It has the effect of closing many of the domestic factories and throwing operatives out of work. forcing them to become the competitors of those retained at labor. and the price of wages again forced down by this means. Mr. President. in addition to this. our laws against the importation of contract labor are set at absolute defiance by the manufacturers. Not content with depressing the price of domestic labor by high and almost prohibitive duties and by the formation of the pool and the trust. in their eagerness to obtain money and the profits of domestic labor. the manufacturers annually import from Europe thousands of contract laborers who are brought in direct and deadly competition with domestic labor. This argument has been worn threadbare. and. like the other. it has ceased or is rapidly ceasing to have any effect on the minds of the people. When it is remembered that not more than one million of those who labor for wages are directly protected by a high tariff. the absurdity of this contention becomes apparent.
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contract labor contract laborers