Show A WORKMANS VIEWS THE NECESSITY OF A TARIFF CON BY A WAGE EARNER lence in england and ani in 10 united states att free trade demagogy leme Br coin com carlson ti between anglish and amerl can wages you see said the free trade reform to rm demagogue as he cocked hia his wise looking eye e 0 upon bia his listeners the tariff does not protect american labor because it can produce more cheaply ie aply than the la bor of any other country notwithstanding that it is better paid to make my point clear suppose an american work ingman who gets two dollars a day and an english workingman who gets one dollar looth engaged in exactly similar work the two dollar man is really a cheaper man than the dollar man because be he produces say twenty of a certain manufactured article while the slow thick witted briton can only produce nine of the same article hence the employer of the american labor can afford to sell his goods cheaper than the english employer since the former gets bis his goods made at ten cents apiece while the latter pays over eleven cents apiece when therefore the robber baron demands protection so that he can continue to pay the higher wages to his employees he is is deceiving the public ha he wants the protection so that he can exact higher prices for foi his products when he cells sells them perhaps to the very ones wh who 0 make them protection is a fraud a delusion and a snare and directed chiefly against the interests of labor at this point an intelligent looking workingman elbowed his way through the crowd and addressed the reformer as follows that is a very nice story to tell to a any n y one who know any more about it than you do yourself I 1 worked in england for years 5 ears and I 1 have worked in this country for a long time as a potter and I 1 know that that theory of yours about tower lower cost of production product iou in this country is pure rot in the old country I 1 made just as many pieces a day as I 1 do now but I 1 got less than halt the money that I 1 get now I 1 hap happen pento to have in my pocket the list of prices that I 1 used to get got in staffordshire and I 1 will give side by side with them the prices I 1 get got now for making exactly similar goods but the mere mention of price lists was too much for the theory loving tariff reformer and while w alle the speaker paused a moment to search for the lists among the handful of papers he had bad drawn from his pocket the theorist quietly slipped through the crowd and hurriedly disappeared around the nearest comer corner muttering something about being obliged to hurry to a henry george meeting where the sinfulness of private property in land was to be discussed that is my usual experience with ith these those free trade demagogues resumed the workingman when be he looked again but in vain for his opponent they are mighty plausible in discoursing of theories and supposed caserto cases to the un informed but they run from facts and figures every time however as you who have congregated here seem anxious to hear me to the end I 1 shall continue as though our tariff reformer bad had not run away hero here Is tho the list of prices paid for making cups saucers mugs and plates in england and this country with the per cent of difference in favor of american labor given in a separate column all other kinds of labor skilled or unskilled by the day or piece in and about the american establishment lish ment receive receive wages proportionately higher than the rates paid in england english price american american for price for brict making making higher jiggered goods per doa per dot doz pw per cent caff so cups OH wa 2414 teacups T cu p e coffee offee ea la laachr acer IW tea saucers old lia five 6 inch trul fruit san saucers cers ml VA jojas 1536 0 flat plates 6 inch MS am flat plates 10 inch IBM awa deep plates 6 in loch 11 jr 1112 deec deep ap pp plates 10 inch tn ch 1118 it is clear to me who have received both these scales of prices continued the workingman that the cost of producing american goods is greater than it Is in england and that that greater cost of production is due to the higher wages paid to labor it isalio is also clear that tha if the tariff on pottery were abolished either the firm that employs me would nave have to shut down or my fellow follow workers would nave have to work for the wages I 1 received in the old country when two pottery firms are competing for the same market and one of them can get bis his wares made at the rate of two cents a dozen while the other has to pay five cents a dozen the latter will either have to go out of business or reduce wages that is the exact situation between england and this country but when the british pottery firm is compelled to pay in duties the difference between its labor cost and our own for the privilege of entering our market then the american firm can compete with the foreigner on even terms and continue to pay pa high wages to place our own makers on this plane of equality with foreigners is the object of this pottery tariff I 1 and my fellow workingmen are the chief gainers by auch such a policy |