Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-10-25
AN IRON WORKERS TALK.

AN IRON WORKERS TALK.
What an English American Who Believes
in Protection >ays-Lo~er Tsrin
Msau. Lower Wages sure.
A correspondent writes:
Last spring had occasion To take a short
trip through Ohio One day as | was buslly
reading the paper which l had bought at
the last station a man came along and
dropped into the seat with me. After /
had finished my paper l passed 1t over To
my companion and later we fell To discuss
ing the news. Chief among the items of
interest was the latest gossip in regard To
the tariff bill and we soon came 10 that
How are YOU ON the tariff question: L
asked.
I'm not up on all the rates and duties,
was the reply, but | am against free
trade or anything like 1t, whether its
called tariff for revenue only or by the new
tangled name of tariff reform" 1 wasn't
born under the stars and stripes. l dldn
have the say so in regard to that. l am an
Enplishman by birth know what it is
60 work under free trade and L can tell
you that free trade Is something that
Uorkingmen cant afford
You find things very different here for
,he workingman from what they are il
England, them | asked
You can Judge for yourself he re
piled. "I went TO work when l was 9
years old for twenty cents day That's
what children have To do under free trade.
| didn't get a chance for much education,
as YOU can see. l learned one thing,
though and that was that labor in Amer
lea is protected and so as socn as l grew
UP came to America, and I've gotten
here as a man the education that l was
deprived of in England as a child.
And your children will have more OF n
show than you had" said.
We'll rather" he replied. 1T was as
much as | could do TO live over there.
Here have been able to raise my children
in comfort and to give them a good eduea-
ton"
You say you found out that labor IN
America il protected, said. The Demo
Gratis saw that the only thing that isn't pro
tected in America is labor. They say that
laborers come in here free, that the Italian
works for what he got at home, that the
Englishman gets English wages, and so
on and that as those come into direct com
petition with American laborers, Ameri-
can wages can't be higher than European
wages.
: What nonsense that is" the English
man broke out What do they suppose
we come over here for? For the benefit OF
the sea VOYAGE II we had 10 work for the
same wages we might as well stay at home.
They'd better compare the wages here with
wages in England and they'd find out
whether labor * protected in America or
not. !"
is there much difference between
them" ! asked
"A difference of g. 10 day to me, he
replied Il am a puddler by trade / got
five shilling, or 81 20 day in England. L
get 8 81 here-Over three times as much.
II have heard IA good many Democrats
claim" / said, that the American work
man does more in the same length of time
than the foreign workman, and that is
what makes the difference in wages. is
that so.''
My 81 20 a day in England was for pud-
ding 900 weight of iron: my -. 80 day
here is for pudding 2,75o weight, he re
piled. Facts made things look little
the other way, don't theyr"
They do; that's fact, I said. And
you actually get 81. 80 day here for the
same kind Of work for which you got only
81 20 in England" | repeated. for / could
hardly grasp the fact that the difference
was so great.
Il do that. he replied, and do less
work In day here than ] bad to do in
England The difference in wages isn't so
much in all cases. OF course" " he continued,
"but it is always enough TO measure the
difference between struggling to keep body
| and soul together and living In decency
and comfort.
"The low wages in England may not
| have been due wholly To free trade,
| said.
Perhaps not, he answered, but that 5
neither here nor there just now. The point
is that | do get much higher wages
In America than a man in England gets
for the same work. and IL the product of
his 81 30 a day labor is brought in here
free to compete with the products of my
t3. 80 a day labor, something has got to
give way. and that something will be my
wages"
Won thirt-s tLss-, tl--s is--.i.-e- sI>s
tariff on wrought iron would mean "A re
duction in the wages of iron workers. /
asked
Il think" he exclaimed, II know it.
We all know it, and because we knew it
we sent man to Washington as the rep
resentative of the 5000 iron workers in my
| town to plead against any reduction of the
| tariff on bar or wrought iron. He didn't
| get much satisfaction, though, and it
doesn't look as though we'd get much sat
| isfaction either l don't suppose it's any
use to hope that they II let the tariff alone
| ON bar and wrought iron, " he said with a
| sigh.
No, they're sure to make some reduc-
tion," / replied
And that means lower wages or the
| closing of the works, " he returned. Wen
have to make the best of it. We're
not so bad off as a good many. We've had
| work right along so far, and many a
man hasn't had that since Grover Cieve-
| land went into the White House. Well
| have to cut off some of our pleasures, per
/ haps some of our comforts, fall back on
| our savings, maybe, and walt for 1896 and
| Republican times again. 1t isn't as though
| we'd been working for free trade wages
| right along. We've got something saved
up from the days of McKinleyism But
| it's hard TO stand this for nearly three years
longer" he said grimly. The only com
| fort is that we can get rid Of this tariff
| reform congress in the fall. And we II do
| it, too, /" he added with determination.
"This Is my station. Good day, sir.
hope we will meet again In better times,
| and my companion hastily left the car,
much to my regret, for there were many
! more questions wanted to ask from one
| whose experience enabled him to speak 50
positively about the benefits of protection.