The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-01-18
WILSON ON THE TARIFF.
The Subjects Of Coal, Lumber and La.
Dor Clearly Discussed.
WAGES AND A PROTECTIVE TARIFF.
II Protection Increased WORK ana
wages, re Would Be . Protection.
is,-Bus He Proceeds TO show Tina,
Il Does Nothing 81 the Kind.

Continuing his speech on the tariff,
Congressman Wilson, a part Of whose
talk was given in our last issue, said:
I'm the coal industry tariff tax of rs
cents ton was put or maintained upon
coal by the Mckinley bill, when it is not
contended that at any point in the United
States the cost OF mining a ton Of coal
ever goes beyond 60 cents. In the testi-
mony before the committee on ways and
means It was proved that in McKinley's
own district the cost Of mining was from
40 to 90 cents ton. 1t was proved that
In the Pocskontas region the cost Of min
ing ton of coal was from 25 to 80 cents
q ton. That is what is paid to the miner,
yet under tariff which proposed simply
to equalize the difference between labor
in this country and labor in foreign coun-
tries there is tax OF rs cents on a ton OF
coal. The country has reached such an
extreme Of protection that any producer
anywhere in the United States thinks
that tariff is not a protective tariff to
him unless it gives him all of the country
from the Atlantic to the Pacific for his
own market without foreign competition,
snd is lett high enough to pay the trans
portsticn 10 the remotest parts of the
United States. But se are tcs'sv export
srs Of coal /"
ts 10 lumber, enosher article put on
the nss last be spoke only few words,
saying
Logs, as everybody knows. have been
on the free list for years. Legs are
brought from Canada, and ma, he
brought from any country, free Of charge.
Under the tariff, as it now exists, we are
diminishing our forests and destroying
rapidly the most valuable parts Of our
timber. 1t is not pretended that the cost
OF numbering in this country is higher
than it is in any other country that might
seek our market. Along the Canadian
border this business is largely done by
the same labor that does the numbering
on the other side Of the line and pre-
sumo at the same wages. The working
mans wages depends on the product OF
his labor. What ever goes into that la
Dor as tax on the material he uses is so
much diminution OF the wages OF the
laboring man. As you cheaper his ma
terial you widen the field for the products
he makes. With untaxsd iron aud IN
taxed steel in its crude form, and include
coal and wood, you allow him to put his
finished fabrics on the marhot at a rate
that will double, and ever constantly in
crease the number OF his consumers; that
will widen the field for his products, and
in this way secure to him abundant work,
increased wages and that personal indie
pence that he can never enjoy under
high tariff.
Years ago, in an inquiry conducted by
the distinguished senator from New
Hampshire (Mr. Morril), into the rela.
tions between labor aud capital, the pres
idept OF the Amalgamated Association of
Iron and Steel workers testified, in sub
stance, that it was not the tariff that
made their wages, but it was their organ
izations, their power to combine, their
power to treat on equal terms with en-
ployers, that gave them the lever; the
engine by which they could secure for
themselves good, profitable and paying
wages. With the entire world for a
market, with South America to demand
our iron and steel products, with Russia
and Asia and Africa as customers, with
all our mills running, with orders ahead,
labor can control its own wages. The
question OF wages was the vital question
Of all this agitation about the tariff re-
form.
'If protection increased wages, made
work for the laboring class and improved
the well-being OF the American laborer, l
will hereafter be protectionist, but
neither reason nor experience gives main.
tenance to any such idea. The wages of
labor are paid from the products of labor.
The general productiveness Of every coun-
try determines the wages of the laboring
people Of that country. The general in.
telligence OF the laboring people Of a
country also, in an equal measure, de-
termines the wages of the laboring people
Of that country. We have higher nomi-
nal daily wages in this ,untry than else
where, first, because We are great new
country, in an era. OF development; and
secondly, because We have the most in
telligent, self-respecting laboring people
in all the world, and any industry that
cannot maintain itself, except by taxa
ton of the people of the country, instead
of increasing the rate OF wages to the ex-
tent of its protection, diminishes the
wsge-rate Of all the laboring people of the
country. Every industry that leans
upon taxation for its support, that calls
upon the law to make the consumers OF
its products pay more than they would
otherwise be obliged to pay for them,
whatever we may call it. is pauper in
dustry supported by the self-supporting
industries of the county"
FLEXIBLE AND JusT TAx.-There are
people in this country who object to an
income tax because England has one.
Such persons would probably object to
trial by jury and the writ OF habeas cor.
pus if they knew that these safeguards
OF personal liberty had their origin In the
mother country. The London cores
pendent Of the N. Y. Tribune, in recent
letter, says;