New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-03-19
pFDUcyNG THE TARIFF on SILK.


mans plea for Protection, they may be IN
mood to consider the case of special
manufacture that to-day nObly evlDces It's
value. The Committee who heard the
statement that England found it profitable
to reduce her Tariff on manufactured silk to
fifteen per cent, while our Tariff on the same
materials remains at sixty per cent should
not be hasty in drawing contrast between
those rates. IF the low price OF labor III
England and the high price in America are
considered, with all other differences between
the two countries affecting labor, among
which the rates of interest on money arc not
the least important, it will be seen that
England's fifteen per cent is really as
high n rate as ours. The deputatlons
of both the workingmcn and the
manufacturers told the Committee that the
reduction of the Tariff ten per cent would prin-
cipally affect labor; that not the manufacturer,
but the workingman, would suffer- A low
Tariff indicates low wages--in England or in
America. The only arguments OF the Free
Traders are the abstract notion of Freedom OF
Trade, and the practical right of every man
to buy the best goods, if he chooses. This
latter argument has been claimed for PrOtec-
ton by the Silk Operators who took to the
Committee specimens of their handiwOrli, and
said Here is our plea See what we can do ~
And what they can do is az good as the best
Within the past five years, by the aid Of a
Protective Tariff, our mills, after hard and
noble struggle, have beaten Europe. Howe In
the first place, England began with Tariff on
silk more than twice as high as ours. She
I,,:I IL bar mill Drntacfion ~ bay n
done the same; and in the second place, we
have succeeded in bringing TO our own mills
for the manufacture of fabrics better and more
marketable threads than Europe can supply
Our tram and organdine mills have built ND q
special business. They supply to carriage
trimming manufacturers one size OF threads
to dress-trmmng manufacturers another ;
and to brOad-gOOds weavers still another
size; and any manufacturer can buy the
spun threads to suit his own work. Not so
with English and French threads They must
be bought as they come, big and little, without
selection or discrimination. Hence a loss. So
that our system not only gives us n greater
division of labor, supplying many distinct en-
pigments to different sorts of people, but it
gives manufacturers the chance to make goods
of even quality. The threads are better
chosen, and the goods are better made. The
benefit is apparent Protection cannot be
withdrawn from one class of hands without
affecting the whole silk trade. And in the in
stance under discussion, the ten per cent can
not be taken off the Tariff without affecting
the weakest branch of our laborers--thc
thrOwsters, who are mostly women.
The bill does not discriminate. 1t really
reduces the price OF labor i'll all
branches. Daring the past five years
silk manufacture has given employment to
greater number of women than any other
trade. Girls of sixteen years can go into a
silk mill and earn from seven to ten dollars
week. The work is clean aud interesting. In
how many employments can young girls earn
as much? Not in stores, nor in kitchens, nor
at the sewing machine. 1t is an employment
which exercises the best faculties of women,
makes them ingenious, does not degrade them,
leaves them opportunities for tidinesS of dress,
makes them independent. Who will take
these advantages from them?