The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-07-06
PROTECTION HAS PROSPERED
CONNECTICUT

The following from the Congress
sional Record of May 11th gives a
pontiOn of the debate between Sen
atOrs Mclean of Connecticut and
King of Utah on the pending Tariff
bill:
Mr.. MCLEAN. The Senator from
Utah in his discussion the other day
said that Connecticut had greatly
prospered under the infamous and ex-
tortionate Tariff laws which Repub-
41can Congresses had enacted, but /
notice that that statement was not
printed in the Record the next morn
ing. l had to go to the Official Re
porters to get it. Of course / find
no fault with the Senator from Utah
for erasing that statement from his
remarks; he had a perfect right to do
that; but l am wondering whether,
upon reconsideration, he concluded
that his testimony was not altogether
reliable In his discussion of the Tariff
question, because one would natural
ly assume that if Protection had
brought prosperity to Connecticut it
might bring like prosperity to every
state that had a diversity of indus
tries.
Mr.. KING. If l did eliminate the
part referred to, l did it unintention-
any, but l affirm now that the Sen
ator's state has prospered greatly, far
beyond its deserts, under the system
of Protection which has been estab-
hshed and promoted by the Repub-
Hcan party l repeat that the
Senator's state has prospered. It is a
little state, with few natural re-
sources, but the few shrewd Yankees
like the Senator from Connecticut
living there have brought in cheap
labor from over the seas. af-
tlrm that the Senator's state has en-
pIoyed cheap labor; and much of it
hsa been foreign labor.
Mr.. MCLEAN. Mr.. President, the
statistics will show that the wages
which have been paid to labor in
connecticut have averaged much
higher than those which have been
paid by the states whose Senators
only.
Senator Mclean certainly has the
better of the argument. His own
state, concededly on account of the
Protective Tariff, "has prospered
greatly" 1t IS all nonsense to say
that it has prospered ''far beyond its
deserts" 1t has prospered because
it has had the initiative to develop
the production of manufactured art
icles, not beyond its deserts but great
ly beyond some other states with
equal facilities and much larger terri
tory. 1t has shown enterprise and is
worthy of the benefits which have ac-
crued in consequence thereof.
Senator Mclean answered fully the
claim that the wages paid have been
low by showing that they have beer
IN excess. of those paid in the states
represented in Congress by Free
Traders. He might have gone further
and have shown that, even if it is true
that some foreigners have been EN-.
ployed in the Connecticut factories
they have at least spent their earn.
lngS in this country rather than il
foreign countries, as do those work
men who are the special favorites o.
the Free-Traders-ithe foreign work
men on imported goods which dis
place the products of labor perform
ed here, but whose wages are al
spent abroad. Why does Senator Kin,
decry the employment of foreigl
labor in this country, labor which is Z
benefit to the country, while advocat
ing a policy which transfers both The
labor and its benefits to foreign coun
tries? Is it not the man who come
to the United States to make his home
worthy of employment?
But it is not true that foreignlbor
worlmen are employed in Connect
cut factories to the exclusion o
wOrEmen of American birth. For
eigners settle in localities where worl
is to be found and they go to Con
necticut because there is work ther
for all classes, such work being oh
tainable because of the PROTECTIVE
Tariff, as Senator King had the
candor to acknowledge. The pendine
Tariff bill proposes to afford Protec
ton to the products of all states alike
whether the products of the mine
mill or farm, and that is the reason
why every Member of both Houses o
Congress should give it hearty sun