The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1909-09-10
The Tariff and b

Those who read the observations Of
c,otes, special correspondent, who
!. now touring industrial England
18th a view of noting the conditions
av,stinr there. will find many things
!, unusual interest. The city of MAN.
cbester is the grea' - i, iustrial Gen.
.or in the world, the CHE: interest be-
ing re manufactLr. o; cotton. A:
fordiug to the fig1res given by our
correspondent there are 1877 cotton
mills in the county or shire of Lam
cashire, which practically can Man.
chester, and the spindles number co.
600, 900, the increase in the number
of spindles having been practically so
Der cen in ten years.
And this mighty industry has grown
up and is Aourishing at Manchester,
In what is called free trade" England.
The tariff duty on cotton goods in tt's
county was In SD oy the ntw
tariff in the Uni 4: States. where the
cotton supply is DTialced, while Man.
chseter sends to the United States
Tor her raw c1.t.,l AMI MANUFACTURER
it p~rofitably without the benefit OF a
tariff duty. The advocates of protec-
ton tell us that this is possible be-
cause the wages in England are SO
much lower than they are in the
United States, and that the tariff is
necessary in this country in order to
enable the manufacturers to pay de-
cent wages ~ tEeir operatives and
thereby ito maintain the dignity of
American labor.
It is probable that wages in British
industries are not as high, considered
in the abstract, as are the wages paid
to American laborers in the same
class of industry. And yet, as a re-
suit. of the beautiful workings of our
sbenefce1t" protective tariff system,
q dollar in. the hands of a British
wage learner will buy about as much
as the American wage Garner is able
to buy. with Q dollar and a half. So.
while the American labCrer gets a
glaatc nuli: err OF dollars for his
rea a+Snsk thar the british laborer
does, the purchasing power OF the
British wage careers collar is much
greater The suhconscionable tariff
hogs have so arranged matters as to
lead. the American laborer to believe
that he is, getting fair wages, at the
same. time. that he has artificially
pushed up the cost Of living so high
as to make the working mans dollar
go but a short way in the purchase Of
necessary supplies. With one hand
the corporation gives the wage Garner
the dollar and with, the other hand he
robs him Of half its value by making
him pay twice as much as he ought
to pay for his living.
Says. our correspondent, describing
the condition. he saw at Oldham, one
of the boroughs of Manchester:
.Many mill operatives own their
own homes. neat. architecturally
tasteful and comfortable brick cot
taees Of from four to ten rooms. They
build them on the building and loan
rlan generally. and as their Jobs are
secure they generally pav Cor hem.
In Oldham alone. one corner Of the
Manchester settlement, there are 12,-
Qn0 onarsfites VIZ n-sr the,r own
homes
What have the ta~rifs-fattened cor
pc.saion r-agnates who pirate SO much
about Che protection affor6ed to
American labor by the tariff. to say
in explanation of these interesting
facts? How many tariff-protected ca
cotton mill operatives in Fall River
own their own homes?, And if they
do not own them in any great pro.
portion, why is it so, seeing that, &C.
cording to the protectionists' we pay
then SO much higher wages than the
foreign pauper labor" is paid? The
difference between the opportunity
given to the laborers by the American
a1,nlovar and tha british amn,oyo,. io