover
Tho fact is that In most of these Industries
American labor is the cheapest In th
world
You will mob believe this IL you rcad
only Republican newspapers, for they tAkf
care to compare only the day wages OF
Americans with tho day wages OF foreign
ers, and In most trades. whether protected
or not, American day wages are higher
than European day waeea 1t Is easy
enough, however. to show that this IA not
fair method Of comparison. Ono often
hears hustllng housewife say that she'd
rather do piece Of work herself than
leave It TO n careless child or an unskillful,
lazy hired girl. Every farmer knows that
many n good hand Is cheap at double the
wages Oh an idle, shiftless fellow. The
woman who knows how TO DO things finds
It cheaper and less wearing to mind and
body to do them herself than 10 have them
done by person who will do them 30 badly
that they must DO done over. The farmer
would rather pay thirty-6vo dollars o
month to some hands than twenty dollars
to others What Is true OF the household
and the farm Ii true Of the factory and tho
world In general. There Is no mystery
about this, and any man who wishes tc
understand II may do 20 and may come &c
understand 10 so well that no can tcach Il
To other-
Charles s.. lin. Republican protection
ist employed In the department OF state,
declared on oath before the tariff oommis
sion that In 1879 5,250,000 hands In the
United States produced e, ,0O0,00o worth OF
manufactured goods, while In the same
year 0. lac, 200 hands In England produced
only si,oo0,oO0 worth Of gooda IN othe,
words. American labor, measured by the
amount ID produced, was worth nearly dou.
bio what English labor was worth Thus
the American manufacturer In that yeai
would have paid nearly 100 per cent, more
wages than the English manufactures and
still have been better of as 70 profta
Tho Now York Press, high protection.
ist paper, declared a few years ago that the
labor cost In ton OF paper made at
Schuylerville, N. Y. was SAb0 less than
the labor cost OF ton Of paper made In
England Tho American paper maker
however, WINS paid an average OF e30S per
year, while tho average Of tho English
paper maker was coasi0 0erably less. Thirty.
seven men at Schuylervillo produced II OK
pounds Of paper daily. OF an average OF
nearly thirty tons each. The average daily
product Of English paper makers was only
thirteen tons each
According 10 The American Eoonomis,,
organ Of the Republican protectionists, the
average product Of Zach manufacturing
operative In the United States was, In lS50
N,l05, and In 1880, s2.oin The average an
nual wages In the ono case was tess pei
year, In tho other $500 per year. That Ia
labor received 2S per cent. OF tho product
In 1850 when the tariff averaged - pes
cent, and labor received only q per cent
Of the product In 1880, when tho tariff
averaged As per cent Yet tho tariff was
raised 10 raiso wages
Let every Democrat and every man whc
thinks OF becoming Democrat got frn
grip on tho idea that wages should not b.
compared by days pay, but by tho amount
Of labor cost In a given product Don't lci
any Republican protectioniet fool you with
| talk about tho pauper labor OF Europe
Remember oars is the cheapest labor 81
the world. because IL is tho best