Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-09-21

every conceivable article required for
personal comfort and daily use and
convenience In their homes; and did It
while they were lulled into nom
resistance to its infamous provisions by
the siren song Of protection TO Ameri-
can labor, and the constant iteration
of Governor McKinley's absurd propo-
sition that we should never tax our
own people SO long as we can have
other people to tax"
It has been demonstrated TO q math-
ematical certainty that the In
crease made in the rates Of duty upon
the necessaries Of life by this act, In
creased the cost Of living TO the people
Of the United States during the first
year Of It's operation, as o law, more
than tls5, 200, 900.
The alleged protection to American
labor by such legislation is Just as much
fiction and fraud as Is the miserable
pretext that our tariff taxes are paid
by foreigners whose goods we buy.
The protected barons, whose selfish
ness and greed have eradicated from
their very nature, the common instincts
of humanity, care not for the welfare Of
the laboring men of this, or any other
country.
They believe In free trade in men.
Cheap labor is with them as essen
tial part Of their protective system as
high tariffs; and the profession of o de-
sire by them to secure protective duties
in the interest and for the benefit of
the men who work In their protected
industries, Is dishonest concealment
of their true motives and purposes.
The history of tariff legislation proves
this to be true
The passage of the Mckinley act did
not have the effect to increase the
wages of the men employed In the In
dustries most highly protected under
It Nor has this been the result of any
previous act passed by congress- giving
higher duties to the manufacturers On
the contrary, in every instance, the
tariff, while diminishing the purchas-
ing power of wages by its increase in the
prices of the goods to be purchased by
the wage earners, has left the question of
the rates of wages to be determined by
the law of supply and demand, which
governs in protected and non-protected
industries alike.
The official records esta ablish the fact
that after the passage of the Mckinley
act there was decline In the wages of
the laborers in some of the most highly
protected industries in the country,
while during the same period there was
an increase in the wages received by
men employed in unprotected, ,occupa-
tions.
We find in other years like results in
the matter of the wages of the en-
ployes in the protected industries OF
the country. The factories for the man
nfacture of carpets and worsted goods,
the products of which have ever been
most highly protected, furnish an ex-
ample. In 1870 the average of the
wages earned by those employed in the
worsted factories of the United States
was 1888 per year. This average In the
earnings of such employees had, in 1880,
declined to 1902, making the net annual
decrease s36 per year, during the ten
years.
The decline in the wages of the men
and women in the carpet factories oi
the country, during the same ten years,
was greater still The loss in wages te
those who earned their living by work
in such factories was, during that de
cade, $50 per year, their average earn
ings during the year 1870 having beer
s8s7, while in 1880 such average had de
clined to 1888.
| Another significant fact that can no
be controverted is that the wages o
men employed in different protected in
dustries bear no proportion whateve
to the duties upon the article
in the manufacture of which they ar,
severally employed. More potent still
is the fact that men engaged in like In
dustries and protected by the same du
ties, but employed in different section
of our country, do not receive equa
compensation for the same amount O
work
This is most strikingly exemplifie'
by the manufacturing statistics in tn
several states The disparity in tn
average wages of employees in manu-
featuring establishments Of the sam
kind, in the various states OF the union
; could not well be greater than tits. Th
: inequalities in wages exists to such
degree in every protected industry tina
the commissioner of labor of tn
United States has officially declare
that there is no such thing as an Amer
ican rate of wages, and if there be n
such rate common to the whole countr
the absurdity of the claim that protect
i've tariffs fix, regulate and control th
: wages of labor is convincingly estal
: lished.
The proposition that high protectio
: means high wages, or that 1t will Ii
crease the wages of labor, is as clearl
disproved by the experience of nation
other than our own. France, German.
, Italy, Spain, all have protective tariff
But, in Germany with o higher tari
l than France, the wages paid to labc
7 are lower than in the latter country
and in Italy and Spain with their tariff
that are almost prohibitory in chara'
: ter, wages are lower than in German.
. While in free trade England wages al
l upon an average twice as high as
Germany, with its protective tariff
t And what of China? In that of the o.
9 lent, oldest of empires, the protectio
9 of "home industries has attained pc
: fection, and yet wages of labor are s
low that 1t is said, and said with trutl
t shat the monthly earnings of Oh
t nese laborer will not pay the cost {
r one square meal for one of the tart
8 barons created by our Mckinley systel
4 Of protection"
But, again, that the law of suppl
and demand, not protection, is tt
principal element in the adjustment I
the wages Of labor, is further atteste
y by the fact that the wages Of non-pr,