The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-08-26
THE WORKINGMEN IND THE
TARIFF.

Mr.. Mckinley and other protection
list orators have asserted time and
again that one object of the high
tariff was to enable the manufacturer
to make larger profits and thus pay
the American workmen higher wages.
The workmen listened to this siren
song in 1888 and believing it thousands
of them voted for Harrison. 1t is not
strange, therefore, that they should
conclude that they are, in manner,
partners with the manufacturers in
whatever benefits may accrue from
the Mckinley tariff, and it is natural
that they should resent any attempt
to reduce their wages. This is what
has caused the great strike at Home
stead and that is the bottom of nearly
all the contests between organized
labor and capital. The fact is that
under the stimulus of prices that pre-
vent foreign competition American
manufacturers have glutted the
market with their goods and finding
no ready sale for them they have been
obliged to sell at lower prices, dis
charge their workmen or curtail
their wages. The price paid for labor
is regulated invariably by the number
of persons seeking employment in any
particular industry and the demand
for goods Manufacturers never pay
Their hands as much as they can but
the lowest amount for which they can
obtain competent labor.
Workingmin are beginning to see
that high tariff does not mean high
wages. On the contrary by discourag-
ing foreign nations from trading with
us our markets become overstocked
with manufactured goods and manu-
facturers must curtail their expenses
by shutting down their establishments
or discharging some of their hands.
Protectionists claim that wages are
higher under the Mckinley tariff than
they ever were before This is true,
if the average is taken of the protected
and unprotected industries, but sta
tistics show that in the protected in
dustries wages have been lowered
while in the unprotected Industries,
such as transportation companies,
carpenters, bricklayers, stone masons,
&c, wages are higher for the same
number of hours of work than
they were before the Mckinley
tariff bill was passed. This is quite
logical, since the high tariff has in
creased the cost of living. Working
men have found out the fact that in
free-trade England wages are higher,
in corresponding trades, than they
are in tariff protected European coun-
tries The workingman who looks
into the subject will also find that in
the period from 1916 to 1861, when the
United Statesprospered and grew great
under a low tariff, wages were higher
than they were in Europe and were
constantly rising.
In those halcyon days, too, farmers
were not under whip and spur, as
they are now, but they lived comfort
ably and many of them, instead of
having mortgages on their farms,
had money to lend. Our older readers
remember those old times and know
that they were better than these.
Then we had low tariff, which yield
ed only what was needed for the ex-
penses of government, economically
administered. Now we have high
tariff, with extravaganza, prof1igacy
and dishonesty in every branch of
the public service. Cleveland and
Stevenson are pledged to a reform of
this Ubiquitous tariff. Harrison and
Reid are equally pledged to continue
it. Choose between them.