The Forrest City times., 1891-05-08
TAXING AN INDUSTRY.
fHE PLANO MAKERs AND THEIR \ BURDENS.

juew Mckinley Taxed . FTouvishing I n- austry-0rsed og the Makers of Keys, Dtrings, Pins. Felt and Actions-How 1hsss nGsn Prey Upon the Piano Maksra / Pianos were first manufactured in this country nearly one hundred years ago. Tho industry has grown rapidly. the production last year being double what 1t was ten years ago. Last year we made about 72,O pianos. and 1t Is estt- mated that since 1920 we have made 1,21O.0O0. It Is estimated that we now have 200 factories engaged in turning out pianos or parts used in them-such As keys, wires, actions, etc. The esti- mated capital of these factories IS &1 ; ooO, 900, employing 10000 workmen at wages of Sc. 300, 600 year. using $9, 0OO.- poo worth of material, and turning out A product worth $1s, ,OO,,00a New York alone has about two thirds of tho facto- kies, Massachusetts ranking next
 McKinley's dealing with tho piano in- 'dustry affords an excellent example of Aow protection to minor industries may become very burdensome to more fm- lportant industries Our piano makers are 90 successful that they care nothing Nor protection for themselves; but they have just grievance against Mckinley Nor the great increase of duty which he placed upon the parts of pianos which |are bought ready-made by many of the Such parts are the ivory keys, the wire used in making strings, Iithe tuning pins to which the strings are fastened, the felt used in making ham, lmers, and the actions which transmit the strokes of the fingers to the strings.
 ] There are only three establishments in this country engaged in making ivory plano keys. These establishments i'm port their elephants tusks free of duty. Under the old law the duty on piano keys was 30 per cent. Mckinley raised the duty to 40 per cent, and d. ready it is said that set of keys costs the piano manufacturer one dollar more than last year.
 The wire used in making piano strings IS made almost entirely by Washburn & Moen, of Worcester, Mass. By one of the familiar tariff tricks, the Mckinley. ties made it appear that they had re- duced the duty on piano wire from 23S cents 8 pound to 2A cents on one size, and had made no change on the other size. But at the end of the wire sched. ules paragraph was added placing g duty of As per cent. on all iron and steel wire worth more than four cents pound. Nov piano wire Is worth from thirty to forty cents pound abroad. Thus the old rates of duty, equal to an ad valorem Of II per cent on smaller wire and 14 on tho larger sizes give place to a 45 per cent rate, which means increasing the rates over 300 per cent. on the finer and over 200 on the coarser wire. Where the piano manufacturers paid 2}s cents a bound duty under the old law they now bay over cents, and where they paid cents they now pay over 12 cents.
 ] These higher duties were at once taken advantage of by the dealers. Just as soon as the Mckinley law went into effect they changed their lists, and wire which had been sold to the piano manu- lecturers at 50 cents per pound was ad- ivanced to 70 cents The firm of Wash burn & Moen, the principal beneficiaries of the increased duties, were the moving spirits in the recent organization of the barbed-wire trust they holding valuable patents which gave them monopo y before the trust was formed. 1t is cur rently reported in the piano trade in New York that large sum of money was corruptly used to secure the advance of duties on music wire.
 1 Tuning pins bore a duty of 25 per cent under the old law. Although they have never been manufactured in America. this duty did not satisfy the NcKinleyitss. The makers of piano actions came forward with loud de- mand that the duty on actions and parts of" be fixed at 50 per cent These men did not make tuning pins, but in drawing up their paragraph they made the language 80 sweeping as to include everything used in piano making. Mo- Kinley gave these men 40 per cent. pro- lection, but the Senate struck out tho paragraph and tuning pins were made dutiable ct 45 per cent Immediately after the duty was increased the price of tuning pins was raised from @. 70 per thousand to S3. 20.
 Another important item Is the duty on the actions themselves The old duty was 25 per cent, but the twelve action makers clamored for 50 per cent. Against this increase there was a vigorous pro- test from the smaller piano manufact- urers, who do not make their own ac- tiona In their petition to Mckinley they said:
 sThe undersigned pianoforte makers of the United States would protest against such an advancement of duty As being unjust. obstructive and fatal to the piano-making industry of this coun- try. There appears to be no good req son for higher rate of duty on piano. forte actions, since the manufacturers of this article in this country have been highly successful, having made large fortunes within comparatively short time under the present protective duty. To raise the duty on piano forte actions would simp mean to create monopoly for 8 few action makers at the expense of hundreds of piano makers"
 The action makers, however, got nearly all they asked for Their protec. tion was raised from 35 per cent. to 45 per cent This increase was made despite the fact that only very few actions are imported, and gives complete monopoly tO the domestic makers, two of whom manufacture one half of all the actions used here.
 A beautiful tariff trick was performed In regard to the felt used in making piano hammers There is only one fac tory engaged in the production of piano felt in the United States-that of Mir. Alfred DoIge, of Dolgeville, N. Y.--the annual production of which, according b Mr. Dolge, Is about 300, 900 pounds. Tue only piano felt imported into the United States comes from Germany, and amounts to from 25,OoO to 30,00O pounds per year, so that only one-tenth of the fslt used here is imported.
 Under the old tar. fl law piano felt was taxed as manufactures of wool not otherwise provided f0r," at 35 cents a