The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-02-02
GIL vAMD8 SECOND TERM HAS COST THE COUNTRY MORE TM THE CIVIL WAR

When speak of constant and continuous
incrcase'of wages | do not mean the caprices
OF benevolence or Of charity, ort the fantasy
OF n mind longing for the impossible. The
increase OF wages which tho service
seller ought to have aud the only use
increase he can ever get viii be by the 90
Grafton OF natural laws working upon the
opportunities which legislation may aid
In furnishing. The Increase will never
come from the outside. will never be the
gift Of any employer. 1t must come from
the improvement in the man himself Can
you get carpenter or bricklayer to work
for 30 cents day2 Ele did it in England
in l725. To-day IN the United States it is
a poor place where he cannot get ten times
that sum. Why does he have to have ten
times rs muchg Because the carpenter of
today could no more i've as did the carpen-
ter or 1928 than he could live in u cave and
and hunt snakes for food. The difference
in wuge' means the difference in living,
aud the 81 50 is as much a necessity today
as the 25 cents was $50 years ago
Man is not mere muscular engine, to
be fed with meat and give forth effort.
Man IL social beiug. He must have
whatever his neighbor has. lie cannot
grow unless no does. This question of
wages Is all-important rs bearing upon the
question of consumption. All PRODUCTION
depends upon consumption. VINO are the
consumers? In the old days when the pro-
ducts of manufacturers were luxurls1, the
lord and his retainerS, the lady and her
maids were the CONSUMERS, a class apart
by themselves, but today the consumers
are the producers. Long ago the lab )rer
ttrhn IA i'm
alive. Today he aud mis- wife and their child
reu are so immeasurably the most valu-
able Costumers that il the shop had to give
dp the wealthy or those whom 1t is the
custom to call poor, there would not be a
nom ntS hesitation or moments doubt
Unfortunately, . gentlemen on the
other side have persstently retained the
old idea that the producers are one class
aud the consumers are another, and hence
we hear on all hands such stupiditiss of
speech ~ those which sum up tne workers
IN each branch and compare them with
the whole people. One hundred and fifty
thousand workers in woulens-you ask
what are they compared with ~, 000 900 Of
consumers; 20O, 900 workers in steel, what
are they compared with 20, 0OO, 900 Of con.
sumers; zoo, 900 workers IN cotton, what
are they compared with 70, 600, 0JO of con
sumerS, aud 50 on all through the long list,
forgetting that all these people added to-
gether make the whole 70,0J0,00O them.
selves.
AMERICAS GREAT MARKET.
II so happens that America is tiloi with
workers. There are idle people, but they
are fewer hrre than elsewhere except now,
when we are living under the shadow of
the Wilson bill. II those workers are all
getting good wages they are themselves
the market, and if the wages are increas.
Ing tho market is Easo increasing. The
fact that in this country all the workers
have been getting better wages than else
where is the very reason why our market
is the best IN the world and why all the ma
tions of the world are trying to break into
it. We do not appreciate the nature of
our market ourselves"
We are nomilally 20, 100000 people.
That is what we are in mere numbers. But
as a market for manufactures and choice
foods we are potentially 200, 0O0, 900 as COM
pared with the next best nation on the
globe. Nor is this difficult to lrove. When
ever an Englishman earns 81 an American
earns SLIGO. speak within bounds. Both
can get the food that keeps body and soul
together and the shelter which the body
must have for 60 cents. Take 60 cents
from 81 and you have 40 cents lett.
Take that same 60 cents from the
Sl.GO and you have 81 left, Just two and a
half times as much. That surplus can be
spent in choice foods. in house furnishings,
in fine clothes aud all the comforts OF life
in word, in the products Of our manu-
factures. This makes our population as
consumers Of products, az compared with
the English population, 200, 00O, 000 Their
population is $1,000, 900 ias consumers of
products which one century ago were pure
luXuries, whil5 our population is equival-
ent to 200, COO, 900.
II this is our comparison with England,
what is the comparison with the rest Of
the world, whose markets our committee
are so eager TO have in exchange for our
own? MulhRll gives certain statistics
which will serve to make the comparison
clear. On page 365 of his Dictionary OF
Statistics he says the yearly product Of
the manufactures Of the world are "a, 474, =
600, 600, of which the United States pro
duces Rl, 4i3 O00,0OO | do not youch, nor
can anybody vouch for these figures, but
the proportion Of one-third tn two-thirds
nobody can fairly dispute. We produce
one-third, aud the rest Of the world, Eng
land in cluded, two-thirds.
no DOpuidJluu vi bll5 WOIlu IN lOUU, NUD,
00O, Of which we have 10, 100000, which
leaves !, 430, OO0, 900 for the rest Of mankind.
We use all our manufactures, or the equiv
alent of them. Hence we are equal to one
half the whole globe outside Of ourselves,
England included, and GO mpared az mar.
ket with the rest Of the world our popula-
ton is equal to 7l50O0, 600. | repeat. rs
compared with England herself as mar.
ket, our people are equivalent to 200 600, r.
000 As compared with the rest Of the
world, England included, we Nro equal as
market to 7l5,000 900. These figures
NOR than justify the adjectives Of the
Englishmau, and the cold facts OF mathe-
matcs surpass the spasms Of rhetoric.
SHAME OF TAXATION.
There is still another argument which ]
desire to present out OF the large number
yet unused. What has made England rich?
1t is the immense profits which come oil
converting raw material into man ufaC-
tured goods. She is II huge Workshop, do.
ing the most profitable work of the world;
changing material to finished product. Sc
long as she can persuade the rest Of the
world to engage in the work which is the
least profitable and l9ave her tho most en-.
riching, she can we'll be content.
Let me give one item, aud the figures
shall be furnished by the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Wheelor), who told me in
your presence the t the value OF all the cot
ton raised in the United States was only
| $500, 900, 900, while the finished product OF
that cotton was 81, $50, 900, 600 When cot.
ton leaves the field it Is worth $500, 600, 0O0
when it leaves the mill it is worth six
times Rs much. On our own cotton crOT
alone we might in time make the profits
on a billion and half of manufactured
goods. Nor is there anything to prevent
such q result in protective tariff.
Some men think, indeed, this bill and iti
authors speeches proceed upon tho suppo-
sition that the frat step toward gaininf
the markets of the world is TO give up ouI
own. lust as IL fortified army, with enc
mics on all ilanks, should overturn itt
own breastworks AZ the first preliminary
TO march into the open. Even the fool
ish chvalry Of the Marquis dc Montcaln
which led him to his death on the Height,
of Abraham had not that crowniDg folly
Such is not the history OF tho world: sucl
is not even the example of England Tariff
duties, whether levied for that purpose OF
for revenue, become II dead lettor whel
| IL A.. H.. 1