The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-07-26
WHAT THE Hills BILL WILL
ACCOMPLISH.

The passage of he Mills bill calls out
a Protection Democrat" in the Boston
Journal, who puts the issue in this light:
see by today's papers that the win
dow glass manufacturers say if the Mills
bill passed and became law all of the
glass furnaces would have to close as
they would not be able to compete with
foreign manufacturers. do not think
this would be so for several reasons.
They might possibly have to close for
short time, but they could probably soon
start up again. l have visited many of
the glass manufactures in Belgium and
Germany. The workmen there receive
on an average about francs per day Tor
40 cents) for 10 hours work, but the
manufacturers would have to pay freight
from Antwerp or other shipping points
to America, so that our manufacturers
could afford to pay so cents per day or
50 per week for good men and compete
with the Belgians and Germans. The
men might not wish to work for so cents
per day, but, OF course, as soon as they
saw that that amount was all the manu-.
facturers could pay and get their money
back making glass, why, of course,
rather than lie idle and starve they
would work for this sum. So you see
the glass factories would not have to
close permanently. A manufacturer [of
knit goods or anything else will not
suffer any by FREQ trade or by the Mills
bill, for when he cannot manufacture at
profit he will close the mill. If his
workmen make or receive 50 per day
and the goods cost more than they sell
for the cost must be- reduced, and gener.
ally, as the raw material is already pref.
ty near low water mark, the cost has to
be reduced by taking ii off the wages of
the lCOrkmen, If 1t is free trade the
manufacturer here will have to pay fair
average wages prevailing in other great
manufacturing countries, viz, England,
France, Germany, Belgium, &C., which
is from % to 10 cents per day for nine TO
twelve hours. Those that work 10 hours
generally do the mos notwithstanding
what the newspapers say. Most papers
say we are so smart, have such wonder
full machinery, &c. that we can do won.
ders. have had quite an opportunity
for observing and seeing what they do
in other countries, like Germany, Bel
gum, England, &C., and about their
abilities to work and produce. Now l
0oJ , " hSh Guy hC"opopCA bhiuho bildL
because we are Americans that we are
smarter than the rest of the world COM
bined, they are wrong. We are about
fair average people. have had some
experience in manufacturing and with
machinery. have been in a factory
IN Germany where they employed
$50 persons, men, women and chill
dren, manufacturing light hardware,
such az chains, nails, screws aud
tacks. The machinery was as good in
every particular as any factory in the
United States engaged in a similar kind
of business. More than that, they turn
ed out more goods every day from each
machine than any factory in the United
States making the same goods, The
workpeople were just as smart as is in
any Of our faCtories. They worked 10
hours per day, and outside of the Super
intendent there was not u person out of
the $50 that received over 70 cents per
day; only about so of them received
that amount; 200 received about 2 marks
Tor so cents) per day, and 100 from
mark Us cents) to mark so fg., or 3711@
cents per day. For the same kind of
work there is paid in the factories in the
United States the following wages, from
81 10 SO per day; and person for person
they will not turn out US many goods
per day as in the German factory l have
mentioned, because their machinery is
just as good as ours, they are just as
smart and work IL hours per day.