Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-02-01
THE COAL TARIFF.

The more rational advocates OF pro-
lection plead for the maintenance OF
a duty on imports sufficient to cover
the difference between the wages paid
the foreigners engaged in their man.
ufacture and the higher wages paid
orr own laborers who produce the
same articles. The workman is eqni-
tably entitled to wages which shall
be higher in proportion to the greater
quantity or better quality Of his work.
The object of this protection scheme
is that this equitable increase Of
wages shall be wrung from the con-
sumner; that the employer shall reap
the whole benefit to be derived from
the greater produetiveness OF our
labor, instead Of sharing it with the
workman as he must do il natural
laws are not interfered with.
This demand is characterized by
virgin modesty when compared with
that of the coal barons," who plead
for 4 duty on coal which is nearly
double the wages paid to the miners.
This appealrepeated in various forms
appears in manner which is most
attractive from its artless innocence
and child-like simplicity, in a recent
letter from the editor Of the Frostburg
Mining Journal to the Baltimore Sun.
He says that in the Georges Creek
coal region. Of the rs cents which the
tariff adds to ton OF coal, lat least
10 cents 90 to the labor which digs
and places the coal on the cars for
shipment; hence "a per cent of the
small protection afforded finds its
way exactly where it belongs-into
the pockets of the labor which pro-
duces it, This is an admission that
the consumer is forced by the tariff
to pay the Vhole Of the miners wages;
and that the mine owner gets his
coal If. O. b." with vengeance;
without one cent Of expense TO be
paid out Of the price which the coal
will bring in the market, less the
tariff duty! You, Mr. Consumer, are
forced to pay, over and above the true
value OF the coal, the whole wages OF
the men who dig it and load it on the
cars; and the mine owner and the
railroad company pocket the whole
value of the coal for all charges what
soever!
The Mining Journal pleads for the
retention of the duty in order that
the "honest conduct Of the employers"
which characterizes that blessed
Georges Creek region may not be
interfered with! How can we suffi-
GENTLY commend these employers
because, in the innate goodness of
their hearts, they have hitherto re-
sisted all temptation to be otherwise
than honest in their conduct, and
amicable in their relations with the
toilers whose whole product is handed
oNNi w bbCib, "ithOub SOSNibS
one cent Of wages hey ond the tribute
which is levied for that purpose on
those who must use the coal?
If any implication can be drawn
from the Mining Journals letter which
is favorable to its position, it is tina.
without this duty the mine operators
could not afford to pay any wages at
all and would have to go out OF bust
ness. Will our farmer readers do us
the favor to consider this question:
How many Of you would agree to con-
tribute money TO cultivate a farm
SO poor that the crops raised on it
would not pay for the Ia Dor necessary
to raise them? And if you should do
so for, say, ten years, would the COM
munity be richer or poorer by reason
of leaving that farm in cultivation,
at the end OF that period?