Show FIXING WAGES BY LAW THE leader of alie the republican party james G blaine at the great ovation when he landed in new york said the whole pith and moment of the campaign was the wages qi question estion it was whet whether herthe the great mass of american citizens who earn their bread bythe by the sweat of their brow shall be seriously reduced in their emolument from day to day this outlines the course to be pur sued during the struggle for the presidency it is to be the text from which the protectionists projectionists will preach on the advantages of a high tariff and show how bow the people are to grow rich by being heavily taxed we do not propose now to discuss this thib interesting question question but to call attention to a scheme which to is designed to settle it congressman white of indiana figures as the author of a bill which will pre v venti ent as he be imagines the dire calamity ml ay iy foretold by his bis fellow republicans as the sure consequences of the ills bill and referred to by mr blaine as the long looked for occasion sion on which tho cheaper labor and cheaper fabrics of the old world expect to invade the new world and lower the wages of american workingmen to the european standard mr white proposes to strike a desa de 1 ly blow at the low wages terror POA pass his bill and make it successfully of ally operative which would be much more difficult than getting it through congress and there would be no danger of the european standard or any other menace to american labor it fixes the minimum rate of wages for the entire country and makes it uniform in all the states it provides that every male citizen or alien over 21 years of age who may be employed as a laborer in any capacity shall be entitled to and shall be paid not less than a dal day of 10 hours every woman of over 18 years of age shall be paid not less than 1 and every minor over it 14 and under 18 shall be paid not less than 75 cents a day to bring these provisions into practical operation a million dollars is to be appropriated appropriate a and the business is to be put into the hands of that already perplexed and badgered body the in ter state commerce commission mr white is a protectionist in the full fall sense of the term he perceives the necessity of something more than the protection of the capitalist which is the caiet object and effect of the lit high h tariff riff system an and so brings r go on oat th this 9 plan to protect the e laborer who is for orthe the campaign t the e great consideration of anxious republicans e of course there to is not t the e a slig chest best danger or ho hope e as the case may be that such a bill will become law it would take away the chief issue of the campaign as presented by the great matzke maine politician it will be probably buried in a committee it it nad bad been brought forward at an early day in the sess session ioD it would have been food lor for the f funny anny men of the house and enlivened some of thel dreary hours when lokes jokes were needed to awake a little interest it nas aas long ago been settled that the rate of wages is regulated by causes outside of the domain of legislation the tae scale will vary with the locality prices in the east will not be the same as in the west whey where the labor market is crowded low wages will prevail and scarcity of workmen will bring up the rates of remuneration in spite ot of written rules rales agreements or acts of legislatures but if I 1 mr white believes that csia can be fixed by bylaw law on what principle did he decide that the minimum for a laborer must be bea a dollar and a halt half a diky day why not make it three dollars while he was about W ia and why should a laborer in an old state where living to is cheap be paid the same wages as one in a new territory where living is dear then mr waite is likely to array against his bis scheme a very important part of the working population the women why this ibis discrimination between the sexes susan B anthony and her army of reformers will not sit quietly by and allow the value of a womans comans daily labor to be but a dollar while a mans is placed at a dollar and ana a half the question of a fair days wages for a fair days work will never be settled by law neither will the tariff regulate it the law of supply and demand is more potent than acts of congress or of parliament Pari ament aud while poverty prevails prevails and capital buys labor and ang individual interest int elest and aggrandizement a are the motive and object of human effort there will be a conflict between money and muscle and the weaker will goto the wall wail I 1 high tariff or low tariff tree free trade or protection have really V very little to do with the matter but t the benefit of the laboring man is a plausible political poll cry and cunning conning politicians are clans are not slow to take advantage of it we shall hear bear a great deal of shallow sophistry on this head during the political struggle of 1888 |