Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-02-02
What Becomes Of Investigations.

Special Washington correspondence
to the American Economist says that
Abe Martin the humorist recently in
ouired in his naive way, What be-
comes Of all the Investigations" and
adds: >
- IF regarded seriously, the answer,
of course, is that the investigations
dwindle into nothing, or else result In
reports which no one ever reads.
Nevertheless. the craze for inquiries
and commissions to make inquiries
still continues"
President Wilson says that he
slipped one over" on the Republicans
by having inserted in the Interstate
Trade Commission bill a clause pro-
yiding that the commission should
have plenary power to investigate
trade conditions at home and abroad,
and also the cost Of production. Tho
President said that this was equiva-
lent to Tariff commission, and
seemed to be very proud Of his
achievement. Unfortunately, there
have been so many Investigations OF
trade conditions abroad that Congress
no longer pays any attention to the
results of such investigations. The
document room at the Capitol has
thousands of volumes dealing with the
cost of production abroad.
Charles NJ. Pepper. special agent OF
the Department of Commerce. wrote
whole volume on wages in the steel
and iron industry in Germany show
ing conclusively that the wage scale
in that country is vastly lower than
that prevailing in the United States.
Did the Democrats pay any attention
to this scientific information" when
they revised the steel and iron sched-
ule Of the Payne-Aldrich law? They
certainly did not They didn't give a
whoop for Mr.. Pepper and his inves-
tigation.
W. A. Graham Clark was another
agent who represented the Department
of Commerce in making an investiga-
ton some years ago, and his report.
still on file in the docket room with
reference to the Swiss embroidery ana
lace industry, sets forth that the
greatest advantage Of the Swiss
manufacturer is undoubtedly his
cheaper labor. For instance, the oper-
atives employed on the actual work OF
embroidery or stitching, as it IS
technically known, are the stitcher
the girl overseer and the shuttle filler.
| The stitcher in st. GALL Switzerland
will make IS to $12 week. and in
New Jersey SIS to $50; the girl over
seer in St. Gall will be paid from 3S to
! 81 cents a day, and in New Jersey
from s. cents to s1.35; the shuttle
filler in St. Gall will be paid SO cents
a day, and in New Jersey IS cents
This is quite difference, and is es-
pecially important on fine embroid-
| cries, where the labor cost is really
the controlling factor.
This is merely an abstract picked up
at random. Any one Of a thousand
| documents on file in Congress could
be opened in the same way, with the
tinevitable disclosure of conclusive in
formation showing the difference ID
the cost of production at home and
abroad. And the Underwood Tariff,
framed for the ostensible purpose OF
reducing the high cost Of living, places
the American workmen in direct COM
petition with the cheap labor Of for
eign countries, closes mills. throws
hundreds Of thousands out Of work.
and to cap the climax, signally fails in
it's original purpose Of ringing cheap
er goods. to the ultimate consumer. 1t
is up to the voters Of the country to
repudiate at one stroke those RESPONSE
BILE for this fiasco and the destructive
policy of Tariff for revenue only.
Investigations make jobs-and ap-
pearances-but the Democratic party
has never cared for the schooling o.
results. They had the Cleveland-Wil-
son tariff tragedy for horrible exam
pie, yet they went ahead and builded
a worse. Hon. Patrick H. Kelly OF
Michigan (well known in Maine) the
other day in the National House gave
resume Of facts which requires nc
investigation to prove. But it fell
on needless Democratic ears. He
| said:
THE first message Of President
Wilson to Congress was a plea to up
root the doctrine Of protection from
| social. industrial and economic life
and in a few weeks thereafter, the
| views Of the President were enacted
into law.
Conditions in the country two years
ago were most favorable for trying out
the theories Of the President. The