Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-02-17

| Continued from Page One)
said in his New York speech, THE
one substantial defect in compliance
with the promise of the platform was
! the failure to reduce woolens."
! Woolens are important, too, partic-
ularIy to the poor. Under the head of
woolens come blankets, mems, chill
dren's and womens' underwear; cloth
/ from which is made mems and wo-
mems suits, hosiery. and great many
other textile products which are neces-
saries of life.
Now. what about the cotton SEIZED
ule? Was the tariff on cottons re-
vised on the basis of equalization Of
the difference in the cost of produc-
ton at home and abroad?" How could
it have been when congress was not
permitted to know what the cost of
production at home and abroad was?
Aldrich and Payne did not apply the
principle of equalization of the diff
ference in cost of production at home
and abroad. or make the least pre-
tense Of doing so. Members of con-
gress voted on the various schedules
were forced to do it by the repub-
liCan leaders-without having the
slightest idea of what the foreign cost
of production of the articles affected
really was.
On Cost of Production.
Yet the figures as to the cost of pro-
duction were attainable. Here they
are as to cotton production:
The census of 1905 shows that the
wage of the average employee in the
cotton manufa curing industry in the
United States is 1904 a year. S25.33 a
month, $3.50 a week, 81 cents a day.
This astonishingly low average is due
to the large number of children and
women, and foreigners, on the pay
rolls.
In England (from whence comes the
greatest competition to our manufac-
turers of cotton the annual wage of
the average employe is S233.2S; month
ly wage, s19.45; weekly wage, S4.4S;
daily wage, "A cents. These figures
are from the off cial report of the Brit
ish board of trade. based on the cen
sus of 1906 The cost of living is so
much cheaper in Great Britain that,
according to former United States
Commissioner of Labor Carroll d.
Wright, the British cotton mill employee
can purchase more of the necessaries
of life with his daily wage of "A cents
than the American mill worker can
with his 81 cents.
Excessive If Cost Were MI.
The average per cent of duty fixed
by the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES law is in
excess of 40 per cent. An attempt to
Justify this amount of protection by
the actual difference in the cost of
production at home and abroad would
be ridiculous. Granting that foreign
goods have no cost whatever the rates
in the present tariff law on cotton
goods would still be excessive.
But the republican platform also
provided for "a reasonable profit to
American industries" This brings up
the query: "Must the American cotton
manufacturers have the present ex-
cessive protection on cotton goods to
meet competition?"
The amount of profit enjoyed by the
beneficiaries of the cotton schedule is
the best answer to this question.
Some Other Illustrations.
Here are a few of a multitude of
similar illustrations which could be
given:
The Bates Manufacturing company
of Lewiston, Maine, capitalized at ST.
100000. with a surplus of $1100,00
had net earnings in 1907 amounting to
41.S7 per cent and declared a dividend
of 80 per cent.
The Pepperell Manufacturing COM
pany of Biddeford, Maine, has declar-
ed dividends averaging "a per cent for
the last nine years; in 1905 its divi-
dends were AZ per cent, and in 1906,
62 per cent.
The Algonquin Printing company.
organized in 1898 and capitalized for
100000, had in 1907 an earned sur
plus of s75O,OOOl During the last nine
years it's net earnings have aggrega-
ted 607 per cent. or six times the en-
tire amount of the capital invested.