The weekly tribune., 1892-05-28
STRIKES AND PROTECTION.


ones. They are the legitimate children
of high protection and flourish among
the more highly protected industries.
The nine manufacturing states breed the
greater number They are the hot-beds
of strikes as they are the beneficiaries Of
a high protective tariff. The New Eng
land states with New York. New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, control the manufac-
turing industries of the country. They
have the capital and they have the
plants. They are also masters of the
labor market. They fix the hours and
price of labor as best suits their interest.
They carry on protected industries. An
immense amount of capital is invested in
them. The directors must so manage
the affairs Of the company as to declare
certain semi-annual dividend II the
markets be depressed and sales light,
cuts must be made upon the wages of
the employees to meet the regular divi-
dends These must be attended to if
every employe starve.
All these corporations, syndicates, and
monopolics that carry on this manufac-
turing are composed of high protection
lists. They are republicans. They claim
that protection enables them to give
their employees better wages. The cry is
taken up all along the republican line,
"Protection and high wages" The pro-
lection is given, but where are the high
wages! Ask the 1900 employees who
are today locked out of the factories of
the high tariff barons of New England!
Why should these 1000 men be locked
out: The answer is they want more
wages than their employers can give and
at the same time pay interest upon the
capital invested in their several indus
tries.
Why can not employers pay the wages
demanded:
Because business is dull.
What makes business dull:
The markets are glutted by overpro
! duction.
What causes overproduction:
High protection
How does high protection cause over
production?
Here is the explanation. High protcc-
ton induced capitalists to invest inn
mense sums Of money in manufacturing
plants. The owners Of these plants be
came competitors in the market. Prices
were cut followed by cuts in the wages
Of employees Strikes cnsued. In some
industries wages were adjusted and work
was resumed. In others lockouts oc-
Cured, and many suspended operations
altogether, Since the passage of the
Mckinley bill over 800 manufacturing
establishments have either closed down,
wholly or partially. or cut wages or
locked out employees.
| Why isn't the surplus production
shipped out of the country and sold in
foreign markets?
| Because the tariff stands in the way.
What has the tariff to do with export
ing surplus productions:
1t levies heavy duties upon raw ma
terial and our manufacturers cannot pay
them and enter foreign markets with
their finished products in competition
with like articles manufactured in free
trade countries.
SO our manufactured products must
be consumed at home or rot upon our
hands:
That is the logic Of a high protective
tariff.
This brief series Of questions and ans
wcrs explain the relation Of protection
| to strikes in nutshell Protection is
designed to protect tho manufacturer
not the wage Garner: he must look out
for himself He has attempted to do
this by forming labor unions and when
employers press down too hard he or
ganizcs strikes. Now we have complet
ed the circle and brought up at the first
proposition that protection breeds labor
strikes. and that they were unknown
before the enactment of the war tariff
AS to strikes Bradstreet's of the DIST
inst. is authority for the following state
mcnts: On the 10Th inst. there were
800 striking or locked-out employees in
Maine, J,iOO in Vermont, J,l2J in Mas
sachusetts, 1,lOO in New Hampshire
loo in Connecticut. 1900 in Rhode
Island, 10000 in New York city and
Brooklyn and the rest scattered else
where. That journal which Is very con
servatve in It's estimates makes the tota
number striking and locked-out for the
week ended May Dist, i5,0O0.For the cor
responding week last year the number
was l4,0OO.
These figures are low very low, but
low as they are they show
that counting five in a family there
are 225, 600 men, women and children ir
the limited States suffering from strikes