The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-07-02
A QUESTION OF MARK ETs.
1t il a good sign to see people d

boring men are beginning to learn that
it is markets for the products Of their la
Dor they want and not a tariff which
cripples or destroys them. The idea
that the demand for and price of labor
depend upon a high protective tariff is
being discarded by wage-earners. They
have been told and retold that a tariff
tax upon imported foreign-made goods
which compete with like goods made by
themselves gave them better wages as
compared with foreign workmen. They
are finding out their mistake.
The republican cry of ''Free trade and
low wages" directed against the demo-
cratic party, has lost it's force. Years OF
experience have taught them that the
price of labor is regulated by the demand
for it. They find that when two en-
ployers run after one workman wages is
good. but that when two workmen run
after one employer the price Of labor
goes down. They have Furthermore
learned that when the market for labor
products is good the employer does the
running and when it is poor the employees
are the ones who play the heel .and-toe
act.
Putting these two truths together
wage earners find their interests lie in
the direction of creating more and
broader markets for the products of their
hands and skill. With a hungry market
for the fruits of their toll the question of
labor would be settled in their favor.
Hence their discussion of the tariff ques-
ton has centered around the question of
markets rather than around that of
wages. The question is: Does the tariff
give us markets for the products of our
labor: And this brings them to a con
sideration of the effects of the great
trusts and combines formed around
them. They see that the objects of these
trusts and combines is to give their en-
ployers monopoly prices in the home
market. rather than moderate prices in
the markets of the world. And they
furthermore see that a high protective
tariff breeds and fosters these trusts and
monopolies which narrows the field of
labor.
There are other things which the la
b ring men of the country have quietly
learned. They have learned that while
the products of their own hands are
protected for the benefit of their EN-
ployers their " labor is not protected.
While the cry is being raised that Amer
lean manufacturers are protected against
the manufactures OF foreign pauper la
bor," foreign pauper labor is brought
into the country to compete with them.
That while their employers are reaping
the benefits of protected industries the
wages of the employees was being re-
duced by the free importation and unre-
buked presence OF armies of foreign la
borers ready to take their places at most
any price. \ tariff which produces this
condition of things is not the tariff they
want. They want one that will create
markets thus furnishing employment for
labor; not one that restricts the market,
and swells the list Of unemployed men.
They have furthermore learned that
as long as the present tariff is in force,
trusts can close down factory after fac
tory. and shut down mill after mill,
throwing labor out of employment and
cutting down its wages. while they WELD
with merciless force the power of con
solidated corporate capital. With all
these things staring the laboring men
of the country in their face, is it strange
they are no longer frightened by the cry
of "pauper labor" making products like
their own in foreign countries when
this same pauper labor is brought right
in their midst to compete with their
own. by these same trusts which employ
them when they lind employment at all:
Looking and thinking over these
things laboring men are discussing the
tariff issue Of today as a question of
markets and not as a question Of wages.
They are no longer the high tariff men
they were a few years ago. This is
shown by the votes for the democratic
ticket in manufacturing districts. They
want broader market. The tariff is a
tax on production and as such depresses
consumption in the home market. The
laboring men want a tax which will give
the country free raw material and thus
enable it to enter the markets of the
world with American labor products.
With such a market the demand for
labor will not be restricted to it's en-
ployment to meet home consumption.
but will be enlarged to meet the con
sumption of the whole universe. Amer,
lean labor..and skill ask for an extended
market and not for a tariff which con
fines the products Of their ingenuity and
skill to the glutted markets at home.