New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-30
THE VORKING SIDE.


that the average wage-cancr receives Sl'l %
in 1892, whereas in 1860 he had 500. ms
Gain in wages has been accompanied by gen
c,al reduction of prices. so that while ne cOuld
purchase 90 worth of food, clothing and other
nccessarcs in 1860 he can now buy what i
equivalent 10 Sl997l with the same amount
of labor Tho net result OF thrtN-two years
Of Protection has been the doubling OF the
value of his labor. He both earns more ana
the purchasing power of his wages is also large
IL increased This is n mathematical demon
stration based upon census reports and prices
current of the falsity of the Democratic clam
that working people have been held up and
robbed by the tariff.
These tremendous gains for American labor
have been made in the f1ce Of an immigration
movement unexamplcd in modern times. since
1850 the number Of European and Canadian
immigrants who have settled in the United
States has exceeded 10.000.000 That Is an
! increase of working population which IN any
| other country would have lowered the rate OK
wages There has been so vast a reserve Of
power in the Protective stem that this great
surplus OF foreign population has been absorbed
without having any appreciate effect upon
wages. IF England has been able to maintain
superiorty in wages over European countries, It
| has been because its own population has not
| been increased by imml grafton, while large
! homo surplus has been drained on 10 the colo
MES and TO the United states. Here those con
| ditiOns have been reversed. Millions oi Tor
ccn laborcrs have been brought into The com
try with their families yet wages have risen
and the purchasing power of "A unit OF labor
has practically been doubled in thirty two
! years. There is, perhaps, 10 fact in the wide
| range of the economic experience of nations
more remarkable than this. II is an unanswer-
able proof Of the utility Of Protection in pro-
noting the welfare Of the great army of Amer
can workers Of native and foreign stock
This is the record of that Protective Tariff, TO
the maintenance of which the Republican party
is pledged by its platform principles and by the
unbroken practice of It's representatives. in Con
gress since 1860. Opposed to that record is
| the promise Of the Democracy that there shall
be tariff for revenue only. What will be the
| first result of such tariff aS Mr. Cleveland
proposes? Larger importaions of foreign mer-
chandse in the production of which European
labor has been employed. That means less
work and less money in it for American work
ers While Protection has put premium
| uDOn American labor, MI tlcNcland : revenue
tariff will heavily discount the wages which
are now received. There will be more work
for foreigners and less of it for Americans
under such a system. II the working popula-
ton are employed under such tariff. it must
be at wages and under conditions approximate
| ing to the foreign level.
There is practical way OF summing up this
question. Is the United States, after absorb
ing since 1860 1000, 600 Of the surplus pop,
ulation Of Europe and employing it at wages
higher than arc known anywhere else, under
any moral obligation now to furnish work for
the millions who have remained behind Ought
| the tariff system to be changed so as to take
away employment from American workmen,
native and naturazed, and to give the prefer
ence to European workers? There cannot be
any such obligation. The American people
have done their share Of the worlds work Of
civilization when they have enabled 10000
600 of foreigners TO better their condition. to
live more comfortably than they were living
| in Europe and To get on in the world. Their
only safeguard against social unrest and revo-
luton lies in the maintenance Of an industrial
system by which American workmen will be
fully employed at good wages