Show PLATE LATE GLASS TRUST IT T IS 13 CLOSING FACTORIES AND REDUCING WAGES power rower Furnished by u hagli I 1 Is a curse curie tot to lie industry amar plenty will II 11 conic come by its ita own the following condemnation of bagh t tariffs as applied to plate glass is taken front from the no national dional G glass lass budget where it is credited to IF F 11 1 G in new yolk sunday people F II 11 G is undoubtedly mr F 21 gessner one of the best posted glass workers anil and editors in the glass industry ilis iiii opinion is endorsed indorsed indor seil sed by thousands of glass workers who c consider on him their clear headed spokesman ila he says t it is s a condition nota not a theory which confronts the capital capitalistic itic method of production in the manufacture of plate glas 4 tho the following facts will prove prova interesting in t er esting A tariff of from 13 12 to per cent was placed upon plato glass ai early us as 1864 tho the amount of tariff collected annually on plate glass imported liaa lias averaged about annually since bince tho the american people have there toro contributed neaily in the last 30 years for tho the protection of american labor engaged in plata glass manufacture tho the total value of all tho the plants in ia operation today including watered stock and all does not exceed during the past month a trust has been formed which controls about 43 49 per cent of the entire production of tho the country arid and there exists an understanding in between the manufacturers in and outside of tho the trust relative to the selling in price and the regulation of production tio n there are now four factories shut down and it has been decided to close down all works in fit the country for GO CO days in order to red reduce tice stocks and make repairs about men are a re now no v idle i 4 ae and 1 another will bo be thrown out of worl work within the next few weeks A reduction of wages images amounting to 20 per cent is anticipated by the the workmen wor kinen when the works resume the first plate glass was made in new albany ind in 1873 natural gas as caused capital to flow into this remunerative industry and additional works work ani were built at creighton tarentum Taren tum tura and cutler butler pa in 1883 and 1886 at duquesne pa in charleroi charleroy Char leroi and irwin pa in 1890 kolomo and elwood ind in im 1801 and alexandria ind in 1892 1692 colossal factories were built hundreds of acres were bought up by capitalists at it a low value of agricultural land and sold to the thousands of workmen attracted to these new industrial towns st at city lot prices at several of these towns the officers anil and stockholders in the plate glass companies and the land improvement companies were ivero the same person and in ill several cases for tho the convenience of the workmen tho the glass company and the lanil land anol offia ju ia the same byj 1 so go that the wages pal paid d out for if thi th I 1 plate glassworks glass works at on one window d be paid in for purchased lots at another window to this thia must be added in order to get an approximate idea of the enormities of the profits made by these concerns that the dividends tor for years past even on stock watered per cent have been 33 22 per cent annually stock lias has been woith on par value of per share and there has been none for sale bale even at that figure fiu r e there are now in enforced idleness hundreds hundred of plate glass workers in all these glass towns with half paid for lots and add homes and as a workman work nian with a 1 half paid house on oil his back makes the poorest kind of a striker one can see that the plate glass trust will have tile tho softest of test kind of a snap when a reduction of wages is announced after several months of idleness tile the productive capacity of american works at present is esnare feet per annum the amount of plate glass reaching our shores lias has been between find and square feet during 10 years past and last year was reduced by domestic competition to square feet the consumption of the country has never exceeded square feet and there is consequently a surplusage 0 of glass annually of square feet of imported and a surplus domestic feet product feet 1 of or square wo cannot displace the imported glass without cuttin cutting 0 down tho the cost of production wages and profits wo cannot cannot meet foreign glass in foreign markets which the foreign manufacturer fac can reach at freight rates cheaper than lie readies reaches our own 0 wn ports but reduction of 0 cost would not enlarge our available markets and leduc i of selling price would only reduce dividends the easiest way out of the difficulty h hs has s therefore there foi foie a been adopted and production has been curtailed in order to reduce stocks we must wait until halting balting wid leaden demand overtakes present overproduction baffled capital Orpheus like is play ing that sn s acet strain about supply and demand and yet our wheel 14 is not still the stone 0 of f sisyphus rest eth not and the furies do not relent labors rent bill and store account go on and mort mortgages gaps like ra rag weeds grow day and night broad are the shoulders of labor will atlas ever over weary iveary of his load will the men whose unpaid labor built the giant works and the towns in which they are now li hungry tingry and idle idla ever como come to their rightful possessions when the monkey in the deep jungles of africa lias has laboriously gathered a surplus of cocoanuts cocoa coccia nuts lie sits gits at leisure grins at the sunlight plays with overhanging 0 branch or shading lea leaf eats his fill and is happy when the american workman has produced more than the country can consume 1 e he sits down and starves amid th the 0 plenty lie lias has created imagines he is a Is sovereign Dve reign free and independent being bein and becomes a fit subject for the jeers I 1 I 1 and gibes of all thinking men j |