Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-08-19
WHAT Pixies WAGES 2

flepuDicHn protCctiOn ~ JUSTIFIED Dy ~
authors and promoters sOl6ly upon the "a
sumed ground that IL benefits the work
inamnn. The platform adopted ut Mime
apolis demands the continuance q higl
protectlon "a order that capitalists ma.
nav TO workiDgmen higher wages than ar
n,,N In the foreign manufacturing con
o.,ns with which native manufacturer
arc called upon To compete. IIereis Sim
pie issue, AMI II IL can be shown that th'
effect ~ Republican protection u MOI u
Improve the ,sa-es n American wosAing
men, the fali.cy 81 the l. publican 2re;enS
IL exposed.
II Republican protecti really hclp1 tn
workingmAn 10 must act IN this fashion:
The duty upon foreign goods must DO high
enough either 10 prevent their importation
or ~ 70 increase their price that they shall
not underseil goods made Ia the United
States. In other words, protection must
either leave the American market exclu.
sively 10 the American manufactures, OF Il
must see that prices arc high enough to
make sure that his goods sell at fair
profit.
But where does the workingmaD come
ini Nobody pretends that protected man
ufacturers pay higher wagce merely be
callso they are able 10 do 10. They pay the
market rate But what fixes tho market
ratei Workingmen and farmers can an
swer this question ~ we'll IA any one elsc
II only thoy will stop a moment 10 think
upon things that go on under their noeea
Let us first ask the farmer what he knows
about wages. He soos that tho pay of
farm laborcrs In winter, where there Is lit
tie % do and there aro plenty II hlo men
to do It, is small. le sees that wages 90
up and up Ia harvest time when work II
plenty and hands are ecarce. What; then,
fixes wagosf Not the feeling OF the farmer
who hires workmen but the amount of
work to be dono compared with tho mum
Der Of men TO do IL, or as the phrase Ia,
demand and supply.
What do workinRmen know abcnit this
measured Every farm labopr secs Just
whht tho farmer secs. and all o;ter kinds
Of workmen 500 tho same thing. II you
happen to have n traAo requiring skin and
long apprenticeship, 10 that compare
lively few men can get into II. wages Ia
that trade will be high, because tho men
that work no It are scarce. II you happen
TO do unskilled work that any good, strong
man Of ordinary intelligence can do, wages
will be lower thnn In tho other trade. be-
cause most men have strong muscles and
intelligence enough To do such work. But
suppose village ~ about TO make noyg
streets, build sewers or do any other such
work that requires many day laborers,
don't you ilnd that until tho village gets
moro men asking for jobs than II has jobs
to giyo it must pay more than the usuGl
ratio OF laborers' wages In that rcgionf IL
II tho old story OF demand and supply, md
the village does not pay moro wages BE-
cause 1t Is abio to pay them, but because 1t
must pay them.
Again. suppose men In a particular
skilled traae form'a labor union and ask
foy higher wages What happensi The
employer either pays tho advance or rc-
fuses to pay It. He refuses II he believes
that be cannot easily get other men in
place cf those who ask moro wages. Does
he pay the advance because protection or
something else makes him able to pay III
No, but because he must pay IL or quit
businesa Hero is tho play OF supply and
demand modified, not by protection, look
you, but by the artificial scarcity Of labor
produced by the formation Of working
mems union. Now aud then we hear Of
protected employers who refuse TO grant
the demands Of their men, lock them out,
and even 20 TO war with them In order TO
AVOID paying an advance of wages, and
that, too, after congress has increased the
protection on tho manufacturers products
In order that he may pay higher wages.
This Is the sort of humbug that Repub.
lican protection Is whenever you look II
squarely In the face.