Speech #590134173

We hear a great deal at times about the protection of American laborabout every four years the spellbinders go out and tell the dear people how the Government is protecting American labor. The consumers in this country are submitting to the highest tariff thlt was ever known in the history of the world. and submitting cheerfully. because they have been told that it is for the protection of American labor. The American laborer himself pays a large part of the duty imposed by that tariff. and pays it cheerfully because he believes that it raises his wages and protects him from what at election time is designated as "tthe pauper labor of Europe." And this is how the thing works out. We put such an import duty on foreign goods that it is in many instances practically prohibitory and of course raises the price of the home product. Having done this and raised the price. the workingman has to pay for everything he eats and drinks or wears. whether of home production or European importation. we introduce cheap cooly -labor from Asia to cut the price of his wage and take his job away from him. And this is called a "square deal" for the protection of American labor. It is one of the fallacies of the age. and the mystery of it all is that the American laborer has believed in it and been misled by it so long. I believe in the protection of American labor against the pauper labor of the world. and I believe the best way to secure that end is to keep the pauper labor of the world out of American factories and farms and workshopsout of every field of productive industry up6n American soil where American labor is employed or American homes are dependent upon the fruits of that labor. There is another view of the situation to which I wish to attract attention. and it is a matter of importance and not to be overlooked. While Japan is a great nation and well deserves all the complimentary things the President has thought proper to say about her in his message. yet China is a great nation also.