Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-06-28
A FREE TRADE LESSON
SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHAIR
AND FURNITURE FACTORIES
AT SHEBOYCAN.
How TO Save the sugar Industry--Repub-
licanism in Coileges-McKinley Epi-
grams = Maine Congressman vs.. the
Wilson Bim-Making Up for A~pponat-
The Poorest Town in America.

The Poorest Town In America.
Very recently a member of the editorial
staff of the Chicago Inter-Ocean visited
Sheboygan. and in writing up the indus
tries of that place he deals in the follow,
ing historical facts which are OF special
interest at this particular time:
IF the Congressional election could be
held now two-thirds of the voters IN She
boygan City would be against the Demo-
cratic party. The only reason why She
boygan has given Democratic maJorities
in recent years has been from force of
habit. This city was until twenty-five
years ago known as the poorest town In
America. 1t had that reputation all over
Wisconsin. 1t was a struggling town OF
1000 inhabitants and furnishing nothing
In the way of work to attract skilled me-
chanics or even provide labor for the
young men brought up in the town. There
was no manufacturing until 1870. when
a small chair factory was started with
FIVE men employed. This was the begin
ming of prosperity, and in 1892 there were
5000 wage-earners in S~heboygan, who re-
ceived S3,000,0O0 in wages and turned
out more than SIC, 900 worth of prod
ucts that went into the homes of million
aires and wage-earners in every state in
the union. -Four large chair factories and
one monster furniture factory were run
ming ten and twelve hours a day the year
through, and one year after another, to
supply the demand for Sheboygan furni-
ture.
From the poorest town in America it
became one of the most prosperous cities
in Wisconsin, with a population of 1889
in 1893.
The workingmen received S250,000 a
month In wages, 20 per cent. Of them
owned their homes, 700 houses were built
in 1892, and much money was expended
In public improvements.
But the majority of these people still
voted the Democratic ticket, though their
city had been built UP under protection
and was dependent upon a protective tar
lift. They did not believe it until they had
their brst experience in 1898. They gave
LOO plurality for Cleveland in 1892, had
their earnings reduced 33 1-3 per cent. in
1913, and elected the first Republican
City Council in the history of the city in
April, 1894.
George Nation, president of the Mat
Ioon FURNITURE Company, says that his
nrm did 4S per cent. less work in 1893
than in 1892, and this at a loss of 10 per
cent. TO the firm. In other words. while
keeping his men employed little more thar
one-half time, and at a reduced wage
scale, the company is losing 10 per rent.
on ITS business because it has $4,000, 900
feet of lumber on hand that must be man
fractured into furniture or allowed to be-
come o dead loss, and because it has
debts that it must meet or go into bank
ruptc,y.
Mr. Mattoon employed 1850 men in
lSJ2, and they had TO run extra time to
supply their orders. The factory began
thirteen years ago with nine men. and
while increasing as fast as machinery
could be placed for the men, the factory
was never shut down except for a few
days for repairs until the panic of 1893
struck the furniture trade and more than
DO per cent. of those in the business
failed. His sales in 1892 amounted to
$l.0GO,OoO, and his average pay roll was
$4,000 a month. The average earnings
" men working two-thirds the time at a
reduction of 20 per cent. in their wages,
and his pay roll amounts to about $4,000
O month.
''Two-thirds of Mr.. Nations employees
voted the Democratic ticket in 1892 be-
cause demagogues made them believe that
1T was good politics to vote against their
employers. IL did not require many
months for them to discover that the same
blow that struck their employers struck
them, and that their interests were identi-
cal.
Thomas M. Blackstock, president and
general manage of the Phoenix Chair
Company, agrees with Mr.. Nation that
Sheboygan had its severest blow last
year and that ii is still uncertain as To
the outcome. The furniture business
not improving and Sheboygan is depend
20 down the city will be ruined, for
there will be no work for the great num-
Der of wage-earners who have given
prosperity to the place.
s'The year of 1892 was the most pros
porous year ever known in Sheboygan,
and the prospects were bright for the
continuance of the prosperity. The men
In the shops had all the extra work they
would do, and they in turn paid good
wages to carpenters and masons who
were at work on their houses. The men
were generally saving, and Mr.. Black
stock believes that in 1892 70 per cent.
of the people in Sheboygan owned their
houses.
"He says the earnings of the men are
SO 1-3 per cent. less than they were in
1892. The monthly pay roll has fallen
from $250,000 to about $4,000 a
month. Mr.. Blackstock denied the
charge that has been made that men
were employed in Sheboygan factories at
5 cents an hour. The factories are pay
ing out more for wages and lumber than
they are receiving for their goods. Bust
ness is nct improving, and Dir. Black
stock does not believe it will improve in
the furniture trade until the threat of IL
Democratic Congress is removed. The
Wilson bill is only the entering wedge
for free trade, and business men will
make no venture until they know
whether this legislation is to be carried
to its legitimate conclusion or not
How to Save the Sugar Industry.
I am here in Norfolk, Neb., looking out
on the largest beet sugar factory in Amer
lea. Last year it made 10000, 900 pounds
of white sugar. Thousands of farmers
along the Platte Valley have contracts
for an increased acreage of beets next
year. They are now trembling for fear
of threatened disaster. They are simply
dazed at the knockout blow the present
Congress has given to their young but
growing sugar industry. Many Nebraska
farmers, / say, had made their contracts
for raising beets next spring for the
Grand Island and Norfolk factories.
These farmers are just beginning TO
learn how TO raise beets with profit, and
thousands of wheat fields and corn fields
We're going into sugar.
Three weeks ago." said Mr.. Oleson.
a large farmer at Alma, near McCook,
Il made q contract TO raise forty acres
of beets this year. The Wilson bill had
favored the bounty and we were happy.
To-day l get a telegram from Mr.. Ok
nard's agent saying the 2-cent bounty
is off and we must STOP"
what will you do" i asked.
II suppose | will put in wheat and
corn again. 1t is too bad that this coun-
frr hos gnt ~ canI eco 900 nnn ,,o..h 20