Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1912-10-31

The Democratic platform declares
that:
In the most highly protected indus
tries, such as cotton and wool, steel
and iron, the wages of the ldborers 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
5G.4 per cent.
In 1905, when work and wage condt
ticns in the cotton industry were ex-
ceptionally good the wages of 202,211
cotton mill operatives in the United
Statesmen, women and children-av-
erageG only S6.47 a week. The average
wage for men was but $7.71 a week.
for women $6.30 and for children, $3.21
AS to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills, with total capitalization
of $25,110000 and total surplus of SILL
S63,5O1, 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 S94 1877 sos, or
Fl 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
portance, the duties on wooden cloth
are the highest Of any in the tariff
schedules. According to Senator Reed
Smoot, 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 30 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 wooden goods is nearly Eve
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-
bOSICu lhuuoIly IHS "6E0
obliged to strike even for a living
wage. Thousands of adult males were
receiving only from Sc to SO a week
and many only SIS to Sc a week AS o
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 87.65 to
1896 per cent. Mr.. Taft said he va
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 per
| cent. lower to 11.6 higher than the
tariff boards findings justified.
Low Wages In Steel.
Manufacturers of iron and steel In
1906 paid in wages only 10 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 3451 per cent
American wages are really the
cheapest wages In the world when you
take into account the amount Of pro-
ductlon 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 $126 q
ton in 1902 to SO cents a ton in 1909,
yet the realized value Of the pig iron
output was $15,64 in 1902, whereas IL
was $17.44 in 1909. In other words,
wageworkers In 1902 got $1.25 for pro-
ducing only S15.64 worth of pig iron
and in 1909 only so cents for produc-
ing $17.44 worth.
While thus treating labor the indus
trial combinations that have grown up
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
protection tariff billions of dollars from
the earnings of labor into their own
pockets.
When will the laboring men Of the
country cast off this delusion that the
tariff is for their benefit and with
their votes strike down this monstrous
injustice?