Middletown transcript., 1892-08-18
For THE MIDpLRTowN TRASscRIPT.
THE MCKINLEY TARIFF.
JAMES A. B. DILwoRTH.

whose sincerity in the treatment OF
questions of public interest, has won
for him many encomions even from
his political opponents; but | am
afraid be is not disposed to be fair in
the present political discussion, or
that he has been wonderfully imposed
upon by one of those bright young
" literary fellows" who statesmen
now SO frequently employ to get up
their facts for them. And this re-
minds ne of a saying Of a good friend
Of mine, "that figures will not lie,
but liars will figure" am afraid
that Major McKinley's +" literary
follow" after searching in vain
through" The Reports of the Con-
suls of the United States" for a
foundation for pleasant protectionist
figuring, was compelled to turn to
the magnificent labor of the United
Consul at TunstaIl, Mr.. Burgess, and
to his treatment of the problems of
pottery productions.
1t is a wonderful paper. Wonder
full in its figuring. However, I am
not prepared to youch for the accur-
acy Of those figures, nor will I dis
pute their accuracy. Mr.. Burgess
shows by an arrangement Of figures,
covering several hundred articles.
that the prices paid to the potterers
of Trenton, N. J., as wages, are much
higher than are paid to the potterers
Of Stafordshire, England (This re-
port of Mr.. Burgess will be found in
the SentShibsr No 1881 Of the Re-
port from Gonadls lof the United
States In some cases the difference
is but 13 per cent. viz: for doing the
same amount of work that Stafford
shire potterer does for 100 cents, an
American potterer at Trenton would
get I18 cents. The greatest difference
however in wages, is that between 100
cents paid to the staffordshire work
man, and $50 cents paid to the Tren-
ton workman for the same service.
And these two items serve well to
illpstrats tae value Of Mr.. Burgess en-
tire structure of figures. Each OF
these two articles are what is termed
by potterers pressed goods" For
making what is known as covered
buffers" the Stafordshire workman
gets 100 cents in wages, and the
Trenton gets 115 cents, but for press
ing "cake plates " the Stafordshire
man gets 100 cents where the Trenton
man gets $50 cents. 1t requires no
more skill to make one than the other.
The difference doubtless, is in the ap.
plication Of machinery to do the work.
As further evidence of the value
Of Mr.. Burgess figures (Which bye
the-bye discloses the fact-if these
| figures are reliable-:hat the Trenton
potterers who get the highest wages
paid to potterers in the United States
! get about 10 per cent. more wages
than the Stafordshire potterers who
are paid about as little as any potter
ers in England)-I will here state
that In giving his estimate. Of the
value of "raw materials the
American raw materials, even COM
mon clays, are made to appear NOR
valuable than those Of England
Even sand, which is only of equa
value for pottery purposes, is Of les
value in England than in Jersey. Y
Gods Think of it. And clay
worth but ninety-six cents per ton il
Stafordshire, while at Trenton, N
j., it is worth two dollars per tor
And coal that in England must b
deyeled from the earth two thousan
feet beneath its surface, is worth a
Stafordshire, SO says Mr.. Burgess
two dollars and ten cents per tor
while the precious mineral whic
practically lays at the door Of th
Jersey potteries is worth four dollar
and ten cents per ton. This is Il
figuring Of the man from whom Majc
McKinley's literary fellow g
the data upon which Major McKiI