Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-06-17
SPEAKS
ON WOOL DUTY.
Jersey Congressman Held
Attention of Congress.
From the NEWS Correspondent

derwOOd, Congressman William
Hughes, of the Sixth New Jersey dis
trict, was in charge of the floor md
the assignment of time for speeches
on the wool schedule and reduction
of tariff problems yesterday after
noon. In the course of the session.
Mr.. Hughes made a speech In which
he dealt largely on the effect of tariff
upon labor. Addressing by far the
largest audience that has listened to
a speech on the Underwood bill, MI.
Hughes held the attention of his au-
ditors to the last word. and -hls
speech was punctuated from time to
time with laughter and applause
from both sides of the House. As
usual, he mixed good humor with
facts and epigrams with statistics.
In dealing with the wool schedule
Mr., Hughes called the attention of
the House to a joker in Section 366
of Schedule K of the Payne bill with
reference to the difference between
wool of the first class and wool of
the second class. 1t seems that first
class wool pays, when 1t comes into
this country unwashed, a certain
duty, and washed, double that duty,
while second class wool pays only
one duty whether washed or I'M
washed. Mr.. Hughes explained that
the act while ostensibly dealing with
first and second class woods, dealt
with but one class In reality, so that
the manufacturer who used one
wool was paying a certain duty and
the manufacturer using the other
had to pay a double duty. This gave
an advantage to the manufacturer
using the foreign wool to the detrl-
ment and distress of the manufac-
turer relying upon the consumption
of our own product. Mr.. Hughes
statement to the effect that this
schedule when first brought into ex-
istence was intended In cold blood to
be in such shape that 1t would defy
the intelligence of men of ordinary
understanding, brought forth great
applause from the Democratic side
of the House. He then went on to
say;
Help Home Grown Wool.
ct believe that one result of this
proposed bill will be to increase the
consumption of home grown wool,
because 1t will put the wooden man
and the worsted man more on an
equality. 1t will give the wooden
man more of a chance as the boys
say, for his white alley There
have been many wool manufactures
Of this country, the owners of which
have been driven into exile and the
mills themselves shut down on &C
count of the inequalities and dis
ordinations of wool tariff legisla-
ton, and yet, strange to say, it Is
only within q very short time that
they have discovered what Is the
matter with them, and discovered
the inequalities of the present law.
ChampionIng the cause of labor
organizations Mr.. Hughes said:
You will find men in industries
that are capable of being organized
receiving higher wages. You will
find men in Industries that under
present oncditions are incapable OF
Nvsng Ehignly orSunizea-r~oes~fus
low wages. One Of the things that
the American workingmen ask at the
hands of Congress is an opportunity
to organize. They ask that they be
not selected especially for the opera
ton of the horrible wrlts of tnJunc-
ton which are never invoked against
anybody else in the manner in which
they are invoked against them. Now,
instead of passing high tariffs for
which the workingmen are not ask
ing you, If you really want to favor
them, why did you not, when you
were In power all these years pass
an effective anti-injunction law that
would permit him to go on strike and
enable him to get some Of the bene-
fits which you assured the manufac-
turer you would give him with the
understanding that he would give
part Of 1t back to his workmen in
the form of higher wages.
How Tariff Would Benefit.
ut might DE possible for the Amer
lean workingmen to benefit from the
tariff if he could effect a close and
compact organization of all the diff
feyent branches of the different in
dustries so that he himself could be
come a monopolist and could say to
the other mO~nopOlists: When you
are stealing from the people, steal
enough for me, and give it to me-
Under these circumstances 1t would
be possible for him to benefit, but
as 1t stands now, you give a monop-
oily to the manufacturer and to the
manufacturer only. As a result of
this the manufacturer gets cheap
labor and eyades the solemn obliga-
ton he entered into to pay part Of
the profits In higher wages to the
American workmen.
"The American worklngmen after
ALI ONLY asks for q square deal. He
asks thta this country be kept
abreast, as far as legislation Is con
cerned woth other great ma
lions of the world. 1t is
enough to bring the blush of
shame to the cheeks of any man who
is proud of this country to know that
1t is practically now q crime for a
labor organization. the members of
which are engaged In producing a
product that may become the subject
of Interstate commerce or are en-
gagged in interstate commerce itslf,
to strike.
Mr.. Hughes concluded his re-
marks as follows:
Whether this bill is a good bill
or a bad bill there is one
tain, and that Is, it is different
from the Payne bill, and so far as
I am concerned and believe, and so
far as my colleagues are concerned,
we are satisfied to go to the country
calm and confident in the assurance
that 1t is vastly different from the
Payne bill"