The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-28


wage earners and their total wages,
the miscellaneous expenses, the cost OF
material and the total value of the
products. Taking the grand total, it
shows that the cost of production is
but fraction above II per cent less
than the value of the products.
But even this does not mean profits
as there are many items of expense.
such as the wear and tear. bad debts.
etc, that are not taken by the CEN
sus. Then If the manufacturer Is to
continue in business he must make
provision not-only for the wear and
tear. but for maintaining the efficiency
of his plant and to increase it by the
purchase of all improved machinery
and appliances to keep up with the
progress of his business. From these
reports it appears that none of the
manufacturers are making excessive
profits.
Cost at Home and Abroad.
sThe reformers talk about the diff
ference between the cost of production
here and abroad There is no such
thing even as a permanent cost OF
manufacture. either here or abroad.
any more than there is such thing
as the permanent cost of growing
wheat or corn. The manufacturer is
as much dependent upon favorable
business conditions as the farmer is de-
pendent upon favorable weather.
w men a Dldnl Is run " It's l0ll Ca
pacity it may show handsome profit
at price which would be net loss
if the plant was run only rs per cent
or 80 per cent of its capacity. The
farmer has this advantage, that when
he gets poor crops he usually gets bet
ter prices; whereas, when the manu-
facturer's output is curtailed by a slow
demand and his cost of production Is
increased by this, he usually loses his
profit, whatever profit he had.
1.-THE real cost of production is OBJ
tainable only after the business has
been done and no reformer by any
natural human process can ascertain
what the cost of production here and
abroad will be next year or for any
one of the next ten years.
"NO refOrmer can make a tariff in
advance based on the cost of prOduc-
ton here and abroad. If this fact
makes his whole argument ridiculous
it is the fault of the argument and not
the fault of the fact.
"A tariff commission may find out
what the difference between the cost
of production here and abroad was
last year or even this year. but by the
time they get their report before the
public the manufacturers will be at
work on next years goods.
Let Them Write Tariff.
Cup to this time not one of the rab
decreasing critics denOuncing the bill
in it and sign his name to it. Not one
of the men contenCling that our work
is not a revision of the tariff in accOr-
dance with the promises of the party
has specified one item in it or. named
the correction he would make.
Senator Bristow says that he would
have tariff commission like the
great tariff commission of Germany
which was six years writing a protec-
tive tariff for Germany. He ignores
the fact or purposely suppresses it,
which is characteristic of his method,
that our bill created a tariff board
Which is row at work ascertaining the
cost of production here and in other
countries and that this session of con-
gress appropriated $250,000 for its ex-
penses. Two of the men of that
board with a force of stenographers
months collecting this Information
while the other member is in Wash
ington tabulating their reports as
they send them in.
HE neglects also to state that the
German tariff commission was MAX.
ing a protective tariff for a country
that never had one. We have a pro-
tective tariff that had been prepared
by successive revisions for 40 years
by the ablest men who ever legislated
for this nation and that the schedules
of our tariff have been scientifically
terial in each industry with an adj
vancing ratio upon each step of the
manufactured article.
''Bristow with a queer sense of Re-
publicanism voted against our revision
which reduced the tariff upon every
item in out of the IA schedules.
Where Bristow Is Wrong.
HE knows also that the tariff must
be made with consideration for all
the different parts of our country and
must be made so as to obtain the sup
port of a majority of both houses
from a country composed of 48 great
each determined to
protect it's ov n interests, but he does
not tell you so.
HE quotes few lines from Mr..
Brush in his testimony concerning the
production of lead. but he does not
quote the statement of Mr.. Brush that
where the price of lead went below
mines of the United States must close
because lead is produced in Mexico
with the labor of poems at cents an
hour while the wages in all the Rocky
Mountain region of the United States
are As cents an hour.
HE quotes Mr.. Brush as the man
ager of the American Smelling and
Refining company and speaks of it as
the lead trust and utterly ignores
the testimony of the lead producers
of southeastern Missouri that cutting
down the duty of lead means reduc-
ton of wages. decrease of output and
paralysis of the industry.
He dos not quote the testimony
of Mr.. Brush when he said, I can
give you a list of so Independent
snelters that the American Smelling
and Refining company has nothing to
do with
t'Mr. Bristow does not tell anybody
that the only change in the lead
schedule was upon the item of lead
In sheets, pipe shot. glaciers lead and
lead wire, and the increase was an
eighth of a cent per pound.
''There was absolutely no other
change in the rate either upon lead
ore OF lead bullion or lead ina any
form.