The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-10-24
.uNMASK|NG THE
TARIFF DELUS|0N
Franklin Pierce Shows That La.
Dor Is Not Benefited by
Unjust Tax.
MANUFACTURER KEEPS PROFIT
ness Cited In Reports of Wage In.
vestiqations.
BY FRANKLIN PIERCE.

received a benefit from the protective
tariffs, have ingeniously devised plaus
Eble pretexts for imposing increased
prices upon the necessaries of life. AT
first 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 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 blessing.
Driven from every one Of these indie
Sensible positions, their final and only
argument left today is that the tariff
10 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
he lowest paid iH any Of our indus
sries,"
Proof Of this statement is found in
reports Of many recent official investi.
!, gatiops Of wages in the United States.
!, Wages In Cotton Industry.
Under the existing Payne-Aldrich
tariff law actual imports of cotton
doth paid n 1910 average duties OF
i664 per cent.
:, In 1905, when work and wage condi-
lions in the cotton industry were ex-
.ceptionally 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 VII week.
s1uT women Sc 80 and for children, 1921.
I AS to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills, with total capitalization
of $25, 10000 and total surplus OF $21,.
363,5o1, 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 ,695, or
Fl per cent of the value of the finished
product.
I Extortion Of Wool Tariff.
1 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 tarih
schedules. According to Senator Reed
Slnoot, owner Of 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 206 2-3 per cent. duty.
This and other correspondingly high
duties on the manufactures of wool
are made to enable the manufacturer
10 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
tected industry the laborers wero
obliged to strike even for living
wage. Thousands of adult males were
receiving only from Sc to 50 a week
and many only IS to Sc 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 87.65 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 l per
cent. lower to 11.6 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.
-cf the total value of their production,
while the duty then would average
about As to AZ per cent. and on all
metals 1t now averages 34.51 per cent.
American wages are really the
cheapest wages In the world when you
take into account the amount Of pro-
cuction per man.
An illustration of this appears IN
the Stanley report, investigating the
steel trust, as follows:
1.-The labor cost Of producing pig
iron in Pennsylvania fell from 1925 q
ton in 1902 to 81 cents ton in 1905,
yet the realized value Of the pig iron
output was 1864 in 1902, whereas 1t
was $17.44 in 1909. In other words,
wageworkers in 1902 got $1.25 for pro-
ducing only 1854 worth of pig iron
and in 1909 only 81 cents for produs.
Ing STA worth.
While thus treating labor the indus
trial combinations that have grown mp
under the protection of the tarfn have
fixed the prices Of commodities at the
highest point the home market woul4
stand For twelve years they have
been unjustly transferring through tho
protection tariff billions Of dollars from
the earnings of labor into their own
pockets.
Whom will tho lahorinp men Of the