Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1893 — LABOR NOT DEFENDED [ARTICLE]

LABOR NOT DEFENDED

A FRAUD IMPOSED UPON THE WORKINGMEN. -AMen Are on tlie Free I.lit ami American Labor Is Not Protectcil by Duties on Goods Canadians Moving Duck ami Forth at Will. Protective System a Faroe. “One effect of the temporary shifting down of the many Now England cotton mills during tho pa-t two nu nths and the subsequent reduction "in the wages of the operatives has been tho stimulus given emigration lrora this and other New England Stales t > Canada. Few factories but have felt tho effects of this exodus of the French Canadians back to: tho fauns irom which the promise of high wages and speedy enrichment entiiod them, and lor weeks past the depot platforms ut the village railway stations have bean piled high with their trunks and huge boxes, filled witn clothing and h> usehold goods, billod for points beyond the Canadian border. There is no more reliable indicator of the industrial situation in the cotton manufacturing centers than the poriosica! movement of the migratory } or . ion of the French Canadian population. When the -tide of industrial prosperity is on the x’ise, and yith it tho wages of the cotton operatives, tho French Canadian, taking it ut the flood, hies him from the faun to the factory, and again when it begins to ebb, he is tho first to take alarm* and with tho accumulated savings of lis sojourn in the States fly back to the farm,” The above, from the Providence' Journal, is quoted by the Manufacturer, of Philadalplia, one of the stanchest, not to say tho most bitter, of Protectionist journals. It is assumod that this furnishes t> clinching argument for, protection t<> American wageearners by means of tariff duties. But does it? Does it not rather stamp the whole system as a f»ree and a fraud? Does it not make clear that trade in labor is free, and tha: when the reward for labor is higher in this than in other countries there is no obstruction to its migration and importation, except tho trouble of moving and the expense of transportation? Not more certainly dees the liquid in a spirit level flow toward the lower end of the tube than does the tide of immigration flow toward the cou»try of groatest natural and actual advantage) for the employment of labor. Labor, like water. Is constantly seeking its level. Mon being on the free list, they can and do sell their labor in the highest market. Hence wages the world over are about as nearly level as are the waters of the seas and the great bedies of water closely connected with them. If day wages aro much higher in one country than in another it is because labor is more efficient in the former than in tho latter country. This theory is in accord not only with common senso, but with all well-authenticated facts, obtained by Democrats or Republicans. When James G. Blaine was Secretary of State in 1881, he made a report on wages in the cotton industry, in this and other countries, based upon statistics obtained by foreign Consuls. He was forced to come to the conclusion that “undoubtedly the inequalities in the wages of English and American operatives are more than equalized by the greater efficiency of the latter and their longer hours oi labor.” The previous Secretary of State, Wm. M. Evarts, made a similar report and came to a similar conclusion. He said: “One workman in the United States, as will be seen from the foregoing extracts, does as much work as two workmen in most of the countries of Europe.”

That labor is more efficient in this country is demonstrated every day of the year by our exports of goods to all parts of the globe. Our shoemakers, carpet and cloth weavers, piano, carriage, and makers, and mechanics and workingmen of all kinds receive double the day wages paid in Europe, and yet their products are exported to Europe and sold in competition with the products of Europo's cheapest labor. Many largo manufacturers have declared that labor is cheaper in this than in any other coun-try-all things considered. No. a duty on goods gives no protection to labor that makes the goods. As the Hon. Ben Butterworth frankly admitted, “The manufacturers and the trusts got the protection and the profits of tho tariff.” The American workingman sees the effects of protection in tho increased prices of what he purchases. His labor is in constant competition with the labor of all other countries, both in our own and in foreign markets. This fallacy exploded, protection will have no other leg upon which to stand. But anyway it has twice lean knocked completely off its pins in this country, and the last obsoquies aro now being performed. No humbug ever deserved to be buried doeper than this cno.—Byron W. Holt.

The Inevitable Off Year. The most conspicuous feature in American politics is the fated off year. A striking reaction is ai certain to follow the victory of either party at the polls as day is to follow night. Duting the years following the war, with disfranchised white communities at the South and under federal force acts in all the States, the reactions were less complete. But even then, with a restricted suffrage and with the relentless exercise of official power at the polls, the off years produced a falling off in party majorities, and often they were reversed. It is unnecessary to trace this line in political history farther back than the middle of the century. In 1848 the Whigs' elected President Taylor, and in 1850 the Democrats elected a majority in Congress. In 1852 the Democrats elected Pierce, and in 1854 all factions of the opposition elected a majority in Congress. In 1856 the Democrats elected Buchanan as President, and in 1858 the Republicans elected a majority in congress. In 1860 Lincoln was elected President. but in 1862 there was a serious revulsion, and at the north, notwithstanding the prevalence of the war spirit, tne Republicans met serious reverses, In 1872 Grant was elected President the second time, but in 1874 the Democrats elected a majority in Congress. In 1876 Tilden was elected President, though not inaugurated, with a Democratic Congress. In 1&78 the Republicans elected a majority in Congress—all these elections relating to the House. More recent history is tco familiar to require recapitulation. The result in New York need not be a surprise. It is the most fickle State in the Union. It is liable to swerve from side to side, reaching the farthest extremes in a year to two. In 1880 the Republican majority in that State for Garfield as President was 21,000. In 1882, with Grover Cleveland for Governor, the Democratic majority was 193,0C0. In 1884 it was carried by Cleveland for President with but 1,047 majority. In 1888 it gave 21,000 Republican majority on President and 13,000 Democratic majority on Governor. In 1892 the Democratic majority was 43,000, and If it is as much the other way this year it should not be a cause for surprise. Frequent mutations in Dolitics occur

in other States. In 1888 Pennsylvania gave 80,000 majority for President Harrison and in 1800 a Democratic Governor was elected. In 1884-New Jersey gavo 4,500 Democratic majority, and in, 1887 gave 3,000 Republican majority. In 1888 Wisconsin gave 21,t 00 Republican majority, and in 1890 George W. Peck was elected Governor by tl.e Democrats with 35.000 majority. The political ups and downs are so numerous and so erratic that, except in a sow States, the result of no general election ind'cates what may occur in an off year, and the result in bn off yoar does not indicate the result of a general election. The general law of reaction in all polit ; eal movements is an added forco which makes the off yoar an adverse fi roca-t in the horoscope of all successful parties.—Chicago Herald. About the Plate. In the latest issue of the Iron Ago tho price of the standard grade of tin plate in this market is reported to be *s.4ti per box. In the same issue tho price of this grade of tin plate at Liverpool, free on board for shipment, is reported by eablo to be from $2.79 to 82.85 per box. Tho duty on a box of this tin plato, weighing 108 pounds, is $2.37. It will be seen that tho price in this murkot exceeds by at least 18 cents the price in Liverpool with the duty added, and that tho duty of 2 2-10 cents per pound is equivalent to an ad valorem rate of 83 per cent. Tho consumer who buys tin plate now in this market pays the Liverpool price, which is from .>2.79 to $2.85; then pays the duty, which is $2.37, and a ids. from 18 to 21 cents per box for freight charges and importer's m’ollts. In its reportXif the markets, Tin and Terno, tho organ of tho Tin Plate Munufactuiors’ Association, said, on the sth inst.: “Prices ate getting down toward tho lowest point over reached in this country for foreign plates.” There was no foundation for that assertion. The price now, as wo have said, is $5.40, as reported by the leading trade journals. This exceeds by 26 per cent, tho average price for tho yoar 1886, and by 23 per cent, the average for tho five years immediately preceding the year of tho passage of the McKinley tariff. Tho average was $4.27 for tho yoar 1880, and for the five years ending with 1889 it was $4.30. We have been unable to find trade quotations of the prices of domestic tin plate except in tho columns of this organ of the association, Tin and Torne, which publishes tho price lists of live manufacturers. We have compared with the price of .the imported tin plate—Bessemer steel, coko finish, IC, 34x20, full weight—tho prices of the domestic tin plate of the corresponding denomination and size as published in that journal. The lowest price quoted for one factory is $9.75; for another tho price ranges between $0 and $9; for the third prices are $11.25 and $9; for tho fourth the lowest price is $5.75 and tho highest $8.25, and the fifth concern offers throe brands at $5.75, $11.25 and $0.75, respectively. It will bo noticed that tho lowest of those prices exceeds by 35 cents a box tho price of foroign tin plate in this market, although tho price of this imported tin plato includes a tariff tax of $2.37. It should not be overlooked that tho prieos we have quoted uro taken from tho official organ of Mr. Cionemoyer’s association. —New York Times.

Tho People Not Deceived. Ignorant men who do not road or think for themselves, or who are satisfied to lot interested parties think for them, may be caught in the net thrown out by tho tariff shriekers and dragged back into tho bondage from which they have just escaped; but they are not likely, once having had their eyes opened, to remain satisfied with future blindness and helplessness. times and low wages which tne oppressive MeKinley tariff was ineffectual to prevent, it would prove equally ineffectual to obviate if it should remain unrepealed. As a revenue measure its working has brought the country to the edge of a deficit that is without a parallel for financial blundering in tho paT history of the Union in time of peace. Tariff Reform will justify itself. The people who control tho destinies of the United StatoH will not be balked in their effort to give the country commercial and industrial emancipation and to start it forward once more in the track toward superemlnonce among the nations from which it was temporarily thrust by tho up* heaval of civil war.—Philadelphia Record.

Too Many Axes to Gr'.nd. If current rumor 3, emanating fr< m Washington, as to the intentions of the Ways and Moans Committee are correct, the New England free raw material advocate is not likely to realize his full expectations. It is very generally admitted that wool will bo placed on the free list, but roport has it that coal is to be singled out and provided with a coat of protection. If this is u:>, we do not wonder that Mr. Stevens has entered violent exceptions to it. Possibly the committee may regard free wool as a concession to the Now England manufacturer, and hold that so long as the wool and woolen schodule is arranged to his liking he has been granted all that ho can justly ask for. Then thore is another suggestion. William Wilson lives in West Virginia, a Stale which produces a large quantity of bituminous coal; coal is also found in large quantities in many of the States from which comes the bulk of the majority in Congress. An impartial and non-secti nal tariff seems beyond the range of eithor party. —Wool and Cotton Reporter “Itegnlatlng Wages." Of all the impudent pretenses mado before the Ways and Means Committeo by a Fall River manufacturer, this wa) the worst: “You have it in your power to regulate the wages of our employes,” he said. “Will you give them bread or a stone'/” So good a protectionist as James G. Blaine certified, when Secretary of State, that the labor cost in cotton manufactures in this country was no higher than in England, owing to the greater productiveness of < ur operative:. But aside from this the Fall River mills have reduced wages whenever they dated and raised them only when they must. The supporter* of the McKinley bill had a chance to “regulate wages” when an amendment to their bill was offered making the increases in duty conditional upon a corresponding increase in wages. Of course, they promptly voted it down. The monopolists who paid for the increase proposed to get their money back! They reduced wages in ten instances where they increased them in one. —New York World. Their Product* Must Be Free. The contract labor law has not prevented the Carnegies and Fricks from filling up their works with aliens. It has not prevented the Pennsylvania coal monopolists ftrom importing their thousands of miners. It has not kept out the regiments of Hungarians and Italians who compete for starvation wages on public works. It has not prevented the extinction of the race of New England fishermen whose places are now occupied by British provincials.—Chicago Free-Trader, Every day is a little life.—Bishop Hall.