PROTECTION AND WAGES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1813, 12 April 1888, Page 4

PROTECTION AND WAGES.

As i^i view of the revision of the Tariff, which is certain to take place during the next session of Parliament, great interest attaches to the arguments for and against a protective policy, it is not necessary to apologise to our readers for a reference to the subject. This is BO wide and far-reaching a question, so many- sided -, that it is not possible to glance at it hi more than one aspect within the ordinary compass of a newspaper article, and on the presenf ■ occasion, therefore, we purpose merely to j refer for a moment to the disputed point ; as to what is the effect of a protective policy upon the rate of wages. It has been asserted by Freetraders that m countries where a protective tariff obtains, wages are m consequence low, and that therefore the working classes are doubly sufferers, m that while protection increases the cost of living it at the same time reduces the means of meeting that cost. Now, if this were true, it would follow of course that the Freetraders' contention that the many under Protec tion suffer for the benefit of the few would be indisputable, and it is therelore a matter of great interest to ascertain whether the assertion be true or fake. In an article, devoted to this Bubject, which appears m the " Dunedin Evening Herald," of the 9th inst., what peems to be a very conclusive answer to this qV-ciiiDnjs given. That journal has been looking up a tabulated statement of comparative wages m England and the the United States m seventy-five different trades published m " The gcientific American," of 25th Feb. of this year, and has taken out the figures for fifteen of the most prominent of these, reducing them m every instance to their equivalents m English money. It has also compiled from Hayter' Victorian " Year book," for 1886-7, the rates of wages for the same trades m Melbourne, and publishes the results m tabulated form as follows : —

Now, with respect to tho foregoing, and the conclusions to be deduced therefrom, the " Scientific American " is authority for the statement that " the cost of living m the United States, as shown by official figures, is 17 per cent, higher than m England," and aleo for the further statement that the figures as to rates of wages m England are compiled from the latest returns of the Board of Trade m London. Bearing tbis m mind, it seems to us that the table abovegiven is a conclusive proof that the wageearner benefited by a protective policy. Upon this point our Dunedin contemperary remarks: — "The contention of Freetraders is always this : that the consumer pays the taxes. To this citadel he always retires when feeaten out of all his outposts. To dislodge him from this, we can but appeal to the experience of other countries. If it can be shown that m the country where Protection has been most exhaustively tried, wages go np m a largely greater proportion that the cost of living, then of course this Freetrade argument must fall absolutely to the ground, 1J and, referring to the table above given as proof of the position it advances the ' Herald " goes on to say: — " Our readers will observe that m very many of the trades the difference between Fngland and America is something more than 100 per cent ; While with brickmakers, farm hands, laborers, masons, and plasterers it is Very considerably more than 100 per cent. In the same number of the ' Scientific American ' there are comparative differences m rates of woollen goods and worsted goods, and we learn from the same reliable source that 'according to official authority wages are 100 per cent higher m tho woollen and worsted industry m the United States than m any of the European countries.' To point the coutrast, the relative cost of labor m a woollen mill of 221 hands m Providence and of a similar mill m Bradford, England, is given, showing 107.98 per cent m favor of Providence operatives. The cost of living being only 17 per cent higher than m England, according to official figures, the conclusion is obvious. We trust that this authoritative statement of facts and figures will stop the assertion bo frequently made to the effect that the increased wages paid m Protective countries are more than over-balanced by the increased cost of living," We would join our contemporary m the expression of a like hope did we not know that many Freetraders are such thorough going bigots that nothing m the world Would convince them; their opinion being that if tha facts are against them, then that it's so much the worse for the facts.

En w an t S^ 3 Melbourne \ p. w en, p^ W eek p. week. £s. d. £b. d. £ b. d. Boilermakers 112 3*389 300 to 4 4 0 Briokmakers 014 9 2 9 5 „ Batchers ..1502 10 0 200 to 2 10 0 Coalminers .. 1 4 6 2 14 2 Carpenters ..1 11 3326 200 to 3 10 0 Farm hands . . 012 6 111 3 015 0 to and found 1 17 6 to 10 0 Laborers .. 01211 113 4 119 0 to 2 5 0 ilasons ..1 13 4476 300 to 3 12 0 Printers, 1000 ens 0 010 0 1 8 0 1 1 Printers, -week hands 1 7 B*2 15 10 Painters ..1 13 3326 280 to 3 0 0 Plasterers ..1 13 3476 300 To 3 12 0 Railway engineers 2 18 4 7 6 Boilermakers (shipbuilding) 1 9 2 2 18 4 Shoemakers . . I 5 0 210 0 2 5 6