Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-09-14
INCREASE IN WHOLESALE PRIC FROM
OCT. l, 1889, TO July l. 1891.


Total. .s445, ,s1s, ,ss5
Deductions:
aug. !, Iogl OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 5S3, ,333
Sept. !, lsol.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 2,525, 700
Total l.......................... 3,1Os, 1888
Total increases. es....................4 445,6l8 SS5
Total decreases. Observation-Disclosures. 3,108, 1888
Net increases. s442, ,51O, $50
Notwithstanding these undeniable facts,
the senator from Rhode Island asserted, if
not in express terms, at least by necessary
inference, that the prices of commodities
and the cost of living declined during the
period covered by the investigation. He
said, ''There can be no longer any question
as to the course of prices for the period
covered by the committees investigation"
and think every one who heard his speech
understood him to maintain that prices
and the cost of living were lower during
that period than they were before.
Protection Did Not Help Wages.
But, Mr.. President, must pass on to
another subject. The committee also, as
have already said, caused an investigation
to be made as to the rates of wages during
this same period in fifteen of what are
called general occupations most of which
are almost entirely in the nonprotected in
dustries, rs will be seen when come to
state them, and in fifteen special occupa-
tions which are highly protected by the
tariff law.
The result of that investigation is shown
by the report. The fifteen general occupa-
tions selected by the committee as fairly
representative of the rate of wages received
in all tho general occupations in the coun-
try were as follows, and 1 asks senators to
rive fhni, 81
them, in order that they may determine
for themselves how far they are protected:
Bakers, blacksmiths, bricklayers-I sup
pose there is scarcely ANYBODY who will in
sist that bricks can be laid in 6. wall in
a foreign country and imported TO this
country, and therefore bricklayer is not
much protected by tariff law; cabinet
makers, carpenters-of whom the same
thing may be said as of bricklayers; COM
mon laborers, farm laborers, machinists.
masons-who lay stone in wall which
cannot be mported-molders of iron, paint
ers, plumbers, stonecutters, tailors and
tinsmiths. These are the fifteen general
occupations selected by the committee. and
they are the occupations upon which the
rates of wages rose 75-100ths of per cent
during the period covered by the investi-
cation, and they were that much higher at
its close than they were at the beginning.
The senator from Rhode Island stated
generally, as will be seen from his printed
speech, that the committee had found that
while there had been decline in prices
there had been an increase of 75-100ths of
per cent in wages, whereas / assert now,
with the tables before me, that the only
instances in which any increase of wages
occurred, taking the whole together, We're
in those fifteen substantially unprotected
industries, and will show presently that
in the fifteen highly protected industries
in which the rates of wages had increased
before the Mckinley bill passed there was
Q decrease after 1t passed. If any of these
fifteen general occupations are or can be
protected or in any way assisted by the
tariff, it must be cabinet makers and
molders of iron, and yet, although the Nc
Kinley tariff act increased the duties on
household or cabinet furniture, the wages
of cabinet makers fell after its passage,
and although it reduced the duties upon
all forms of iron castings except hollow
ware, coated, glazed or timed, the wages
in that occupation increased after its pas
sage.
do not make this statement for the
Pol POoO VI SAOWAhE3 oudo tuC etCU lOS0lI III
creased wages il the one case or decreased
them in the other. My purpose is simply
to show that the tariff does not affect
wages at all except to diminish their pur-
chasing power, because if it did we could
prove two wholly inconsistent propositions
to be true-frst, that tariffs raise wages,
and secondly that tariffs reduce wages.
The man who wants to employ labor does
1ct 1,ot hxva l,
wants to procure anything-he gets it at
the very lowest rate at which the law of
supply and demand will enable him to get
it, tariff or no tariff. The employer pur-
sues the same course, whether lie is in
free trade country or in protective coun-
try.
The general statement made by the SEN
ator from Rhode Island that the wages Of
laborro 75-1O0ths of per cent. during the
period OF investigation was true only OF
the fifteen unprotected occupations and
should have been qualified accordingly.
have already said that we ascertained
the rates of wages in fifteen other indus
tries, and will now enumerite them in
order that senator's may determine for
themselves whether they are industries
which the tariff is intended to protect;
UHey dro INC InauuldclufcS OF Dflr iron,
boots and shoes, cotton goods, cotton and
woolen goods, crucible steel, flint glass,
green glass, lumber, machinery, pig iron,
steel ingots, steel blowers, steel rails, win
dow glass and woolen goods Here are
fifteen of the most highly protected indus
tries in the United States, and the wages
of the laborers employed in them fell So
100ths of l per cent after the passage of the
Mckinley act, notwithstanding the rise
of 75-100ths of per cent. in the wages of
laborers engaged in the nonprotected in
dustries.
One Of the most significant facts dis
closed by the report in relation to this sub
ject is that the rates of wages in these pro
tected industries had increased 65-1 100ths of
lper cent, between the beginning of the
investigation and the approval of the tariff
act on Oct. l, 1890, ss.l consequently the
entire decrease of S9-l l00ths of per cent. oc-
CURED after this law was passed for the
benefit of the workingman.
Now, Mr.. President, on these questions
concerning wholesale and retail prices, cost
of living and rates of wages, have pre-
sented the figures made by the statistician
Of the committee, based upon the actual
rnturns made to us bv the AGENTS who were