Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-08-11
A SIS SUIT FOR $40.

The Buffalo Commercial referring to .
statement made upon expert authority,
that the passage of the MILLS bill would
reduce the price Of q suit of clothes about
one-hslf, says:
"Nr MCKINLEY exhibited in the House. dur
Ing one Of his able speeches ON the MILLS hill, q
suit OF mems clothing bought for SO at the store
Of the Hon. LEoPoLD MORSE, Democratic rep
resentasve from one OF the Boston districts. IL
was a stout, Atwood and wellmsde suit, and
the bill was receipted.
''The cost of this suit Of clothes was s66S. IN
der the bsnehcent operation OF the N Ills bin,
according to Mr. LOOMS. the cost of tn suit
would be Ss.s4 Deducting from this the cost Of
the cloth and material and how much would be
left for the men or women who made the gar
meDt? About as much, It Is safe 70 say, as those
wretehed victims Of the London sweating
system make"
The Sweating system, more's the
pity, is not by any means confined to Lon
don. The New York psrers Of all parties
were last winter full Of stories Of the pit
tances paid sewing women in the Ameri-
can metropolis, ond our esteemed Buffalo
contemporary cannot have forgotten the
ensuing controversy over the advantages
and disadvantages Of domestic service as
an oecupation-for those who were entire
" unfit for it. Whatever conclusions
were reached in regard to the desirability
of going ont to service, il was proved that
the privilege of starving to death wss rs
freely within the reach OF the woman who
piled her needle under q war tariff as OF
her Euglish sister who enjoyed no tariff at
at all. At this very time graphic writer
in the Chicago Times is stirring up the
hearts Of kindly people Of the western me-
tropolis with pitiful tales of the sutferings
of the sewing girls, with whom she hrs
mingled as an applicant for work-girls
who, when they are in luck, are able to
make three cloaks at half dollar each in
five days!
This is depression from the $40 suit OF
clothes, tor the reference to which our war
tariff friend deserves thanks, since it ena-
bles us to present the exact facts IN the
history Of those garments. In the closing
speech of the debate in the House, Mr..
MILLS gave it as follows:
81 have been at great pains to trace that very
snit, and have followed Il back to the msnufao-
turer and procured all the items OF its cost.
have got its exact cost and its exact weight. It's
total cost was s56S. Its labor cost was Sl6o. lts
weight was pounds and ounces 1t required
so say the wool manufacturers, pounds OF wool
in the grease TO make one pound OF wool cioth'
then il required II pounds OF greasy wool 10
make the pounds and ounces OF goods. Inc
duty on that wool is 10 cents pound or sl.'O
for the suit Therefore the cost OF that suit
without the tariff tax was sL9s Instead OF that
being SO suit of clothes without the tariff
tax, II was sL9S suit. Now for the protection
of that suit that cost, with the wool duty acded,
So Is, there is tariff tax of 10 cents per pound
for compensating the manufacturer for the duty
he advanced on the wool that amounts to sl.'O,
then there is a tax of 50 per cent. for his own
protection which amounts to s2.23, the whole
protection amounting to SLOS, which added 10
the So 6S makes $40 Il. Ofcourse the manufac-
tur,r had to undersell the foreign suit, and 70
do so dropped under him II cents, and sold his
81 IS suit fCrslO with the help of the tariff,
The war tariff does not prevent the pay
ment of starvation wages in lines of work
in which the supply of workers exceeds
the demand for their services; but as long
as it enables S. suit of clothes to DO sold
for $40, there is nothing but praise for its
oeneReence from the Republican press.