The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-08-01
KNIT GOODS MANUFACTURERS
NEED PROTECTION FROM Or
RENTAL COMPETITION.

Washington, July 30-(Special cor
regpondence.) Immediate revision of
the Underwood tariff law so as to pro-
tect the American knit goods indus
tries from Chinese and Japanese com
petition. is the demand of the Nation
al Association of Hosiery and Under
wear Manufacturers, after a meeting
in Albany recently.
1.-The need of a protective tariff was
never so apparent as it has been for
the past eighteen months" said Pres
ident Withers. "The American man
ufacturers are working along the most
scientific lines, but their advance will
be retarded by the springing up of
such competition as we now face un-
less there is revision of the tariff.
One of the most critical situations
will arise in the next few months
when China and Japan dump their
products into American markets to
compete with the American product"
Mr.. Withers says the pay received by
not more than Is cents per day.
In the cotton knit goods industry
alone over 800 concerns are engaged
in this country, scattered all over the
United States, doing a total business
of over $60,000,000. The total amount
Of wages paid out by these 800 con-
Germs represents fully so and Is per
cent of the business, or about $685.
equipping a cotton underwear mill
in the United States is 70 per cent
greater than in Europe, due to the
wages paid to American artisans and
laborers in the building and mechan-
ical, and other trades and industries
drawn upon by American manu-
turers. Skilled sewing machine OPP
orators in this country earn from
$3.50 to $3.50 per day. Other classes
of labor, such as winders, knitters,
and general help, earn fully three or
four times as much as similar classes
of help in France, Germany, or Spain,
which means more than ten times the
wages paid to Japanese operatives.
The Democrats made radical re
auctions in the tariff on cotton knit
goods, when the Underwood bill was
up. During the first ten months OPP
Grafton of this law, before the Euro
pean war broke out, October 1918 to
II11xy 1914 irnp nrtc of lyr1jt dc
increased 126 per cent over the sim
liar period, October 1912 to July 1918,
under the Republican rates of duty
At that time our chief competitors
were Germany and France But the
European war has made Japan so
prosperous that she in finding other
outlets for her capital, and the knit
goods industry is being developed
with the government to back it up.
People who are studying the tariff
question in it's relation TO the indus
tries of the United States should net
overlook the fact that Japan and Chi
ma are becoming serious competitors
with us in many lines of trade AL
ready our exports of textiles are de-
creasing to those countries. Japan
has cut into our trade with the Phil
ippines in hosiery and knit goods
With government encouraged indus
tries, and subsidized merchant yes
sells, Japan is in a fair way not only
to displace us in Oriental markets,
but to gain a firm foothold in our
domestic market That she is already
doing so is proved by the fact that
during the eleven months ended May
1916, Japanese exports to us increased
As per cent over the corresponding
period to 1882 ,o00,00O during the 1916
period. There is just one argument
to use in dealing with country whose
wage rate is about one-twelfth that
prevailing in this country, and that
is protective tariff law.