New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-08-08
AMERICAN KNIT GOODS.
A NETWORK TOWN BENEFITED BY THE
MKINLEY ACT.
PROSPERITY OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
FACTORIES WORKING NIGHT AND DAY
THE GOODS CHEAPER THAN IN
1ss0-wAGES AND SAVINGS
on wOpETNG
OF WORKING PEOPLE

1s90-WAGES AND SAVINGS
OF WORRYING PEOPLE.
IRON A STAFF con.rsroxpxvr or Tny TRIruXx,
Amsterdam, Aug. G.-When Mr. Cleveland and
his friends declare that the tariff is a tax" they
are all wrong in their facts, 10 far as large
proportion of knit goods il concerned. There are
twenty factories in this busy little city which
manufacture cotton knit Undertaking, and their
managers testify that the underwear which the
average American buys that ranging in price by
wholesale from So TO $40 dozen, they are now
selling for 3 per cent less than they did when
the Mckinley tariff was passed in 1890, although
that act increased the duties largely upon all the
imported goods of the value stated. 1t is there
fore apparent that the "robber manufacturer" has
not made a wicked use of his alleged monopoly
in order to exact from the American consumer
"a larger sum for his goods than was formerly
paid but, the contrary, through the opera
ton of the American protective system he has
been enabled TO lower the price Of those goods
The consumer has been benefited, and employ
nent has been provided fer large number oil
Americans who work in the factories. Nor has
this reduction in the price of the goods been MADE
at the expense of the workman in the factories
He has suffered no reduction in his wages mere
since the Mckinley act went into eject; IN
fact, since lSs5. In many individual cases,
also, wages have been advanced. Moreover the
total yearly wages Of the workman are greater
since he has employment the year round inc
mills not being forced to shut down from time TO
time in consequence Of the American market
being flooded with goods made ia foreign Iahos'
Amsterdam for many years has not enjoyed
such prosperity as it now has Several of the
manufacturers of knit underwear have been COM
pelled owing to their orders for goods, to run
their factories day and night. The Globe mills,
which were closed for several years have been
started again recently and are now making their
full complement of goods. Two other knit goods
factories the Atlas and the Nelson Miller
mills, have been opened once more ana are now
fully employed in the manufacture of knit 2oods
under the Mckinley act. Then there Is an en-
larcemept of several mills. loungs Kync AMI
Kennedy are building an addition 10 their mill
which will be larger than their present factory
In conseo uence Of the opening OF old mills anu
the enlargement Of others. and also of the work
done at night, employment is offered to several
hundred more hands in the factories.
THE Mckinley act said one knit-goods manu-
facturrr to-day has increased the volume of
business of the knit goods manufacturers cnor-
mously. We are protected from the competition
of the foreign manufacturer Of knit goods Of
medium price, and the result is that we have
been able to lower tie price of those goods 10
the consumers. Knit shirts and drawers which
nv firm in 1890 sold at So rs a dozen, we are
selling to-day at So - IL dozen. Most of our
lines Of goods ranging from 80 TO " dozen we
are now selling as compared with 1890 at a re-
duction of l2 IL cents dozen That is I'M
mista kablc evidence that the increased duty haS
not operated rs a tax, and that the consumer has
not been hurt.
This same manufacturer examined his DOCKS
10 learn what wages the women In his employ
were paid. 4 casual glance revealed the fact
that in the finishing room various women re-
ce1ed for the last fortnight's work, respectively.
$3.50. $1,000, S24.33. S22.S2. SASS $3.50,
S2o.75, SI974 S2262 and 1904 In
the nending department the books showed
that certain had received $22ol'
SfS35. S24.47, $e1.46 and $l5l4.
I took these figures at random from
the manufacturers books. Some OF the women
in nav employ" said the manufacturer make
as high as $50 or so a month. These working
women dress with good taste and use good ma
terials On Saturday nights when there is
something OF Parade in the streets you can
hardly distinguish them from the manufacturers
wives. 1t is frequently said by free-trade news
papers that the manufacturers alone benefited
by a protective tariff. In truth. those who are
most aided by il arc the employees in the factories.
Mr. Lugden; Of the firm Of Warner, De Forest
&c Co, who have three large mills said, respect
ing the price Of goods: Since the Mckinley
act was passed we have reduced the price Of our
naked wool and cotton underwear, ranging in
price from $3.50 dozen TO $40 dozen, fully
2 per cent. Goods that sold for So
dozen in 1890 we are selling at $3.50
dozen In $50 We sold certain goods for $50
a dozen we now sell the same goods for $7.25
a dozen. There is no question about this reduc-
jion, and the consumer gets the benefit Of IT,
The prosperity Of the hands in the Knitting
goods mills is reflected in the deposits made in the
Amsterdam Savings Bank. This bank, the only
one Of the kind in the city, organized in the
spring of 1897. Being a new bank il has made
necessarily slow progress. On January !. 1891,
three months after the passage Of the Mckinley
act there was on deposit the sum Of 1892, 900. On
july Of the present wear the deposits amounted
to S3s5354 or an increase Of $l53,354 during
eighteen months in n city Of only 10000 popula-
ton. Mr. Thatcher the cashier of the little bank
said to-day that the deposits were almost all made
by working people.
THE COHOES KNITTING MILLS.
GREAT INCREASE OF business UNDER THE