The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-03-02
PROTECTION KEEPS UP WAGES.

ports-The Principal Element in the Cost
of Producing These Materials Is Labor
Hence the Cost Is Greater on Account of
the Higher Wages Paid to Our Working
men.
st is not the duties that Brazil and
other South American countries impose
on the products of the United States en-
tering their ports" says free trade
paper" it is the duties imposed in the
United States upon materials of manu-
facture and of industry generally, and
upon the necessaries of life, that are the
chief obstacles"
The American workingmap has only
to carefully analyze these two sentences
to get at the real animus of the free
trade reform" doctrine. Suppose the
performer" himself is present to explain
and answer questions, and something
like the following dialogue would prob
ably ensue:
Workingman-How do the duties on
materials restrict our exports?
Reformer-By preventing the manu-
facturer from getting cheap materials
from abroad at prices paid by foreign
manufacturers. Obliged to use high
priced domestic materials, he cannot
sell his product as cheaply as the for
eign manufacturer can, and hence can
not compete with the products of the
foreign factory.
cotton and wooden cloth, chemicals,
paints, cordage, yarns, ribbons, laces,
metals, and numberless similar prod
ucts, used as materials in manufac-
turing?
misunderstanding These things
cost more in this country, and the
things made from them must cost more
Hence they can not compete with for
eign products in the markets of the
world
Workingman-You speak of the du-
ties upon the materials "of industry
generally" Define more clearly,
please?
Reformer-By that l mean the in
creased cost of machinery, higher rents
and such incidental items in the cost of
production, which are due to tariff en-
HANGED prices of machinists' supplies,
building materials and the like.
Workingman--Abo bout the necessaries
of life?
ACKNOWLEDGMENT cost of clothing,
salt, tinware, boots and shoes, and OF
similar workingmen's supplies necessi-
tates a relatively higher rate of wages.
Thus, the tariff on these things enters
into the cost of production, and oper,
ates to keep us out of the markets OF
the world.
Workingman-It means then that be-
ginning at the finished product and
tracing the materials to their sources,
the tariff affects them at every stage?
Reformer-That is the idea exactly.
The American manufacturer is COM
PEELED by protective duties to use high.
priced American materials, from ore
and wool to watch springsiand worsted
cloth.
Workingman-You speak of high
priced American materials" / can un.
derstand that the product of high-priced
materials must itself be high priced, but
you have not as yet explained the origin
of the high price. Why, for instance,
should American iron ore be more
''high priced" than English ore. Are
the iron mines more accessible or the
ore richer abroad than in America?
Reformer-We have some of the rich
est iron mines in the world and the ore
is more easily taken from them
Neutrality-suspicious. are the elements
in the cost of iron ore?
Recommendation is almost the only
element.
Worliingman-Ah! Then the reason
why American ore costs more is because
the labor which brings it to the door OF
the furnace costs more. 1t seems now
that we have reached something tangi
BILE in our pursuit of the tariff. Wher
you demand free ore you mean that
thousands of American miners and la
borers shall either be thrown out OF
employment or that their wages, which
cause the high price of the ore. be re.
duced to the level of foreign labor
think shall have no more difficulty ir
following your argument now that
have begun at the end opposite to the
finished product with which you started
The ore costs more because American
labor costs more, and that additional la
Dor cost clings to it through all its form;
till it ends in the higher priced machine
to which you object. Salt, that neces
sary of life, costs more because the labor
of producing it costs more. My coat
costs more because the wool grown by
high priced American farm labor cost
more. Your demand for cheaper ma
terials, then, is simply asking for lower
wages or no employment for the labor
producing them. When we come tc
consider the higher forms Of materials
like cloths, chemicals and so on, YOU
doctrine assumes more virulent mode
of attack on American labor. High
wages in their production are what
make the high prices" l will know
in the future what is covered up under
your sophistical references to the clog:
imposed on commerce by our tariff.
think that do not care for any of you
reform" thaull you.
HERE is some more testimony to tn,
honesty of the free trade walls "of tn,
poor oppressed farmer" a Maine far
mer writes as follows to the Oxford