Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-10-31
UNMASKlNG THE
TARIFF DELUSlON
Franklin Pierce Shows That La
Dor Is Not Benefited by
Unjust Tax.
MANUFACTURER KEEPS PROFIT
Proof Of Democratic Platforms Sound
ness Cited In Reports Of Wage In
designations.
BY PIERCE.

For a hundred years OF our history
tie manufacturers, believing that they
received a benefit from the protective
:arihs, have ingeniously devised plaus-
lille pretexts for imposing increased
prices upon the necessaries of life. AT
G.rst they said that industry in u
country was in its infancy and needed
protection. When those industries had
become strong and needed no aid the
manufacturers invented the theory
that the foreigner paid the duty. This
theory was exploded, and they declar-
ed that cheap clothing meant cheap
men and was not a blessing.
Driven from every one Of these indie
rengible positions, their final and only
argument left today Is that the tariff
Is imposed upon foreign imports to en-
able the manufacturer to increase his
profits and pay higher wages.
The Democratic platform declares
that:
IN the most highly protected indus
tries, such as cotton and wool, steel
and iron, the wages of the laborers are
the lowest paid in any of u indus
tries"
Proof of this statement Is found in
reports of many recent official inyesti-
cations of wages in the United States.
Wages in Cotton Industry.
Under the existing Payne-Aldrich
tariff law actual imports Of cotton
cloth paid in 1910 average duties of
5G.4 per cent.
In 1905, when work and wage condi-
lions in the cotton industry were ex-
c~eptionally good. the wages Of 2O2,211
cotton mill operatives in the United
Statesmen, women and children-av-
eraged only $6.47 a week. The average
wage for men was but $7.71 a week,
for ONE $3.50 and for children, 1921.
AS to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills, with total capitalization
OF SIS. ITO, 600 and total surplus of $21,-
1868, sol, paid in nine years dividends
averaging % per cent.
The cotton manufacturers turned out
In 1905 $+42,451,21S worth Of goods and
paid il wages therefore $94,S37, sos, or
q per cent. of the value Of the finished
product
Extortion of Wool Tariff.
Outside Of the duties on two or three
commodities Of comparatively little i'm
%portancc, the duties on wooden cloth
are the highest of any in the tariff
schedules. According to Senator Reed
SinGot, owner of a wooden mill at
Provost, Utah, and chairman of the
finance committee in charge of tariff
legislation in the senate, wearing ap-
parel valued at 80 cents a pound now
pays POS % per cent. duty.
This and other correspondingly high
duties on the manufactures of wool
are made to enable the manufacturer
to pay his labor an increased wage
over those of foreign countries, But
the duty on wooden goods is nearly five
times the entire labor cost, while the
American manufacturers in 1905 paid
in wages only Is per cent. of the total
value of their production.
At Lawrence in this most highly pro-
tectad industry the laborers were
obliged to strike even for a living
wage. Thousands of adult males were
receiving only from Sc to 50 a week
and many only IS to SIS a week. AS a
result of the strike the American
Wooden company gave its employees
slight increases in wages.
The wool tariff bill vetoed by Presi-
dent Taft reduced the duties on raw
wool from 1920 to 20 per cent. and on
manufactures Of wool from S7.65 to
1885 per cent. Mr.. Taft said he We.
toed it because the proposed rates did
not comply with the findings Of the
tariff board. Senator La Toilette con,
tradicted the president, saying that
the proposed rates varied from 1 pei
cent. lower to 11.6 higher than the
tariff boards findings justified.
Low Wages In Steel.
Manufacturers of iron and steel II
1906 paid in wages only Is per cent
of the total value of their production
while the duty then would averag'
about As to Al per cent, and on al
metals 1t o averages 34.51 per cent
American wages are really tn,
cheapest wages In the world when yo,
take into account the amount of pre-
duction per man.
An illustration of this appears il
the Stanley report, investigating tn
steel trust, as follows:
"The labor cost of producing pi
front in Pennsylvania fell from $1.25
ton In 1902 to so cents a ton in 100!
yet the realized value of the pig iro
output was 1854 in 1902, whereas
was $17.44 in 1909. In other word
wageworkers in 1902 got $1.25 for PR
ducing only 1854 worth Of pig iro
and in 1909 only So cents for produ,
ing s17.44 worth.
While thus treating labor the indu
trial combinations that have grown u
under the protection Of the tariff hav
fixed the prices Of commodities at tn
highest point the home market woul
stand. For twelve years they hay
been unjustly transferring through til
protection tariff billions of dollars fro
the earnings of labor into their ow
pockets.
When will the laboring men of I'll
country cast off this delusion that IL
farfH is for their benefit and vii
their votes strike down this monstro,
injustice?