Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-09-21

x"cot 10 ooAu out VI luS anu
less that product can be sold for a price
which will enable teh emnlnver To re-
aliZe q reasonable profit and pay the
established rates Of wages the business
muse cease or the rates Of waes must
be reduced. When the price Of the fin
lshed product is reduced by reason Of
the reduced cost Of the raw material the
employer may continue to pay the same or
even higher rate Of wages and still
make his usual profits. But the tariff
neither increases the efioaov of labor
nor reduces the cost of the raw mateiaL
! do not DENY that prizes have greatly
fallen during the last fifty years. not
civilized world-in free trade coutries
as we'll as in protectionist countries. Nor
do denv that during the Same time the
general tendency has been toward an
increase In the rates OF wages. and this
is true also Of all civilized countries. free
trade and protection alike. 1t is not
possible for me now to enumerate. much
less discuss. all tho causes that have
contributed 10 these results. One of
the mot efiitient causes. in fact. the most
efficient cause. is the com bination Of
skilled labor with machinery in theD ro-
duction Of commodities. The Introduction
and use Of improved machinery has
nearly all of our manufactur-
Ing industries. and in MANY
cases has ena bled one man to do the
work which REQUIRED one hundred men
to do before. Here is statement fur
nished by the United States Commits
sloner OF Labor to the Chairman of the
Committee on Ways and Means. showing
the value of the product of o weeks la
Dor In spinning cotton yarn by hand and
the value of the produce of week )
labor combined with machinery in the
same industry. In 1913. one man,
working sixty hours. by hand. could
turn out three pounds Of cotton warn.
worth S2.25. or seventy-fve cents DER
poundi now the same man. IL he were
living. could turn out In sixty hours
with the use Of machinery 5000 pounds
of cotton yarn of the same character.
worth $3.50 laoDlause,. or fifteen cents
per pound. The cotton-spinner now re-
ceives as wages for his weeks work
more than three times as much as the
total value of the product of a weeks
work. including the value of the mater
1aL in Isl .. and yet labor is far cheaper
to tho emoloyer now than IL was then.
Although the employer now receives
only one fifth as much per pound for his
cotton warn as he did in 1913. he real
tees from the sale Of teh products Of
a weeks labor lust two hundred tunes
as much as he did then.
LABOR AND PRODUCTIVE FORCES.
Is 1t strange, Mr.. Chairman, in view Of
these facts, that the prices of manuface
tured goods have fallen or that the wages
Of the laborers who produce them have
risenp Is it not on the contrary, re-
greater fall in prices and greater in
crease in wages? Undoubtedly there
would have been . greater reduction in
prices and a greater increase in wages,
IL there had been o wider market for the
proucts and lower cost for the ma
terial
The tremendous productive forces at
work all over the world in these modern
times, and the small cost of manual labor
In comparison with the value Of the
products Of these combined forces can
not be realized from any general state
mont upon the subject In order to
form some idea Of the magnitude Of
and the efficiency OF manual labor and
skill when connected with them, let us
look at the situation in six of our OWN
manufacturing industries. In the manu-
facture Of cotton goods, wooden goods.
iron and steel, sawed lumber, paper.
and In our lumber and grist mills there
were employed, according to the htest
statistics, 81 1929 persons, not all men,
but many Of them women and children
This labor was supplemented by steam
and water power equal to 2,406, 29s
horse power. This Is equal to the power
Of 1897, 70I men, and thus we find
that q little over $4,000 persons Of all
ages and sexes are performing, IN connec-
tion with steam and water power, the
work Of l5,4s5.0s3 adult and healthy
men
The railroad, the steam vessel, the
telegraph, tho improved facilities for
the conduct Of financial transactions and
many other conveniences introduced into
our modern systems VI production and
- I'D ha q
tributed their share towards the reduc-
ton of prices, and 1t would be interest
ing to INQUIRE what their influence has
been; but ! can not pursue this particu-
lar subject further without occupying
TOO much time.
Gentlemen arc In the habit OF refer.
ring to the great decline in the price 3f
steel rails in this country as conclusive
evidence thGt the tariff reduces the cost
Of manufactured products to the con-
Sumer Why, sir, they could not, in my
opinion, have selected q more unfortu-
nate illustration. In the first place, the
price Of steel rails has fallen all over the
they are and always have been admitted
free Of duty. The price there Is now
and has at all times been very much
lower than here. In the second place,
the price was falling rapidly both here
and In England before the imposition OF
the duty OF SEA per ton by act of Con-
eress in 1870. During the five years
duty the price in England had fallen
steadily, year by year, and had declined
from Sl4S50 per ton in gold in 1854
to S31.l7 in 1870. Then the increased
duty was imposed, and what was the re-
sult2 The price Immediately began to
rise, both here and in England, SO that
In 1873 the average price in England
was $500 per ton, and the avera ge
price here was $103.9l per ton In gold
Then came in the fall OF that year the
great industrial and financial depression
which arrested the growth and develop
ment of the country suspended the con-
struction Of works of internal improve
brought down the prices of nearly every
thing that the people produced Steel
rails, of course, like all other manufac-
tured products, felt the influence OF this
depression, and the price declined, and
has never since been as high as 1t was
before.
THE FARMER AND THE rARIFr.
But, Mr.. Chairman, we arc told that q
tariff is beneficial to the farmer because,
from the agricultural products OF other
countries and, secondly, because. by
diversifyinQ our industries and increas-
ing the number Of persons engaged IN
other than agricultural pursuits, 1t
furnishes him with a profitable home
market for his products. 1t can not be
necessary for me to make m argument to
show that no rate Of duty, however high.
upon articles which the farmer is CON-
PEELED to send abroad and sell at foreign
prices can possibly benefit him here ut
home or elsewhere. This has been. SO
often shown and is SO thoroughly under
stood by the farmers themselves that ii
would be waste Of time TO dwell upon
the subject.
1t is barely possible that at particular
points along or near our Canadian border
there are tunes when the small duty on
barley, potatoes. hay and a few other
articles prevents competition from the
other side of the line: but if the gentle
man from Maine Is correct in his con-
tention that the tariff does not increase
the prices of the domestic product OF