Politics of the Settlment of the West

Woodrow Wilson

[ Reprinted from the Single Tax Review, 1915]

That free land is the regulator of wages is brought out very clearly by Woodrow Wilson in his History of the American People (Chapter 149) in which, referring to a period in our history, he says:

"The New England men wanted the settlement of the West held back as much as possible. So long as land was to be had there almost for the mere asking, at no cost except that of the journey and of a few farmer's tools and a beast or two for the plough, the active men of their own section, whom they counted on as skilled workmen in building up their manufactures, must be constantly enticed away by the score and hundred, to seek an independent life and livelihood in the West; high wages, very high wages, must be paid to keep them, if indeed they could be kept at all; and the maintenance of manufactures must cost more than even protective tariffs could make good."

It will be observed that it was recognised by the early New England protected manufacturers that free natural opportunities and not protective tariffs made high wages. They did not urge protection as a means of keeping up wages, but as a compensation for the higher wages they were forced to pay.