Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1892 — Nuts for Protectionists to Crack. [ARTICLE]

Nuts for Protectionists to Crack.

If, as protectionists tell us, wages depend upon tariffs, then, as we have the same tariff in all parts of the United States, it would be natural to conclude that wages should be uniform from Maine to California. The Foundrymen’s Association, of Philadelphia, after a considerable amount of correspondence, has compiled a tabulated statement of wages paid in foundries of the United States printed in the Iron Age of May 26, 1892. Some'of the figures are from countiy foundries, others from car-wheel, stove and malleable, iron and pipe shops, etc. According to this the average wages of molders vary from $3.50 per day in San Francisco and Oakland, Cal., to $1.60 in Hagerstown, Md. A few of the other averages are: in Pittsburg, Pa., $3; Conshohoeken. P*., $2,834; Philadelphia, $2.50; Chester, Pa., $2.40; York, Pa., $2.10; Reading, Pa., $2; Allentown, Pa., $1.90; 'Bloomsburgh, Pa., $1.75; Denver, Colo., $3.25; New York and Brooklyn, $3.; Chicago, 111., $2.75; Charleston, S. C., $2.60; Portsmouth, N T . H., $2.25; Elmira. X. Y., $2; Wilmington, Del., $1.85. The average wages of core makers vary from $3.50 in Lead - ville, Col., and $3.26 in Sin Francisco, Cal., to $1.25 in Elmira, X. Y., Brockport, X. Y., and Selma, Asa.; of cupola tenders from $3.50 in Oakland, Cal., to $1 in several Southern cities; of chippers from $2.50 in Leadvilje, Col., to 75 cents In Athens, Ga. Wll some kind and logical protectionist ilease explain these discrepancies? Will he also inform us how it is that tht highly paid labor in Eastern cities conbete with the poorly paid labor in neighboring cities and In the South, and tyrns out his product cheaper thau thei poorly paid labor can turn out thtlr troduct? He might also give his reasons for thinking that New York laborers ne d protection from the pauper labor of Canada and none from the pauper labor < f Maryland; and why a tariff wall shouk not be constructed on the Allegheny fountains to proteot the $3-a-day labor If Pittsburg from the $2-a-day labor of Reading and Harrisburg. Such appareit inconsistencies as these are daily occurring to many untutored minds and : it behooves the protectionist to be ou ths alert, with simple, straightforward arguments to dispel them.