The Jackson herald., 1907-02-14

In the eight years. 1892 to 1899, in.
clusivc-two of these years being pro
tectivc tariff years, and six years Gov.
ering the free trade tariff period and
the recovery from the effects of that
tariif-American money orders sent
abroad amounted to sl12,5S6,5S5. be-
ing an average of $14072,0iS per year.
In the next ensuing seven years of
the full benefits of Dingley tariff pro
lection. 1900 to 1906, inclusive, the
total of money orders sent abroad
was s2i9.14S,0S2. the yearly average
being S35,572,7 1888
These are purely postal figures. They
do not include the amounts sent
abroad by express money orders, by
registered letters, or by small drafts
purchased from American banks. 1t
would be Nfc to say that, all told, the
1906 rcmittances by American wage
Garners to foreigners amounted to full
~ 100000. 900.
Is not this a unique, an extraordin.
AIRY showing?
Does it not reflect in striking form
the unparalleled position of American
labor
Does II not bear directly upon the
question whether the wage carncrs
have or have not shared literally in
the great gains of American industry
in the past ten years of adequate pro-
lection to domestic labor?
Does it not tend to prove that the
increase alike in the rate of wages
paid and in the total sum of wages
has far outrun the increase in the cost
of living?
Over s63OO0,O00 was sent abroad
through the post Office during the year
ending June 80, 1906, by prosperous
Americans of foreign birth or eXirac-
lion to their relatives in other lands.
The figures of postal orders issued
in the United States for payment
abroad begin with 1892. That was
what may be termed normal pAotec-
ton year. The labor of the colntry
was well employed under the McKin-
ley tariff of 1890. At the end of June.
1898. the Wilson-Gorman bill hal not
yet been enacted. Labor had not be-
gun to feel the pinch of tighter times.
SO the amount sent abroad went up to
sl6,341,S3S.
Now. note the next year, 1894, after
the force of the panic of 1898, free
trade panic. became visible Then
there was a drop to $13, ASS. The
next year, 1895, after the mills and
factories had closed their doors TO a
million work people there was fur
ther drop to Sl2,9O3. .4S6. This was
low water mark. Wage earners Nad
less to spare to send abroad.
In 1897 came the Dingley law
Meanwhile the warehouses and store
shelves had been filled with foreig1
goods rushed to the United States at
lower tariff rates in anticipation of the
higher tariff of 1897. Wherefore the
real benefits of the Dinglcy tariff were
not visible until these supplies we're
exhausted, and 1t was not until 1900
that the first big jump in foreign re-
mittances occurred That year the
postal orders amounted to Sl6,749,01
The sums sent to other countries by
postal orders increased by leaps and
bounds from 1900 on: In 1901, over
$50 O,OOOOGO in 1902, nearly $4,000
600; in 1908, over S350O0,0 900; in 1904,
over Si2 500, 900; in 1905, over S47,-
100000; and in 1906, over sG3 ,OOO, 900!
Where did all this money come
from? Not from the savings banks,
for the savings deposits of $l,747,-
9G1 $50 in 1894 (free trade tariff pc
riod) had in 1905 been increased to
$3,261, ,236,l19, an increase of almost
100 per cent in the protection period.
Not from the building and loan asso-
citation form cf savings, for these show
an almost equivalent increase in 1906
as compared with 1894. Not in dimi-
mutton of what is known as industrial
or wage earners' life insurance, for
this line of insurance has increased
enormously in the past ten years.
So the 63 and odd millions of dollars
which went abroad last year in postal
orders to foreign relatives must rep
resent clear savings after meeting the
increased cost of living, after swell.
ing the savings bank deposits to au
estimated total of S4,OOO,OOO, 900 for
1906, and after investing money in
building and loan associations and In
life insurance.
There is no escape from the conclu.
SION that the wage carnerG Of the
United States are accommodating mon,
sy at phenomenal rate in these yeS-a
Of protection prosperity,