The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1912-10-25
UNMASKING THE
TARIFF DELUSION

For hundred years of our history
the manufacturers, believing that they
received a benefit from the protective
tariffs, have ingeniously devised plausi.
BILE pretexts for imposing increased
prices upon the neeessaries 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 deelar-
ed that cheap clothing meant cheap
men and was not a blessing.
Driven from every one Of these indie
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"
Wages In Cotton Industry.
Under the existing Payne-Aldrieh
tariff law actual imports Of cotton
cloth paid in 1910 average duties Of
56.4 per cent.
In 1905, when work and wage condi-
tions 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 SCAT a week. The average
wage for men was but $7.71 a week.
for women $500 and for children, 1921.
AS to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills, with total capitalization
Of $25, 110,0 900 and total surplus Of S21,-
1868, sol, paid in nine years dividends
averaging 90 per cent
The cotton manufacturers turned out
in 1905 $442, ,451, ,21S worth Of goods and
paid in wages therefor $94, ,337 ,695, or
p per cent OF the value of the finished
product.
@NASiAiSH VI "COi
Outside of the duties on two or three
commodities of comparatively little i'm
portance, the duties on woolen cloth
are the highest of any in the tariff
schedules According to Senator Reed
Smoot, owner of a wooden mill at Pre-
vost, Utah, and chairman of the finance
committee in charge of tariff legisla-
ton in the senate, wearing apparel val
ued at 80 cents a pound now pays
206 % 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 were oblig-
ed to strike even for a living wage.
Thousands Of adult males were receiv-
inly only from Sc to 50 a week and
many only S. to Sc a week. As re-
suit OF the strike the American Woolen
company gave its employees slight in
creases 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
4S.36 per cent Mr.. Taft said he We
toed it because the proposed rates did
not comply with the findings Of the
tartT board. Senator La Toilette con-
trG3Icted the president, saying that the
proposed rates varied from 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
of the total value of their production,
while the duty then would average
about 45 to AZ per cent, and on all
metals it now averages 34.51 per cent
American tOa0eS are really the cheapest
tcaOeS in the toorld tohen you take into Gc-
count the amount of production 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 $1.25 a ton
in 1902 to SO cents a ton in 1909, yet
the realized value Of the pig iron out
put was $15.64 in 1902, whereas it was
$17.44 in 1909. In other words, wage
workers In 1902 got $1.25 for producing
only $15,64 worth of pig iron and in
1909 only 50 cents for producing S17.A
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.
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 injus-