St. Paul daily globe., 1892-10-26
TARIFF AND WAGES.
Continued From First Page.


wages to mechanics and workmen.
More than this: the increased demand
Tor American goods, which is caused by
the exchange, c0mpels employers TO
engage more American workmen; and
so two bosses are running after one
man. and the mans wages go up. Ac-
cordingly it will be found, by referring
to the past history of the country, that
wages have always been high when i'm
pOrtatlonS from abroad were large and
have always been low when importa-
tons were small.
High Tariffs Never Made High
Wages.
History shows us that whenever the
| tariff has been largely increased, wages
have fallen; and whenever the tariff
has been largely reduced, wages have
advanced. This, at least. has been true
III nine cases out of ten. 1t is true, how
| ever, that wages have advanced in the
long run, even under high tariffs, and
although do not believe that wages
have yet advanced under the Mckinley
tariff, do not doubt that in the course
of two or three years they would do so.
But that is simply because the ingenu
lty and industry of the American people.
combined with the enormous amount of
own large country, soon counteracts
the bad effects of any bad tariff; and.
i'll spite of all " which the tariff makers
can do the country will prosper. War,
famine and pestilence certainly are not
good things for any country, or for the
workmen employed in it; and yet this
country has always gone on prospecting
in time of war and in time OF partial
famine or partial pestilence. From 1861
to 1865 we suffered from terrible war;
and yet we proSpered. In 1854 and 1881
our grain crops were in many parts of
the country
A Total Failure;
and the corn crop. which is the princi
pal one, fell short about one-third over
the whole country; and yet we pros
pered. viii any one say that our pros
perity was due to these disasters? Yes:
there are some idiots who will tell you
so; and particularly that inspired idiot
| who writes the reports for the agricult-
ural department of the United States,
and who seems really to believe that the
| farmers of this country are better off
when they lose half their crop than
when they get it all in. But l am not
now talking TO idiots, but to men of
| sense, who have their eyes open and
| have not become crazy upon political
puCotlOilo. n oHOit CiOp 40 SuloO
| alike to the farmer and the mechanic.
But when short crop comes, we all
work harder than we did before. to
make up for the loss. Just so it is with
the tariff. When the tariff is increased.
we cut short our holidays, we intensity
| our labor, and we thus earn living. as
we did before. Whereupon Mr.. McKin-
| ley waves his hand. in view of our pros
| perity. and says: II did all this, with
| my little tariff"
Foreign Pauper Labor.
Protectionlsts point to foreign rates
| OF low wages as proof that the Ameri-
! can tariff raises your wages. They al
ways want to compare your wages with
| those paid in ''free-trade England;"
| but they are careful not to tell
you that England has population
| ten times as great in proportion to its
| land as we have, and that this alOne
would be sufficient to account for the
difference in wages. They are careful
| not to let you KnOw that throughout
| Europe wages grow lower and lower.
| exactly as protection grows higher and
| higher. France and Germany have
high protective tariffs, and wages there
are only two-thirds Of what they are in
| England. Italy has still higher tariff,
and wages are less than One-half what
they are in England. Russia has the
| highest protection of any country. and
wages are there only one. fourth of what
they are in England. If it is protection
which makes wages high, why ara not
wages higher in Russia than in En-
gland, and indeed higher than in this
country? For the protective tariff of
Russia is higher than our own.
Protection to the Farmer.
Where does the farmer come in? The
prosperity Of Minneapolis is entirely de-
| pendent upon the prosperity OF Mime
! sofa and Dakota farmers. The protect
i've tariff makes farmers poor and keeps
| them poor. 1t is the object of such
| tariff to shut out as many foreign goods
as possible, especially those produced
| in Europe, which is our farmers best
| customer. 1t succeeds in shutting out
! every year some 5000, 10000 to $500, ,000,-
| 00U worth of European products. If these
| were allowed to come in, they would be
| paid for almost entirely in wheat, corn.
| beef, pork and cotton. Minnesota and
the Dakotas, being great wheat-grow-
ing states, would do an enor-
nous business if foreign goods were
| allowed to come in freely. Minneapolis
alone would manufacture and sell direct
| to foreign countries over 100000 bar
rels of flour year in excess of all that
is made here now. There would be such
a demand for wheat and grain that
| American Farmers
could not begin to supply it in the first
| year after the protective tariff was re-
pealed. AS soon as farmers could plow
the land and raise the crops. they would
sell to Europe every year. in addition to
what they sell now, 150,000.000 bushels
of wheat (half of which would be turned
| into flOur), $50, ,000,UC0 barrels of corn,
| and 2000, ,00o, 600 pounds of provisions; !;
while the farmer of the South would also
| find customers for 6,000,00 bales of cot
ton. in addition to all which they sell
now. The price OF wheat would go up
| 80 cents bushel, the price OF corn 10 10
| 20 cents and cotton 3 ceniS pound.
The farmers of the West would have a
! bigger boom than anything they have
ever dreamed of, and boom, too, which
would last. because this advance i'll
price would be permanent. The present
Republican administration declares that
there are 150.000.000 people in Europe
who never eat wheat, very few of whom
ever taste a piece of American meat.
| But they would all be glad to eat
both your -four and your meat, if
you would only let them pay you
in the things that they make and which
|
Kinley tariff by keeping out the good
| things with which Europe is ready to
pay US, keeps in the wheat, corn and
cotton which we produce in excess of
our own wants. and which are there
| fore perfectly worthless to US.
To Keep You Poor and PioUs.
What, then, is the tariff maintained
| for, and especially why do we have
| protective tariff i? 1t is, we are told, for
| the protection and encouragement of
| American labor. SO it is. 1t is in-
vented Tor the purpose of making the
| American laborer do more labor than
he ever did before the tariff was laid
| upon him,a to compel him. all his life
/ long, to do twice as much labor for each
| dollar as he would have to do without
it. 1t encourages and develops labor,
no doubt; but as to protecting the la
/ borer himself. that is very different
| thing. If the burden of the protective
l tariff yEpra talyan off thoir Sbouljor,