The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1912-11-01

| or commodities.
Imagine If you please a tariff that
prevented the coming into this coun
try Of laborers, but placed no restric
ton on the coming in of commodities.
Would those who have commodities
to sell deem such a tariff for their
benefit ? Yet to say they would,
would be al reasonable as to say
that a tariff upon commodities is for
the benefit of those who have labor
to SELL
1t is true there liz a tendency of all
wages to q common leyel, and this
tendency arises from competition.
But this tendency 10 not caused by
the competition of the goods market;
| it is caused by the comp
The wages paid for the production of
goods that sell freely in the same
market cannot arise from checks on
but manifestly arises from checks on
the competition of labor for employ
ment. AS the competition Of labor
varies between employment and en-
| ployment, or between place and place,
So do wages vary. The cost of living
being greater i'm large cities than i'm
small towns, the higher wages in ths
one are not more attractive than the
lower wages in the other.
That which American workmen
have to fear is not the sale in our
goods market of the products of
cheap foreign labor, but the transfer
to our labor market of that labor it
self.
Under the conditions existing In the
greater part of the civilized world,
the minimum of wages is fixed by
what may properly be called the
standard Of comfort" that is to say.
the poorer the mode of life to which
laborers are accustomed the lower
are their wages and the greater is
their ability to compel a reduction in
any labor market they may enter.
What then do you say Of that sort of
protection Of American workingmen
which while imposing duties upon
goods, under the pretense that they
are made by 'pauper labor" freely
admits the ''pauper laborer" himself?
The incoming Of the products Of
cheap labor is very different thing
from the incoming of cheap labor
We might permit the free importa-
ton of Chinese commodities without
in the slightest degree affecting
wages; but under our present condi-
tions the free immigration of Chinese
laborers would lessen wages.
In spite OF the high duties which
shut out commodities on the pretense
OF protecting American labor, Ameri-
can Workmen in all trades are being
; forced into combinations to protect
themselves by checking the competi-
tiOn OF the labor market
Our protective tariff on commodi-
ties raises the price of commodities
and adds to the high cost of living
but what raising there is of wages
has been accomplished by trades
unions and the Knights of labor
Break up these organizations and
what would the tariff do to prevent
the forcing down of wages in all the
now organized trades
The whole aim and spirit of pro-
lection is not the protection of the sell
ers Of labor, but the protection Of the
buyers of labor, not the maintenance
Of wages, but the maintaining OF
profits. The very class that profess
anxiety to protect American labor by
raising the price of what they them
selves have to sell, notoriously buy
labor al cheap as they can, andfierce-
ly oppose any combination Of work
men to raise wages.
There is something In the very
word protection" that ought to make
Workfng-men cautious of accepting
;; anything presented to them under it
The protection OF the masses has in
all time been the pretense of tyranny
the plea Of anarchy, of aristocracy
Of special privilege Of every kind
But whether under a monarchy, OIL
under Republic, is there any in
stance i'm the history of the world in
which the proposed protection" Of
the 1aboring class has not meant eli
oppression ? Ffguratively speaking
the protection that those who have
the law making power in their hands
in the manufacturing states have
given to labor, has at best always
been the protection that man gives to
cattle-he protects them that he may
use and eat them
Industrial justice will never attain
it's full fruition until brain shall
emancipate muscle from the thra1dom
of mammon, it will never Be conceded
by the benefciaries of existing con-
ditiOns, 1t must be fought for, and the
only effective weapon with which to
do battle for it's attainment must be
forged by the intellect OF man
The Democratic party maintains
that wages are established by com
petitive conditions and not by the
tariff" It pledges itself in its plat
. form to tolerate mo abridgment OF
the right of the wage earners and
producers OF the wealth Of the coun-
try to organize for the protection OF
wages, and the Improvement Of labor
conditions. 1t further promises
'the enactment of law creating a
department of labor to be represent
ed separately. in the presidents cabi-
net" and also to an Employees
Compensation law providing adequate
indemnity for injury to body, or loss
Ofi life of employees
= Wilson, Marshall and Talbot all
stand upon this platform, and are In
honor bound to do the utmost that I'm
them lies to see that these promises
and pledges are faithfully kept, which
should specially commend them to
the support OF every wage Garner Ia
the land. N
i DEMOCRATS NEXT TUESDAY rs
ELECTION. DON'T FORGET TO
Al VOTE.