The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-10-29
.UNMASKlNG The
TARIFF DELUSION
Franklin Pierce Shows That La
Dor Is Not Benefited by
Unjust Tax.
MAnUFAcTURERkEEps PROFIT
Proof Of Democratic Platferm's Sound
ness Cited In Reports Of Wsas In
vestleatlona
BY FRANKLIN PIERCE.

FtFNANHN &afN
For hundred years Of our history
the manufacturers, believing that they
received q beneft from the protective
tariffs. have ingeniously devised plsus-
Ible 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 ths
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 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 bis
profits and pay higher wages.
The Democratic platform declares
that:
In the most highly protected indus
tries. such A. cotton and wool, steel
and iron. the wages OF the laborers are
the lowest paid in any OF our induR
tries"
Proof OF this statement IL found in
reports of many recent oficial 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
5s.4 per cent.
In 1905. when work and wage condi-
tions in the cotton industry were ex-
ceptIonslly good, the wages OF f07. All
cotton mill operatives In the United
Statesmen. women and children-av-
eraged only ts.47 week The average
wage for men was but s7.71 g week.
for women $3.50 and for children, s3.z1.
AS to the profits. seventeen leading
cotton mills. with total capitalization
OF s25.110,00o and total surplus Of s21.-
sSS. SOL. paid in nine years dividends
averaging % per cent
The cotton manufacturers turned out
In 1905 s442.451,2lS worth Of goods and
paid in wages therefore se4 ,337. .es5, or
21 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 woolen 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 50 cents a pound now
pays zoo 2-s 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 i've
times the entire labor cost, while the
American manufacturers in 1908 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
obliged TO strike even for a living
wage. Thousands OF adult males were
receiving only from SIS to So q week
and many only IS to ss week. As !
result OF the strike the American
Woolen 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 s7.65 to
1896 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 per
cent lower to 11s 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 10 a 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-
duetion 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 ti.15 .
ton In 1902 to 81 cents a ton in 1909.
yet the realized value of the pig iron
output was 3t5.st in 1908, whereas 1t
was $iT44 in 1909. In other words.
wageworkers in 1903 got t125 for pro-
ducing only t1s.e4 worth OF pig iron
and In 1908 only 50 cents for produe-
ing s1744 worth.
While thus treating labor the indus
trial combinations tina. have grown up
under the protection Of the tariff have
fxed the prices OF commodities at the
highest point the home market would
stand. For twelve years they hsTo
been unlustly transferring through the