The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1894-02-03

lbc Hartm ana wages
Under The above caption Harper's
Weekly says from many quarters We
hear of reductions of wages in manu-
featuring establishments, and from
more we hear threats of reduction in
case the Wilson bill Incomes law.
The reductions which have actually
been made are the results of the bus
mess depression, which is due pri-
marily to the panic OF last summer
and the inevitably slow and painful
process of recovery. The threatened
reductions are vociferously declared
to be the necessary result of the low
er duties. For twenty years it has
been preached and proclaimed that
high tariff makes wages high, and
that low tariff means a reduction
of wages to the pauper limit of Eu-
rope We are told that now we shall
have the proof of the pudding in the
eating. What is the truth of the
matter2
The notion that the general high
range of wages in the United States
is due to the high protective system
is really one Of the most preposter-
GUS of the many prerosterous ideas
OF economic subjects which had vogue
in this country. The reader who will
look in the books on political econ
omy to see 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 reputable writer to say is that
the protective system makes wages
high or that free trade system
makes them low. II the books are
supposed to be the works of abstract
theorists, who keep far from the real
tiles of life, we need only regard
few simple obvious facts of history
to discover that high tariff cannot
be the cause of high wages. This
country has tried almost every sort
of tariff system, beg inning in 1889
with duties which the protectionists
of our day would consider outrage
ously low, and ending century later
in the Mckinley tariff act, with du-
ties which the free trader consider
outrageously high. Throughout all
the installations of tariff policy, under
revenue tariffs and moderate tariffs
and extreme tariffs, wages here have
been steadily higher than in Euro
pean countries. The simple explain
alton is that this is a country of rich
and abundant resources, developed
by an active, energetic and ingenious
people, in which the great product
iveness of industry insures 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.
There may be reductions in the
Wilson bill that go beyond the dan
ger line in some particular duties;
but have we not been authoritatively
told that even the Mckinley bill
made mistake or two2 The COM
mon sense and the political interest
of the Democrats may be trusted to
prevent them from making changes
that promise to be really destructive;
and the testimony of the protected
manufacturer as to the effect of du-
ties must be received with the same
allowances as the pleading of his
lawyer for his client.
From the 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 a careful and conservative
measure, and that the duties, even
as reduced, still leave large margin
of protection for the domestic manu-
facturer. 1t must be remembered,
too, that the temptation to make
partisan capital out of reductions
and threats of reductions 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 introduce
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
operators to sign petitions against
the tariff bill, all with the hope of
staving off the inevitable. No doubt,
too, many manufacturers are in good
faith fearful of the consequences of
the proposed measure. They have
been told for years that their bust
ness depends upon the tariff, and
that they cannot pay their wages un-
less bolstered up by the tariff. They
are fearful and uncertain of what
may happen, and they join in the
general alarm. Under these condi-
tions the thing to do is to pass the
tariff act with all possible speed, and
get the element of uncertainty out
of the way. When this is done it
will appear that the cry of the wolf
has been raised for naught, and that
the labor of the country is in no dan