The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-10-31
THE GLOVEINDUSTRY
MANUFACTURERS BUSY DENYING PRO-
TEcTIoNIsTs, LIES.

With Reduction of 10 Per Cent ON III.
present Tariff, Gloves Can Be Made 7B
Cents Per Dozen Cheaper Here Than In
England-The Increased Wages Fake.
More than two-thirds of the gloves
made in this country are made in Fulton
county, New York. About 200 firms
there employ 5000 or 5000 in factories
and 5000 or 1900 more in their homes.
MCKINLEY raised the protection duty on
gloves from so to an average of about 90
per cent, after making duties SO high ON
many kinds of cheap gloves that they
are no longer imported. Of course pro-
tectlonlsts like to point to Fulton county
70 snow what protection has done. Last
year when The American Economist was
engaged in its desperate search after
wage advances under Mckinley rule it
TOOK the liberty of naming two glove
manufacturers who had raised wages
since 1890. These two firms enjoyed
much free advertising in Republican pa
pers, and all went we'll until one day
When the Reform club sent representa-
tive to Gloversville to inquire into the
cause of these alleged advances. 1t was
then learned that these, like the others
OF the 81 similar wage advances, were
fakes.
Many were the lies told about the de-
pendence of the glove industry upon pro-
lection during the campaign of 1892. The
New York Tribune sent one of it's staff to
Gloversville who repeated several col
umns OF statements, many of which had
been shown dozen times before to be
false and which were denied by the larg-
est and Oldest glove manufacturers there.
Then after the election and after the ap-
pearance of the Reform clubs proposed
tariff bill the glove liars again claimed
the field. The New York Press set ND q
howl about the proposed duty of % per
cent on gloves. 1t said: s:This would be
deathblow to one of tho most prosper
Gus industries of this state. In Fulton
county alone fully 10000 persons de-
pend for q livelihood either entirely or
III part upon glovemalling. The 90 per
cent tariff would drive the industry out
of existence. The labor cost of glove
making is something like $50 per cent
more in this country than in Europe.
The reformers propose to meet this by
20 per cent duty, or one-sixth the differ
ence between the foreign and American
wage rates. Under this schedule the
foreign manufacturers would take COM
plete possession of the American mar
kets and close every glovemaking estab-
lishment III the country"
These statements, like those in The
Tribune and other protection papers,
were made without the advice or con-
sent OF the leading glove manufacturers.
Thus, Mr.. Lucien Littauer, the largest
manufacturer of gloves in the United
States, said in 1888: eve can do Just as
well, pay our employees just rs high
wages and conduct just as prosperous q
business under 40 per cent as under q
90 per cent tariff. All this is demon
strable if n man will sit down and think
it out for himself"
Mr.. d. B. Judson of Gloversville. the
oldest and greatest and at present the
second largest manufacturer of gloves
in this country, said in 1888: under a
40 per cent tariff we shall still have an
advantage over foreign manufacturers
of from GO to rs cents per dozen. That
is to say, we will continue to pay about
double the wages paid in England and
turn out gloves and mittens at from 60
to 40 cents u dozen cheaper than the
English manufacturers. AS matter of
fact, the tariff does not affect the manu-
facture Of heavy gloves-the gloves for
the million, mean. On the Very finest
qualities it does have an effect, but there
are only one or two firms i'll this vicinity
that make that class of goods"
Another of the largest manufacturers
of Fulton county said i'll 1891: ''There is
no real foreign competition on more than
10 per cent of the goods sold here Fully
two-thirds of the heavy goods made in
the United States are of class of goods
neither produced nor consumed any
where else in the world Gloves to pro-
tect the hands of common laborers are
unknown outside of this country. More
than 80 per cent of the ladies' gloves i'm
ported are of a class of goods not made
here, nor will they be made here in Your
or my tiue."
Of course such cruel statements as
these from the ungrateful manufacture
ers themselves did much to cool the al
dor of overzealous protectionists. They
were not, however, sufficient to prevent
the protectionists from yielding to the
temptation to send up a calamity howl
On behalf of gloves during the late fnan-
cial panic. This last lie has just been
nailed, as is evident from the following
from the Boston Herald:
A few days since the following item
appeared in the columns of the Boston
Journal:
"In the exuberance of campaign ora
tory last fall Daniel B. Judson of Glov-
ersville, N. Y, promised to give employ
70 oil I