Show 5 5 9W I G nJqt I LABOR A Poor N Protective Tar ill That Doer i Not Work Both Ways Although many people were out of emPloyment S S the em-ployment > in the town of Hamilton Mass I i 6wners w rs of several factories there I I banded together the other day and im ported three hundred and fifty French j j Canadians to work in their mills The j 1 I FrenchCanadians are the cheap laborers of New England and the extent to which their importation on contract has been carried on has more than once been the subject remark The recent importa tion Hamilton was so flagrant importn owing to the large number of 11nnh < l l u b I I unemployed men and women already in that city tu fit is impossible for anyono to escape thb don elusion that the move was a deliberate I blow at American industry by men who I are the loudest in their protestations of ii desire to help that interest Working I men who have long been deceived by the glittering tariff bait that hits been held out to them must perceive in movements of this kind an alfack on their welfare more dangerous than any free welare re gime sveii if it were as bad as i has been painted could l > e The cheap labor ers whose products American A1ericl working I men a thought to regard with such trepidation are here imported to America I to glut the labor market and take employ ment away from citizens already here while the employer reaps the benefit of a taiiff monopolized market The practice is a monstrous wrong and it must so ap pear to every one who takes the trouble to examine i The ndustries of New England whose owners are among the most zealous de fenders ofthe tariff idea are today largeCarried on by JFrenchCanadians The oldtime workingmen mechanics and mill Jiantls of that section have been crowded tby the cheaper labor which has been found in abundance north of the international boundary and they are now scattered all over the Western States I is not asserted that all these people were imported but that thousands of them were and that other thousands came because Americans were at last forced to abandon the attempt to live on the wages paid is certain The French Canadians in the manufacturing States of New England at the time the last census was taken were in round numbers about as follows Massachusetts 110000 Now Hampshire j 24000 I 240 Kb6aeaslanas > 14000 Corinecticnt 12000 Although most of these people are good citizens their presence in such j large numbers in New is j nurib England significant sig-nificant of the one great fact that the protected pro-tected manufacturers of that section buy j i I their labor where they can get it cheapest Why should not the workingman be per i mitted to buy his clothing and tools furniture fur-niture ami carpets where they are to be hadfcheapest TheMassachusetts mill owner in search of cheap labor may import im-port it from Canada at will The Massachusetts Massa-chusetts or Illinois mechanic in search of a cheap overcoat or cook stove could buy i j them much cheaper in Canada than he I can here but he must pay n tariff on them which would destroy his advantage I In the face of such transactions it is an trnsctons i insult t the commonest intelligence to I speak of the protective tariff robbery as designed to dignify enrich and ennoble j the American laborer On the contrary J J it is crushing him out with taxation on j > the one hand and a murderous competition i competi-tion by cheap imported workers on the l other = Chicago Herald J I |