Speech #510149785

I want some protectionist who asserts that protection increases wages to tell me now and here why it is that the railroads of the country. with no protection. can and do pay on an average higher wages than the protected industries? Of course the tariff on iron and steel is the sameall over the United States. and yet the census shows that the wages in this industry to skilled labor ranged from $1.25 to $4 per day. and that the greatest advancement was made in the sections where the highest wages were paid. I want some one who is clamoring for protection to our labor against the socalled "pauper labor" of Europe to explain to the country why it is that our imports are practically from Great Britain. where the wages are much higher than any of the other European countries? We import nearly $200.000.000 worth of goods from England and less than onetenth of that much from Austria. where labor is much cheaper. We need have no fear of the cheap labor.