The Elbert County tribune., 1912-09-06
TARIFF Is NOT RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE PROSPERITY OF
THE WAGE GARNER.
PROVED BY. TWO INSTANCES
Condition of WorkInsmen In Highly
Protected Steel Industry is Bad
While Plant. Of Moderately Pro-
tected Farm Implement Industry
Arc Bright Spots In Labor World.

~ oSiceuent OF all observers,
lie dies hard. There. for example, is
the lie that asserts that the Ameri-
can workingman is dependent upon the
tarin for whatever he enjoys OF super
iority to the ''pauper workman" OF Eur
ope In wages and standard of living.
Let US look at couple of great Amer
lean industries, one very highly, the
otner very moderately, protected. BY
tue theory, the workingmen employed
IN the nrst ought to be better of
tnan those employed in the second.
rake the steel Industry and the
agricultural implement industry. both
nourishing. and each enjoying a good
export trade. And in order not to
complfcate the tariff problem with
the trust problem. suppose we leave
Out tne harvesting end of the imple-
ment industry and consider only the
manufacture OF plows and machinery
Tor planting and cultivating, an un-
monopolfzed branch. The steelmaker
's protected by a As per cent tariff;
the tariff on agricultural implements
Is just Is per cent. For the past fif-
Ieen years-the period of most rapid
development Of both industries-the
tarin on steel has ranged from two
ma one-Quarter to three times as
much as that on implements.
The condition of the workingmen
In the highly protected steel industry,
generally speaking, is bad, as the
world knows. A tariff barrier of As
per- cent. against the output of the
pauper labor" of Belgium, Germany
hos aat
can workingman from making the ac-
quaintance Of the twelve!-hour day
and the seven-day week. 1t Is not
necessary to resume familiar facts:
tho Pittsburg Survey will supply de
tails to the curious, at any public H.
brary. Since the degree of prosperity
assured to the workingman by a as
per cent. tariff is so low, we should
be prepared, according to orthodox
Republican doctrine, to find the en-
ployes of plow, planter and cultiva-
tor factories the pariahs of the in
dustrial world
The very contrary of this assump-
ton is the fact. There are no bright
er spots in the American Industrial
system than these very plants. whose
tariff protection is relatively SO little.
In the ''plow towns" of Illinois you
hnd wages good. Scrupulous atten-
tion is paid to matters of safety and
factory sanitation. In no industry
employing an equal amount of un.
skilled labor are conditions more sta
Bile. From this, and the thriftiness of
the. workingmen, 1t results that
large proportion of them own their
own homes. 1t is not uncommon to
find workingmen of three generations
of the same family in a single organ
fzation. One large concern has a sue
cessful pension and insurance scheme
In operation: another. instead of buy
ing outright inventions of employees.
pays substantial royalties for the use
OF them.
The tariff was not designed to help
the workingman. 1t is trick to en-.
able the manufacturer to exploit the
consumer. Nothing could be more
conclusive on this point than the con.
trast between Industrial conditions in
the two industries under discussion.
Why is the infant" steel industry.
protected by As per cent. tarifr and
selling annually about $3.50. 900 600
worth OF 1ts products in the foreign
market. unable to treat It's working
men as we'll as the plow and planter
industry, which has only a Is per
cent tariff and an export trade of
about one-twenty-fifth as much? And
how does It come that the implement
maker some years since. professed
their willingness to get on without any
tariff at all while the steel industry,
according to no less an authority than
President Taft's veto message. would
be wfthered and blighted II the du-
ties on steel were reduced to figure
still substantially higher than the i'm
plenent duties?
The answer is that the tariff philos-
pphy is farrago Of lies.
Mere Details Lacking.