Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-28

high wages and plenty OF Jobs, In support
OF which statement they referred to the
working men in the United states, always
with work to do and always getting fabu-
lously high wages. The liberals retorted
with the statement that the cost Of living
was so high in America that the differ
ence In wages was really In favor Of the
British workmq and denying that the
Americans always had Jobs. Some OF
them went far enough to say that there
were Us many unemployed In the United
States as in England. To this the con-
servatives replied that the farms Of the
south and west in America always needed
laborers; thereby bringing down upon
their heads the wra ny demands OF the lib
erals that the land in England be opened
to opportunity for small farmers.
At the close Of the campaign the whole
Issue seemed to be ~centered In the great
black bread question. The liberal speakers
and press charged that protection would
mean black br ad and horssflesh for the
working man, as is eaten in protected
Germany. Ignoring the horscflesh. the en-
tire conservative eampaiRn took up cudgels
in defense of black bread. A grocer, by
special appointment to his. majesty, the
king" testified that the king alto black
rye bread. The conservative papers all
said that what was good enough for the
king was good enough for the likes of
Ll~oyd-George, and that that ought to settle
1t. But the radicals kept up the outcry
against black bread and apparently the
entire English public conferred all its
thought on the relative merits of wheat
and rye bread.
A feature Of the tariff reform campaign
$500. A.. - g.
various cities all over the country. An
empty store room would be hired and its
windows filled with all sorts OF imported
manufactured goods, all Of which came
into England free OF duty. The public was
invited, by placard, to estimate how much
British workmen got for making those
American shoes or these German cooking
utensils. or this French fabric, and the
like. The argument was cllnched by pla-
cards showing how many jobs would be
given to British workmen at so much
wages IL all these things were Kept out by
a protective tariff.
These dumping shops" made a power
full appeal to the people, and they set the
other side wild with anger and despair.
There has been a long campaign of ad-
vertlsing in England In favor OF British
made goods, and IL has had a profound
effect. Everywhere Que sees appeals for
patronage on the patriotic ground of sup
porting home Industries and employing
home labor. The dumping shops took
advantage OF this sentiment.
In leicester the liberals played a sharp
trick on the tories. They rented the upper
story Of the dumping shop and covered
IT, over with placards which explained the
exhibits In the window below TO be a
powerful argument In favor OF free trade.
The voter might stand outside, see the
foreign goods and then by the two sets
OF placards reach the conclusion that tariff
reform would either save or wreck the
nation.
In London one dumping shop displayed
a chair marked with a card Made in u.
s, A" 1t developed that the chair was
of a particular sort made only In a fac
tory in the immediate neighborhood. Work
men from the chair factory identified the
chair and forced the tariff reformers to
take 1t out of the window. That particular
dumping shop at once fell into dis
repute. "
Almost every Engilshman who has been
In the United States has written a card
to the newspapers, sometime during this
campaign, for the purpose of comparing
prices In the two countries. They were
about equally divided in opinion as to
which country has the higher prices. One
letter writer said that he had lived in the
United States with his family for seven
teen years. and that while he always had
his clothes made in England because he
liked the fit his old London tailor gave
him, yet he had bought a suit of clothes
in Atlanta for 1915 which was perfectly
good. He did not give the Atlanta tailor's
name and address.
OF course each side has accused the
other Of all shades and degrees Of dema-
gogy, perhaps not without reason. The
liberals used hundreds of thousands Of a
leaflet which read, after giving statistics
from various countries: Protection means
less wages for q longer days work" And
the conservatives counted as a trump card
their leaflet which bore the legend:
"Dearer baccy, dearer bread, dearer IIv-
ing, dearer dead, dearer whisky, beer and
gin, is what you get when the RAIDS are
In Vote for tariff reform. The for
elgner pays the tax" e'
Tariff campaigns appear to be conducted
on the same general lines in all countries.
ny RREDERxC J. HAsKrN.
Tomorrow-Tho English Elsctions-How
h Parties Fight.
could not afford TO accept the positions.