Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-08-23
TIE TARIFF.
The Lights Thrown on Intelligence"
Inconsistencies.

InCOnstS teuctes.
To t5s Ei'9r or the Register.
SIR The argument for a protective
tariff runs thuS:-LabOr, that is, the
wages Of labor, is higher in this cOun-
try than in European countries; there
fore we cannot produce things which
require labor as Cheaply as Europen
countries, because the cost OF the prod
net depends on the amount OF wages,
working by the day or by the piece.
Hence, 4 we would go into manufacture
ing or farming, we must have market
whore we can get a larger price for our
products than the European asks FOR
the same product Hence, il we would
maintain our own market for
our own people, we must make the for
eigu article cost more In the market,
and we do this by tax called tariff,
imposed upon the foreign article which is
sought 10 be sold here. The tax or tar
IN is OF course added TO me cost OF the
article and makes parts OF the price,
otherwise there would be no use In i'm
posing TO.
II this is not the way Protection Is
intended tOwOr6, then there is no sense
or point In the theory. PrOtectioEiStS
constantly claim that 10 is only by this
means that American manufacturers
aud farmers are enabled 10 pay high
wages to the laborer. They can't pay
high wages without getting high prices,
aud TO get high prices they must pre-
vent competition with cheap foreign
goods by putting a tax on them to make
them cost more.
Cautiously enough, however, since the
Mckinley bill became law, by which
the highest tariff ever imposed in this
country was put on foreign goods, the
urOtectiouists have been trying 10 prove
that protection does not protects in
other words, that protection reduces
the prices of goods instead of increasing
them, and that high wages do not mean
nigh prices for goods. In other words,
that there is no necessary relation be-
tween the wages of labor and the prices
OF products.
And now comes the Wheeling Intcllj-
geucer, OK the the 18th inst, editOriaily
endorsing an article in its columns on
the manufacture of gloves at GlOverS-
Vile. y. y, iu which it is alleged to be
shown that while the Mckinley law in
creaseS the tariff or tax on imported
gloves, 20 the point OF absolute prohibi-
ton in some instances, the effect Of it
has been 20 reduce the price Of dOmeS-
tic gloves, and thus, apparently, make
it impOsSib Die for the manufacturers to
pay high wages or at best TO maintain
wages. But 10 is further shown in this
article that not only have wages in the
glove Industry not decreased, but they
have actually increased, and a more
singular thing is that the wages Of la
Dor have increased in greater proportion
than the fail of price in gloves. For,
while the price OF gloves has decreased
on sn average per cent. under the Nc
Kinley law, the wages Of labor has in
creased 10 to - per cent. So that we
are now 10 learn new lesson in pro-
lection, namely, that il increases wages
and decreases prices.
Scarcely, however, have we learned
this lesson, when the lHt6llig6ncCr gives
Us another object lesson by an account
Of what the Mckinley tariff law in
creaSing the tax on imported barley
and oats and eggs and horses, aud cat
tie has done In the way of shutting out
Canadian competition with United
States farmers in our own markets,
and how il has advanced prices OF
farm products. This you will find in
the IntelHgencer Of the 10th instant.
giving an account Of the prosperous
condition of the farmers near Buffslo.
Ny.
Now can't understand this kind of
reasoning, or rather this kind of facts
Does protection act this way? Does it
decrease the prices OF manufactured
goods, and increase the prices of farm