Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-10-16

prOQuCtS OF OtlSf countries. II an
American laborer with American ma
chinery, working American time, pro-
duces, say. one hundred yards of cloth
in a day and is paid 81 a day in wages
his wages are cheaper to the American
employer than are the wages of a Ia
borer in Europe who receives but 81 a
day and produces 10 yards of cloth.
Verdict of Republican Leader
Says Gov. Cummins. "The man who
still holds that our manufactures need
any considerable protection TO en- Die
them to compete successfully in their
own markets with foreign producers
when they can sell their products at
fair profit in other countries in open
competition with all manufactures of
the EARTH has surrendered his good
sense in his idolatry at the shrine of
that miserable maxim Stand patti"
At the pres ant moment our produc-
ers can pay the highest wages known
to the American school of compens&s
ton and deliver steel and iron prod
ucts to our buyers at no greater cost
than will attend their delivery TO our
buyers by any other nation in the
world 1 further insist that what is
now true of these commodities has
English commission some time since
appointed by the English parliament
to examine our iron steel and cotton
industries reported that we could
manufacture iron. steel and cotton
goods cheaper in this country than in
any other country in the world.
A Wisconsin Authority Quoted
When Congressman Babcock re-
turned from his European trip two
years ago he boldly proclaimed that he
had made a study of the European
wages and stated, by reason of the
greater proficiency Of our American
workingman, that American labor was
the cheapest labc' in the world. That
is, there was less of wages In any
given American product than that of q
similar European product, and he an
nounced with a flourish of trumpets
that he would introduce a bill to revise
and lower the Dingley schedules cspe-
cially in iron and steel Then tbN fat
fried and there was no more talk of
revision.
when the devil was sick the devn
a monk would be- When the devil got
WE'LL the, devil a monk was he
The Free Press Of this city, IN it's
issue of May 5, had a significant ar
ticle on this phase of the tariff situa-
ton 1t was entitled Production and
Protection" 1t sets forth that the net
earnings OF the steel trust are At the
rate of $156,0O0000 a year. That
the total of wages paid by the trust
was but 20 per cent, or one-fffth of the
total sales or production. Conllnuing,
this article says: prices at which
steel is sold to users in the United
States is $50 per ton. 1t is sold for
much less than that abroad. The tar
| if on steel is one-haf cent a pound,
or $40 a ton, or one-third of the selling
price. The cost of labor is 0ne-fifth
/ the selling price. So the tariff pays
| (the totaD labor costs and profit
/ price. How does this seem to provide
for the difference in the cost Of produc-
ton here and in Europe? The pauper
labor of Europe costs the manufacturer
over there from one-half to two thirds
| the American scale.
Congress, through the Dingley
schedules, provides for the entire la
Dor costs and more In other words.
| the consumers Of steel in the United
States go down into their pockets for
enough money to provide free labor
to the steel corporation and present
it as gratuity"
Touches Up Steel Trust
! 1 honor the man who dared to do
his duty and to right that truth.
, Because what is true of the steel trust
/ is true of hundreds Of others acting in
| like manner. And what is the United
Steel corporation? 1t is the United
steel trust. 1t is the billion dollar trust;
lit is the biggest business factor
in the world" 1t has more stockholders
than the people of Nevada. 1t employs
more men than there are voters in
Maine 1t makes more profits in a good
year than the revenues of New York
city (and seventeen times the revenues
of the entire state Of wisconsin,
Above all ordinary corporations 1t
towers like the great pyramid of
Cheops above the sand mounds Of the
| desert" This is the great trust which
the Dingley tariff as the Free Press
says. compels the people of the United
States to go down into their pockets and
present it with a gratuity more than
sufficient to pay all its wages. This
is the trust that arbitrarily determ-
ines the price of all iron and steel con-
sumed in this country without re-
spect to cost or the law Of supply and
demand This is the corporation Of
which one Of it's constituent members
last year sold $4,000 tons of steel for
from 20 per cent to 80 per cent cheaper
in Europe than at home. This is the
company that sold the same railway
steel rails at 81 ton cheaper In Can
ada than in the United States and 81
a ton cheaper in Mexico than in Tex
as This is the trust that has made
1000 millionaires. This is the trust
which has become so dominant in ma
tional affairs that it wrote its own
schedules in the Dingley bill. And yet
this company is but typical in its be-
ing and in it's proceedings with an
hundred trusts that result from and. as
the late Iowa platform said, find
shelter behind the Dingley schedules"
Consumers Bear the Burden
Under this system some one must
bear the burden. The farmer. the Ia
boring man, the great body Of con-
sumers cannot be protected. They bear
the burden. What they need and de-
mand is protection. but not against
some imaginary foreign competitor, but
protection from the protectiOnist and
from robber tariff barons.
Ever since the enactment Of the
Dingley tariff, combinations. pools,
trusts have been multiplied and prices
the highest range Of prices ever known
in this country.
The United States bureau of labor
recently published a bulletin in which
it reports it's Investigations OF the
wholesale prices of the different COM
uodities during the past sixteen years.
From this report 1t appears that since
tie Dingley tariff went into effect the
average wholesale price Of all cOmmOdi-
ties in this country has risen 29.2 per
cent. The average price Of fuel and
light has increased 1874 per cent and
the average price Of building material
has increased Ala per cent. In other
words, a workingman who was earning
& a day IN 1897 when the Dingley tariff
went into effect would have TO earn
I 81 so day now to be as well off. A
person who wanted to build house
now must pay IA per cent more for
the same material than in 1897. In