Ottumwa semi-weekly courier., 1903-09-29

Corner Main and Washington SITS.
maintained at their present point. This
is an appalling task for any man who
undertakes it, and venture to say
that throughout this entire campaign
no democratic speaker will attempt
it. No thoughtful man has ever de-
clared, or ever will declares, that
with free competition in our own
markets in everything, that we would
produce more than we do now, and Il
therefore lay aside that part of the
task as one which will never be en-
tered upon. Likewise it never has
been claimed, and the defender of free
trade dares not pretend to any intel
ligent audience that his doctrine will
increase wages. If l understand Mr..
Sullivan's position, he insists that the
law of supply and demand must fix
the prices and the value of every
thing, and he will not be SO inconsis-
tent as to argue that an increase in
the supply of labor, without affecting
the demand, could by any possibility
enhance the compensation OF labor.
Free trade means the free competi-
ton of the world in our markets; that
is, free competition of all the labor
of the world through the commodi-
ties they produce, and this could not
operate otherwise than to reduce wa
ges il the workers of other countries
receive less than those of our own.
This, then, is another branch of the
proposition over which the free trader
will never successfully pass.
Cost of Living.
There remains but one other. 1t has
been claimed for free trade and prob
ably will be again, that it will reduce
the cost Of the things that the wage
worker must buy; that is to say, re-
duce the cost of living. l will exam
Inc this proposition, but preface my
examination by the suggestion that il
the claim were admitted it would still
be incumbent upon the free trader to
show that his theory of government
would maintain the present rate of
wages while lowering the necessary
expenses of life. This he cannot do.
He has made the experiment in times
past and with one invariable result
the reduction of the wages Of the men
employed. Let us, however, see what
the probable effect upon the cost of
living would be. The free trader is
vociferous and vehement and Mr.. Sui
livan is no exception to the rule, in as
serting that the duties laid on agricult-
ural products do not help the farmer
and therefore he could not say to the
| wageworker, that what he eats, insofar
as it is produced in his own country,
costs him more by reason of the tariff
and it happens to be true that what
| is imported for the table of the work
| ingman is substantially all upon the
free list, The only exception of the
slightest Importance is sugar and If
| we assume that the price is increased
by the amount Of duty upon it, which
| is not true, the tariff costs the head
of an average family so insignificant a
sum that need not express 1t in fig
| ures. Insofar as he is user of ordi-
nary articles of manufacture which
are on the dutiable list, l am quite
| ready to admit that the wageworker
of the United States pays little more
| for them than the wageworker of
| Europe or Asia but assert that he
| does not pay by reason of the enhanc-
! ed price of these articles five per cent
of the difference between his wages
and the wages abroad. This is sus-
/ ceptible of easy demonstration and
only refrain from reducing the prob
lem to figures because cannot in one
4 speech embrace all the matters of de-
| tail. Do not misunderstood me upon
| this point. I believe that it costs the
American laborer a great deal more to
live than it costs the laborer engaged
| in like employment in other countries.
It is not, however, because of duties
laid upon the things he buys but it
/ is because the standard of life is high
er in this country than elsewhere. The
| laboring man eats more and better
| things. He wears more and better
things. He lives in larger and better
houses. He spends more to maintain
| his position in society for he is fac
| tor in the most important affairs of the
1 community in which he lives. This is
| the price he pays for the manhood he
| enjoys, for the power he exercises, ,and
| for the responsibilities of citizenship;
and if free trade robs him of the op.
portunity to make these expenditures
! it at the same time robs him of the op.
| portunities which alone make life tol.
| erable and honorable.
Protection of Laborer.
In further effort to incite the
prejudice of the wageworker, the dem
ocratic candidate for governor insists
that while we protect the manufac--
turer, we do not protect the laborer,
and that, whereas the former meets
only the competition of his own coun-
4 try, the latter must meet the compete
tion of the world. This is the most as
tonishing statement have ever read
1t is the very climax of error. While
the republican party has put upon
many manufactured commodities an
import duty, it has absolutely prohibit
ed the importation of labor, and with
respect to one nationality, has impera-
lively forbidden the admission of Ia
borers. One of the most stringent stat.
utes ever passed by congress is that
which prevents Am erican employers
from bringing men of other countries
into the United States under contract
for employment. Barring the Chinese
wholly, we admit the laborers of other
lands. We have assumed that when a