Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1903-08-14
PROTECTION DEKIDED.

The prolonged strike Of the textile
workers at Philadelphia Is having one
good effect that will aid the whole couu.
try in throwing off the incubus OF the
protective tariff. Special dispatch
from the Quaker city report that during
the last few weeks the trend OF political
feeling has been changing rapidly. and
in every street parade made by the
I st rikers banners are carried bearing ear.
: ! castle announcements and questions
such as: I'VE are protected by tariff,
hut the Republican mill owrcrs Say we
will he starved into subuission." "Why
nrc il" tariff protected mills closed?-
and many others of Il like nature. One
mott" WAS especially significant: @lf
| prosperity is so general, Why can't we
have u bit 0i it?-
The workers are at last discovering
that the protective tariff means high
Prices for ~! lat they have 4" buy and
taxing tho many fur the profits Of the
few. They now discover what II has
been difficult Ia make tiIrm before be-
=
| unwilling tO increase wages to u par
with ~. increased cost of living. or IN
deed anywhere near it.
Only two excuses have been male for
protection: first To control the home
market for American manufacturers,
md, second, 10 protect a merican labor.
The first excuse has been pretty fully
accomplished at the expense Of the con
sumer. The tariff has prevented cumpe.
tI,I"u aud ha% allowed the trusts to raise
prices until the average rost of living
has II lic-rascd ahout 80 per cent Tho
second excuse has been an arrant fail
uTe, or the wOrKing man would not he
striking for ii fair share OF the prosper
ity that the trusts enjoy. The wages
received by these workers are certainly
less thnn will keep them in comfort at
the present high price nf living,
The hours al labor nf the Philadelphia
textile workers have been TO long, when
it is considered That IL majority nf the
workers are women. girls and children,
and ten hours Il day or ca honrs week,
i'll bndly ventilated work shops is more
than th, ir tender years should be asked
to endure. The wages paid range from
Sl3 II week for the expert weavers to
two dollars II week for the children. DO
the hours or the wages protect these
workers H. the protcctionisis would have
us believe: The manufacturers have
advanced the price Of the products Ci
the mills, and carpets and the other tex
tiles the workers produce have increas-
ed fully - per cent, and those who buy
them have to pay that increase. So in
Philadelphia we hnve an acute exposure
oi til, woTkinl ~ the protective tariff.
The workers. dissatisfied with their con-
ditiOn. instead Of the goo | wagcs and
comfort TINT the champions Of the pro.
tective system would have us believe al
ways acrnpanied it.
The manufacturers, who are mostly
combined into trusts, are the sole bcne.
ticinrics nj this extraordinary system,
have became rich, and are still growing
richer They sell to the American pco.
pIn Mt 'xorhitant prices, and export sim
liar goods and sell them in Europe and
clsnwhcrc nj much less price. And
yet the liepblican leaders cay stand
pat" "Iet well enough alone" "The
friends 81 protection only must reform
the Tariff When some Inquisitivo or
impatient voter asks when reformation
will he tin, tho answer always is---after
election, md like the Spanish "MnnHna,"
tomorrow never comes. The tariff will
never be reformed, until the people
elect Il minority Of Congress TINT are
free from Tie trust iaipt and who the
corporations are opposed to. II III not
human nature to expect those who arc
receiving trust and corporation favors
to legislntc against thcm.-Ex.