Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-09-18
Textile DARQNS WOULD
DECEIVE PUBLIC, SAYS
LEADER Of EMPLOYEES
By THOMAS F. M'MAHON
President United Textile Workers
Of America.

The public demands cheaper cloth
ing. There is but one way to do it in
the mind Of the textile employers-cut
wages. The 10 per cent cut in labor
costs of manufacturing the three and
one-half yards in q suit Of clothes is
less than is cents on the ordinary
suit that sells for $45:
How is the dear public to receive
the above amount?
Does the public know that for the
saving of is cents the workers will
lose on an average 90 per week.
The employers know from expert
ence that the public press will broad
cast their bunk. It will be swallowed
hook, line and sinker. The poor, I'M
protected textile employer wants to
help the consumers, but they are fear
full Of being misunderstood. The labor
agitators will cause them trouble, and
all because of their sincere desire to
give the public cheap clothes.
Shades of Mosesl If there could be
anything cheaper in the shape Of cloth
manufactured for mems clothing than
is being manufactured in our Ameri-
can so-called wooden mills / do not
know it, and am fairly well acquaint-
ed with the industry, both here, in Eu-
rope, and in Great Britain. These for
eign countries prohibit fraudulent
markings Of woolens and worsteds by
manufacturers. Exploitation of the
public is impossible in these nations,
while here it lisa matter of privilege,
or rather employers feel they have
license to do so. That they take adj
vantage Of it is demonstrated by the
vast amount of shoddy and re-worked
vol used in our textile plants
Textile workers have been told that
the tariff is a blessing to them; that
it means more work and more pay. 1t
has failed in both. Textile workers
are paid less per yard or per pound for
what they produce that at any other
period in the history of this industry
in this country. There has been less
work in the mills the past four years
than in any four years during the past
20 years.
If the textile employers are sincere
in their claim that they would give the
public cheaper clothing, let them favor
removing the tax on raw and unworlk-
ed wool shipped into this country. We
do not produce one-half the wool we
consume. 1t is the thing that makes
for profiteering. It is the thing that
has caused slackness in the trade.
A little investigation will reveal the
lprofiteering in the textile industry. It
is not necessary to go back very far.
Just few years ago the press was
filled with accounts of textile corpo-
rations declaring stock dividends
ranging from so per cent to over
1000 per cent. The latter was in
Massachusetts, wooden mill.
The workers must produce dividends
on these fattened capitalizations or
suffer reductions in wages.
Let the public know the cost of ov-.
erhead in our mills and how much Of
it is being made to bear the present
cut. The public should know how
much money is spent by employers
in buying up state legislatures, in
maintaining spies and their blacklist
systems. The public press in general
will pooh-pooh the idea of blacklist
at the suggestion of the employers or
the employers masters-the bankers
Workers in all branches know it, be-
cause they are the victims.