Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-12-03
Practical Tariff Review.

from a neglible increase to 1899 per
cent on bleached cloths. The theory
of the protectionist is that a duty is
levied to protect American labor and
to build up industries until they have
got beyond the infant stage. This
naturally raises the inquiry, when
does an industry become so large and
so profitable that it is no longer an
infant and in need of protection?
Under the old schedules the cotton
industry, which has never yet been
accused of Eeing gobbled up by a
trust, seems to have been doing very
well.
The state of Massachusetts, re-
quires all corporations to file full re.
ports of their business Annually,
Rhode Island, where Senator AID.
rich reigns, has no such law, and no
statistics are, therefore, available
from that state, as they are from
Massachusetts. From those we learn
that the Dartmouth Cotton company
in 1907 paid a cash dividend of: 16
per cent and a stock dividend of 50
per cent; the Troy Cotton and Wool.
en- Manufacturing company paid 81
per cent the same year; the Acush.
net company has averaged 21 per
cent for nice years, and in addition in
1907 paid 66 per cent; the Massa,
chuSettS Cotton Mills of Lowell paid
oper cent in 1907 and set aside SO
per cent to surplus; the American
Linen company of Fall River paid 30
per cent; the Tecumseh mills "a
per cent; the Border City Manufac-
turing company earned 374 per cent;
the Pierce Manufacturing Company
of New Bedford 80 per cent: the
Hathaway company 10 per cent; the
Union Cotton Manufacturing com.
pany 46 per cent; the Sycamore
Manufacturing company 4S4 per
cent; the Bourne Mills 49H per cent.
Then there is the Algonquin
Printing company engaged in the
making of cotton fabrics. 1t was or
ganized in 1893, under the Wilson
law, in the days of the big panic,
with capital Of S5,OOO.OOO. 1t bad
in 1907 a surplus of s75O,OOO, and
during the last nine years its net
earnings have aggregated 6O7 per
cent. more than six times its capital.
lzation. Its average annual return to
the stockholders during these nine
years has been 674 per cent. These
statements are made on the foor of
the senate, along with many others,
by Senator Gore of Oklahoma. He
challenged any member or any per.
son to dispute their accuracy. The
pages of the Congressional Record
will be searched in vain for any reply
to this challenge. The dayprevlous
Senator Lodge of Massachusetts had
attempted to defend the earnings of
the cotton manufacturers as modest
and moderate, and Senator Gore
then drew the records upon him.
And after the senate voted to in.
crease the tariff on cotton cloths and
cotton manufacturers generally.
The explanation is not a difficult
one. These new schedules were pre-
pared by the cotton manufacturers
themselves. Any person desiring
the facts for himself-they are too
long to recite here-can find them on
pages 523S and 52S9 of the Ccnpres.
siOnal Record for August 6, 1909. A
committee of cotton men present. d
TWO paragraphs defining the terms
used in the tariff bill relating to cot.
ton cloths, The house accepted
them and incorporated them in the
BILL Chairman Payne later discov.
cred that it was intended to mors
than double certain duties. He rose
in the house and had it stricken out
When the bill came from Aldrich,.
committee in the senate it had agair
been inserted. A fight was made OF
1t and it was eliminated. When III,
Dill came back from conference