THE EFFECTS OF PROTECTION. n 



ing. The census estimate of tlie increase in the cost of living in 

 the United States during the thirty years ending in 1880 was 20*17 

 per cent, while during the same period the cost of articles of com- 

 mon use has fallen about twenty-four per cent. Obviously, the 

 effect of this would be to put the English wage-worker in a con- 

 stantly better position to demand better wages ; while the Ameri- 

 can, with his cost of living tending more and more to consume his 

 whole income, is in a constantly worse position to demand an in- 

 crease. It need not be remarked how potent a factor this is, nor 

 need the responsibility of the high tariff for the high prices pre- 

 vailing be carefully demonstrated. There is not a thing eaten or 

 a cloth worn which does not pay a tariff tax. The wheat is sown 

 after a plow taxed twenty-five per cent in actual extra cost ; and 

 is transported on railroads, ground up in mills, put in bags, and 

 sold in stores, all heavily taxed in their construction and main- 

 tenance by the tariff on iron. And on many articles, such as 

 clothing, the amount of the tax is scandalously oppressive. 



This may or may not explain the failure of American wages to 

 rise to the same extent as English in the non-protected occupa- 

 tions, and, at any rate, there are other causes acting, such as the 

 waste of capital caused by the war, and the heavy immigration 

 of wage-workers. But we need a special explanation for the sin- 

 gular fact that wages in the protected occupations continually fall, 

 even while the general trend is upward. In General Lieb's recent 

 book on the tariff he has a comparative table of wages in twelve 

 unprotected and in twelve protected occupations. In the first, 

 wages rose in the six years following 1880 from ten to thirty-five 

 per cent, while wages in the protected occupations fell from five 

 to thirty-five per cent at the same time. These facts are well au- 

 thenticated and even " notorious," as remarked in the letter before 

 mentioned to Secretary Manning; but we seldom if ever are 

 shown the reason. I think this can be directly traced to the high 

 tariff. Take, for example, the iron-manufacturing business. In 

 general the American j^rices are much below the foreign price 

 plus the duty, and importation is impracticable. When the ojDer- 

 ators have this margin to work on they frequently accumulate a 

 considerable supply beyond the immediate demands of the mar- 

 ket. Then, asserting that the market is dull, they reduce wages. 

 The men strike, of course, and the mills close. As production 

 ceases, the price of iron goes up ; and, as the foreign iron can not 

 come in, the masters are fairly coining money out of the necessi- 

 ties of the public and the suffering of their own employes. In 

 the course of a few months the latter accept the situation and go 

 back to work at reduced wages. If foreign iron could come in 

 the moment production ceased in this country, the masters would 

 not be so quick to shut down as they are when they make money 



