Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-08
TARIFF LIE

F THE intelligent foreigner of the
proverb takes an Investigators in
u terest in the affairs Of the United
States and conducts little inquiry for
the purpose of ascertaining the condi-
ton Of this nation, he must be sorely
puzzled when he does not see an ideal,
contented, prosperous and altogether
lovely social order, the result of pro-
lection to American industries, because,
dustries share their prosperity with
the American people, particularly with
the workingmen. In an article by Will
Payne, published in the Saturday Even
ing Post. he may find some explanation
of various irreconcilable discrepancies
that puzzle him. Mr.. Payne summar-
ICES all that may be said on the sub
ject of tariff in the blunt statement:
"The present tariff rests upon lies. The
popular arguments in support of it are
not true-simply are not true-how-
ever admirable otherwise"
Excepting for the absence of truth
the tariff scheme looks plausible and
pretty. Many specious and deceitful
schemes look plausible and pretty. If
nations-and Notwithstanding they
travelled over the roads Of Time looked
out constantly for sign posts marked
'Truth" they would never go astray.
The great tariff lie," as Will Payne
calls it, is undoubtedly responsible for
the creation and perpetuation in the
United States of the conditions which
are frequently summed up in the SEN
tence: "The rich are growing richer,
but the poor are growing poorer" The
tariff has not produced general prosper
ity. The protected workman has not
received wages which would indicate
the protected industry is enjoying
greater prosperity than when unpro-
tected. Mr.. Payne cites steel as a
typical illustration of the tariff lie
According to the report Of the United
States steel corporation for 1902, he
says, the average number of employees
in the ore-mining department was 49,
465 and the output 16,063,179 tons, or
about 119 tons per man. The total
number of employees in 1907 was 210,1S0
and total salaries and wages $685.
S22, an average of $765 per man, in
Guiding all the high priced executives
The average number Of employees in the
manufacturing department was Isl, $40
and 13,099,548 tons of steel ingots were
produced. The duty on ingots IS $3.50
a ton, which, multiplied by last years
output, would give $3.50 for each en-
ploye in that department. This, ac-
cording to the protectionist theory, is
the difference between wages paid to
American and foreign workmen. Would
the steel corporation then be paying
only $1S5 a year, or SIS per month, to
its workmen if it weren't for the tariff?
And in 1906, with its large output, the
duty on the ingots made amounted to
$615 for each employee in the manufac-
turing department, with the average
pay Of all employees only 1929 per an
mum.
Mr.. Payne adds: cit has been the
policy of the corporation to hold prices
steady-after having taken care to fix
them high enough. The average whole
sale price of the big products-pig iron,
steel billets and rails-was in fact in
1906 fractionally lower than in 1902, and
no higher in 1907. Also, it operates
some railroads, and the price of trans
portation has not been increased.
Meanwhile, between 1902 and 1907, the
corporation raised wages. 1t furnishes
an instructive example, then, of a very
big concern which has raised wages,
but has not raised the price of its pro-
ducts. In 1902 total salaries and wgaes
amounted to 21.5 per cent of gross sales
of plant and earnings Of railroads, while
in the last two years total salaries and
wages averaged 21.2 per cent of that
gross. In a word, in spite of the condi-
tons mentioned. the steel corporations
labor cost has not increased. And the
labor cost five years ago was undoubt-
eddy the lowest in the world. OF what
possible benefit to labor, then, is a tariff