Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-09-26

Prosperity
But are the higher wages OF thi.
country really due to the protect.
i've tariff? Is the standard Of
living dependent upon keeping
out foreign goods?
If the protective tariff is the
cause OF high wages in this coun.
try, n might we'll ask why q
high tariff does not cause high
wages in Spain, in Italy, in
France, or in any other European
country that enjoys a high tariff.
But lest Europe be too far away
for a protectionist's Imagination,
let the question be asked, "What
made American wages high before
the tariff ?"
Not only did this country begin
without a protective tariff, but ii
began in spite of tariffs levied
against it. In the Colonial times
the mother country passed onerous
shipping laws, and laid burden
some taxes upon the struggling
colonists. And these oppressive
measures of king and parliament
were enacted with the expressed
and avowed purpose of preventing
the c~olonists from competing with
like industries in England. Those
we're the days of real infant indus
tries, and of an unnatural mother
that tried to strangle them in their
cradle.
Yet what was the condition as to
wages and the standard of living
in this country as compared with
England
For answer, it is not necessary
to lean upon Elusive statistics, nor
to depend upon "royal commits
sions of inquiry into the condition
of labor" We have a certain and
infallible answer in the movement
of population. Labor never know
ingly goes from q place of high
wages to a place of low wages.
The fact that men of all races,
creeds and sects continued to emil
CRATE from Europe to this country
shows where wages were highest,
where opportunities were greatest,
and where the standard of living
was best. And in spite of oppres-
sive laws imposed by the mother
country the condition of labor was
SO much better in this country that
immigration continued in increas-
ing volume.
Nor did this relative advantage
of labor cease with the setting up
of an independent government.
The early tariffs levied by the
young government for purposes of
revenue were low, yet wages and
the standard of living were high,
as shown by the steady movement
of population. Henry Clay, the
great high priest of protection,
said, when pleading for a protect
i've tariff, we must have protection
to American factories because
wages r high in this country.
That is the way he put it, "be-
cause wages are high in this coun-
try" Men who would engage in
manufacturing said they could not
do SO because the labor of the
country was already employed at
wages higher than they could pay
without protection. Labor in the
fisheries, on the shipping, in the
forests and on the farms was earn
ing more than in European coun-
tries, and would not voluntarily
enter manufacturing until the
population was of sufficient densi-
ty to permit of economical pro-
duction. But the protectionists,
impatient of delay, disregarding
economic laws, and ignoring the
advantages of natural conditions,
sought to drive labor into factories
by taxing it in other industries.
Now, if American wages and
the standard of living we're higher
than abroad during the struggling
colonial days, and during the early
days of the republic, SO that it vas
necessary to have q high tariff to
drive men into manufacturing, at
just what time did the metamor-
phosis take place that changed
cause into effect, and effect into
cause ? Who will name the day,
month or year in which the tariff
raised wages or elevated the stand
ard Of living
BeIleyiew News.