Birmingham age-herald., 1894-10-14
TW FEN T Y P AGE s.
PROTECTION AND WAGES.

The pretense, and we use the word in it's strict sense, of the advocates of high pro- tection is that 1t enables protected indus tries to pay higher wages to their em- ployes; and ito raise the wages of the laboring menu was the pretended purpose of the Mckinley tariff law. The alleged purpose never materialized. The fact is, however, that during the two years, Octo- Der 1, 1890, to October l, 1892, inclusive, of high protection's most beneficient CD operation, there were officially reported 1200 cases of wage reductions and lock- outs in every instance in tariff subsidized in- dustry; and during that period working men in "protected'' industries whose wages had been increased were sought for in vain.
 It is also further fact that in the one year after Harrison's election, year of general prosperity-simply the impetus of the splendid condition in which Cleveland's administration left the ecountry-when pro- tected industries had been treasured as never before or after since 1880, the conflicts between labor and capital, inaugurated by attempts of capital to reduce wages, lock out labor, etc., were almost exclusively in the protected industries.
 If protection has not raised the wages of laboring men employed in protected indus tries, what benefits have they derived from 1t, and why shsuld they vote for a Repub- ,lican candidate Tor Congress?
 McKinleyism, which was the highest form of protection, certainly raised the price of all the necessaries of life, made living dearer and poorer and intensified the struggle for existence. It restricted the market for manufactured products, de- creased the demand for labor; reduction of wages necessarily followed and the in- evitable result was impaired ability to pur- chase food, raiment and other indispensa- bles of life.
 Can any wage earner in this district point out wherein his condition or that of his family has been improved by McKin- leyism, to which MT. Aldrich and his party desire to return. If not, then why support him for Congress?
 What the farmers. laborers, wage-earn- CTS, toilers and poorer classes of this coun- try need and must have to be prosperous is a wider market and greater demand for our surplus productions.
 These can only be secured by tariff re- form, lower import duties, the breaking down of the Chinese wall of high protsc- tion so as to enable us to buy freely from foreign countries and pay for our pur- chases, not in gold dollars, but by sending them our surplus products in exchange. As it is our farmers, mills and factories are largely confined to the home market, which demands only a small proportion of their possible products and outputs. The consequence is an unwieldly surplus with out profitable market, shut downs and lock-outs to curtail expenses and unste ady and unproftable employment of labor.
 
 Nations will buy from other nations that buy from them. If we are prevented by high tariff, which the consumer always pays, from buying from foreign countries, they will buy from us only when they can purchase nowhere else. They want trade in exchange for trade. There is a margin for profit in such transactions. This foreign trade will take from us our sur plus products in exchange for such of their commodities as we cannot or do not pro- duce proftably. Our mills and factories will have a steady demand for their out puts and will, therefore, be able to give regular work to their employees, which means good wages to them.
 A lower tariff insures goods, clothes, blankets, carpets, and other necessaries of life, at lower prices, so that at the same time the farmers, the laboring men and wage -earners are getting better and regular wages by reason of steady employment and constant demand for what they produce they will be getting more in return for the money they have to spend, living cheaper and better. From such condition gen. eral prosperity will naturally follow.