[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] eln,—On . all hands Protectionists
are assuring the working man that if tariffs are placed on imported goods wages will rise and there will be no unemployed. But is this promise likely to be fulfilled ? If all our unemployed workmen find employment, it can only be by the displacing of labour else- where. Suppose that in Germany a thousand men are employed in the manufacture of a certain article for con- sumption in this country : a tariff is placed on that article : the manufacture of it is transferred to our shores : what then will become of these German workmen ? Is it not natural to suppose that they will follow their trade to this country, that they will compete for employment here, and by their com- petition reduce wages and give us as many unemployed as ever,—unemployed, too, of a rather undesirable sort ? Protectionists may say that the Trade-Unions would prevent the employment of foreign workmen, and no doubt they would in certain of the highly organised trades, but then it is precisely in these trades that work is plentiful and wages are good at present. Is it not clear, then, that the class of workmen who are promised the greatest benefit from Pro- tection are precisely the class who are least likely to get it ? Our Protectionist friends may indeed be prepared to intro- duce a measure for excluding foreign workmen from this country, but that is a pretty big order, and in view of the large nnmber of our countrymen working abroad, it might lead to retaliation of the most effective sort. It seems to me that this phase of the matter is worthy of consideration. —I am, Sir: &c., A SCOTTISH FREE-TRADER.
Previous page
