The Saline County journal., 1892-07-21
NOT DUE TO rHE rARrrr.

NOT DUE TO fHE rAB1fk.
Free-Trade England Has Twice as Much
Labor Trouble as This Country.
lIMaj. s. @. Brock, Chief Of the Bu-
reau Statistics at Washington has
some interesting facts and figures
bearing on the subject Of strikes and
lock-outs. In his speech on the
Homestead riots, Senator voorhees,
boldly charges these riots and the
prevalence OF strikes generally, to
Republican tariff legislation. Maj.
Brock says statistics are against
Voorhees,.
"In answer to your inquiry" he
replied 10 a correspondent who had
approached him on the subject, 81
should say that such q conclusion or
statement, no matter from what
scource il may come, is q great abb
surdity. as any thinking person who
will free himself from prejudice Will
very soon perceive. In the first
place IL is claimed by advocates OF
protection, and practically admitted
by all, that a protective tariff is not
only made for that purpose, but does
In fact increase the wages Of laborers,
both skilled and unskilled. 1t Ii
well known that the workmen at
Homestead in the Carnegie mills rs
well as those In similar manufactor.
les throughout the Uuited States, re-
ceiye double the wages that are paid
workmen in English factories for
the same class Of labor, and they re-
ceive more than double the wages
that are paid in Belgium, the next
largest iron producing and iron man
ufacturing country. Now, II In not
very reasonable and just to conclude
that there will be less discomfort
and much less liability TO strikes In
a community where wages are are
high than in one where they are low {?
So that In fact, SO far from protect
tive tariff which more or less in
creases wages causing strikes, 1t is
in fact a preventive of strikes"
Have you any figurrs handy that
will Uphold this view?"
Yes % replied the statistician TAX
ing up a big blue-covered octave vol
ume; "here, for instance, Is the
British report on the strikes and
lockouts OF 1890, presented to both
Houses of Parliament by command OF
Her Majesty. This report ives print
ed in 1891 In London. Here is q
large volume of nearly 400 pages,
which Is q very full and complete
analysis of the strikes and lockouts
I'm the United Kingdom, France,
Germany and the United States.
From this report we learn that
in 1880 there were In the United
Kingdom IO2s strikes, affecting 392,
asl persons. In the United States
during the same year there were 92I
strikes, affecting 2ls,915 persons; In
Germany, IS strikes, affecting 5, 500
persons; and in France, 81 strikes,
affecting 9S1 90 persons. You viii
see that there were q greater num-
beT of strikes In the United King
dom than in the United States, not
withstanding there il what IL termed
"free trade" i'm the Queens domain.
But IL should be remembered that In
1880 the population OF the United
Kingdomwas 81, 465, ,9ol while In the
United States the population was
&c, ,622 80, and that the number OF
strikes In proportion to the popula-
tion of Great Britain was nearly
double the number In the United
States. Furthermore, these strikes
mentioned in the British report do
not include the numerous bread
riots prevalent in Europe, but un-
known in this country, resulting |
from the frequent suffering OF the |
people for food.
"It appears, as you Will ind by |
figuring out the proportion, that each |
strike in the United Kingdom affect |
ed on an average 3S2 persons, while |
each strike in this country affected |
but 237 persons so that much great
er number Of employees were invOl-
we'd In labor troubles In the King
dom of Great Britain than In this re-
public. From this you will zee that
strikes prevail to q greater extent
and are more disastrous In Great
Britain than they are here. There
is much less occasion for strikes In
this country, because Il In an undis-
puted fact that the condition OF the
working people Of America is far
superior TO the condition OF the Ia
boring classes in the United King
dom. Only little reflection IL nee
esssry TO convince any one OF this
fact. As rule the working people
of the United States own their own
homes, which IL rarely the case in
any European country. We are
told that in the City of Leeds, . great
center of England,
with q population Of over 00, 900, not
. working man owns the home In
which he lives; while at Homestead
over 90 per cent OF the mill workers
have homes Of their own. Such IL
largely the case in all the manufAct.
uring towns of the United States.
again, what do the statistics Of
our savings bank deposits show?
In 1890 the deposits In the savings
banks Of the United States were e1,-
So, ,s44, sos, and Ass, SIS depositcrs.
The average 10 each deposit0rs was
435S.04. There are less than one
fourth this number Of deeositcr and
one third of the amount Of depoaits
In the United Kingdom
"What about the statement that
the Mckinley tariff encouraged
strikes and increased the profits Of
the owners of these iron and steel
mills, bat was Oppressive 70 the
s-sss-E.
tSuch statements are sheer non-
,ense, a. yon will readily see whsn
you understand that the AoKlnleyI
bill did mot increase the tafi6 on
eadins manufactures Of irOn and II
Dtsel. For instance on stSueeafAf
iron, such - beams, girderss etc.,
The tariff under the recent tRfin law
b nine-senthe Of lc per pound; m. |