CONGRESS. (REVENUE REFORM.) 



protection: "Mr. Chairman, it has been stub- 

 bornly contended all through this debate that 

 high rates of duty upon imported goods are bene- 

 ficial to the great body of consumers, because 

 such duties, instead of increasing the price of 

 the domestic articles of the same kind, actually 

 reduce the prices. If this be true, all the other 

 arguments in support of the existing system 

 are not only superfluous, but manifestly un- 

 sound. The proposition that a high tariff en- 

 ables the producer to pay higher wages for his 

 labor, and the proposition that it also reduces 

 the prices of the articles he has to sell, which 

 are the products of that labor, are utterly in- 

 consistent with each other, and no ingenuity 

 of the casuist can possibly reconcile them. 

 Labor is paid out of its own product, and un- 

 less that product can be sold for a price which 

 will enable the employer to realize a reason- 

 able profit and pay the established rates of 

 wages, the business must cease or the rates of 

 wages must be reduced. When the price of 

 the finished product is reduced by reason of 

 the increased efficiency of labor, or by reason 

 of the reduced cost of the raw material, the 

 employer may continue to pay the same or 

 even a higher rate of wages and still make his 

 usual profits. But the tariff neither increases 

 the efficiency of labor nor reduces the cost of 

 the raw material. 



"I do not deny that prices have greatly 

 fallen during the last fifty years, not only in 

 this country, but all over the civilized world 

 in free-trade countries as well as in protection- 

 ist countries. Nor do I deny that during the 

 same time the general tendency has been to- 

 ward an increase in the rates of wages ; and 

 this is true also of all civilized countries, free- 

 trade and protection alike. It is not possible 

 for me now to enumerate, much less discuss, 

 all the causes that have contributed to these 

 results. One of the most efficient causes, in 

 fact the most efficient cause, is the combina- 

 tion of skilled labor with machinery in the 

 production of commodities. The introduction 

 and use of improved machinery has wrought a 

 complete revolution in nearly all our manu- 

 facturing industries, and in many cases has en- 

 abled one man to do the work which it re- 

 quired one hundred men to do before. Here 

 is a statement furnished by the United States 

 Commissioner of Labor to the chairman of the 

 Committee on Ways and Means, showing the 

 value of the product of a week's labor in spin- 

 ning cotton yarn by hand and the value of the 

 product of a week's labor combined with ma- 

 chinery in the same industry : In 1813, one 

 man working sixty hours by hand could turn 

 out three pounds of cotton yarn, worth $2.25, 

 or seventy-five cents per pound ; now the same 

 man, if he were living, could turn out in sixty 

 hours with the use of machinery 3,000 pounds 

 of cotton yarn of the same character, worth 

 $450, or fifteen cents per pound. The cotton- 

 spinner now receives as wages for his week's 

 work more than three times as much as the 



total value of the product of a week's work, 

 including the value of the material, in 1813; 

 and yet labor is far cheaper to the employer 

 now than it was then. Although the employer 

 now receives only one fifth as much per pound 

 for his cotton yarn as he did in 1813, he real- 

 izes from the sale of the products of a week's 

 labor just two hundred times as much as he 

 did then. 



" I have also a statement prepared by the 

 same official, showing the relative production 

 and value of product of a weaver using hand 

 and power machinery, from which it appears 

 that a weaver by hand turned out in seventy- 

 two hours in 1813 45 yards of cotton goods 

 (shirting), worth $17.91, while a weaver now, 

 using machinery, turns out in sixty hours 

 1,440 yards, worth $108. Substantially the 

 same exhibit could be made in regard to a 

 very large number of our manufacturing in- 

 dustries. 



"It is strange, Mr. Chairman, in view of 

 these facts, that the prices of manufactured 

 goods have fallen or that the wages of the 

 laborers who produce them have risen ? Is it 

 not, on the contrary, remarkable that there has 

 not been a greater fall in prices and a greater 

 increase in wages ? Undoubtedly there would 

 have been a greater reduction in prices and a 

 greater increase in wages if there had been a 

 wider market for the products and a lower 

 cost for the material. 



" The tremendous productive forces at work 

 all over the world in these modern times, and 

 the small cost of manual labor in comparison 

 with the value of the products of these com- 

 bined forces, can not be realized from any gen- 

 eral statement upon the subject. In order to 

 form some idea of the magnitude of these 

 natural and mechanical forces, and the effi- 

 ciency of manual labor and skill when connected 

 with them, let us look at the situation in six of 

 our own manufacturing industries. In the 

 manufacture of cotton goods, woolen goods, 

 iron and steel, sawed lumber, paper, and in 

 our flouring and grist mills, there were em- 

 ployed, according to the latest statistics, 517,- 

 299 persons, not all men, but many of them 

 women and children. This labor was supple- 

 mented by steam and water power equal to 

 2,496,299 horse-power. This is equal to the 

 power of 14,977,794 men; and thus we find 

 that a little over 517,000 persons of all ages 

 and sexes are performing, in connection with 

 steam and water power, the work of 15,495,- 

 093 adult and healthy men. 



"The railroad, the steam-vessel, the tele- 

 graph, the improved facilities for the conduct 

 of financial transactions, and many other con- 

 veniences introduced into our modern systems 

 of production and distribution and exchange 

 have all contributed their share toward the re- 

 duction of prices, and it would be interesting 

 to inquire what their influence has been, but I 

 can not pursue this particular subject further 

 without occupying too much time." 



