The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-10-26

written an open letter to Congressman
| BroOkshire of Indiana. He says In part:
| l have read with considerable care your
] SPEECH on free raw material" AS belug
! prince necessity TO manufacturers 10 enH-
/ bic them To compete with their nnl-Deu
! products III the markets of Otner coun.
tries and that without free raw material
not thing can be hup-d for, but dwsrfed ln-
dnstrirs and a crippled Commerce, but You
fail 20 explain what you mean by rec
| raw maj Jerisi" My answer is that all
| raw material is ''free" no matter III what
country il is found and is only enhanced
| in value by the cost of the labOr or the tax
| imposed on il and no other element can b-
| taken into consideration rs affecting he
| cost Of raw material ID the manutao-
| turef outside OF the iaJOr cost or tie ak
! imposed. l. therefore appears TO m- that
the ouiy way 10 reduce the price OF th-
| raw mat-risl' to the manufacturer
| woulI be TO cut down :he labor cost or re-
duce be tax How can the raw
material" be the important factor you
| claim for it when il forms so small IA per
cent of the cost of the finished product
free raw material" F" Is not SO great nee
ce5sitY To the manufacr urer as Cheap
material" The q nest lon then should be not
free raw material" as the prime Necessity
TO successful manufsci urIng Tut "chrap
material" That our own country
Is more abundantly supplied wit unlim-
Itei Quantities OF c-riain raw materials
thau any other country - accepfei without
debate. Therefore il '.free raw material"
Is tie great necessity you claim for 1t In
order 10 uDshackle American maDufact-
urers such Unlimited QIanIies of raw
materiaW should enable them to rule
supreme for with labor as cheap to the
American manufacturer as it Is TO the for
elgn manutacl urer we would soon settle
The vexed question OF who would control
In given market. "Cheap labor" is an
absolute necessity to the production OF
Cheap raw material" No country has
che"per lumber than We bHve for II grows
without toll or culture Our iron deposits
are simply unlimited, and gold aad silver,
tne metals SO much sought after, are fur
nIshed rs free without tariff or tax; and
above al. our coal DEPOSITS baye been so
distributed by the wise hand of providence
that they are found nU the door of the poor
ns well as at the door of the millionaire.
Ii then free raw material" is the great
and only barrier between the American
manuIac; urer and the widest range o.
commercial relationship let lie ask you
why do they hot control the market
with tue finest products of the raw ma
terlal' We have in such abundance in our
own country. Again if free raw mater
lai" Is the great necessity you claim for il
10 a successful control of commerce, why
do the countries who have monopoly of
cersau raw materials" not control the
market with the finished products of such
raw materials:" | answer plainly that
something else besides free raw material
Is greater necessity in the control of com
merce and that is 'cbeap labor" The
facts are that countries who have the larg-
est supply of Certain raw materials" have
little To say In controlling the market with
lhe finished product OF such raw mater |
laL The question then should b.: Why |
do they not control the market. answer |
I mat be hind the question OF raw mater |
lal," whether free or taxed, stands the |
greatest one and that ''cheap labor Is |
more necessary factor in the production of |
the finished product To the man ufacl urer |
TO enable him TO COMPETE in the open mar |
kets of the world. You cannot have the at |
the minimum cost if you employ labor |
at maximum wages. You cannot /
pay labor - and own its product as cheap |
as II you only paid So so that the price |
paid to labor for a given product is of far |
more Importance TO the man afacturer |
han whether or no the raw material is |
Tree or taxed, for without cheap labor you
can not not nave Cheap raw material"
What cannot understand is that
II free raw MATERIAL j. the absolute ne
cessiiy you claim for 1t aud If Cheap
labor" is an absolute necessity to the pro-
uuction of ''cheap raw mat eria ~ that you
Tue reduction of wages as being necessary
TO the production of cheaper raw mate
rial, aud yet this is the only logical con-
cusion to be drawn from your argument.
The cry against raw materiaP' being too
is a cry against labor being too
expensive, and the cry for cheaper raw
material" is the cry for cheaper labor"
II your claim is true that the
American mechanic gets smaller per
cent out Of the finished products than is
paid for similar labor in uther countries,
hen the cost OF the finished product would
De less In America than in other countries. |
md yet in the same breath you say that
he product of American labor is SO high
hat the American manufacturer cannot
compete with the finished product in the
market of the world, for surely there is
nothing between our own raw mattriai'
md lis finished product but American
aDOr.