From the Harvard Crimson archive a chance discovery of the student debate briefs on whether a protective tariff would raise wages. This debate took place in a senior course jointly supervised by Frank Taussig during the first term of the 1889-90 academic year. I had never thought of checking whether Taussig ever taught an English Course.
Expanded versions of these briefs were later published (1908) in a collection of economic policy debates that have been transcribed for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror earlier.
I tried to track down all the literature cited but was unable to find a few items (e.g. Walker’s Pamphlet, Seank’s [sic] International Trade Report). Nonetheless most of the items have a link.
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Course Announcement
[English] 6. Oral Discussion of Topics in Political Economy and History. Half-course. Th., from 3-5. Asst. Professors Taussig and Hart, and Mr. Hayes.
Course 6 is open to Seniors only.
Source: Harvard University. Announcement of Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Harvard College for the Academic Year 1889-90 (May, 1889), p. 11.
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Debate of October 10, 1889.
Question: Resolved, That a high protective tariff raises wages.
Brief for the Affirmative.
R. D. [Reynolds Driver] Brown ‘90, and E. S. [Edward Stetson] Griffing ‘90.
Best general references.— Taussig, Forum VI. p 169; Thompson’s Ireland and Free Trade.
- The United States is the best example of the effect of the tariff on wages.
- Money wages are higher in the United States than in Europe — Walker’s Pamphlet, esp. pp. 4-5.
- Real wages are also higher in the United States — Consular Report 40, p 304, et seq; 42, pp. 12-14; and 15; 45, pp. 117-118.
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- Proven directly by the amount an American workman can save.
- Proven indirectly by his higher standard of living.
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- High authorities hold that a high protective tariff raises wages. — Thompson’s Pol. Econ., Carey’s Pol. Econ., International Review XIII, p. 455.
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- Opinion of writers.
- Opinion of manufacturers.
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- It is shown historically that a high protective tariff raises wages —
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- Effect of tariff in England and Ireland.
- Effect of tariff in Germany and United States — Porter’s “Bread Winners Abroad;” Seank’s [sic, possibly James Moore Swank, Our Bessemer Steel Industry, p. 23] International Trade Report.
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Brief for the Negative.
F. F. [Francis Frederick] Causey [‘90] and F. L. [Frank LaMont] DeLong [‘90].
Best general reference: Professor F. W. Taussig’s article in Forum for October, 1888. Evils of the Tariff System, in North American Review, September 8, 1884; Sumner on Protective Taxes and Wages, in Fortnightly Review, vol. 37, p. 272.
- Loose comparisons are untrustworthy.
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- There is no uniform rate of wages in any country;
- Such comparisons prove too much — American Almanac for 1889, p. 103; Schoenhof’s, The Industrial Situation, p. 124; Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 137;
- There are many local causes which must necessarily make wages higher in one country than in another.
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- Natural advantages — D. A. Wells, Relation of Tariff to Wages, p. 2;
- Standing service — Wells as above;
- Question of unoccupied land — Sumner, Protective Taxes and Wages; North American Review, vol. 136, p. 270.
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- Careful use of statistics show higher relative wages under a low tariff.
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- High wages in the United States are set by unprotected industries. Laughlin’s note to Mill, p. 619.
- Compare wages in protected industries in the United States and wages in those same industries in England — Report of J. G. Blaine, secretary of state, on the Button Goods Trade of the World, published by Department of State, Washington, June 25, 1881, (cited in Wells’, Relation of the Tariff to Wages); Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 143.
- Wages in United States higher than abroad before there was any protection in the United States — Nation, October 25, 1888.
- New South Wales is more prosperous than Victoria: The Results of Protection in Young Communities. — Fortnightly Review for March, 1882.
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- In a given country, changes in the rate of wages can only be produced by changes in the amount of capital distributed in wages, or by changes in the number of persons competing for work-Sumner, Protective Taxes.
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- But since the number of persons competing for work is not changed by high protection, if high protection affects wages at all it must affect them through the amount of capital distributed in wages.
- Yet protection diminishes the amount of capital distributed in wages for two reasons:
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- The productiveness of industry being less, the product to be divided between capital and labor is less Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 135;
- and also the proportion in which that produced is divided is less favorable to labor.
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- Evil effect of limiting the sale of commodities to a domestic market — Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 139.
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- The tariff increases the price of commodities, and thus puts them out of the reach of the poorer classes. Their real wages thus become less — Sumner, Protective Taxes and Wages.
Source: The Harvard Crimson, October 8, 1889.
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Links to many of the authorities cited by the students
American Almanac and Treasury of Facts. Statistical, Financial and Political, 1889. P. 103.
Carey, Henry Charles. Principles of Political Economy. Philadelphia: Carea, Lea & Blanchard, 1837.
Evils of the Tariff System. Essays by David Ames Wells, Thomas G. Shearman. J.B. Sargent, and W.G. Sumner. North American Review, vol. 139, No. 334 (September 1884), pp. 274-299.
Mill, John Stuart. Principles of Political Economy, abridged with commentary by J. L. Laughlin. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1884 , p. 619.
Porter, Robert P. Bread-Winners Abroad. New York: J.S. Ogilvie & Company, 1885.
Powell, G. Baden. Protection in Young Communities. The Fortnightly Review, vol. 31. New Series, March 1882.p. 369-379.
Roach, John. What the Tariff Laws have Done for Us. International Review, vol. 13 (November 1882) pp. 455-477.
Schoenhof, Jacob. The Industrial Situation and the Question of Wages. A Study in Social Physiology. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1885.
Sumner, W. G. Protective Taxes and Wages. North American Review, vol. 136, No. 316 (March 1883), pp. 270-276.
Swank, James Moore. Our Bessemer Steel Industry. Philadelphia, 1882.
Taussig, Frank W. How the Tariff Affects Wages. Forum, v. VI (October, 1888), pp. 167-175.
Thompson, Robert Ellis. Political Economy with especial Reference to the Industrial History of Nations (3rd, revised edition) Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1882.
Thompson, Robert Ellis. Ireland and Free Trade: An Object Lesson in National Economy. Advertised as a tract that can had free from The American: A National Journal (September 8, 1888) vol. 16, No. 422.
Cf. Thompson’s contribution to the discussion “Irish Comments on an English Text” published in The North American Review, vol. 147 (September 1888), pp. 297-301
Wells, David Ames. Relation of the Tariff to Wages. (Questions of the Day, No. LIV). New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1888.
Wells, David Ames. Practical Economics. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1885.
The Evolution of the Wages Argument. The Nation October 25, 1888. Number 1217. Pp. 327-328.
United States Department of State. Reports from the Consuls of the United States on the Commerce, Manufactures, etc., of their Consular Districts.
Labor, Wages, and Living in Germany, in Vol. 12, No. 40 (April 1884), p. 304 ff.
Proposed Increase of the import Duties in Germany in Vol. 13, No. 42 (June 1884), pp. 12-14
The Effect of Protection on Labor in Germany, in Vol. 13, No. 42 (June 1884), p. 15.
An Industry Created by the New Protective Tariff of Germany, in Vol. 14, No. 45 (September 1884), pp. 117-118
Image Source: Frank W. Taussig ca 1885-1890. Harvard University Hollis Images.