The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-03-10
THE TARsFF AND WAGES,
VSlss Alarm ~ N1onopolistio American
Manufa cturers.

From many quarters sve heat tf fe-
ductious ef wages ia inanufacturinf
establishments. and from more we
hear threats of reduction in case the
Wilson bill becomes law. The reduce
tlons which have actually been made
| are the results of the business depres-
sion, which is due primarily to the
panic of last summer aud tn g inevitably
slow and painful process of recovery.
The threatened reductions are vocifer-
Onsly declared TO be the necessary re-
suit OF the lower duties. For twenty
years it has been preached and pro-
claimed that high tariff makes wages
high, and that Il low tariff means a re-
ducticn of wages to the pauper limit
of Europe. We are told that now we
shall have the proof of the pudding in
the eating. What is the truth of the
matter?
The notion that the genera, high
range OF wages in the United States is
duo to the high protective system is
really one of the most prcposterous of
the many prcposterous ideas on Geo.
homie subjects which have had vogue
in this country. The reader who will
look in the books ON political economy
to cee what they have to say about
wages and about the causes which
make them high and low will find
plenty of difference of opinion On this
topic among the economists; but the
one thing he will not find any repnt-
able writer to say is that the protective
system makes wages high or that a
fyce-t~ade system makes them low. If
the books are supposed to be the works
OF abstract theorists, who keep far
from the realities Of life, we need only
regard few simple and obvious facts
OF history to discover that Il high tariff
cannot be the cause of high ~aRea
This country has tried aliiost every
sort of tariff system. beginning in t169
with duties which the protectionists of
our day would consider outrageously
low, and ending century later in the
Mckinley tariff act, with duties which
the free-trader considers outrageously
high. Throughout all the oscillations
of tariff policy under revenue tariffs
and moderate tariffs and extreme tar
ifs. wages here have teen steadily
higher than in European countries
country of rich and a abundant resources.
. developed by an active, energetic and
ingenious people, in which the great
producti7eness of industry iusures a
high range OF material welfare. Wages
with us are high from permanent and
abiding causes, and, fortunately, do
not depend on tariff legislation or any
other artificial prop.
With this it is not inconsistent to adj
nit freely thatt;c wages of some par
tcular classes of laborers, in some
limited groups of manufacturing indus
| trlcS, may ne seriously aHCctcu by the
duties. The high duties of the last
generation have forced into existence
some industries In which the efficiency
! of labor and capital is not up to the
general average, and in which the
manufacturer who pays high wages TO
| his workmep is not compensated by
! their greater skill, energy and produc-
/; tivcncss. In industries OF this sort the
! free competition of foreign producers,
| paying lower wages, would compel
; either n reduction of wages or an
| abandonment Of the industry. Where
there is really such connection be-
tween the duties and high wages every
! one would say that congress should
| proceed with the utmost care, and
| should not expose to a sudden reversal
! of fortune or sudden change of occu-
| patton the vorEmen whom our tariff
| legislation has induced to enter into
! ~eak-kneed Industries. The same is
! true Of the capital en- barlSed in them.
Vested rights should receive their due
! consideration. We believe they have
| received their due consldcra ton in the
! Wilson bill. There may be reductions
that go beyond the dangcr-line in some
particular duties; but have we not been
! authoritatively told that even the Nc
! Kin1ey bill made mistake or two?
, The comnion-sense and the political in
tercst of the democrats may hestrusted
to prevent them from making changes
tndU prOulSe u Osc really
and the testimony of the protected
/ manufacturers as to the effect of duties
must be received with the same allow
ances the pleading of a lawyer for
| his client.
But the number of shaky and de-
| pendent industries, as compared with
| the whole manufacturing system, is
| insignificant; and in any case there is
! no threat of free competition from
! abroad. From tho clamor which has
| been raised it might be supposed that
| the Wilson bill gave up all protective
! duties entirely, and that all foreign
goods were going to come in on easy
terms. The fact is that the Wilson
| bill is careful and conservative meas
ure, and that the duties, even as re-
| duccd, still leave a large margin OF pro-
| lection for the domestic manufacturer.
1t must be remem bered, too, that the
| temptation to make partisan capital
out of reductions aud threats of reduc-
| tions of wages is one of the many bad
! results Of that unfortunate alliance of
politics and manufacturing which has
| marked the history Of the last ten
years. The manufacturer who objects
! to the Wilson bill because it will cut
| down his profits or compel him to in
| troduce economies and improve his
| methods to meet foreign competition is
| likely to proclaim that he will reduce
| wages, just as he will virtually compel
his operatives to sign petitions against
the tariff bill, all with the hope of
| Rfavinp off the ineTjfahlo M doubt