Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-05-01

.
gui,hed from those Of a demaRogue. They
| are the or,is of man eminent:y practical
and who is insl irsd with the most progres.
siye thought. Farther along Il bis address
he referred to the attention which capt. ,li.ts
are turning TO the Chinese and Jspanese
fields of labor. He sees th. re what threat
ems the maintenance Of good wages. IL
this he stands 10 marked COL tr4st to those
free trade theorists whore gaz. never penf-
trates farther toward the Orient thsn Erg-
laod. When they talk of the mutual b ne
frs to be derived from free trade they al
thinking of England and sre so
wrapped up in iLings that are English
they accept as matter of fact that the labor
ing man will be better eff to use more
economy in his living and arm less wages.
They are largely men of 1ed incomes ar d
imbued with notion that the best comes
from just across tie water. If they think
they can buy that best few cents cheaper
their desire finds for them resdy excuse for
a lower standard Of wages. Indeed some of
them are bold enough to assert that wages
have within tie past few years gone al.
together too high.
While clamoring for free trade they think
on'y of the civilized nations. They are
either not aware or are Indifferent to the
fact that 10 Japan and in parts of China
certain kinds of work can be done very
cheap'y and WE'LL The standard of living
is below that OF civilized people and the
work tuch Aborers are abe to accomplish
is not equal to that of the European yet
when the climate and conditions are con-
81 Tered, the Asiatic directed by the Euro
pean capitalist is able to degrade nearly
all the labor of the world to a lower
level. The Chinese and japanese are very
industrious as well as thrifty. While it
might be possible to elevate the Japanese
laborer somewhat in his standard of living
and wages i. ill be impossible in the case
of the Chinese as this country has already
learned by experience.
Mr.. Reed should have said, what he no
doubt meant, that the " hole civilized world
is il terested in the msintenarce of good
wages. Under its system of pro-
t, ction this country has in the past
decade made the greatest advancement in
the wages paid its laboring men of any
country in the world. 1t has thrown more
safeguards around its woll ingmen than has
any other country in the world. 1t will
continue to lead in civilization so long as it
maintains these c,ndtions. With protec-
ton and re ciprocity, with restriction to i'm
migration beginning to exert S il huence,
with a general awakening to the BE- nefi,s of
shorter hours Ne gu the labOriDg
than in 1892. Then came the pol
icy of turning back the new administration,
found that the radical change they had pro-
posed and had promised would be as ruin
Dus as it would be suicidal. But their
fanaticism is earnest if timid. They yet
have hope that they may bring the system
INTO disrepute. To do this they would |
Vitiate it, and if possible, make by-word
If it by changing it from protection to
favoritism, make its most valuable be-
cause most general features inopera-
i've and introduce with obnoxio
prominence those features which breathe |
,ectionalism and favoriism. The lire of
progress in this country lies in protection
hat shall be applied with view to
the American standard of
wages and living and protecting them from
The encroachments of the fore igner who
has not and can not attain to those standards
in many years if ever and in too many in
stancts does not wish to. From the West
as well as from the East the danger threat
ems. Opening the doors to England opens
also the doors to the Orient. Re ciprocity
gives this country an advantage in Il ose
markets where otherwise we should have
no advantage. The United States has
Of late been looked to as the great
exponent of modern civil cation. Here have
been found at work the forces which may
produce the best results SO long as our con-
ditions remain favorable. The maintenance
of good wages is necessary factor in such
development. To sacrifice it now means
relapse, means a turning aside from our
mission. 1t isn't so much that employers
are unwilling to pay good wages as it is that
in competition with those who secure low
wsges they must inevitably come to the
same level in order to succeed. The up
ward tendency was slow and much time was
yet needed to properly diffuse high wages
among the different industries. But this
country had been bravely overcoming
obstacle and one reform succeeded
another despite the strain of an
ever Increasing population. Such progress
is and must be difficult and the relapse fol-
lows quickly upon change of policy, how
quickly those now working for lower wages
under the threats of free trade know only
too we'll.
Willingly or unwittingly those who are