San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-20
At"The Lowest Wa ges and Profits .

At"The Lowest Wa ges and Profits"
The great error with most American
students in considering the tariff
from the stand point of history is that
they do not 60 back tar enough. For
the last thirty years the question has
not been debated by the IRE etraders
in the bold and outspoken fashion of
the earlier days when they stood In
little fear of the votes of workingmen,
and were free to declare ope My their
determination to cheaper labor aid
reduce wages by lowering the tariff.
By going back to 1882 and applyiI &
the methods of historic study TO the
great tariff debate of that year, the
author of 1.-THE Tariff Riddle" has
succeeded in clearing up q great
amount OF confusion, aud making the
issue between free trade and protec.
ton no riddle at all.
The anti. protectlonist storm which
broke in 1882 had been gathering head
for many years, just as the Southern
free traders grew more and more
determined not to pay the cost of
high wage, free labor system at the
North. Thus in the Exposition
adopted by the Legislature of South
Carolina in 1928 as it's solemn remOns.
trance and protest against protection,
no secret was made of the fact that
the south wanted the tariff lowered
for the express purpose of red ucing
Northern wages and profits. On the
contrary, in stating the eff. ct of low
tariff on the North and South, respec-
lively, the Legislature of South Caro-
| lima said:
1T would compel them Northern
producers) to contend with the rest
of the world in our market In free
and open competition, the effects of
which would have been q reduction
of prices to the lowest point, thereby
enabling US to exchange the product
lof our labor most advantageously-
giving little and receiving niue b,
while on the other hand in order to
meet European competition they
would have been compelled to work
ct the lowest wages and profits"
AS is shownfn The Tariff Riddle
this seductive idea OF the cotton plan
ter" giving little and receiving much
while Northern wOrkingmen were Il
be compelled to work at the loves
wagest and profits" has been at thu
bottom of Southern opposition to thu
tariff for more than three score years
At one time twas openly and frankly
admitted that such Yves the object O
"tariff reform" 1t would be ruiuoui
in these days of universal suffrage
and q preponderance of strength in
the North to disclose the whole truth
and declare that the purpose OF . low
tariff is to cut down Northern wage,
and profits. The real purpose has t
be kept veiied nowadays, but there
has been no real change in the poll.
cies of the cotton South. Now, &c
ever, it demands revenue tariff, AND
for the same purpose as i'm 1928, viz
to effect reduction OF Northern
wages. Generations come and 90,
but the doctrine Of the Southern free
traders remains the same. II the
Democratic onven ton which meets
in Chicago could have the full cour-
age of Its convictions and desire to
tell the whole truth like an honest
Injun," it would frankly and fear.
lessly adopt the citation made above
as It's tariff plank, and thus, like the
South Carolina legislature of 1928,
make the real doctrine of tariff re.
FORM SO plain that q warfaring man,
| though fool, could not or therein.