The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1892-04-02

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 III Europe. Our shoemaker gets two
ami three times as much as the shoe
maker OF other countries, and it is but
natural that, even allowing perhaps for
his greater skill, the product of his la
Dor should be dearer.
But take, on the other hand, pair of
shoes made by the wonderful machines
which can be found in any one of our
great factories, which cut the leather.
sew the shoes and finish them, almost
without the intervention OF
human hands, one machine turning out
hundreds of pairs of shoes daily. Can it
be for moment supposed that the mere
fact that the wages of the workingman
who tends 10 such a machine are low
cred would make any appreciable differ
ence in the price of one of those
hundred pairs of shoes which that ma
chine turns out? Certainly not. And
yet 1t is just the laboring classes who
buy this kind of shoes.
That this is so everyone knows.
Many Il free-trader has unwlttingly al
mtted it. and even that rabld 're form
cr, /" ex-Consul SchWnnof, has given in
valuable testimony on this point, when
he said that all substantial articles of
the wholesale process of manufacture
are cheaper here than in free-trade
England, but that things made entirely
by hand are dearer in the nlted States.
50 we see that while lower wages would
undoubtedly mean lower prices for the
splendid raimcnts and luXuries of the
rich, it would not make much differ
once in the prices of machine made ar
ticles purchased by our workingmen
and thus lower wages could only mean
diminished purchasing power, fewer
comforts and lower standard of living.
But this is not all. Cannot the work
lngman see that wages have not the
slightest connection with the cost OF the
hundred and one things which 90 to
make up his expenses? VIII the thou
sand dollar mortgage on his home be-
come less than thousand dollars be
cause he earns lower wages? Will the
debt he owes be smaller because his in
come is less Will the 5-cent car fare
be reduced, or the price of a newspa-
per, or the admission fee to the lecture
or entertainment? No, these things
Will cost Just as much as before, so that
lower wages simply mean more labor tO
purchase a smaller amount of them.
The intelligent Workingman cannot
but see that higher wages, not lower
prices. must be the watchword III the
battle to better his condition. AS Wen
dell Phillips used to say:
The maiI spring of our progress is high
WagS SS-WagcS at such Il level that tae
work. kiRgmcn can spare his wife to preside
over Il home, can command leisure, go IL
lectures, take newspaper. and lift him
self from the deadening level of mere toll.
That dollar lett after the bills are paid on
saturday night means education, lnde-
Iendence. Sclf-reSlcct, manhood: II i'll
creaSeS the yalue OF every acre near by,
fills the town with dwellings. opens pubhc
libraries and crowds them. dots the CONT
neHt with cities and cObwebS ii with rail-
ways. The one remaining dollar mSureS
progress and guarantees millions TO IL
owner, better than score Of statutes. IL
is worth more than Il thousand colleges,
and makes armies and police SUrcriiaouS.
question No. 10 The American Economis
says that II the tariff on agricultural machin-
erg we're abolished to- morrow. none of 1t would
or could bc imported. Why then keep Il duty
on it.
This will be recognized as a question
answered in these columns before.
We pointed out that it was Il tavorlte
method Of the free trader when con
fronted with the fact tnat American
products are actually cheaper and bet
ter IN many lines than similar products
in any other country under the sun,
rather than to admit that the wind has
been let out Of his tariff tax bubble, at
least SO far as the products in question
are concerned, to try to avoid the ami
hilatiug conclusion by faIlaciOusIy Y rails
ing the entirely distinct and indepen-
dent question, Why then is tariff neces-
sarv. Before answering this second
question, the first which is one of fact,
should be disposed of and the slgnlti-
cance of its answer clearly grasped.
Do agricultural implements sell more
cheaply here, quality considered, than
in any other county? No free trader,
if he be self-respecting and at all con
versant with the facts, will deny tha!
they 10. What follows? That farm
implements are not "tarlit-taXed' by 4
single cent: that the keystone Of the
free trade arch has fallen out. After
these admissions are wrcnchcd from
the free trader We are in position to
take up the other question, Why is 4
tariff kept on these things?
As a matter of fact, the tariff law does
not say a word about agricultural ma
chinery from beginning to end. 1t does
o"H 'H'N'
MANUFACTURES. utIcltS OH wares Hot Gnu
ncrated or provided Tor IN thlS act, COM
posed Wholil OF III i,tlt ol IRON Sttti' itau'
copper ilchti, pcNttl' INV sp,u, ~ +,, sil,.i
fia, dtuihliuli' u .sHS ptil,d ny,
ana NHeti7i panty VI N"'i'S man ''i'''
"ie"
shall pay duty OF ~ per cent. ad Valo-
rem. farm implements lail under th!s
classification. or rather they Wonld |
imported. About as many Tree trad.
ers as protectionists can be found
among manufacturers Of farm i'm.
plements, conclusive proof thatthe tart!
has nothing to do with fixing prices.
If they are mentioned at all, 1t Is doubt
full if they would bear any duty. But
no one thought 1t worth while to ask
for the removal of the duty on them,
since it Injuries no one. so it remains
II per cent, rs it stood III the old law,
The Mills bill placed it at 10 per cent.
1t rests with The free trader 10 snow
cause why plows and moving machines
should be picked out from a thousand
other things and made free. Is he will
ing II base his warfare against protec'
49,, M .ba axiStanrp of Sn inGperatI ye,