The Indianapolis journal., 1889-10-17
KILLED BY A Low TARIFF
The Pearl Button Manufacturing Industry Ru
ined-An Object-Lesson for Free-Traders.

The Pearl Button Manufacturing Industry Ru-
ined-An Object-Lesson for Free-Traders.
Philadelphia Press
Charles Schintzers pearl-button factory
at 3f North Fourth street was as empty
yesterday as fashionable church in mid
summer time, for, besides the proprietor,
there was only one workman there, and he
had practically nothing to do. The propri-
etOr was there for two reasons, the first be-
ing that of custom. The second reason was
over sixty years of age. and new reduced
to want and beggary. to call and get a little
money which Mr.. Schintzel had said he
would give him to keep him from starving.
suffering and misery in this and other cities
caused by the decadence of the industry of
pearl buttOn-making becOuse of the cOmpe-
tition of prison and cheap labor abroad.
The noise of twenty-nine factories i'm this
city has ceased, and only four are nominal
ly open, each employing one or two work
men. This means that fully 1.500 skilled
laborers are out of employment, many of
them becoming aged, untitled and unsuited
for work in other trades. A year ago the
Press printed the story of the decay of the
industry solely from the tariff standpoint.
Since then the factories have been putting
up their shutters and wOrkmen have been
sent upon the street. Employers are suffer-
ing as we'll as w0rkmen, and in some cases
have had to sell their machinery for old
iron at 81 a ton.
Most of the strongest of the skilled work.
men are now day laborers. Ten years ago
they were able to make from $40 to $2S per
week, and now they are reduced to s. or SO,
and some can't even get that. One of the
brightest street-car conductors on the blue
line of the traction cable system is w. z.
Laurens. who lives at 1889 Hamilton street.
Six. years ago he was employing l02 hands
on North Fourth street, and could not tnrn
out the work fast enough. After the last
tariff revision the duty was reduced from
SO per cent. ad valorem to 25 per cent. and
months mo- ago be vase was Compelled to shut down
entirely, simply because the American
pearl buttons can no longer be sold in this
country. He had sunk all his profits and
accumulations, and to keep the wolf from
the door got a job on the street-cars. One
of his workmen, lone of the best skilled
workmen in the business" as Mr. Laurens
put il. yesterday, had to go to digging on
the East Park reservoir at $l.50 day, in
indoors all his life. He had family, and
had to find work"
THAT tells the whole story" said Mr..
Laurens yesterday. "Some are working as
labOrers, others are on street-cars. Others
still are begging, and practically 500 peo-
pie thrown out of calling established for
fifty years in this country because of low
priced competition abroad. There is no
decay is due to the lack of sufficient pro-
lection to American wOrkmen." Mr.. Laur-
ems feels keenly his retrOgrade from
thriving manufacturer to day-work on the
cars, but he said: 1T is honorable work,
and Pm not SO bad off as most of the work
men. and we hope to get the tariff back to
where it should be, so that pauper and
prison labor shan't affect us. In some placss
In Austria the workmen only get cents a
day, we are told. and there is new prison
building in Hamburg. Germany, where the
leading industry will be pearl-button man
ufacturing."
The value Of the machinery alone in the
plants now lying idle Is at least $780, 100. 1t
| is good for nothing else. In Newark. N. j.,
| the same state of affairs exists, and alto
| gether there are ninety eight manufacturers
| in the country whose wOrkmen are said to
| be vainly seeking employment. When Mr.
leading and wealthy manufacturer begged
| him to take two of his employees, who had
| learned their trade of Mr.. Laurens. back to
| philadelphia with him. Il am just keep
'and wish you could take them away with
| you, for / have nothing for them to do"
| Mr.. Laurens not only failed to make his
own factory 60, but he tried to lift others
that at Pratt and Farmer streets. at Nice
| town. employing 130 hands. They en-
| ployed him as foreman, but he could not
| save the shop. They offered him the shop
to run for himself. but he could not accept
the offer: He says that other factories
have made similar offers to their foremen,
| but it came TO nothing in each case.
| OF the few factories whose doors are open
most of the pr0prietors have become i'm
| porters, and have ceased to be manufact-
! urers. John Thornton a. Co.. of No. 211
| Church street gave mp their business and
sold thirty tons of their machinery at about
| 81 ton. In the factories only about one
| half were men, and the rest boys and wom-
en-. The men did the turning and carving
with lathes, and the others did the polish
| ing. The shells come from all parts of the
! world, some of those from tho Pacific coast