Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1892-09-23
INCREASE IN WHOLESALE PRICES
OCT. |. lhAD. TO JILY lSnl

Net increases. SIZE, $40 552
Notwithstanding these undeniable facts,
the senator from Rhode Island asserted, II
not In express terms, at least by necessary
Inference, that the prices of commodities
and the cost of living declined during the
period covered by the investigation. He
said, There can be no longer any question
as to the course of prices for the period
covered by the committees investigations"
and think every one who heard his speech
understood him to maintain that prices
and the cost Of living were lower during
that period than they were before.
Protection Did Not Help Wages.
But, Mr.. President, l must pass on to
another subject. The committee also, as ]
have already said, caused an investigation
to be made as to the rates of wages during
this same period in fifteen OF what are
called general occupations, most OF which
are almost entirely In the nonprotected in
dustries, as will be seen when l come to
state them, and in fifteen special occupa-
tions which are hignly protected by the
tariff law
The result Of that investigation Is shown
by the report. The fifteen general occupa-
tions selected by the committee as fairly
representative OF the rate of wages received
In all the general occupations in the coun-
try were as follows, and asks senators to
give their attention to them as | state
them, In order that they may determine
for themselves how far they are protected:
Bakers, blacksmiths, bricklayers-I sup
pose there is scarcely anybody who will in
sist that bricks can be laid in a wall in
a foreign country and imported to this
tharafnra n hri iclr n 10
much protected by n tariff law; cabinet
makers, earpenters-of whom the same
thing may be said as Of bricklayers; com.
mon laborers, farm laborers, machinists,
masons-who lay stone in a wall which
cannot be imported--molders of iron, paint
ers, plumbers, stonecutters, tailors and
tinsmiths. These are the fifteen general
occupations selected by the committee. and
they are the occupations upon which the
rates OF wages rose 75-100ths Of per cent.
during the period covered by the investi-
cation, and they were that much higher at
its close than they We're at the beginning.
The senator from Rhode Island stated
generally. as will be seen from his printed
speech, that the committee had found that
while there had been decline in prices
there had been an increase of 15-lU0ths of |
per cent. in wages, whereas assert now,
with the tables before me, that the only
instances in which any increase of wages
occurred, taking the whole together were
In those fifteen substantially unprotected
industries, and will show presently that
In the fifteen highly protected industries
in which the rates OF wages had increased
before the Mckinley bill passed there was
decrease after it passed. If any of these
fifteen general occupations are or can be
protected or in any way assisted by the
tariff, it must be cabinet makers and
molders Of iron, and yet. although the Nc
Kinley tariff act increased the duties on
household or cabinet furniture, the wages
of cabinet makers fell after its passage,
and although it reduced the duties upon
all forms of iron castings except hollow
ware. coated, glazed or timed, the wages
in that occupation increased after its pas
sage.
/ do not make this statement for the
purpose Of showing that the act itself in
creased wages in the one case or decreased
them in the other. My purpose is simply
to show that the tariff does not affect
wages at all except to diminish their pur-
chasing power, because if it did we could
prove two wholly inconsistent propositions
to be true-first, that tariffs raise wages.
and secondly that tariffs reduce wages.
The man who wants to employ labor does
just what is done by every other man who
wants to procure anything-he gets it at
the very lowest rate at which the law of
supply and demand will enable him to get
it, tariff or no tariff. The employer pur-
sues the same course, whether he is in a
free trade country or in protective coun-
try.
The general statement made by the SEN
ator from Rhode Island that the wages Of
labor rose 75-1OOths Of per cent during the
period of investigation was true only of
the fifteen unprotected occupations and
should have been qualified accordingly.
have already said that we ascertained
the rates Of wages in fifteen other indus
tries, and will now enumerate them in
order that senators may determine for
themselves whether they are industries
which the tariff is intended to protect;
they are the manufactures of bar iron.
boots and shoes, cotton goods, cotton and
woolen goods, crucible steel flint glass.
green glass lumber, machinery, pig iron,
steel ingots, steel blowers, steel rails, win
dow glass and woolen goods. Here are