Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-10-08
American Workmanship
Said to be Cheapest
in the World.
MARKET is CONTROLLED
Governor Tells Kansas Audience
That Special Privilege Must
Be Routed.

Norton. Kan, Oct. s.-That the
very men who have been most sue
cessfui in building up the trusts are
also the very men who have been
most successful in preventing the or
Ranization of labor" was the conten-
tion OF Governor Woodrow Wilson in
an address here today devoted large .
j. TO what he characterized as "the .
pervasive power of the great inter .
ests which now dominate our develop .
meat"
Don't you know" he asked, that I
cue Of the objects OF their combina- .
tion is TO control the labor market? I
And do you imagine that they have
sat deliberate plans for giving the
working man anything comparable ia
the way Of wages TO the proportion of
the profits which they themselves
pocket? They do not have 20 give
the labOring man any more than he'
can get in the competition Of the mar
ket. And they do not give him any
more As matter Of fact. some OF
the most highly productive industries
IN this country pay very much lower
wages than the unprotected indus
tries And some OF the most highly
protected industries pay wages that
are be.ow the living scale. at the
same time that the prices they are
making are so great that thsy can
build new factories out OF their sur.
plus every second year. II is one Of
the grandest pieces OF blum and hum
bug that has ever been known in the
history Of political deception.
FOR WIDER LABOR MARKET.
Il want 10 widen the market for
American labor. | want TO see condi-
tons exist in which men will com
pete for American labor. ] want again
20 see a time come when we shall
realize that the highest priced labor
H. the world is the cheapest labor
in tha world. that what is produced by
brains and intelligence and skillful
touch is great deal cheaper than
what is produced by stupidity and
dulIless and the whip OF the master.
Il tell you this. that American la
Dor. up TO date, is the cheapest in
, the world. | can prove it. American
manufacturers compete In foreign
markets in the scale of goods manu-
factured in those markets, near those
market by labor that receive only one
third the remuneration OF American
labor. Now, what does that mean
i means they can afford 10 pay Amer
lean working men three times as
much and still undersell their com
petitors in the foreign markets, and
yet the American working mao is
told that the amount Of his wages
depends upon the protective tariff
II doesn't. IL depends upon him.
II depends upon what is inside OF his
thinking box. And when you once
get To a system Of regulated monopoly,
then you get TO a system OF controlled
labor, don't forget that. Narrow the
lines OF competition and you stiffen
the lines OF labor control. You have
not now a free market for your labor
any more than you have a free mar
ket for our commodities: for under
this system of monopoly, regulated or
unregulated, the monopolist can de
termine the amount OF goods TO be
produced. and therefore determine the
amount OF laborers TO be employed
and the prices that the goods are to
briig"
KNOW WHAT THEY WANT.
las | travel from one part OF the
country 10 the other" continued the
governro. 81 see no essential differ
enoe among the people in the different
parts Of it. Tn same thing is written
in their eyes aid il is not a CLEAN
OF fiercensss. IL is q light of self
confidence. They know what they
want, and they know they are going
10 get it. Anybody who supposes
that economic questions and poliu
cal questions are two differelt things
IS very much mistaken because these
things have been SO closly married
with one another in our recent pOlit
zeal practice that it is impossible tc
discriminate between them.
And this gives me an opportunity
10 allude 10 simething that reaC
very recently in an influential news
paper. Ii was an editorial in which
] must say that the editor did m,
personally more than justice. But b.
saw in me an unintsntiona, Nacchia
velli, IL said in effect: This is an hon
tst man; he honestly believes that {
protective tariff is unconstitutional
and II he gets a chance, being an hon
set man. he will upset that unConsti
tutional arrangement That is goot
reasoning, but il was entirely incon
sistent with another part OF the ed
torial which very kindly ascribet