The mills have rotted down so that in most instances there is not even a vestige remaining to point to their former prosperity. It is true that at one period the uncertainty and great cost of labor contributed to the serious injury of this industry. for it must be remembered that our laborers have been paid an average wage of $1.50 per day. while those in India have received but 5 cents per day. The spirit that has prevailed in the Republican party in protecting other branches of industry from pauper labor seems not to have prevailed to any great extent in so far as the protection of hemp is concerned. however. the American farmer has struggled manfully against great odds. but for which the hemp industry would today be extinct in the United States. In the last ten years laborsaving machines have been invented. one of which cuts and another of which breaks. and on this account. but for the free importation of jute. the hemp industry would now be in a flourishing condition in many of the States of the Union. Doubtless could such prosperity be established. inventive genius would be quickened. and the comparatively primitive machines of today would rapidly undergo such evolutions as would increase manifold their effectiveness.
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pauper labor