The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-12-18

American Economist.
Our civilization, young, vigorous,
in the prime of Its existence, contrasts
favorably with that OF the old world,
where every natural resource Ia rapid
ly being exhausted, and a great gulf
exists between man and man. with un-
told riches on one side and abject and
hopeless poverty ON the other. Those
who gave us Protective Tariff wisely
placed a barrier between our civiliza-
ton and this civilization.
Though similar conditions have be-
gun to be developed here in conse-
quence OF our increasing population.
we still possess untold natural resour-
ces and all can aspire to wealth and
the proudest position. Is IT worth
while to continue this condition, or
shall we abandon the policy which
created 1t and drift into that OF the
| old countries? We have an entire
continent to ourselves, why not con
tinue to develop It's resources, uuham'
pered by outside interferencel
Our laborers are better paid thar
any similar class in the world, hui
they arc not satisfied. They toll the
manufacturers that they need free raw
material and foreign market II thoy
truly want to prosper. The manuiac
|
that they do not want these blessings
thurst upon them. But the mill Hands
tho farm hands, the clergymen ant
the doctors know better what they
need. and SO does Mr.. Cleveland. who
speaks OF IL very unctuously in HE
message. He and his Congress tena
ciously cling to it. while mills are
closed, people starving and lumenta
tionB fill. the lend from its center to III
circumference. all in mere antiolpa
ton Of the dreaded measure devised
for tile relief of the people. WhaI
this measure itself will do, which IL
intended to eventually place our la
| bOrers on a level with the greatly
pitled pauper labor Of Europe.
scarcely dare to think of.
The necessaries OF life, bread ono
meat. being already lower here now
than they are In Europe, what viii
there he left for orr people to buy &c
much cheaper to make up for the de
iiciency In their wages? The correct
answer would be, rags to wear and 0
howell TO live in In my own industry
the manufacturing Of cotton hosiery
there has been free raw material" fol
a century; yet | dare say not one
dozen has ever been exported in com
petition with foreign made goods
| NHyE because We pay our people Toe
much for their labor. When theil
wages come down to European waget
we shall be in position TO compete
with European manufacturers, and no
one day sooner.
What applies to our industry, ap
plies with equal force to that In which
wool forms the main component part.
and to every other industry as we'll.
Should the measure now before Con.
gress becomea law, many OF our mills,
now partly closed, will close for
good, OF possibly llnger along on low
priced goods at greatly reduced
wages. AZ for goods in which hand
labor largely enters. 1t will be impos'
slhle to nuke them, and all machinery
ueed for that purpose will become
worthless. This will continue to be
the case until wages have sunk so low
that our laLorere can join hands OH
an equality with tho pauper laborers
OF Europe. After reaching that point
We shall light for South American and
| Aslatic markets in competition with
Europe Then Mr.. Cleveland aud his
party will he happy, no doubt, willie
our much Wanted prosperity will
have sunk out OF sight in gulf OF un.
mitigated Decentralization and poverty.
l.. Su1Ho.
Philadelphia. Pa, Dec, 8, 1893.