The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-03-21
WASHINGTON LETTER.

respondence) Although American de-
pendence upon Germany for dyestufs
has been demonstrated, and this coun-
try is universally recognized, the Dem
ocrats in Congress show little evidence
of Willingness to 1egislate for "Amerl-
ca First"
American manufacturers Wishing
OF make dyestuffs will not undertake
that industry without assurance OF
protection from the syndicated COM
netition OF Germany after the war.
Representative E. J. Hill, Republican
member Of the Ways and Means Com
mittee, has introduced bill carrying
rates of duty on dyestuffs which meet
the approval of the American Cheml-
cal Society of the United States, made
I'M of Democrats and Republicans
alike. Indications are that the Demo
Gratis in Congress will not stand be-
hind the bill.
CONGRESSMAN Hill declares: IF
every penny Of the specific duty which
it is now proposed to add to the re-
venue rates of the present law should
be added to the price of the consumer,
it would take one hundred years OF
that burden to equal the losses
which the existing famine has brought
upon the country in the last twelve
months.
The chief of the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce, in pubic
address to the Chemical Club IN New
York, four months ago, declared that
"the total loss, direct and indirect,
now being borne by American users OF
dyestuffs and dyed wares amounts 20.
not less than ! million dollars day"
The scarcity of dyes affects the
whole country Seventy per cent. OF
the cotton consumed in this country
in making cloths, passes through the
dyers' hands before it reaches the
consumer If steps are not lmmedl-
ately taken to encourage the making
Of dyes in this country, by means OF
a protective tariff, the price of cot
ton will fall as a consequence. 1t
WV
of coloring cotton. Nearly all the wool
used by us is colored. Silk, leather,
paper, and fur require dyes in their
manufacture and the representatives
of these great industries, utilizing the
labor of hundreds of thousands OF
men and women, all declare that the
supplies of German dyestuffs are near
" used up. Without the dyes the in
dustries must suffer, and SO must the
Iaborers.
Another interesting phase of the
dyestuff situation was brought out in
the recent hearings before the Ways
and Means Committee of Congress:
DR.. Bernard Hese, Chairman of the
chemical and dyestuffs committee of
New York, stated: eff we did have
complete self-contained coal-tar dye
industry in this country we would
have an equipment which could, with
comparatively little delay, be con-
verified into a device to manufacture
explosives, and we would have the
nuculous of trained body of men
workmen, if you please-foremen and
superintendent, who could, with lit
tie added time, learn how to make
these explosives properly, and they
then begin to act as a nuculous for an
accretion or growth of men necessary
to do the work"
Any reasonable man would think
that the Democrats would seize on this
as an excuse for establishing protec-
tive rates of duty on dyestuffs made
in America. 1t is a matter of pre-
paredness, also. But they continue to
back and fill and sidestep the issue,
and meanwhile, the loss to users of
dyes continues to be million dollars
daily, to accept the figures of Dem
ocratic officeholder.
The advocates of America First"
should get after their Democratic rep
resentatives in Congress and urge
them to vote for a protective tariff on
dyestuffs. The condition which now
faces us is a dyestuff famine. The
theory is the discredited Democratic
tariff policy. 1t is time to wake up!
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