The herald., 1897-04-21
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LABOR VS.. TARIFF
BY ABBOT KINNEY


lection Is a use of the taxing power OF
the state upon the many to enrich the
few. It is socialism In that 1t interferes
by the state power to distribute artin-
cialy and arbitrarily the produce ano
earnings of the people. The sociahs'
uses this state power to distribute earn
ings Of individuals on an approximate
that the society or state Is the main
factor in the earning power of'the indi-
vdual. The result sought by the So
cialist Is the help and advantage or the
poor and weak. The protectionist uses
the state power to enrich the few out OF
forced contributions from the many.
Protective taxes, tariffs, bounties ana
rebates go to the rich and powerful ex-
clusively. The ground taken by the pro-
tectionist is that the enrichment of the
| rich enables these to start or maintain
industries, and that thus work is given
to the laborer The protectionist goes
on and claims that by this means the
| wages of the laborer are maintained or
increased. That is the humane part of
present protective claims.
The original protective propaganda
| started with the assertion that wages
were higher in this country; that there
fore certain indus1ies could not be car
ried on here in competition with produ-
GERS in other countries earning less wage.
/ 1ne INDUSTRIES SOuSHl " NC OouCCQ
| or to be continued were claimed to be
important enough to deserve sacrifices
by all other producers. The assertion
| that wages were high was the plainest
| sort of a statement that 1t was not the
laborer who was sought to be benefited.
The original Jacob of protection was to
encourage the capitalist to undertake
certain kinds of industries. The pro-
lection was for the capitalist and went
to him. He collected the delegated tax
| and received the rebate and the bounty
| just as he does yet.
The proposition of protection was not
| to advance the price of labor. On the
contrary, protection asserted high in
dividual wage to be an industrial ham
dicap. High wages are. according to
| the protectionist. dangerous and often
deadly to manufacture The low indi-
vidual wage can produce cheaper than
the high individual wage. Consequent
ly the ultimate Industrial conqueror must
be, by protectionist doctrine. the cheap
est wage payer. The cheapest individ-
ual wage is a bare living, and this is at
tanned best under slavery. Tine slave
must work; living is given the slave.
That living is determined by the mas
ter and is fixed upon the animal stand
ard alone Protection, then, says the
cost of a given product is fixed by the in
dividual wage, and that the lower this
wage is the cheaper and better is the
product The doctrine contravenes ex-
perience in any large sense.
The worlds experience is that the pro-
gressive increase of the individual wage
has corresponded with vast increase
in the efficiency of labor, an increase in
individual product and a cheapening of
cost. The protectionist denies this pat
ent fact.
The removal of natural tariffs and
natural impediments to exchange by bet
ter money, drafts and credits, by build
ing railroads. tunnels. bridges canals, by
deepening rivers and constructing safe
harbors, by building ships and steam
ers; these, according to protection. must
be injurious. The removal of artificial
barriers to trade-such as war, highway
men, banditti, pirates or tariffs-must
also be protectively injurious.
Piracy, in so far as 1t impedeS trade
between nations, is a protective bless
ing. The idea of the protectionist is
widespread in one form or another and
exists in America as to the trade of
states with states and cities with cit
les, as we'll as to the trade of the United
States with other countries.
A daily stage was started some years
ago between Pasadena and Los Angeles.
There was at that time one whitewashed
shanty containing general store in
Pasadena. The new stage line was
looked upon with the gravest apprehen-
sion by the residents of Pasadena. 1t
was said that the stage would so facili-
tate trading with Los Angeles that 1t
would injure Pasadena by destroying
the business and profits of the worthy
storekeeper Every successive increase
of facility of access to Los Angeles and
every reduction in cost of transit has
been looked at by some in Pasadena in
the same way as was the first stage. l
personally know this to be the case. AT
Santa Monica there is the same idea.
There is constant local appeal to trade
at home, to build up home merchants
and not to trade in Los Angeles. The
underlying idea is that the diminished
cost of visit to Los Angeles and the in
creased facilities of getting there are an
injury to Santa Monica in so far as these
things encourage Santa Monica people
to go to Los Angeles. The actual expe-
rience of Pasadena and Santa Monica
has been that the extra facilities and
liberty of free and cheap exchange
which they have enjoyed over other sur
rounding places has been of enormous
benefit to them. Not only has the gem
eral community benefited, but the mer-
chant class, for whom the anxiety was
felt, was greatly increased. In Pasa-
dena, where the entire business of the
colony, before the stage line, was con-
QucleQ III one DOdrQ SnaHtyt tney now
have block after block of handsome
stores, shops and factories. This has
happened with a lowering of the tariff
in time and money between Los Angeles
and Pasadena. Where they had one
general store and no public transporta-
tion system they now have three rail-
roads, an electric line and a great num-
ber of stores.
The same protection idea crops up in
the trade between the states. There is
constant appeal against Californians
trading with the eastern states. If the
laws permitted or the governments were
independent there is no doubt that the
protectionist of California would set up
an artificial barrier against the pauper
produce of the east. 1t Is strange that
a sensible person should at one moment
rejoice in the construction of railroad,
the establishment of a steamboat line,
the making of a harbor or the removal
of any natural tariff or impediment TO
trade and at the next moment build up
artificial tariffs to prevent trade. The
protectionist of Los Angeles wants an
artificial barrier created by tariff taxes
exceeding anything in the worlds his
tory set between him and the foreigner.
The same citizen is ready to subsidize
out of the public taxes steamships to
foreign countries to promote foreign
trade. He wants the government 20
spend five or six million dollars at San |
Pedro in harbor to remove natural |
tariH barriers. The prOtectionist is |
ready to use the taxing power to stop |
trade and to promote trade at the same