Weekly journal-miner., 1922-06-07
FOREIGN LABOR


 O directing filibuster against the republican tariff bill profess deep concern for the welfare of the American consumer In their great solicitude they willing to sacrifice the American prodll- Ger. They want tariff bill drawn along such lines to encourage the importation of the prod ucts of foreign countries so that the American consumer may be able to buy cheaply. In their zeal in behalf of the foreign producer and the American consumer they betray themselves by some very noticeable Inconsistencies
 Recently one of these democratic leaders charged that the state of Connecticut had become prosperous under protective tariff law Republi- can senators gladly admitted that this was true, whereupon the democratic speaker changed his attitude by asserting that this prosperity had been made possible by the importation of cheap foreign labor Now let Us see where that assertion leads him and his party.
 Ii it be true that cheap foreign labor comes to this country, it comes because it can get better wages here than it does in Europe. It comes not only because 1t can get better wages but because it can buy more of the necessities and comforts of life with days wages in this country than in Europe If that labor should remain in Eur ope and be there employed in the production of goods the goods produced with that labor at wages cheaper than the same labor would receive in America would, under democratic tariff law, be shipped to the United States without the i'm position of a protective duty. That being true, the American laborer would not be freed from the competition of the cheap labor; he would be in competition with that cheap labor while working in Europe instead of the same labor at far higher wages in the United States Manifcstly it is bet ter for American labor to compete with the higher paid labor in the United States than to compete with that same labor at lower wages in Europe
 The republican policy is absolutely consistent ! The republicans passed and still maintain an i'm migration restriction law They not only propose to restrict importation of labor of Europe but also restrict the importation of products of that cheap labor by the imposition of a protective tariff
 ProiesSed concern for the welfare of the Am ercan consumer IS manifestly insincere, for nc man can be q consumer unless he is birst a pro- ducer earning the money with which to buy the goods he consumes. The republican policy is tc give first consideration to the producer, so thai there shall be employment for all who desire it al wages which will permit the maintenance of ar American standard of living. While it is no possible that this high aim shall be attained il every individual instance the records demonstrate that in all immense majority of cases the American laborer is better fed, better clothed, and bette housed when American industry has the benefi of protective tariff than when we are operating under free trade
 The prosperity we enjoyed during the war I when foreign imports greatly limited anc when export market was greatly extended merel yconfirmcd this fact for the democrat free trade law practically suspended in it , operation during that period