| Show some la formation biven TO A DEMOCRAT in relation to tariff labor wages and americana Ameri industries in the new york trivun of october appears the lowins tol correspond aiice to the editor of the tribune SIB I 1 have been reading your paper tk last year I 1 would be pleased to have mr horr give the following eions some attention pint if the prices of goods made in the united stated are not enhanced by reason of the tariff tar where do th united states manufacturers of theae boods get the money to pay high waged 7 if protection means perpetual high wages to american laborers doea it not also mean perpetual high prices to consumers third why should a duty from 40 to 60 per cent be laid on bach dollars worth of imported products when our laborers receive only about 17 cents on an average for making a dol lara worth of like product fourth la there anything hut tariff lawa to compell manufacturers to pay to labor the amount which the aeta thorn fifth has there been a tima ia the laet coara when wages were not higher in america per day ahau in old england where the laboring population ia BO denso aa to almost ulada the ground biath wages being higher hero from 1816 18 16 to than in england could it not be asserted to haye been because of the low tariff seventh would a tax on pig iron enhance the price of free sugar if not how does a tax on the product of labor increase the price of labor would it not be best to have a high duty placed on those laborers who come in and aliye by labor J E 0 sept MR REPLY in answer to the first two questions of mr kichula Ni chula I 1 would state that when a new enterprise is to be developed in united states the difference between the wages of the united states and of tho old world is always taking into account in filing the amount of duty to ba levied so as to inaura the establishing of the industry before any such new industry is established in this country goods on which the duty is levied are as a rule bringing a higher price than th manufacturers of the united donld expect to receive after their business ie feuy established here at home that may he no misun ferstanding standing der I 1 will take an to illustrate exactly what I 1 moan for alie last fifteen years there has been no tinplate in states the mckinley bill places a duly of JS centa per pound for all tin plate manufactured abroad and imported in to this country the passage of that bill baa already induced over thirty different concerns to go into the manufacturing fac turing of tin plate in the united states several of them arc now making tin plate and a largo number of them are building extensive plants for the purpose of manufacturing the steel plates from which tin plate is made and also for the purpose of making tin plates tha men who are entering upon thia business tare perfectly satisfied that they can make tin plate and pay tha jaees now so universal in this country and then soil the goods foi lass money than they edve been bold for in thia country during tha past fifteen S they expect to improve machinery and thua enable them to prodica tin plate much more cheaply than it nas been produced abroad if our people bad attempted to ecart the tin plate industry without first being protected by this duty the foreign ing an advantage in cheapness of would at one have put down the price and in that way would have prevented anted oar own people from engaging in the industry precisely as they did jereral ago with thia duty it makes no difference how low tin plate baay be placed by the foreign producer in to get into eur markets and our own manufacturers from BO ling thir goods ha will he pay hie duty first which vas placed ao high aa to give our an advantage over those in tha old world upon examination it will te found that the meo who work in thia industry in the united states are being paid nearly twice as much as those who work at the samo business abroad the united states bauro tin plate than all the reet of tho world combined with this j advantage our t ii 1 give ow the ability to thir factories and on x very largo cacale will permit ahm to tala tal a advantage advant ace cf the division of labar which go clif manufactured goode and it will also enable them to brine into full play americal Ameri caa which always improves nia chicary ch inary abd all these ahinga combined mil eatable them to make tin plate for less monay than it has been heretofore sold to the people of this country nd they can do abia and also pay higher wages to the men engaged in the work the profits though small on a very lare of manufactured goods make the business when be tania orice on email production would not enable the to live at all do not misunderstand ma the largo of increase in the supply of tinplate tin plate which will be a n our should succeed iu producing even one half of vre consume will of itself drive down the price of tinplate tin plate all ov r the world no doubt the on the other aide or tha ocean will also take advantage of all in w they will no doubt reduce the price in wales as fast as it is reduced over her with their cheap labor may keep the price for many apara lower over there than it will bo at the game time over hare but the real question is where would the price of tinplate tin plate have been had we not built up the industry in trix courtr licul wo not increase the supply obyr here had we not im the machinery in tb united tates and bad w left tb for that article under the sole control of foreign producers ail ollar oceel aad iron toab in tho united states for the icet fifteen jeara have been setting heaper tin platt which ii nearly all iron or sceal has not been 0 o the way to decico about the future is to be guided bv thi of the put lust BO IOB a the tariff ic high enough to coter tho dif Treno here and in the old world with enough moe add od to it to deiy car own control of oar it will airry with it ai ething with which to paytha higher in this I 1 predict the aio bi bastory story for diio tinplate tin plate industry that has been bed batla ideel rail ow workmen baa contat lj r ss A Alfr gl t abbl bbl nearly twice the of travel paid for similar work in the old country and yet steel rails exye been reduced in price from a ton down to 30 a ton here in the united states and we mao all wa uee the price in england has also been getting cheaper and cheaper and the tariff of on each ton still enables our people to higher wages than do over tl yet to control our will the writer of this letter please make a note right new and preserve it get the average price of tin in the united states for the last fifteen years or far ibe last five years make a of it for le ference hereafter then ascertain the price paid men who work in faa lories producing tin plate in the old world and then the price paid for those working in the saraa factorial in the united states and then watch the price of tin plate after we have tad say one years time to get our factories completed and in motion vow then if it shall turn ont that our meu ly receive nearly double the n agea they get on the other bide of the mcfan and if it shall turn out that tinplate tin plate is ra danced in price BO that our who consume consumo it purchase it tor lep than they have been paying for it for several year past during when we have made non in this country count rj will them be anything to theorize about after afat wont these facts if they shall exist settle this entire controversy that result has baen reached with more than forty industries that can ba named here in tha united santas within the th last thirty yare if ahe facts ahall turn out that way what is the usa of of asking how it can be done ar why it is done if by levying a tariff duty on manufactured goods in the united states we is building up an industry i this country if we also actually pay better wages all the ahil than they pay in th of the old world thay produce similar goods and if the goods are iu variably cold to the ultimate for less money chaa they paid before w established the industry and thee more than that if all this results in keeping in the united states a large amount of money which would otherwise be bont abroad what more doea any one want to kaow abut it hew it ie doue or why it ig done iaco vary alight importance if it actually be dene ever feruce the passage of the mcfinley bill I 1 have been trying to get some arse trader to agree to adopt thia test on tinplate as a test and let tha settle tho question up to date I 1 have yet to find a man who has dared accept the proposition in answer to third question qu astion I 1 have to say that a duty of 40 to 60 per cent has never been levied on goods ahn our la borini men cant of the duty levied that is simply x falsehood which hac ben reiterated reita rated by the ane cf th united states until some people believe iu they get at this pretended result without taking into account the actual labar that enters into all articles there is hardly an article to day in use among the people of the united states of which oyer 90 per cent is not labor instead of 17 per cent what free traders call raw material is mostly labor in anscar to your fourth question there is nothing in the laws of any nation that can compel manufactures to pay any given amount for wages tha price of work is governed in all caama by th law of supply and demand and by surrounding conditions and it makes no difference whether you are in a free trade country or a protection country just the wages paid are never determined by law we have in the united states such a condition of labor that wages range nearly twice as high in thin country as they do abroad that condition beme one established is as effect tiep indeed much more effective than any legislation could make it in answer to your fifth question I 1 have not mablea tablea by me in order to look up anything so for back as years I 1 have no doubt that for a long time during the early days of our colonial existence wages were lower in this country than they were abroad at all events within my memory the wanes of peo ale borkine in this country have in all eases been doubled in many cases they they haye been treblah tre blad and in few eases wages are four times what they used to ba in answer to your sixth question it is impossible for ma to see just what you mean if as you intimate in that question that a low tariff mads wadea higher in this country than in england between and then wb daei not tha iree trado tariff of england which is still lest than alie low tariff make them still hichar in england in other words if yau think that the lower the tariff the higher the wages why does not ires trade england pay twice as much as we do instead of our paying twice as much ai she does 7 in answer to gocr seventh question I 1 am utterly to discover whit you mean hy the question it may bo a wise one but it is beyond my depth As to your last question I 1 haro already answered it fco many times that it to be tiresome after we permit labo reis to come into this country from the old world they at boc become citizens ot this republic and are entitled to all the advantages of all american citizens some regulations may bg wise which choul prevent the lana aas of so much ignorance and crime in aba united states so long as we permit them to land on our shores aud become part aaa parcel of our people I 1 aea no rca on why we should put any restrictions them any adora than were placed upon your ancestors and mine when they landed in the united state i I 1 voted once in congress to prevent the ingress of Ohi namen into the united states that waa an matter from passing laws depriving thorn brights frights and privileges after they have been permitted to come and aliye among us li the tariff laas which tha publican party have pa aad and chieh hayo been in force for the last thirty yara are sach a hardship on laboring people will mr nichols please explains how it happens that BO many laborera are cou coining from tha old world inte this country T why should he even aug gest that a duty be placed 02 laborers who come over here if our men are in such ona awauld think that a law would be necessary to keep them in the country and stop them from leaving it yet in all my corre spon dence I 1 have never yet had a tingle man suggest that we engst to have some method of preventing people from going from this protected country of onra into I 1 uia elegant free trade countries of the old world if the workingmen of ehg old world aro hotter off than those who live and work in this tariff ridden why do they not atay there or bhea thes beet here and find out how much worse off they ar here than they ware abroad why do tasy not go back aa a rule people like to better their condition if aur working leopla arts so badly aeed vh tha need f tax laws to keep them out of this country R G |
