Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-11-07
DOESN'T WANT PROTECTION

ter against the protection he enjoys o.
from 90 on the dollar watch he make
to as high as t79 per cent. on some
other cheap grales. He says in let
ter to q. d Hills. Chairman Repub
lican National Committee:
"You expect the manufacturers
support because You OffeI him the prac
tical exclusion of foreign competition,
and you expect the wOrkingman tC
continue TO support this Iolicy of ex'
clusion in the hone that part of its
excessive profit will be passed along tC
him.
"Were this arrangement practical il
would form a most iniquitous conspir-
acy against the consumer; and, in
fact, it has done so, except that the
workingman as beneficiary has been
forgotten, leaving only the manufac-
turer to benefit.
"And not all manufacturers do ben
eft but only the favored few; the rank
and file suffer with the workingman
and consumers from a system that is
mere favoritism.
"As to the workingmen, manutac-
turers DO not pay them in accordance
with ability to pay, but according to
the employees ability to demand. The
law of wages is the law of supply and
demand, and protection in curtailing
foreign trade, building up monopolies
and producing high costs, has curtail-
ed consumption and thus deprived la
Dor of it's opportunity to work, and,
therefore, of its much boasted high
wages.
1.-THE rank and file of labor today
does not receive its share of the pro
duct. Labor's share has not increased
to the extent living costs have, and it
is being buncoed by the protective sys-
tenn
Protection does not go into the pay
envelope AMI won't b cause it curtails
the total of labor through high prices
and restricted CONSUMPTION.
"a reduction of the tariff will ad-
NIT greater imports, reduce monopoly
prices, enable the workingman to buy
and consume more; and consumption
being the absolute guage of production
.e vii produce more and therefore
ger mole in higher wages and contin-
uous TN loYment
"The gr, alter imports will be paid
for in greater export, aud the greater
import, will produce greater reven-
ne, though at a love" per cent. of du-
ty. because of thu greater volume.
And from the foregoing, you may
readily see my viewpoint as manu-
facturer-my domestic trade may be
curtailed by foreign competition, but
l expect to more than make it up by
increased exports.
Years of study in my own line and
others convince me that neither the
American manufacturer nor the work
ingman needs tariff wall to protect
him, but rather the opportunity of
trading with the world as he ENJOYS it
at home.
"As to the consumer, the answer is
even more obvious: he has everything
to gain anu nothing to lose by policy
of freer trade; you can't even claim to
protect him; he has been the goat as
long as he is willing
"And as to all classes-namely the
manufacturer, the consumer and tue
workiugmen conceive their interests
to be actually (uot theoretically iden-
tical and especially as to the consum-
er, | ara convinced that it he can be
kept alive, healthy and cheerful the
American manufacturer and the Amer
lean Horkingman as result will be
amply well protected.
And this is the point in a nutshell.
High prices, excessively high prices we
mean. not fair prices, curtail con-
sumption, and this in turn curtails la
Dor, which in turn buys lees because it
has not the money with which to make
the desired purchase. In our own case
there are plenty of things which we
need for personal use, but by not be-
ing able to get the money to buy them
as well as the things we must have to
meet the demands of our business,
we simply go without them. Every
man should have at least two suits of
clothes yeal, but instead we get one
every five years. This means nine
suits of clothes that we didn't buy,
about $3.50. 90 worth that the textile
business with it's Intricate ramifica-
lions of labor, material and profit,
fails to get, If you multiply this loss
to business by million others similar
ly placed, you can see what differ
ence this lack of buying power means
in on1 item.
Mr. Ingersoll is very correct in his
assertion that high prices means de-
creased consumption. 1t also means
deer ased production, for most people
won't sell at less figure than the mar
price Some woul rather destroy
their wares AM this fact brings
about the very loint sought by the
trusts, viz decreased production tor
the sake Of higher prices. This means
not only manufacture at a moderate
wage cost and a high price fol the ar
ticle Iloduced, but also practical re-
bate of tNe labor by the tariff wall
raj Ell around the article by fsvoring
government Who gets the difference'
Not the working man, for as soon as
he produces enough for the decreased
consumption he is ont of job. and
then he stops buying, not because he
has enough. but because he can't earn
enough TO buy any further to satisfy
the neeos of himself and his family.
A little thought along this line will
show any thinking man how the trust