Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-12-14
TARIFF and WAGES
Lower TARIFF ON raw MATERIAL
and RAISE WAGES.
Herbert E. Niles, Cha;s man of the
Tariff Reform Committee of the
Manufacturers Association, As.
tOundS Committee on WAYS and
Means.

WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. 12-
Il you will take the tariff off steel
and permit me to buy my raw ma
terial-American made-as cheaply
as my foreign competitors can buy
1T, you may take the tariff off my
product-agricultur implements
and I'll make more agricultural i'm
plements that l ever made before; l
will materially reduce their price
to the consumer, l will employ more
workmen and give them better
wages than 1 am paying now; and
the American manufacturer of agri-
cultural implements will possess the
market of the world"
In these words Herbert e. Miles,
chairman of the Tariff Reform Com
mittee Of the Manufacturers Associa-
tion, stopped the hazing to which he
was being subjected by the Ways and
Means Committee of the House today.
Mr.. Miles coming had been long her.
aided as the coming of the represen-
tative of the consumers. For five
hours he addressed the committee,
constantly replying to questions and
sticking fast to his original pro-
positions that the protective tariff
duty allowed on steel and other arti-
cles is a rank injustice to American
manufacturers, laborers and con-
sumers.
Mr.. Miles said he addressed the
committee "as one of S0,0OO,000 con-
sumers, as one of 10000 to 175,0OO
manufacturing consumers, as an en-
ployer who pays half million dol
lars annually in wages and as an in
dependent non-trustified manufac-
turer."
"a stone labelled as bread" is
what he said the farmer is given
through the Dingley tariff.
Saying he feared he might be TAX
en- for free trader in view of his
recommendations, Mr.. Miles said
'I'm against free list
"What for?" asked Champ Clark of
Missouri.
because I want to see the govern
ment get revenue and because l want
trading proposition whereby we
can sell goods in foreign countries"
He refuted the proposition that the
iTiuh n riff hnffor nd
employment more plentiful. On the
contrary, it was Mr.. Miles conten-
tion that the great combinations in
restraint Of trade were built up by
the Dingley tariff law, and that they
reduced wages and closed up many
factories which otherwise would be
busy and employing the many idle
men now in the country. The Stand
ard Oil Trust, the Leather Trust,
Steel Trust, Glucose Trust, Linseed
Oil Trust and half dozen more big
combinations were scored by Mr..
Miles and charged directly to the tar
iff as being "Congress-made Trusts. I"
On the subject of Trusts, Mr.. Bou-
telle suggested to Mr.. Miles that he
heard frequently of late of interna-
tional Trusts, and he asked the wit
ness if he thought there was a dan
ger to be feared from them.
1--WE are asking for our last chance
when we, American manufacturers,
ask you to let us live by reducing
some of the tariffs that are driving
us out of business. II we do not get
that chance there will be more inter-
national Trusts than there are at
present, and there are some. If we
DO not get the relief we ask we and
our children will sooner or later be
nothing more than slaves of these
trusts"
1t was Of the steel trust that Mr..
Miles had the most complaint. AS a
producer Of finished steel products.
buggies, plows, wagons and farm i'm
plements, he spoke as one knowing
the prices charged for the product.
He declared that steel would average
a cost of one cent a pound, and yet
he was compelled to pay from $1.40
to s1.60 a hundred weight, while
the foreign consumer of American
made steel got 1t for 25 per cent less.
This discrimination against him and
men IN his line of business kept him
from successfully competing in the
foreign field. The American tariff
on implements kept the American
market inviolate he said, but this