Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-10-28
Franklin Pierce Shows That La.
Dor Is Not Benefited BY
Unjust Tax
MANUFACTURER KEEPS PROFIT
Proof Of Democratic Platform's Sound.
ness Cited In Rsports Of Wage In.
vsstigations. -
BY FRANKLIN PIERCE.

TUE u uuuuIcu ycdAo VI Vuk AASSOAy
the manufacturers, believing that they
received a benefit from the protective
tariffs. have ingeniously devised plausi-
bic pretexts for imposing increased
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 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:
I'm 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-Aldrich
tariff law actual imports Of cotton
cloth paid In 1910 average duties Of
56.4 per Cent.
In 1905. when work and wage c0ndi-
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 SCAT week. The average
wage for men wassbut $7.71 a week,
for women $500 and for children, 1921.
AS to the profits, seventeen leading
cotton mills. with total capitalization
Of $25. 900 and total surplus Of $21,-
363.5O1, paid in nine years dividends
averaging 81 per cent.
The cotton manufacturers turned out
in 1905 SAP. 451.21S worth of goods and
paid In wages therefor $04, 1877 ,805, or
81 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
p0rtance, the duties on wooden cloth
are the highest Of any in the tariff
schedules. According to Senator Reed
Smoot,. owner Of wooden mill at Pre-.
vost, Utah. and chairman Of the finance
committee in charge Of tariff iegisla-
ton in the senate, wearing apparel val.
ued Mt 30 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
American manufacturers in 1905 paid
in wages only 10 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 living wage.
Thousands of adult males were recelv-
fnly only from So to 50 week and
many only IS to SO week. As a re-
suit Of the strike the American Wooden
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
1896 per cent. Mr.. Taft said he We
toed 1t because the proposed rates did
mot comply with the findings Of the
tariff board. Senator In Toilette con-
tradicted the president. saying that the
proposed rates varied from per cent
lower to 11.8 higher than the tariff
boards findings justified.