The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-10
MISERY BY CONTRAST.


of the past in support of the high tar
if system involved contrasts more or
less strikingly between the social con-
dition of the American workingman
and his European brother. The liter
ature of high protection is running over
with the most convincing proofs Of the
degraded condition, relatively and alb
solutely, of the skilled toilers of the
older countries, and Of the condition Of
aff1uence and easy leisure attending the
lives of the protected" workers Of
the new world.
Time has brought some disillusion
can workingmen and those who in
politics accepted for the time the falla-
cies Of protectionism. The Industrial
infants. are very much in evidence to-
day and are grown to proportions ex-
ceeding even the fondest hopes Of those
through whose fostering care they were
called into being at the expense of the
legitimate development Of American in
0uSlildl L1S. but lHSIt are SliIl luOSo
who, even in this day, wish to revive
the pitiful story of the "pauper labor of
Europe"
The most recent instance of this
kind is furnished through Mr.. Andrew
NcNally, of the well-known concern
of Rand, McNally & Co., of Chicago.
Mr.. McNallY has just returned from
trip to Europe, and on his return pro-
the approaching downfall of England,
Of the starved and generally degraded
condition of the English workingman
and, by contrast, of the glorious condi-
ton of the laborer Of this free land.
There is a glimpse of Mr.. McNally's
vision of the misery of the life Of the
British workingman to be gained from
the following sentences taken from his
interview now current in the American
press. He says:
LAS for the workingmen, they are a
half starved. half paid lot Of men.
mills. I watched them carefully and /
did not see one cheerful face.
They We're sullen and tired and dis
couraged. They had haf-fed look and
they appeared to be overworked. Not one
of them cracked joke and there was no
talking back and forth as the men do
here. They were absolutely hopeless.
at stands to reason that a man cannot
do good work when he is underfed, and
that is the condition half the men are in.
Living is high and they cannot buy much
food with their small incomes"
It Is generally accepted as true that
the British worlingman is better paid
and, generally better circumstanced in
worldly affairs, than his continental
brother. Accepting Mr.. McNally's
touching picture of the condition Of
the British workers as correct, one may
well ask what must be the situation of
the German, Dutch, French or Belgian
workingman, against whose cheap la
time past clamoring for protection?
And if such Is the condition Of the Ia
Dor in Britain, how does 1t happen that
there is not general exodus Of skilled
British and other European mechanics
to this favored land Of ours?
The name Of Andrew McNally does
not suggest any disposition to regard
subjects of British concern from the
standpoint of pure altruisn, of course.
Yet Mr.. McNally is business man of
recognized standing. How we are to
reconcile his views Of the social state
of the skilled British mechanic with
the indisputable fact that England Is
the greatest industrial and commercial
power in the world of today does not
probably give him any concern. But
before he succeeds in finding general
acceptance Of his view of the relative
situations in life Of the skilled worker
of Europe and his brother in the United
States, he will find 1t necessary to
show, either that the former is about
to join his lot to that of the latter, or
else that he is totally blind to the i'm
provement In his own and his family's
condition which would result on the
| outlay of the small sum necessary to
secure them shipping by steerage to an
American port