Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-09-11

turing industry In the United States
is 1904 year, 1883 a month, $3.50 a
week. o. cents day. This astonishing
low average is>due to the large number
of children and women and foreigners
on the pay rolls
In England the average wage of the
average employee is $2332Sa monthly
wage, S19,45; weekly wage, $4.4S;
daily wage, "A cents. These figures
are from the official report of the Brit
ish board of trade, based on the cen
suS of 1906. The method of obtaining
the averages was by dividing the
amount paid in wages by the cotton
manufacturers of Great Britain by the
total number of employees, including
men, women, and boy and girl work.
ers.
The average percent of tariff rate
fixed by the Payne-Aldrich law on cot
ton products is in excess of 40 per cent.
An attempt TO justify this amount of
protection by the actual digerence in
| the cost of production at home and
abroad would be ridiculous. Even if
English workmen received no wages
whatever, the new rates on cotton
goods would still be excessive.
Senator Owen of Oklahoma, during
| the debate on the cotton schedule as
originally reported by the senate fl
nance committee, aptly explained the
hopelessness of justification of the new
rates i'll a few words. as follows:
Granting that foreign goods have
no labor cost whatever, % per cent is
the maximum schedule to protect the
ufacturing industry. because % per
cent represents the labor cost in Amer.
lea of cotton manufactur
And if the labor cost abroad is one
half the labor cost in the United
States. the rate required to prevent
the foreign manufacturers from hav
ing the advantage in cheaper labor
would be 26 per cent, the American
labor cost. less Is per cent, the Euro
pean labor cost, or net rate of 1;
per cent.
Yet" declared Senator Owen, ''the
laverage per cent of tariff rate fixed by
the senate bill on cotton products is
4714 per cent"
The wages of the workmen in tho
cotton manufacturing industry in Eng
land are increasing. For all the tex
tile industries combined the board o.
trade report shows the percentage in
crease in average full time earning.
to be 30 per cent for men and % pei
cent for women. This increase is TO
the 20-year period between 1856 ant
1906, and under free trade.
In the United States, in the SANE
number of years, wages have increased
SIS per cent in dollars, but have de
, creased in proportion TO the increase,
output of American workmen, whicl
!. has been due to new machinery. TIL
, United States commissioner of labo
reports that in the American teXtil
industries labor received % per cen
of the value of the gross product il
| wages in 1890, only eos per cent il
1900, and but 1875 per cent in 1905.
, The point to these contrasts is tina
| the New England manufacturers hav
all along been making gross misreI
> RESERVATIONS in an attempt to justif
/ tariff rates which practically enabl
+ them to enjoy a monopoly on HON
markets. and TO eXtort unreasonable
: high prices from the American col
:. sumner. With raw cotton almost d
/ their elbows. and while paying thei
workmen but trifle more than tn
: English cotton industry employee r.
n ceives. the New England manufactu
II ers demand from the consumer almos
twice the British prices.
l. That the combination of America
J. cotton manufacturers is charging III
reasonably high prices is evident O
the face of things. The British man
facturer, for instance. buys his ra
cotton in the United States pays tran
portation on il to England. and the
n pays freight on the manufacture
product back across the Atlantic. an
if the present cotton duties were CT
- in two, would even then be able
y compel the American manufacturer
bring down his prices.