The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-10-25
Franklin Pierce Shows That La
Dor Is Not Benefited by
Unjust Tax.
MANUFACTURES KEEPS PROFIT
Proof Of Democratic Platforms Sound
ness Cited In Reports Of Wage In
Vestieations. - ~
BY FRANKLIN PIERCE.

LDlS pFSte4tS IOE imposing increases
prices upon the necessaries of life. At
first they said that industry in our
country was in its 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 a blessing
/ Driven from every one of these indie
feasible 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 ara
the lowest paid in any Of our indus
I 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
56.4 per cent
In 1905, when work and wage condi-
tons in the cotton industry were ex-
ceptionally good, the wages of 202.21I
cotton mill operatives in the United
Statesmen, women and children-av-
eraged only $6.47 a week. The average
wage for men was but s771 a week.
for woman $3.50 ard for children, 1921
AS to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills, with total capitalization
of S25.110,000 and total surplus OF S21.-
363,501, paid in nine years dividends
averaging p per cent.
| The cotton manufacturers turned out
in 1905 SAP ,451, 21S worth of goods and
paid in wages therefore s94 337 ,695, or
q 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 inn
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 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 WOODEN goods is nearly five
times the entire labor cost, while the
J 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
obliged to strike even for a living
wage. Thousands of adult males wers
receiving only from Sc to 50 a week
and many only S. to So a 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 80 per cent and on
manufactures of wool from 1855 to
1896 per cent. Mr.. Taft said he We
! t0ed 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 11.s higher than the
j tariff boards findings justified.
Low Wages In Steel.
| Manufacturers of iron and steel In
1 1905 paid in wages only 10 per cent.
of the total value of their production,
while the duty then would average
about As to AT per cent, and on all
metals it 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-
duction 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 s1.25 a
ton in 1902 to 50 cents a ton in 1909.
yet the realized value of the pig iron
output was 1854 In 1902, whereas IL
was s17.44 in 1909. In other words.
wageworkers in 1902 got s125 for pro-
ducing only 1854 worth of pig iron
and in 1909 only 81 cents for produc-
! ing s17.44 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 ..ie
| country cast of this delusion that the
1 tariff is for their benefit and with
their votes strike down this monstrous
| IN i,1 sffca7