The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-10-01

ne more one KNOWS ABOUT hepuD-
lican protection the less one believes
in it, and th orough knowledge of
the subject would put to fight the
last particle of faith in this hum
bug still left among the people of
the United States. The most absurd
pretense as to protection is the pre-
tense that it enables protected man
ufacturers to pay the difference be-
tween the wages of American and
foreign workingmen. 1t does not,
because in most protected industries
there is mo- such difference as the
Republican protectionists pretend
to discover The fact is that in
most of these industries American
labor is the cheapest in the world.
You will not believe this if you read
only Republican newspapers, for
they take care to compare only the
day wages of foreigners, and in most
trades, whether protected or not.
American day wages are higher
than European day wages. 1t is
easy enough. however. to show that
this is not fair method of compar-
ison. One often hears a hustling
housewife say that she'd rather do a
piece of work herself than leave it
to careless child or an unskillful
lazy hired girl. Every farmer
knows that many good hand is
cheap at double the wages of an
idle, shiftless fellow. The woman
who knows how to do things finds
it cheaper and less wearing to mind
and body to do them herself than to
have them done by person who will
do them so badly that they must be
done over. The farmer would rath-
er pay thirty five dollars a month to
some hands than twenty to others.
What is true Of the household and
the farm is true of the factory and
the world in general There is no
mystery about this, and any man
who wishes to understand it may do
so and may come to understand it so
well that he can teach it to others.
Charles S. Hill, Republican pro-
tectionlst employed in the depart
ment of State, declared ON oath be-
fore the tariff commission that in
1872 5,250,000 hands in the United
States produced $8,000,000 worth
of manufactured goods, while in the
same year 5,140,2 hands in En-
gland produced only S4,o00,000
worth of goods. In other words,
American labor measured by the
amount it produced, was worth near
ly double what English labor was
worth. Thus the American manufac-
turer in that year would have paid
nearly 100 per cent. more wages
than the English manufacturer and
still have been better off as to profits.
The Neap York Press, high pro-
tectionist paper, declared a few
days ago that the labor cost in a
ton of paper made at sehuylerville
n. Y, was $3.50 less than the la
Dor cost of a ton OF paper made in
England. The American paper ma
ker however, was paid an average
of 1896 per year, while the average
of the English paper maker was less.
Thirty seven men at Schuylervlle
produced daily, an average of nearly
thirty tons each. The average daily
product of English paper makers
was only thirteen tons each.
Let every Democrat and every
man who thinks of becoming Dem
ocrat get a firm grip on the idea
that wages should not be compared
by days pay, but by the amount of
labor cost in given product. Don't
let any Republican protectionists
fool you with talk about the pauper
labor of Europe Remember ours is
the cheapest labor in the world be-
cause it is the best.