The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-05-18
THE TARIFF AND WAGES.
An Answer to the False Claims of IProteo.
tionists.

The TARIFF AND WAGES.
An Answer to the False Claims of IPro,eo.
tionists.
To THE EDIToR-Sr: Don't high tar
iff make high wages? If so, why have
not wages risen since the Mckinley bilh
passed? That act raised a war tariff of
AZ per cent. to q peace rate of 90 per cent,
and if "high tariff makes high wages"
our workingmen should begin to reaiiza
it. So ANONYMOUSLY has the Mckinley
law failed to raise wages that the Indian.
apolis Journal now denies that such prom.
Uses were made, but asserts that the only
pledge given was that ''the Mckinley bill
would not decrease wages" This would
be curious pledge to give 10 workmen,
and so absurd as 10 prove its falsity. That
American high wages land we are all glad
that they are sol result from other causes
than high tariff is clear from several rea>
sons:
l. American wages long before the for<
nation OF our government were much
higher. comparatively speaking, than
those of Europe-as much so then as now.
2. Only one workingman in twenty is
employed in the protected industries. and
the wages paid the twentieth man cannot
control those paid theremaining nineteen.
The rule is the other way. Just as the
cheapest coin drives out the dearest from
circulation so the lowest grade of labor
fixes the scale for the dearest. The skilled
labor is the base from which high wages
are measured. Now, right here, we have
the controlling cause OF American high
wages, viz: Our cheap and inexhaustibly
fertile lands, and the high wages that agri.
cultural labor commands and always has
commanded In the United States. Nine
tenths of our exports are from the farm.
Farm wages are the ocean-manufac-
turers' wages the boys and creeks. As
well talk about the creeks and boys con-
trolling the ocean level as talk about the
wages of the twentieth man engaged in
the protective industries controlling and
fixing the scale for the remaining nineteen.
8. The cheapness of our lands and the
vast number of small farms in the United
States constantly so reduce the army OF
wage-workers that the labor demand is
greater than the supply. In Europe when
there is no land for sale or it's price is too
high for a wage-worker, the number Of
laborers constantly increases until the sup~
ply out runs the demand, and so wages
are kept at the lowest point. Instead of the
protected industries being the balances
wheel that regulates the price of wages il
lie the great agricultural interests OF the
United States that control and it is these
interests that the government cannot and
does not protect.
4. Another reason for American high
wages is that the standard of comfort" of
the laboring man in the United States is
and for the last two hundred years has
been, so much higher than that of Europe.
In Egypt "the standard of comfort" of q
workingman is a yard of cotton to go
around the loins, mat and a pot for
housekeeping and little rice for food
Hence, there the wage-worker is content
with cents per day. In Europe they
have protective tariffs nearly as high IS
in the United States. Yet in these pro-
tected countries the standard of comfort
of the laboring man by the commercial
customs of society is so low that the scale
of wages is far lower than with US. That
high tariff has but little TO do with this
standard of comfort" is evident from the
fact that two hundred years ago it was
higher here than in the old world and is
part of a bread-winner's birthright
5. Another cause forAmerican high wages
is the innumerable trade unions. leagues,
combinations, Knights of Labor, ETC., that
we have here. But for these unions pro-
tected manufacturers would pay no more
wages than in England or the continent.
No one is so quick to import the ''pauper
labor" of the old world as those who are
the loudest in the cry "let us have more
duties that we may pay more wages"
There has never yet been the slightest
effort, except in case of the Chinese. to
protect labor as labor. No one can fail to
see the difference between goods and
labor. High duties on goods but free
trade in labor is the essence OF the Nc
| Kinley bill. The workingman's wages
are the last thing to rise, even in the prac-
teal industries and the first to fall.
6. The aim of this article is to be fair.
That high tariff has its influence. al
though grossly overstated, in raising wages
no fair minded man can deny. But it is
only one of the half dozen causes above
pointed out. If you double the cost Of
| living you must raise the wage workers
paw or starve him. Even here this neces-
sity is converted into political capital By
the reluctant employer, who talks about
the "pauper labor" OF the old world.
| Curiously enough the bulk of this old
world 'pauper labor" is engaged in a9ri-
culture and only fraction OF it in manu-
| featuring.
Finally. One fact is very significant:
In high tariff Russia. Italy, France and
Germany the workingmen's wages are
| but about one-half what they are IN tree
trade England. Why don't some high
tariff advocate compare an Americans
wages with those in the first named
countries? This comparison is never made,
for il suggests the inevitable and un-
answerable question, eli high tariff
makes high wages why are the wages of
Russia. Italy, France and Germany (all
high tariff countries) only about one-
half what they are in free trade England
aud one-third or one-fourth what they
| are in the United States2"