The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-24
A voIcRFRoM THE COMMON PEOPLE

10 me Editor OF the Eagle;
During the late political campaign. we,
the working class, were the object OF
great interest to the politicians. Their
love and anxiety for us was immense.
If we could have believed all that was
told us, our future would be of ease
too easy, we fear, for this world. On
one side we were asked to believe that
protective tariff was just the thing for
us. The arguments looked very plaus-
IDLE and lattering-protection On home
manufacturers ought to give employ
ment and protection to home labor, and
we think it would if not for the big
loop-hole, viz. unrestricted foreign i'm
migration. On this point, all seemed
dumb, or silent-we suppose on account
of the foreign vote. There was, how
ever. some little talk about temporary
restriction during the coming season on
account of fears of a cholera scourge.
We can easily see how a high tariff
benefits the home manufacturer, but,
with the present system of unrestricted
immigration, we fail to see where home
labor derives any protection OF benefit,
for the following reason: The only COM
petitor that labor has is other labor, and
that other labor is foreign immigration,
pouring into this country at the rate of
half million or more annually. Now,
let US suppose case: Messrs. High Tariff
q Co., under protection of 40 or 30 per
cent, are manufacturing class of goods
that come in competition with foreign
manufacturer of the same class of goods.
Messrs. High Tariff & Co. have in their
employ 1000 workmen at fair wages.
This foreign manufacturer can't sell us
his goods; he shuts down, closes his
business; his workmen are idle; they
soon learn that wages are good in
the United States; they come over
here at once; the next day. after
landing on our soil, they take
out first naturalization papers; the
following day they go to
High Tariff & Co., and offer their
services 10 to 20 per cent. less than H.
I. & Co., are paying home labor. Ii.
I. & Co., know there is no law against
employing these workmen; they are sat-
isfied that these lien can perform their
work equally as well as their present
workmen. II. 7. & Co., will proceed to
do just what any business man would
do-discharge their old workmen and
put these foreigners in their places.
We can't see it any other way than that
high protection drives the idle foreign
workmen to this country to be our COM
petitors. 1t rather looks to US that this
manner of raising funds to defray the
expenses Of our government was crowd
ing little on the side of the working
classes, and the result in the late presi-
dental contest justifies this conclusion
Grover Cleveland is the author of tariff
reform. On this question the people of
the United States have, by large ma
jority, placed him the second time in the
highest place in the government. There
is no installing the issue, the people
seem to want change of some kind
and have landed on tariff reform. We
have got the impression that it must be
a good thing. It's advocates have talked
about it so long and so earnestly that
there really ought to be something of it;
what it is we know not. So far it is
like an unknown quantity in an
algebraic problem, it wants to be demon
strated. Is there to be demonstration,
or is it destined to die in the brain
where it originated? If we are suffering
under the burden of high tariff, as has
been represented, we think no time
should be lost in extending relief to us.
One of the people, C. II. PARKER.
GUTHRIE, March %, 1893.