St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-24
HOW THEY PROTECT THEM.

HOW THEY PROTECT THEM.
The manufacturers Of woolens are
said to be delighted with the new
tariff act, which gives them their
raw material free. They certainly
have no reason to complain, because
the duty of so per cent that is laid on
manufactures of wooden goods is full
as high as was the duty when they
were given a compensatory duty to
equalize the tax they paid on their
material. From the manufacturer
the cloth goes to the clothing maker.
This congress was so fearful OF DO
ing injury to this industry that IL
touched it's protection with a gentle
hand. The duty on ladies' dress
goods and children's wearing APP
parel that, under the act of 1880,
averaged 81 per cent, was reduced
to so per cent, while that upon ready
made clothing and articles OF wear
ing apparel was accorded the same
gentle treatment.
This, of course, was not done FOR
the benefit of the manufacturer, but
was for the benefit of the makers,
that is the men and women VINO
work with needle and thread in pre-
pairing ready-made and custom
made garments for the American
people. If protection were reduced
farther we were assured that their
wages would shrink to the level OF
the European pauper, and the d1gn1-
fled, happy, prosperous American
tailor would become a serf. We
have recently had, in the exposition
of the horrors of the workshops on
the East side of New York City,
vivid and heartrending pictures of
the lives of toll of these victims
of the sweat shop. While it might be
expected that the commercialism of
New York City would take off all
restraint on the rapacity of men,
one would not expect it in so great a
degree in the city whose name is
the synonym for brotherly love.
But, in the January Arena, Rev.
Frank M Goodchild, of the latter
city, whose church is in the center
of the sweater district, draws US a
picture of the condition there that
makes all this talk of protection to
the American laborer one of the
most CHASTITY farces ever put. upon
the public stage. After describing the
dens in which these creatures work.
their foulness, dirt and disease-breed-
ing impurities, where men and
women in the busy season toll for
thirty or thirty-five hours at a
stretch, he asks:
What does the toiler get for his
work? We ask the attention Of
those who believe in the policy of
taxing imports in order to maintain
the American wage rate to his an
swer For overcoats, 45 to SO cents
Frock coats, 81. Sack coats, so to
Is cents. Vests, ii to % cents.
Trousers, 35 to so cents a pair. Boys
knee pants, of the best quality, 81
per Dozen
This but parallels New York. Sim
liar conditions are to be found in
Chicago. Could anything be more
farcical, if it were not so gruesome,
than these two pictures, the one OF
the manufacturers pleading with
congress for an imposition on for
eign imports of clothing of tax of
one-half their value, in order that
they may pay their laborers living
rate, and the other this awful picture
| of the wages they pay their work
ers? For the overcoat, frock coat,
trousers and vest for which we pay
$50, the man who made them receives
| $2.76. The same suit nets the manu-
facturer, say $50, for the making of
which he is expected to pay so per
cent while in fact he pays about
8 per cent. If this is the ripe fruit
| of thirty years Of collectivism in
this industry, is it not high time
| that we turn backward and abandon
utterly the policy which produces
| such shameful results? Could the
condition Of these poor creatures
possibly be worse under the very
freeSt of trade conditions?