The record-union., 1894-09-06
CHEAP WARES MEANS Low WAGES

CHEAP WARES MEANS Low WAGES
Our contemporary the Stockton MGiL
is distinguished for its hatred of sham.
for its candor, and for the perspicuity of
its statements. It says: "Organized
labor in the railway service was put down
by the strong arm of the Government,
and it was put down to stay. There will
never be another great strike in that de-
psrtment of industry in the United States.
The precedent has been established, and
hereafter it will be the policy of the Gov
ernment-no matter which of the old
parties may be in control-to suppress by
force of arms the uprisings of railway
hands.0 The 4ZaiL has much more of the
same sort. It declares that "the upris-
ings referred to are not merely those
against the Government. but even demon
strations against the employing COM
panies to secure better pay or better terms
of employment" It concludes: "The
unions can do nothing. They have been
bereft of all power. and must submit to
such terms as may be dictated by the
other side"
If this be just view of the case, then
railway employees owe it to themselves to
defend their pay by defending the value
Of their labor. When, therefore, the
Democratic party, before it has examined
the subject at ALL without hearing and
without determination, declares that it
win make horizontal reduction of 25
per cent. on the rates of transportation, it
will be well for railway employees to re-
member that the Stockton Mat may be
right when it says that they have peen be-
reft Of all power to take care of them
selves, and must submit to such terms
as may be dictated by the rail-
way companies. A reduction in the
value OF the wares put forth by labor
eventually falls upon the labor itself The
professions of the Democratic party of
friendship for the laboring man do not
tally with its efforts to reduce the price of
labor by reducing its value. The value
of labor consists in the value of the wares
it produces. This is the distinctive doc
trine of the Republican party. 1t is the
idea upon which is based the whole fabric
of the protective system-that protection
70 American labor means protection to
the output of that labor. So an artificial
market raising the price of the articles
produced by American labor is the de-
vice by which Republicans hope to main
tain high wages.
We have said before, and we repeat
now, that whoever demands cheap wares
is the enemy of labor. We cannot have
cheap wares and high wages. The party
in favor of cheapening the rates of trans
portation is no more the friend of rail-
road operative than it would be the friend
of the operatives of a wooIen mill, after
resolving that the price of wooden fabrics
should be reduced 25 per cent. 1t will
come to be understood eventually that
professions of friendship for labor, to be
consistent, must begin with the consent
on the part of yerybody to pay more for
all they consume. The best friend the
farmer can have is the man who is willing
to pay high price for farm products, and
the very best friend mechanical labor can
have will be found in him who is willing
to pay high price for boots and shoes
and hats and caps, and high price to the
labor employed in building his house, and
high price for material, because material
is simply another form of labor. In short,
he is an enemy of labor who reduces the
value of its product, because cheap wares
means cheap wages.