Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1903-10-08
PROTECTION DER|DED.
The Textile Workers of Phila-
delphia Jeer at It.
wANTTHEIR SHARE OF PROSPERITY

Low Wages and High Prices Break
Down the Protection Fetch In the
House of Its Fricnds-The Trusts
and the Corporations Have Cob
bled All the Prosperity.
The prolonged strike of the textile
workers at Philadelphia is having one
good effect that will aid the whole
country in throwing off the incubus Of
the protective tariff. Special dispatch
es 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 strikers banners are car
ried bearing sarcastic announcements
and questions such as, eve are pro-
tected by tariff, but the Republican
mill owners say we will be starved
Into submission" "Why are the tariff
protected mills closed" and many
others Of like nature. One motto
was especially significant: IF pros
pcrity is so general, why can't we have
bit of itY'
The workers are at last discovering
that the protective tariff means high
prices for what they have to buy and
taxing the many for the profits of the
few. They now discover what 1t has
been difficult to make them before be-
lleve-that the trusts and combines are
unwilling to increase wages to par
with the increased cost of living, or,
indeed, anywhere near 1t.
Only two excuses have been made for
protcction-lirst to control the home
market for American manufacturers
ANA second to protect American LABOR.
The first excuse has been pretty fully
accomplished 1T the expense OF the con-
SINNER. Tie tariff has prevented COM
Lrtitiou and has allowed the trusts to
raise prices until the average cost Of
living has increased about 10 per cent
The second excuse hAj been an arrant
failllrn or the nottingham would not
be S.r.i...... rA fair share Of the pros
p'r'.y that Tie trusts enjoy. The
lga.,s received - these workers are
certainly les, than will keep them in
comfort at Tie present high price OF
AyiH-.
IT, ,ol.H Of labor of the Philadel-
plia tc-.t-lo W"rfcvS have been too
,on- v-':"n il is considered that a ma
,u".'y Il i.r workers are women. girls
lrd children. and ten hours Il day or
sixty Lci.rS Il week in badly ventilated
WnrS.. n9 l., more tt.ln their tender
yc:rs &..u,:l ln asked 10 endure. The
wages pad range from Sl3 Il week for
the ca,prt wcuvcrS 10 50 Il week for the
Children DO the hours or the wages
protect these workers ~ the projections
i#!, Wot4lu lave lis believe! The manu-
.X,l.rrvS have advanced the price OF
Tie III. duets of the MI, and carpets
and the other textiles The workers pro
duoa have Increased fully % per cent
AMI those who buy them have to pay
that increase. SO in Philadelphia we
have an acute exposure of the work
ings of the protective tariff the work
ers dissatisfied with their condition. in
stead of tie good wages and comfort
that the champions of the protective
system would have us believe always
accompany it.
The manufacturers. who are mostl!
combined in trusts. are the sole bene
,ica ries of this extraordinary system.
have become rich and are still growing
richer. They sell to the American peo-
pie at eXorbitant prices and export
similar goods and sell them in Europe
and elsewhere at much lower prices.
And yet the Republican leaders say
= and pat" 'let well enough alone"
The friends of protection only must
reform the tariff" When some in
quisitive or impatient voter asks when
reformation will begin, the answer al
ways is after election and like the
Spanish "manana" tomorrow never
comes. The tariff will never be re-
formed until the people elect a major
ity Of congress that is free from the
trust faint and that the corporations
are opposed to. 1t is not human nature
to expect those who are receiving trust
and corporation favors to legislate
AGAINST them. -.