The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-24
INDUSTRIES BEING STARVED BY TARIFF Situation in New England Worst
 in Many Years FACTORIES MOVING AWAY High Duty on Nova Scotia Coal Com pels Boston Manufacturers to
 Look Elsewhere for
 Location.
FACTORIES MOVING AWAY


 The industries of this neighborhood are being starved by the tarif."
 Such was the characterization of the economic condition of Boston and it's vicin- ity made to your correspondent by Mayor Patrick A. Collins.
 An inquiry into the detailed conditions covered by the mayors statement shows that every steel industry of any impor- tanee has been forced to leave this state The Fore River Shipbuilding plant has recently been forced into liquidation, and the United States Steel company at Ever ett has had to go out of business. The metal stamping industry has likewise dis appeared from Massachusetts. The Atlas Tack company at Fair Haven, the largest tack concern in the world, was forced to reduce the wages of it's employees by 20 per cent only a short time ago.
 All Massachusetts industries are like wise suffering from the tariff tax which they must pay to the coal trust through inability to get the coal from the neigh boring mines of Nova Scotia free of duty. Thus 1t may be said that here in this state are found the most complete exam ples anywhere in the United States of the barrier which a high protective tariff wall raises to the development of indus try The burden here Is not so much upon the consumer. but 1t hits hardest at the wage earner and the investor.
 The state is aroused as 1t has seldom been before over this blight which has been cast upon its industries and the re- publican party Is to be called severely to account for It's stand pat policy.
 No more precise statement has been made of the present attitude of the pub lie toward the existing condition in Mas saehusetts than that of the Hon. Nathan democratic state convention at Boston, October T. 1904, when he said;
 Dark Outlook for Manufacturing.
 "As to this state and city in particular. I assert that, with the exception of a few manufacturing industries and of those persons who had the money and good fortune to buy stocks before the specu- lative rise began and to sell before the reaction there has been no increased prosperity at all at any time since 1897; and that at the present moment the com mercial outlook for New England Is darker than at any time since the war of 1872. Our industries have one by one been moving away, our manufactures oc- 
 eign commerce is rapidly declining. These are patent facts, admitted by every one except the special beneficiaries of the Dingley tariff and the politicians who es- pouse their cause"
 Massachusetts feels most keenly the tariff tax upon raw materials. The heav- fly protected trusts deprive her of the cheap raw materials to which she is fair ly entitled, and as a result her great in- dustries are suffering. The total tariff burden carried by the state of Massa- chusetts is astonishing. In 1903. the man. ufacturing establishments of the state used materials or stock valued at $660, 000,000. Upon such of these materials as were dutiable the tariff tax amounted to probably $71, 100000. In other words, s66O,OO0 900 were paid for materials which, had there been no tariff tax, would hvae cost the manufacturers only s5S9, GOO, 900.
 Wages Might Have Been Raised.
 In 1903. about 5O,000,000 was paid in wages to about 535,000 workers in Massa- chusetts Each employe earned an aver age of s471. 23 for the year. Had the man. ufacturers been able to save the tariff tax at $71,000 GOO on materials, this amount would have been paid out in wages and the goods still been produced at the same cost as at present. In other words, it would have been possible to raise wages by 30 per cent, anu not made the goods cost more than now.
 The greatest industry in Massachusetts is the manufacture of boots and shoes. Six hundred and forty-five establishments in this industry reported an output of s159, 247, ,529 for 1903, the value of the stock used being $1O0, ,3O0514. Careful estimates place the tariff tax on the various sup plies and materials used at $9,90O000. On sole leather alone 1t is estimated at s2- 250 GOO, or ten per cent of the value of the leather used, was paid out. And this in the face of the fact that both sole and upper leather is sold by the beef trust to manufacturers in Europe at prices much below those exacted from American manufacturers.
 The present democratic candidate for governor of Massachusetts, who is mak- ing his fight on the tariff issue almost entirely, and who is himself a large man. ufacturer of boots and shoes, in the fol- lowing manner exploded the fallacy that high protection Is necessary in order to pay labor more than Is paid abroad:
 Let Both be Free.
 Speaking for myself, I would gladly give up the duty of 25 per cent on shoes to obtain free raw materials. Yes, even to obtain free hides and free sole leather. II ln6 HduQlCdP Ol lttAtQ icdtncI Wcit I could produce shoes at as low cost as could any manufacturer in any foreign country and meet the com petition of the world. Cheap labor is not cheap. It Is dear when effectivness is considered. Our Massachusetts methods of manufacturing and the economical di- vision of labor enable us to produce shoes at as low labor cost, quality considered. as anywhere in the world. It is the high cost of materials that bars us from the fullest possible participation in foreign markets.
 But I am not alone in these views. Early in 1903, 311 out of 375 important manufacturers of boots and shoes in New England declared in favor of giving up the duty on shoes If hides were made free Many of our very largest manufac- turers have frequently and publicly de- nounced the duty on hides and proclaimed their willingness to part with the duty on shoes.
 Cost of Living Ascending Constantly
 It is estimated by careful Investigators