Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-03-21
Injurious authorizations.


Some of the Democratic journals are
making what may be termed fraudulent
use Of certain industrial facts which APP
pear in the report, lately published, of the
Connecticut Bureau of Labor Statistics
The report gives the so-called "labor cost"
of manufacturing articles in various in
dustries. Thus it is alleged that the labor
cost of making wooden goods in Connecti-
cut is 2l.60 per cent: of knit fabrics, 2S.6l
per cent, and of wire goods, 2l.2l per cent
Democratic organs assert that the exist
ing duties much more than cover the
difference between American and Euro
pean wages, and that these duties may be
considerably reduced and yet be fully pro-
tective of American labor. There is no
ground for this contentious but, as usual,
the facts are perverted with an intention
to deceive thoughtless pessons who do
not examine these matters for themselves
The labor cost referred to is, of course,
nothing more than the amount paid for
wages in each of the industries under con-
sideration, If a wooden, factory or wire
working establishment buys yarn or wire
with which to make fabrics, the outlay
for such raw material finds no place in
this item of labor cost. The OILY pay
ments included in that item are those
made to the workmen in the mill who
help to carry forward the yarn or wire
through the advancingprocesseso of manu-
facture. But, clearly, the labor cost of
piece of wooden cloth Is not represented
by the wages paid merely for putting the
yarn upon the loom and for finishing the
fabric. To ascertain the actual Dor cost
it is necessary to go back through the
spinning mill and thence to the sheep
farm. -
The charges against piece of wooden
cloth begin with the cost of the labor re-
CURED to herd and to feed and care for
the sheep. The labor expended in pro-
ducing the hay consumed by the sheep
counts when the cloth is cut into gar
ments. Every operation through which
the wool passes, the soap with which it is
secured, the fuel with which power is
supplied to the securing and other ma
chimes, the dyestuffs with which it is
colored--all add value because labor per-
forms the operations and produces the
material. Thus it is safe assertion that,
so far as the fabric itself is concerned, its
total contents are made valuable by labor
Dut thiS 10 uot bC Cost VI VIC HILL
and the machinery enters into the cloth
The quarrying of the stone or the shaping
of the brick; the carpenter work; the cost
of the glass in the windows; the cost of
the lumber, running back to the hewing
Of the trees; the cost of machinery from
the digging of the ore to the last touch OF
the hammer-these appear in one degree
or another in the cloth as it goes to the
consumer. Now, in this country. the
wages IL all the industies referred to are
much higher than in Europe. An Ameri
can carpenter or stone mason, for example
earns from two to three times the money
obtained By men in like occupation in Eng
lad. A duty which shall protect labor
must take account of this fact. The man.
ufacturer is compelled to regard it, for ht
finds that his plant is more costly thsn
those Of his European rivals because of il
True labor cost is indeed the whole cost
of any fabricated material, less insurance
tn xes, and, in some cases, rent. A fabric
has value solely because human effort has
been expended upon it. The attempts to
persuade workingmen that the value OF
manufactured goods is derived from any
other source are made simply with pur-
pose to blind them to the truth respecting
their own interests.-New York Press.