Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1892-07-20
WAGES IN IRON HILLS
A WHOLESALE CUT. TO Be MADE
IN SPITE or THE TARIFF.

McKinIey's Prohibitory Duty, Made by
the Manufacturers Themselves to Raise
the Poor Mans Wages" Has an Entirely
Different Effect.
Our high tariff friends are beginning
TO admit that a serious reduction Of
wages wholesale cut" the Philadel-
phia Press says-is soon to be made in
the iron and steel mills, but their COM
ments are discordant For example, the
Pittsburg Dispatch is moved by the i'm
pending reduction at Mr.. Carnegie's fac
tories 10 say:
IF the iron manufacturers wish to
strike every tariff advocate dumb and
paralyze the entire campaign for protec-
ton, they could not do so more effectu-
ally than by confronting them during
the campaign with the spectacle of mills
standing idle through the forcible at
tempt to reduce wages 20 per cent. in a
protected industry"
The Philadelphia Press complains that
it has been forgotten by certain persons
''that the Mckinley tariff reduced the
duties on all forms Of iron manufacture
in which a reduction Of wages is now
taking place or has taken place." The
Boston Journal makes the same asser-
ton. But neither Of these papers has
said that the reduction Of wages has
been caused by the slight reduction of
duties in parts Of the iron and steel
schedule. They know very well that in
nearly every instance the duties which
were slightly reduced by the Mckinley
act had been practically prohibitory,
and that the corresponding duties as
they stand now have substantially tho
same effect. The old duty on steel or
iron beams, for example, was $2S per
ton. With the assistance Of that very
high duty the manufacturers in this
country, who had been in combination
for years, exacted from consumers a ring
price Of $69.44 per ton. The duty was
reduced from SOS 10 $20.16. Owing 10
the dissolution of the trust combination
the price Of steel or iron beams has fallen
from 800. "a 10 $l2.jG. The reduction Of
duty was S7.9i per ton; the reduction Of
price, caused by the dissolution Of an
unlawful and greedy combination and
the restoration Of competition, is $26.sS
per ton. The duty is still prohibitory.
The manufacturers do not suffer by rea-
son Of imp0rtations, for the duty is too
high 10 permit importations to be made
so long as the price nc home is deter
mined by that competition which the
manufacturers strangled for sixteen
years.
Our high tariff friends should not for
get what their own leaders have said
about these duties in the present iron
and steel schedule. After the enactment
of the new tariff the following comments
were published in The Bulletin of the
American Iron and Steel association,
which is the official organ Of the manu-
facturers who have since reduced the
wages Of their workmen and are now
preparing to make further and greater
reductions:
"Take it all in all, the new metal
schedule is a good one, and our iron and
steel manufacturers will never see bet
ter one. II has been secured with much
effort and no little anxiety. IL is the
best that was attainable. We are satis-
fed"
While Mr.. Mckinley and his associates
were making this schedule Mr.. Henry
w. Oliver, Of Pittsburg, was in Washing
ton as a representative Of the iron and
steel manufacturers and as an adviser OF
the majority Of the Mckinley ways and
means committee. After the passage Of
the bin he returned 10 Pittsburg, and
there made a report in which he declared
that the rates Of duty in the new sched-
ule "were those proposed by the manu-
facturers themselves" AS Speaker Reed
said after the election Of 1890, the manu-
facturers Of iron and steel had obtained in
the new tariff "just what they wanted"
The speaker was complaining then that
the manufacturers had shown ingrati-
tude in not contributing for the cam
paign in 1890 so literally as they had
contributed in 1889. Az Mr.. Reed also
declared in 1890 that the "Object Of the
Mckinley tariff was ''tO raise the poor
mans wages" the manufacturers in
Pittsburg and in the Mahoning and She
mango valleys should now employ him 30
explain 70 their wOrkInen why it has be-
come necessary or expedient 10 make
what the Philadelphia Press calls "a
wholesale cut" varying "frOm IS 10 30
per cent"
We notice that our high tariff friends
no longer rely upon Mr.. J. w. Jones, Of
Hutchinson, Kan, for assistance in their
treatment Of this subject. Heretofore,
when we have ventured 10 point out re-
ductions Of wages in the iron and steel
factories the Boston Journal, the Indi-
annapolis Journal, the Tariff leagues
Bulletin and other advocates Of McKin-
leyism have turned with confidence to
Mr.. J. W. Jones, Of Hutchinson, and
have published, with much apparent
satisfaction, his authoritative assertion
that no such reductions had been made.
Has Mr. J. w. Jones ceased 10 be an
authority more trustworthy than the
reports Of the Associated Press, the
trade journals and the testimony Of the
manufacturer. theInselyes?-New York
Times.
In Favor Of Free Wool.
The Boston Journal said recently that