Carson City daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1907-1930, 1912-10-30
UNMASkING The
TARIFF DELUS|oN
Franklin Pierce Shows That La
Dor Is Not Benefited by
Unjust Tax.
MANUFACTURER KEEPS PROFIT
ay PIERCE.

For q hundred ear Of our history
he manufacturers, believing that they
received q benefit from the protective
:ariffs, have ingeniously devised plaus-
Ible pretexts for imposing increased
6rst they said that industry in our
country was in it's infancy and needed
protection. When those industries had
become strong and needed no aid the
manufacturers invented he theory
that the foreigner paid the duty. This
theory was exploded, and they declar-
ID that cheap clothing meant cheap
men and was not a blessing.
i Driven from every one of these indie
lsnsible 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 az 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
cloth paid in 1910 average duties Of
1874 per cent.
In 1905, when work and wage condi-
tons In the cotton industry were ex-
%ceptionally good, the wages of 202 ,2ll
cotton mill operatives in the United
Statesmen. women and children-av-
eraged only $647 a week. The average
wage for men was but $7.71 a week
Tor women $6,3 and for children, 1921.
As to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills. with total capitalization
Of 2 5.11O,0 900 and total surplus of s21,-
Se3 sol. paid in nine years dividends
averaging % per cent.
The cotton manufacturers turned out
In 1905 SAP ,451,21S worth of goods and
paid in wages therefore 1914, 1877 sos, or
81 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
DortAnce, the duties on wooden cloth
Are the highest of any In the tariff
! schedules. According to Senator Reed
6moot. owner of a WOODEN mill at
Provost, Utah, n chairman of the
finance committee In charge of tariff
legislation in the senate. wearing ap-
pArsl 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
70 pay his labor an increased wage
ever 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 1S per cent. of the total
value OF their production.
At Lawrence in this most highly pro-
tected 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 S. a week. AS a
result Of the strike the American
Wooden 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 APO to 20 per cent and on
manufactures of wool from 81. 65 to
1885 per cen Mr.. Taft said he We
toed it because the proposed rates did
not comply with the findings of the
tariff board. Senate La Toilette con
tradicted the president, saying that
the proposed rates varied from / per
cent. lower to 11.6 higher thar the
tariff boards findings justified.
Low Wages In Steel.
Manufacturers of iron and steel 10
1906 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 1t now averages 34.5l Der cent
American wages are really the
cheapest wages in the world wheo YOU
take into the amount Of nro-
suction per man.
An Illustration OF this appears in
the Stanley report, investigating the
steel trust, as follows:
The labor cost Of producing MO
iron in Pennsylvania fell from 81. 25 a
ton in 1902 to 81 cents 4 ton in 1909
yet the realized value Of the pig iron
output was 1864 in 1902, whereas if
was $17.44 in 1909. In other words,
wageworkers in 1902 got t1.26 for bro.
ducing only 1864 worth of Dig iron
and in 1909 only 81 cent? for d
ing STA worth.
While thus treating labor the indus
trial combinations that have grown IN
under the protection OF the tariff have
fixed the prices OF commodities at the
highest point the home market would
stand. For twelve years they have
been unjustly transferring through the