The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1912-10-30
UNM|hSKING THE
TARIFF DELUS|0N
Franklin Pierce Shows That La
Dor Is Not Benefited by
Unjust Tax.
MANUFACT CTURER KEEPS PROFIT
Proof Of Democratic Platforms Sound
ness Cited In Reports Of Wage In
vestiGations.
BY FRANKLIN PlEF &c.

ny KAN NEiN FlEE -.
For hundred years Of CT history
| the manufacturers, believing .ha- they
received a benefit from the protective
tariffs, have ingeniously devised piaus-
! ible pretexts for imposing Increased
| prices upon the necessaries CT lie. Al
: first they said that industry n our
country was in its infancy and needed
! protection When those industries had
become strong and needed 30 aid the
| manufacturers invented the theory
that the foreigner paid the ducy. 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 inde-
fensible 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 our indus
tries"
Proof of this statement is found in
reports Of many recent official investi-
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
66.4 per cent.
In 1905, when work and wage condi-
tions in the cotton industry were ex-
cepttonally good, the wages Of 202,211
cotton mill operatives in the United
Statesmen, women and children-av.
eraged only $6.47 week The average
wage for men was but $7.71 a week,
for women $3.50 and for children, 1921.
AS to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills, with total capitalization
Of $25.110,000 and total surplus of $21,-
S63,601, paid in nine years dividends
averaging % per cent.
The cotton manufacturers turned out
in 1905 $442,451,21S worth Of goods and
paid in wages therefore $s4. .337 ,695, or
q per cent. Of the value Of the finished
product
Extortton of Wool Tariff.
Outside Of the duties on two or three
commodities Of comparatively little i'm
portance, the duties on WOODEN cloth
are the highest of any in the tariff
schedules. According to Senator Reed
Smoot, owner Of a Woolen 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 206 2-3 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 woolen 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-
tected industry the laborers we're
obliged to strike even for a living
wage. Thousands Of adult males were
receiving only from Sc to 50 week
and many only $5 to s6 week. AS a
result Of the strike the American
Woolen company gave it's employees
slight increases in wages.
The wool tariff bill vetoed by Presi-
dent Taft reduced the duties on raw
wool from 1920 to % per cent. and on
manufactures of wool from 8765 to
1885 per cent. Mr.. Taft said he ve-
toed 1t 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 / per
cent. lower to lis higher than the
tariff boards findings justified.
Low Wages In Steel.
Manufacturers Of iron and steel In
1905 paid in wages only Is per cent.
Of the total value Of their production,
while the duty then would average
about As to Al per cent, and on all
metals it now averages 34.51 per cent.
American wages aro really the
cheapest wages In the world when you
take into account the amount Of pro.
duction per man.
An illustration Of this appears in
the Stanley report, Investigating the
steel trust, as follows:
THE labor cost of producing pig
iron in Pennsylvania fell from S1.25 a
ton in 1902 to 50 cents a ton in 1909,
yet the realized value of the pig iron
output was s15.Gt in 1902, whereas 1t
was s17.44 in 1909. In other words,
wageworkers in 1902 got s125 for pro-
ducing only s15C4 worth Of pig iron
and in 1909 only 80 cents for produc-
ing s1744 worth.
While thus treating labor the indus
trjo] ccm biDa tionc tb., L.vo r,o1r, ,,o