Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-10-11

WELCOME, AGAIN, MR. CAARb ait =
ne have received the following COM
munieatlon from the Hon. A. ". CAMP
BELL. It's his reioinder to the REGIS
rER's reply yesterday to his card on the
subject Of the tariff and raw MATERIAL:
WHEELING, October 10th.
TO ~ Efior Of tie Register;
You conclude your con ments upon my
communication ia tO-day'S lSsus VIII the
following paragraph;
Finally NJ. Campbell should explain how be
rcconciles his statement that high tarln
m <es high wages with the statements In MS
letters % the In hjOsHcsr from Europe, when ne
was not taxing politics, 70 the eject that WIN
tie same popuintOn per 81 uare nile WAGES
would be lust - low to-day in the United States
as they are IN Europe.
We await our esteemed friends reply.
You Sc m, Mr.. Editor, from the refer
ences YOU have made TO the observations l
sent from Germany in regard TO the agri-
culture Of that country and the dense char
acter Of the population upon the soil, TO de-
sire 20 make me say, as a necessary corol.
larry thereto, that the tariff, or absence OF
it. has after all nothing whatever to do
with the matter of wages. This, too, not
withstanding the fact that in my remarks
az the Grand Opera House meeting last
Thursday night l was careful to quote the
Professor OF History at Heidelberg uni
versity as telling me in express terms that
the recent adoption of Protection had been
of decided benefit 10 Germany Gust as Bis
marck predicted it would be), and that it
was lifting Germany up to better condl-
ti0n Of life.
Low as are the wages paid in Germany
for almost all kinds Of service, yet they are
not as low as they were few years
ago before protection, and TINS
is a very important fact for
you 70 bear in MUD. Any intelligent
German will inform You on this point. But
even If 10 be probable that when we come
70 have the dense population Of Germany
we shall also have her general conditions
of life as respects wages and the severe
economies Of life; yet, certainly, that is no
reason why, in the stretch Of years before
US, we should anticipate the results OF such
overcrOwding Of the land and take away
from ourselves that very protection which
has ameliOrated the hardships OF life In
Germany. Because we may look forward IN
the distance 70 what history may reproduce
for US is no reason whatever, as matter OF
enlightened self-interest why we should
not avail ourselves, as preventive, OF that
very remedy to which Germany has at last
been driven by the exigencies OF its situa-
ton.
Therefore, Mr.. Editor, you will pardon
me for saying that fail to comprehend the
relevancy Of the connection which you seek
TO establish between my remarks at the
Grand Opera House and my correspond
ence in the IntClligeRcer in regard to agricul-
ture and the dense population OF Germany
Very respectfully,
A. w. CAMPBELL.
Mr.. CAMPBELL does not deny that If
the population per square mile were
equal between Germany and the United
States, wages and the mode of living
would to-day be in the United States
just as they are to-day in Germany
tariff or no tariff.
That is the point. But Mr.. CAMP
BELL lodges it by quoting German
professor who told him the rate Of
wages had been raised in Germany
since that nation adopted protection,
which is totally irrelevant because
wages the world over have been in
creased if we take only the amount of
money paid into the calculation. Wages
in Germany would have increased,
whether she had adopted protection or
not. Wages have increased to a far great
er extent IN free trade England than
they have in protected Germany, and II
we takethe purchasing poorer Of wages
into consideration free trade England
is the only country in the world where
wages have actually been increased.
In England the cost Of living has de-
creased while wages have increased,
while in Germany the cost Of living has
increased to a much greater extent than
wages.
But let us turn the camera on our own
country, That is the tariff picture we
are particularly interested in. Since
the abandonment 0or lcar purposes at
the start Of what Mr.. CAMPBELL calls
a ''free trade tariff wages in the United
States have steadily decreased-not, Of
course, including the war period. As
the tariff has gone up wages have Como
down and never so rapidly as since Nc
KINLEY increased the tariff from - to
66 per cent. In the past two years
there have been more than FIVE hundred
labor troubles-strikes, lock-outs and
reductions OF wages-snd nothing has
saved the United States from a imam
cial panic but the unpreCedentely large
wheat crop last year and the famine in
Europe, which enabled the American
farmer TO dispose Of his. surplus for
cash, placing the balance OF trade
largely in our favor. If Mr.. CAMPBELL
has had time to study the financial sit
uation since his return from Germany
he will admit this.
There are some points in regard to the
German tariff which Mr.. CAMPBELL evil
IDENTIFY did not get while he was over
there.
An exhaustive history Of it has been
written by a German professor, DR..
It shows how the Ger
man tariff, adopted in the first place to
increase the revenue, has been perpetu-
ated and made more burdensome for the
sake of enabling certain classes to OBJ
tain artiAcially increased profits at the