Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-11-09
THE MAJ Bile MINERS.

a7-;-77 '7
THE 1 MARBLE MINERS.
\ LESS WORK AND LOWER WAGES UN-
4 DER DEMoc RAcY. 5..,ss' 44@@
The Reduced Tarin VIM Bring marble
81 From Itsly md s~edsn-It Comes u
Hallllast Fres y Freigli The Foreign
worker; Oct Hair tho P.y d Americans.
An industry, to which little attention
seems to be given 81 persons outside Of
those interested ii it is that Of quarry
ing and manufacturing marble. Il / am
not now speaking of the beautiful Ca.
rarra marble used in statuary with
which we delight to please our sense Of
the beautiful, but the more substantial
B and useful sort that is. used Tor various
building purposes. The industry in this
country alone represented an output Of
IS, 705. 900 in 1892, and this means not
only available production from COM
mercial point Of view, but valuable,
too. for its intrinsic worth. The variety
! Of American marble ID SO great and the
quality SO superior that for all purposes
Of ordinary use we need not go out Of
our own country to purchase this most
useful product Of nature. q s&-
= Marble>is found in eight states, and
while mined most extensively in YER
mont the seven others make good
showing. This is a new industry for our
country. too. and was only made posi-
BILE by the encouragement afforded by q
protective tariff. In 1899 the production
had increased to its greatest value. AL
though. according to the order Of prog
ress, the year 1898 should have seen
an increase on the production Of the
previous year, instead there was a
falling of Of 1898, 9O8, or $40 per
cent, bringing the value down ito
$2,411,O92 So much for the effect upon
one industry. Of q protective tariff and
the threatening effect Of a free trade
tariff. It has amounted to more than a
threat. however, for we find that the
new tariff has reduced the former pro-
tective duty by % per cent in the case
Of manufactured marble and 10 per
cent III the case Of manufactured. II
the house bill had. become a law it
would have been even worse, for that
body proposed reducing the duty in each
case to q greater extent than the senate
BILL 49,. = -.G -, <..,.,-5...:.- - - %
What these reductions mean and how
they affect those who have heretofore
been given employment by this new in
dustry can best be understood by the
shutting down of the companies that
quarry and manufacturer: the marble
which has been shown by the falling
Of in value Of produotion-or in the
reduction in wages in other companies.
OF course it is perfectly clear that pro.
,ducers in this country cannot afford to
compete with their European neigh
bors, especially in Italy, where the low
wages are equal to less than half those
received by people employedin the mar
BILE industry in the United. States. : A
gentleman from Sweden, who. is au-
thority upon the condition Of the mar
Bile industry il his own 6ountry, says:
4 sss' The price Of labor is generally q lit
tie higher than for other kinds Of work
in Sweden, but as compared with wages
in America those Of Sweden are very
low. A skilled stonecutter earns about
$500 per year. . * r. ..,... ..s<<..
Think Of this difference with the
American marble miners earnings OF
9405 a year and then consider how a pro,
tective tariff has made the wages here
what they are and how its, removal by
the ''thimble ring tariff" will operate
BY the time another year rolls around.
!: Having inquired into the marble bust.
ness, with the result shown above, I
readily understood how it is that the
largest marble quarry in New York
proposes shutting down the coming
winter. While it is true that they EN-.
ploy only 1913 hands, with weekly out
put Of rs gangs per week, or an equity
alent Of 675 inches, yet if the same per-
centage Of employees are to be thrown
out Of work in other sections what q
vast number will be without employ
ment, and what deprivation it means
for their families! 49, ..... ,..-....~.., $50.
49,. ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
New York. y, ~+...,.. D.. .