Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1897-07-06
PERFEcTINe PROTECTION.
Two Slight Changes Suggested In the In
terest of Farmers and Iaborers.


Two Slight Changes Suggested In the In
terest of Farmers and Laborers.
The senate is now engaged in remedy
ing the small imperfections of the Ding
ley bill, which, as all good protection
lists assert is one of the best tariff bills
ever drafted. II distributes its blessings
to all-farmer, laborer and manufao-
turer. Without doubling the good inten-
tions of the makers, we wish to suggest
one or two minor details which might
possibly help the bill to fulfill the ex-
pectations Of its authors:
First.--Lubin's export bounty scheme
might enable the farmer to get small
slice Of the benefits of protection. OF
course the farmer doesn't expect-espe-
oially at fiTst--to get as much of the
benefits as the manufacturers have been
getting for 30 years. A protection of
about 20 per cent-that is 10 cents per
bushel on wheat, cents OIL corn, etc.
would satisfy him, while it takes four
times as much to satisfy ordinary tariff
infants.
This small export duty would not
make good the farmers loss because of
import dnties on manufactured prod
ucts, saying nothing about past losses,
but in course of time, after his industry
had felt the stimulating effects Of real
protection what protects, the farmer
might muster rpcourage enough to fol-
low the example of Oliver Twist
which example has grown into a Gus
tom with protected interests-and ask
for more" Possibly also he might
form political trusts or r-combines to de-
mand "more" and raise millions of dol
lars to send lobbies to Washington to
bribe congress. While protection is in
order export duties are the farmers on
ly hope. With them he may hope not
only to change his losses to profits, but
also to regain that power and position
which were once his, but which have
long since passed into the hands of the
manufacturers.
Second. 1t is also fitting to recognize
the laborer in the distribution of tariff
profits. Like the farmer, he now puts
his hand into his pocket to help swell the
Of which comes his way 1t is not an
easy matter to equalize the benefits
of protection so that the workinglnan
shall get his full share A prohibitive
duty on imported labor might in the
course of time afford some protection
by restricting the supply of labor, so
that manufacturers could carry out
their good intentions Expressed when
asking for higher duties) and pay
American wages to American work
ingmen.
At present the condition of working
men in the protected industries is pitia-
BILE in the extreme. The Philadelphia
Ledger, good Republican paper, told
rs about May that in the protected
iron ana coal industries Of Pennsylvania
the wage rate has been reduced so low
that it is scarcely sufficient to provide
the necessaries Of decent, sanitary liv-
ing" 1t says "the lowest classes of
alien cheap labor swarm in the iron and
coal districts Of the state" and the COM
petition fer work is SO fierce "that they
contend, not against the employers fer
the highest wages, but among each
OJner IOr the lowest! AS dppCdrS Dy
the testimony presented to the legisla-
tive committee, y " they herd in squa
lor, subjects Of abject penury, and are
beset by disease, dirt and hunger. The
Ledger thinks cur immigration laws
are defective and improvidcnt" and
suggests that "to properly protect
American workulen congress should
pass an immigration as we'll as tariff
bill" " This is a good idea and should
be acted upon at once. The only wonder
is that some of the good manufacturers,
in their anxiety to protect and raise the
wages of their workingmen, did not
think of this plan before. Then, if they
should have a law passed which should
make it compulsory for them to give at
least one-half of their protection and
monopoly profits TO their employees,
protection would begin to be an all
around blessing The manufacturers
might still be getting the lions share,
but they would not get all
When these changes are made in the
bill, it will undoubtedly be what the
New York Tribune declared its proto-
type, the Mckinley bill, to be-'the
bravest and best tariff bill ever passed"
Will they be made?-Byron W. Holt