The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-09-23
THE ARLINGTON MILLS.

| THE AhLlNGTON MILLS.
Treasurer William Whitman of the
Arlington Mills has written an oper
letter to Senator George g. Vest OF
Missouri in reply to the latter's oper
letter, which effectually and finally dis.
poses of ''the terrible example, of the
iniquities of the wooden tariff upon
which the Democrats have relied in theil
campaign against protection. This
particular instance has been so widely
trumpted and affords so good an illus.
tratiOn of the peculiar methods of tariff
reformers that its details will bear re-
calling.
Several months ago some of the re-
formers in this locality undertook to
| supply the Democratic spokesman in
Congress with the necessary materials
for realistic picture of the iniquities of
the tariff for service ON the stump and in
the press. They picked out the Airing
ton Mills apparently for the reason that
the Treasurer of that corporation is act
ing as President of the National Associ-
alton of Wool Manufacturers, and might
therefore be regarded as fair target
They hired certain party to "work up
a case" against this corporation and he
did what he was told to do with great
diligence, if but little discretion. The
result of his labors was pretentious
document, which was duly forwarded to
Washington. The task of setting the
fuse to this mass of dynamite was as
signed to Senator Vest; and upon June
9th last he touched the match with many
accompanying pyrotechnics. His speech
described the wool manufacturers of the
United States as divided into two classes,
the Legitimate and the 'illegitimate"
the honest manufacturers, who never
use anything bur pure wool, who are
struggling in vain to make livelihood,
whose industry is in ruins and who
piteously appeal to Congress to save
them by the boon of free wool; and on
the other hand, the ''illegitimate"
wooden manufacturers, with the Airing
ton Mills at their head, who are dividing
every year profits of 80 per cent. on their
capital stock-an achievement made
possible by substituting shoddy for
wool, by joining trust organized to
keep up prices and rob the people, and
by grinding down their help to starvation
wages. A full bill of particulars in this
catalogue of horrors was furnished in
the case of the Arlington Mills.
The indictment was lurid and in
genious. The welkin ran with renewed
denuciations of the mOnOpolists and
robbers created by the wooden tariff;
and for time the Performers" were
happy. But Mr.. Whitman wrote little
letter which shattered the Whole
elaborate fabric into instantaneous ruin.
The Arlington Mills had never used
pound of shoddy since it started there
was no such thing as wooden trust, and
never had been; the dividends of the
corporation were per cent. instead of
so, and the wages of its operatives had
decidedly increased since the Mckinley
law.
Senator Vest drew long breath and
returned to the attack. Relying upon
his informants in Boston, he thought he
could save part, at least, of his terrible
example," and following a precedent,
which we regret to say was set for him
in Massachusetts, he began by calling
Treasurer Whitman a lar, and then
quoted the annual certificate of con-
ditiOn filed by the Arlington Mills, to
show that, while the dividend was but
per cent. its earnings had been so per
cent. We suppose that Senator Vest has
some qualification for his post, but
knowledge of ordinary business matters
is not one of them. Mr.. Whitman was
quickly able to show him that the profit
and loss account, which he had assumed
to represent single years earnings,
represented the accumulations of rs
years; and that the actual earnings of
the Arlington Mills, including its divi-
dends, were about per cent. upon the
value of the product, or just about the
average returns of any business, whether
in protected or non-protected in
dustry, when well managed and fairly
successful.
But Senator Vest was not yet satisfied.
He had abandoned the shoddy, he had
abandoned the trust, he now abandoned
the 80 per cent. profits, but he still in
sisted that the Arlington Mills was re-
ducing wages and thus getting all the
benefits of the Mckinley act, while its
operatives were worse off than before its
passage. He wrote long ''open letter.
to Treasurer Whitman, in which he
challenged him to answer whether the
wages of his operatives had not been re-
duced in six specified instances within
the past two years. Mr. Whitman
promptly replies, showing that in each
of the cases specified the wages, instead
of being reduced, were increased, and
with remorseless disregard of the dis
Senator's feelings, he pro-
ceeds to give him an object lesson in the
benefits of protection to labor by show
ing the steadily upward progress of
wages in the Arlington Mills. 1t appears
from the books that the average weekly |
earnings OF the employees of the weave |
rooms were $3.50 in 1888, $3.50 in 1889, |
IS in 1890, SS.46 IN 1891, and that they |
will average as high or higher in 1892, |
while the weekly wages of all the en- !