The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-10-30
Why Do Workmen Leave Protected
Countries in Europe-Priees
and Labor Cost.


wav: An American protective tariff rals-
&c wages but a German protective tariff
does not. nor an English protective
+orifr nor French protective tariff, and
so on. ad ibitum Or to state the gen
eral fact thus: A protective tarlH raises
wages in the United States, but NOT IN
Germany,
Austria.
France,
Russia.
Spain,
Sweden.
Denmark;
orto state it conversely: free II eaoe io',
ers wages, yet England under 1ree traoe
pays higher wages than her rivals uhoef
protection, and has paid constantly m
creasing wages since she got ria Oh pro-
lection.
Nothing is more remarkable than the
tendency to the increase OF wages III
Great Britain. The London 'Statlst mas
repeatedly called attention to this fact
The wages of the miners OF Lancashire
and Yorkshire have risen IN the last
three or four years between twenty ana
thirty per cent 1t is extremely douot-
ful if they are not better off than the
PENNSYLVANIA miners generally
But" says the protectionist, look at
the poverty in England" to which 1t is
sufficient to reply that while low tafiiis
raise wages they do not abolish poverty.
Rut all of this does not answer the IN
curry which I have put as to why wages
in the United States are higher thah
wages abroad Let me answer 1t IN de-
tall
First-Because of SUPERIOR PRO
cEssES and CHEAPER METHODS.
Second - GREATER MECHANICAL
ACTIVITY.
rhird-I,oNGER HOURS OF LABOR
GENERALLY.
In the largest of our manufacturing
Industries here there is not question
but that our methods are superior. There
are two factories making the Singer
Sewing Machine-one in Glasgow, and
one ia Elizabethport. We occasionally
hear threats from the Singer people that
if the tariff is reduced, the works at
Flizabethport will be transferred 10
Glasgow. but this must be regarded as
merely another of the bowling humors
of this controversy. From which fac
tory have come most of the improve
ments and devices which have given the
Singer machine its reputation? From
E.Iizabethport. In which factory are the
hours of labor longer? In Elizabethport.
In which factory is a machine the most
hceaply turned out, labor cost and
all? In Elizabethport In which factory
have reductions in wages been the most
constant? Well, not in Glasgow Ana
the Elzabethport factory has two prices
for machines-one for its home market
and another for export. oh but says
the protectionist, that is merely the
output which it cannot dispose Oh al
home after supplying the demand mere.
On the contrary, the foreign demand
is the first supplied, the first to be con-
sidered This has been the almost IN
variable rule of the Singer Company
The home market is at its mercy any
how And wages in the Elizabethpor'
factory are higher than wages in the
Glasgow factory, not because there is
tariff, since, in spite OF the somewhat
higher wages here, we make the ma
chine at cheaper labor cost, and there
fore do not, on any plea, need tar1I
at all. Wages are higher here because
che Elizabethport methods and mer
are better-that is all. And this does no.
mean, that the average American work
ingman's brain is larger, or his muscles
knottier 1t means merely that greater
demands are made upon these qualities
and the answer to this demand is great
er efficiency The Elizabethport man i:
worth more than the Glasgow man; anf
IT is no answer to this to say that {
great many of the Elizabethport mel
were born in Glasgow. So they were.
..Ah, but says the protectionist, "why
did they come here2',
Wen, they came here because they
could get higher wages, and had greate
opportunities But those higher wages
and greater opportunities do not exis
because there is tariff. For there ar
tariffs elsewhere, and these workingmel
do not care to go there. 1t cannot b.
that they come here because we have
tariff, since many of them come from
places where they have tariffs.
Here is the eliminating contradiction
of the system of logic standing on it
head, called protectionism:-
Workingnlen come to these shores be
cause of our higher wages Cause
Tariff. Things are just as cheap her
as they are abroad. Cause:-Tariff
Manufacturers come here because the.
out of these higher profits higher wage
are paid. But if profits are higher
must be because the actual cost of labo
is less 1t cannot be because of tn
higher prices of goods, because the pro
tectionist tells you that goods are cheap
er here. If the cost of labor is less tn
wages paid are really no higher. But
the wages are really higher the good
could not be cheaper. But if the good
are really cheaper and wages actual
higher, then profits cannot be higher.
snakes ones head swim. But if-an
shis is a fact-the labor is cheaper an
prices higher then the consumer
Pobbed. For it is not possible to &c
cheaper goods out of higher wages ain
higher profits, if the wages are reall
higher.
The whole problem then depends fo
tts solution on the difference betwee