The Irish standard., 1896-04-18

as we'll" IS : 80
Mr., Dobson was so absorbed 10 this
pranch Of his subject that he closed his
eyes, and, talking as If to himself. plung-
eu INTO little mental arithmetic
Let me see, 404, ,o00 pieces Of silk would
oe 10000 900 yards last year One loom
WeaVes 16 yards a day That would
mean about $500 looms a year to make
tne silk we imported in 1895 from Japan
aione, not TO speak of China. That, I be-
ileve, IS Just about the number of silk
looms now idle at Paterson That throws
directly out of work 10000 people-dyers,
EnrosterS and spinners. Indirectly. that
QI1hgs hardship to $4,000 people Those
disasters have not yet struck our cotton
mills But they are coming and coming
soon, and they viii strike New England
ana cneck the growth of the New South. .
Mr.. Dobson, will you say to what ex-
tent these Oriental importations have
stopped the payment Of wages within your
personal knowledge ?"
az not like that part of my story, "A lie
repiled' put III tell you approximately In
1873 our pay roll reached s136 900 a month.
Our mills We're then running full and gave
sleady work to 5000 people Today our
pay roll is only 100000 month. BY re-
ductons OF time and like devices, we man
ass 70 olsiflDute these wages among about
fsVuV people We take care Of as many as
we can, but there is SO much less for them
20 90, and so much less for them 10 earn.
ana 10 much less for them to spend, and
70 much less for don't know how many
thousand other people to receive and TO re-
spend IN their turn. I think those figures
are sadly eloquent, and they apply only to
our own local community right here at the
Falls of SehuyIkill. But think of the other
communities. Go to Kensington Ken
sington, you know, is a northern suburb
of Philadelphia on the Delaware river
Inere are Dolan & CO.. $ wooden mills /
am sure that not one-half of their people
who were working on full time at good
wages in 1893 can get any work at all now
That statement will apply to every branch
'of the woolen business, excepting only the
mills that make women's fancy dress
goods. Most of those mills, believe, are
still running full. And then think Of
the Paterson silk millSin
Mr.. Dobson explained that he preferred
TO contne MS statement to the shrinka ge
Of pay-rolls In dollars to his own expert
ence, but suggested that the figures he had
already given carried their own inference,
Then he went on:
All this means distress to both en-
pioyes ana manufacturers. The employees
are earning either little or nothing ar ali
ana yet they must live, and their necessity
- are. The, manufacturer suffers, be-
cause ms expenses are constant for insur
ance, maintenance of plant and other
Items. These expenses in the aggregate ara
an an enormous tax upon the capital invested
In these crippled industries For exan1nle
in the neighborhood of Proyfdence r 7
there are seventy-five wooden mills Of
them hfty-four are standing still and the
rest are running only four days week
Z Is hard 70 put into words what distress
that means to both capital and labor
Wnyn, in all my experience of many
years l have. never seen business in s,,ch
q condition as it is today People won't,
puy goods, because they think that at
another time they can buy them cheaper
There is no stability in prices. For ex
ample, only last week 10000 cases Of ging
hams were sold in New York at from 31a
70 "a cents a yard Only few weeks
ago the price of these goods would have
been, to Jobbers, s to z cents yard. Today.
cotton cloth for converting purposes and
for export sells in the south at l3 cents
per pound. That is simply unprecedented
IN the annals Of manufacturing"
| suggested that It would he difficult to
trace the effect of these disasters upon
other classe Of capital and labor in our
social and industrial system
Yes, to their furthest extent but it is
comparatively easy to see how they affect
the great business Of transportation be-
lieye that the railroads employ 12 per cent
of all the factories of the country are NOT
when the factories of the country are not
busy, they furnish less freight to the rail-
roads. whose earnings fall off until they
go into the hands of receivers That is the
condition Of 62 per cent of the railroads
of the country today. Unless we manu-
facturers can give business to the rail-
roads, don't see how they can paw their
interest charges and prosper. This. ar
course, finally reaches the pockets Of the
stockholders, big and little, at home and
abroad, and carries distress to those who
had hoped to live on their invested earn
ings. We owe an enormous foreign in
debtedness on our railroads. Many of our
railroads have borrowed all they can. IN
til almost all their rolling stock is pledged
to car trusts and they have nothing left
to borrow on. Not railroad security falls
due that is paid off but by issuing a nav
security. In other words, they are not
paying their debts. but are keeping their
borrowing capacity up to its extreme lin
it,
After this brief but searching discussion
Of present commercial troubles, 1 asked
Mr.. Dobson to prescribe his remedy.
There can be no permanent prosperity
in this country he responded, until ali
our material resources Of capital and la bor4
are put to work. Our people must become
fully employed. Their purchasing power
must be increased by giving them tn
chance to exercise their full earning pows-
er. This alone will make a market fer
the product of both the manufacturer AMI
the farmer, and thus furnish freight car
riage to the railroads. ls
These results, in my deliberate iuTrr
ment can only be accomplished, first. Iby
higher tariff duties, which shall furnish
revenue sufficient to pay the running .ax-
penses of the government; and, second. bv
the demonstration of silver