Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-05-04
tariffs AND WAGES.

Many good people think that 1t is;
the protectionist policy that keeps
American wages high The workman
himself generally thinks 50. H. votes
for u high tariff to enable his employ.
er to make high profits 50 that his
employer can pay him high wages
He knows as Il consumer he will have
to pay high prices. but he thinks his
high wages will more than offset that
He should do a little thinking. 1t is
not the tariff that keeps the American
wages high. assuming that they are
high. 1t Is Americas boundless nat
ural opportunities that have kept them
high. and this was true when there
was no tariff or only a low tariff.
Where there are most natural re-
sources Of potential wealth and where
men are relatively scarce wages will
60 up Supply and demand settle that
Instead Of the tariff keeping Amer
lean wages high. it is the American
standard Of wages fixed by natural
conditions that compels the tariff pro-
tected industries to pay high wages.
The protected industries have to COM
pete with the nonprotected industries.
and the latter employ many times
more men than the former, so that II
is the wages paid in the larger group
that determines the wages paid In the
smaller group. Wide and farreaching
as is our tariff system. it will be found
that the number Of people employed IL
our protected industries after all
bears small proportion to those en-
ployed in the industries that are not
protected. Professor j. Laurence
Laughlin many years ago put the ra-
ito as not more than one to sixteen.
and it is not likely to be more today.
In La Follette's Weekly. true
friend of the workers. though some
times misguided. we recently read the
statement that the tariff lis tax to
which the people have consented in
order to maintain in this country high
wages and high standard Of living"
Another statement was that the tar
if enhanced prices charged by the
manufacturer were "a trust fund for
the benefit Of American labor" Else
where in the paper It is forcibly
shown how shamefully the trustees
have abused this trust For in
stance, according to the census Of
manufactures for 1905. 310.458 cot
ton mill operatives were paid $94.377.-
696 in wages. an average Of 1904 for
each employee. or less than Sc per
week. Bulletin GO Of the census Of
fee shows that at the census for 1905
the wages of 2O2,211 cotton mill opera
tives averaged only $7.71 per week for
men, $6.O3 for women "1n the great
cotton mills Of New England" says
La Follette's. 1.-The average earnings Of
all operatives was less than $3.50 per
week.
Now. before going any further let US
ask this question:: Is 1t the 80 per cent
protection which cotton goods enjoy
that enables the cotton manufacturers
to pay these magnificent wages? Let
the reader think of the wages paid in
Industries that have no protection at
all and compare them with these
wages and then ask himself If it can
be true that it is the high tariff that
keeps up the rate Of wages in this
country. He will see that 1t is not
true. It is monstrous delusion. The
tariff protected manufacturers pay the
wages which competition determines
and this competition comes from the
nonprotected Industries, which. after
all. are the great majority. The man
ufacturers pay no more than they car
help, tariff or no tariff. OF course
there is no doubt of the ability of the
cotton spinners to pay much highe,
wages than they do. La Follette's
states on excellent authority that
1.-The average annual dividend paid by
the mills of this group (of eighteen New
England cotton mills) for the previous
eight years, through good times ant
bad times, was nearly 16 per cent. =
Thirty mills Of Fall River, Mass, pai6
for fourteen years dividends that aver
aged 500 per cent annually and in nd
dition accumulated surplus equal tt
% per cent of their total capital
If there were no tariff at all or only
| low tariff the cotton manufacturer!
would be forced by competition to pay
about the same wages they are pay
ing now The tariff on goods is NJ
protection to labor. A tariff on i'm
ported labor might be. How thu
workman can still think that he Il
protected by admitting foreign labo
free and keeping out foreign goods Il
a mystery THOMAS SCANLON.