Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-07-18

-. 'u 70 Eeua3,,.
Wages Here and Ahroad-chsaD \
and Goods Capture Market -
American workmen chane. wv
"ill you be kind enough to writ -,
lowing subject: "What Should ns,n - tnt h
Limit Of Protection For American irSa %, I;
IL IS quite subject, and there a. 'rssf
many opinions. pr Rfa
Rockville. Conn. aslloa
This is an exceedingly inta,,
question. According to the pripcirI.-
the American Protective Tariff
the object of its existence. az eyn 80
in article of its constitution +
adequate duties upon imported pro5,
to protect American labor, whetbsr
cultural, manufacturing, mining or 49, ~
mercial, against the competition ~
priced labor in foreign countries )
All friends of protection t.sleys
the American people should not &.
will not submit TO the low standars !,
wages prevailing in other countries !.
is the desire of proteetionists 10 ames.
rate the condition of American laho.
and this can only be done by exclndina
from our markets the products of cbsaT
er labor. The question then arises I,
what extent or to what degree Of M
lection are we prepared to go?
We believe that the limit Of nrn,.,
tion to American industries shonld !.
determined by the cost of labor in SIM.
lar industries i'll other countries. For Il
stance, if certain work in a certain az
tory costs an American manufacturer !,
per day, and similar work in simila,
factories in Europe can be performed
for 81 or 81. 90 per day. then we believe
the product of the American factorr
should be protected to the extent Of that
dollar, which is the difference between
the lowest rate paid abroad and the rata
paid i'll this country.
In framing tariff for protection il i
essential to bear in mind that the great.
est amount Of competition will natural,
" come from such countries as nav the
lowest rate of wages. If an article can
be made in England for 81 and in Ger.
many for 20 cents, the two being ot
equal quality, the German article will
secure the trade and the American wage
Garner must be protected against the
lower German rate. The knowledge Of
what such rates are should be in the pos
session of business men engaged in diff.
ferent industries
In any future tariff for protection that
may be framed there are some entirely
new considerations to be borne in mind.
The termination Of the war between
China and Japan will stimulate indus
trial progress in the latter country
which is already rapidly advancing its
manufacturing industries But few years
will elapse before japanese goods will
be found in our own and in the Euro
pean markets, supplanting such as we
have imagined it would never be posi-
BILE to make except here or IN Europe
japanese cotton and wooden goods Of all
kinds will very shortly be strong COM
petitors with our own cottons and wool.
ems. Russian cotton goods are also to be
looked for, and now we find that the
cotton industry is being planted in Chi.
ma, upon English lines, no less than ten
mills being erected or equipped there,
which will. of course, be worked main
ly with Chinese labor.
This is undoubtedly England's ad
vance move to offset the progress Of
japanese manufacture. But what are
we doing? We have simply begun 70
lower our tariff so as to give the manu-.
facturers of England, Of continental En-,
rope. of India, Of China and Of ia
pan greater opportunities and greater
facilities for reaching our market, which
is the largest and the best in the world
We are inviting foreign made goods TO
take the place of our goods, inviting
foreign cheap labor to compete with our
own labor. and gradually forcing the
American wage Garner to give his capl.
tai, which is his labor, on the same
terms as labor that endures Il mere ex.
istence, without comfort, without r.
finement and without regard to its f.
tire condition
The total American consumption Of
our own manufactured goods. Of our
farm products and the foreign goods
which we imported in 1890 reached
nearly 1000, 900, 600. The total for
eign imports Of all other countries IN
the world, representing those foreign
markets, aggregate little more than
1900, 900, COO Ourown home market
is worth to MS nearly 81, 500, 00o, 600 q
year more than the foreign trade OF all
other markets OF the world, even # we
could hope to secure the whole Of T.
The policy Of free trade is 70 throw our
greater and better market open TO cheap
labor competition and 10 pauperize ouE
wage earners. The policy Of protection
is to prevent this.
CHARLES r. BUCKLANp,
Editor American Economist