OCR Text |
Show I METAL INDUSTRY ; MENACED PHj Already Hurt by Tariff Reduction, It B :, Now Threatened With Com- H at. plete Destruction. iB 8 l(1L K f , til Washington, May 30. Senator t. lut Smoot Is a very busy man and a bard H' tl student, which accounts for the delay H , A In tho publication In the Congrcsslon- H . ; . nl Record of his great speech In oppo- Hf' i, uJ' sltlon to tho Democratic bill, to slough- V ; . ' tcr metal Industry. The speech has Bl J , j fi only just appeared In the Record, and H I " on It was stretched over several days Ht ;,f in Its delivery, this has been tho first K ( i '. , opportunity to get tho full benefit of B j f i tho Senator's exposition of tho sub- Bu, ' jeet. Ot coursa ho made a strong H (, "' point of tho way in which the Demo- ftl, , l' crats prepared their bill without re- B ' "- gard to facts or information, and their B '' , J change of view in regard to tho TarlfT BB'' f ". hoard, and tho destruction that has BBS IV already been wrought by their TarllT m j ' work. BBj j ! Greatly Reduced Profits. BBM ' 11 A report published in n commercial H 'I 1 (1 journal of high standing, giving tho BBS sworn returns of tho big steel cor- BBS j , poratlons, shows tho effect ot this BBf n ' i' Tnrlff legislation and agitation. Tho BBJ ' ij United States Steel Corporation made BBJ i, a net profit over nil charges, except BH , a dividends, In 1011 of $3.82 n ton, ns BB r compared with $8.15 n ton In 1910. BB I It earned a dividend on Its preferred Bbm I o. stock In 1011, but not on its common J ' stock. The Lackawanna Company, 11 with all of Its modern equipment and 1? lake transportation, only mado a prof. i' it of cloven centB n ton in 1911, and J i I) 7 - for the first three months of 1912 BSj fl . shows n deficit of $450,772. The Cam-BBS Cam-BBS ' ' y brla Company mndo a profit of $3.50 BB l ' a ton in 1011; tho Bethlehem Com-BV Com-BV ' I V pony $3.40; and tho Pcnnylvnnln Stcl BB j I Compapy $1.38. Tho Ilepubllc Com-BBJ- . fj pany passed Its preferred dividend. BBJ ' V The Dethlehcm Company made Its BBJ prom largely out ot shipbuilding, nr-BBJ nr-BBJ J C rnor plate, guns, etc. Tho various B J t ! companies show tho following do-BBJ' do-BBJ' crease in earnings In 1011, as com-BBJ com-BBJ j j pared with 1010; Republic 31 per cent, BBJ ' I United States Steel 30 per cent; Cam-BBJ Cam-BBJ , j bria 42 per cent; Lackawanna, 9C per BBJ i CCnt; Pennsylvania, 43 per cent. Tho BBJ ( ( j Bethlehem Company shows an in-BBJ in-BBJ , v ( crease of 1 per cent. These compan-BBJ compan-BBJ j , j t j les are trying to sell ns much as pos-BBJ pos-BBJ ' I f I Slble of their products abroad to keep BBJ j ' J their men employed and that accounts BBJ I I j j for Increased exports, which seem to BBJ j i ( clve so much satisfaction to tho Hem- BBS 'ti ocrntB. BJ '! ' What Senator Smoot Says. BBJ ' Spnntor Smoot told of the effort to ! ' J sell nbroad to keep the mills koIiir. ; and added: ) No sooner had tho American rnnnu- BBJ M facturur nnd workman settled back BBJ j j with n High of relief over tho fact tlut BBJ the revision of 1909 had permitted BBJ . S i blm to keep his factory and Ills aliop BBJ , 1 Going than agitators. Importer!, as BBJ well as newspaper and tnugazlnoo, BBJ ,E disappointed In not receiving fioo BBJ fi ) print paper, immediately bcan u BBJ ' ' I wicked crusado against tho TarllT act, BBJ . K claiming tho rates wcro an incrcaso BBJ ' ' over tho DIngley rates; stopping nt BBJ I- f nothing nnd hesitating at no kind of BBJ ' !) i ' mlsreiiresentntlon to impress tho pco- BBJ , ; pie of this country with the Iden that BBJ rsj ' ne' wcro bel,,K roul)cd by tuo Prov1- H ' 1 j-fi I plons of tho ae. I deny that tho nv- BBJ ( j' I crngo rates of Ois act of 1309 nro nn BBJ fj ! increase over ths Ulusioy rates On BBJ , tin tho contrary thoy are r. leductlon. BBJ i - Mr. Smoot -i-i-iorfiid that tho country BBJ j bat! not been g'ven a tnlr ''banco lo BBJ I j test tho Tnrlff act of 1909 nnd tend- BBJ ,' i just Itself to tho new rates. It Is pro- BBJ i H ' loosed to call n halt at tho country's BBJ j progress nnd return to tho stagnation BBJ j 0 business that almost ruined tho BBJ j .j country under tho last Democratic H ' ! Tariff. BJ f Increase of Wealth Under Protection. BBJ ' Mr .Smoot showed that tho wealth BBJ I ., jj of tho country had Increased since tho BBJ ' (1 Inst Democratic Tnrlff from $107,000,- BBJ ( 000,000 to more than $107,000,000,000. BBJ ' i, !l , In 1807. when tho Domocrntlc Tariff BBJ V was ropcaled thcro was In circulation BBJ 1 the United States monoy to the BBB; amount of $1,640,983,171. In 1911 this Bf' 1 circulation hnd Increased to $3,214,- BBJ4' 002.B9C. Bank clenrlngs in 1897 BBJ amounted to $54,179,545,030. In 1011 BBJ I bnnk clenrlngs hnd Increased thrce- BBJ $ fold or $iri9,373,450,000. The same BBJ j ( proportionate incrcaso had been made BBJ i in individual hank deposits from $5,- BBJ ) 004,735,370 In 1897 to $15,006,274,710 H- In BBJ ' Mr. Smoot also showed that the val BBBj I uc of farms and farm property and of BBB I farm products had doubled under the BBB ; continuance ot the Republic ' 'iff BBB ! since 1897. In the year ot th t BBB Democratic Tariff farms and farm BBB property were valued at $20,991,449,- BBfl I BBB r Wage earners are now receiving BBfl ' more than $1,000,000,000 a year In ex- BBfl) ' Gorman-Wilson Tariff. The vnluo ot BBB y' their products increased from $13,- BBBj ' 2 4 ' 000,000,000 to i20,672,000,000 in 1909. flB': -'l.BBBk BBBk.' 'tKL The prosperity of tho country under tho Republican Tariff Is further Indicated Indi-cated by tho enormous Increase in freight carried by the railways of tho country. In 1807 the rnllronds carried 728.900.27C tons of freight. In 1910 they carried 1,849.900,101 tons of freight. The postal receipts of' the Government llkewlso show how the business of the country has grown under un-der a Protective Tariff system. Postal Receipts Increase Free Imports. In 1897 the gross postnl rcceopts amounted to $82,655,462. In 1011 the postal receipts had grown to tho vast sum of $237,879,823. In 1897 under tho Democratic Tariff tho country was fast becoming bankrupt for in that year Its ordinary expenditures amounted amount-ed to $18,052,454 more than its receipts. re-ceipts. In 1011, under the Republlcnr Tariff, the country was ahle to show an excess of receipts over Its expenditures expen-ditures of $47,234,377. Even under the Republican Tnrlff there were more thnn double the amount of freo Imports of merchandise merchan-dise than were received under the last ear of the Democratic Tnrlff. These free Imports amounted to $381,038,243 in 1897, nnd in 1911 to $770,972,500. In 1897 tho percentage of free imports was 19.94 and for tho nine months end Ing with March, 1911, under the Payne law, 53.27 per cent. He said: Facing a Great Crisis. I do not wnnt to be nn alarmist, bjt I feel It my duty to warn tho pcoplo of tho United States that the Industries Indus-tries nnd wage-earners of this country coun-try nro now fnclng ono of the greatest crises In their history. It Boon must be decided whether the worklngmen of tho United States arc to be reduced to tho level of those of Europe and Asia by forcing American manufacturers manufactur-ers to compete with tho products of foreign labor without any adequate measure of Protection for their own , employes. I do not believe that thol people of this country wnnt their prrr,-pcrlty prrr,-pcrlty treated as n 'noun' dawg," and kicked nbout to further the political Interests of nny Individual or any party. par-ty. Yet that Is the very situation which Is now confronting tho country Mr. Smoot said that the bill was commonly called the Iron nnd Steel bill, but thnt as a matter of fact it Included In-cluded not only Iron nnd steel, but I gold, silver, nickel, copper, lead I bronze, zinc, aluminum, tin, rpilckBll-I rpilckBll-I ver nnd nntimony nnd the mnnufn"- turo of nil these metals, Including ev-I ev-I crythlng from artificial limbs to aeroplanes. aero-planes. He added- (v Democrats Furnish Proof of Their Bungling. The Tariff bills now pending before tho Sennto nnd those passed at the last session of Congress nre n confession confes-sion In themselves thnt their outhors have no adequate Information upon which to bnso u scientific revision of tho Tariff. Without possessing any further Information than thoy hnd laut session the Democrats Increased 43 paragraphs of tho Metal bill above the rates' thoy adopted last session. If tho rates In the pending bill nre right, then tho rates In tho bill vetoed by tho President last session were wrong, nnd his veto Is nmply Justified by the bill which the House has passed this session. From tho extensive hearings hel.l by tho Finance Committeo ot tho Sen-It Sen-It Is very apparent that no further furth-er reduction can bo made at this time In many of tho paragraphs of tho Metal Met-al bill without seriously affecting American Industries, which employ hundicds of thousonds of wnge-enrn-era. Tho representatives of 2S4 dlf-feient dlf-feient Industrial concerns located In IS Stntcs appeared before tho Senate Committee to protest against tho proposed pro-posed revision. Representatives ol orgnnlzed labor also mndo protests against tho bill, declaring that It was unfnlr and -unjust to Amcrlcnn worlc men. Manufacturer nfter mnnufnetur or submitted fncts and figures to the committeo showing that ho Is making little or no profit on his products at this time, endenvorlng, ns ho has done, to maintain tho stnndnrd ot American wages on competition with the chenper labor of Europe. Mr. Smoot nsserted that the Increased In-creased Importations under the bill may exceed $100,000,000,000 annually, throwing mnny thousands of workmen out ot employment. Ho continued: Workmen the First to Suffer. Tho Amerlcnn workman will be the first person to suffer from tho destruction de-struction of the Protective Tnrlff system, sys-tem, which has for many years assured assur-ed him a higher standard of living than thnt of any other worklngrnan in the world. This Is especially truo of every wage-earner In tho mctnl industry. indus-try. From 30 to 90 per cent of the cost of mejal products is pnld directly direct-ly to labor. The laborers in this in dustry would suffer more from n reduction re-duction of their wnges than the employes em-ployes In Almost any other Industry ted by Tariff schedules, nnd they would be forced to the level of practically prac-tically tho lowest wngo earners in Europe. It is absolutely indisputable I that the American worklngrnan now 'receives tho highest wages of any 1 worklngr..ui In tho world. In the met-nl met-nl Indutr7 the American workman receives fully double tho wages paid for slnnlnr classes of lnbor in forclgu countries. Already the foreign manufacturers manu-facturers of Iron nnd steel have taken possession of tho Pacific Coast market mar-ket under the Tariff reductions made by the Payne bill. This advantage gained by the foreign manufacturer will be greatly Increased when the Panama Canal Is opened and the steel mills of Belgium, England, nnd Ger-mrny Ger-mrny nre able to ship by that direct water route to the Pacific Coast poras. The Imports of iron and steel nt Pacific Pa-cific ports for the last fiscal year were 153 per cent greater than for the Inst year under tho DIngley law. Seme of these Imports came from Chlnn, where pig Iron can be produced for $7.50 per ton, while the average cost of production In this country Is ' around $14 n ton. Is It possible thnt the American people wnnt to force our wngeearners to the level of Chi-nese Chi-nese laborers? In the Iron mills of China coolie workmen receive 15 ( cents a day for 12 hours' labor. To j the Iron mills of Chlnn. ns well as those ot Europe, the Pacific CoaBt Is now nlmost an exclusive market, and every additional cut In tho Tariff will extend American territory from which foreign manufacturers will be nble to oust Amerlcnn products by the cheap labor thoy employ. Protection and Destruction. Senator Smoot then took up n de-tnilcd de-tnilcd discussion of nlmost every paragraph para-graph of the hill, showing in nearly every Instance the cost of labor Involved In-volved In each product at home and nbroad. These albor costs fully substantiated sub-stantiated his statement thnt the American worklngmen receive on i.n nverngo fully double what is paid tho iBame occupation. Mr. Smoot stated that the foreign worker nnd manufacturer, manufac-turer, particularly those of Germany have become practically ns efficient ns the Amorlcnn workmen nnd manufacturer manu-facturer and hnd adopted machinery nnd methods fully ns modern ns those In use in this country. The difference In the lnbor cost had therefore he-come he-come the chief difference In the cost of production In this country nnd nbroad. Mr. Smoot contended thnt If a Protective Tariff Is denied the Amerlcnn manufneturer he must clth or reduce his wnge scnle to that of Europe or else go out of business. He pointed out that millions of dollars dol-lars In Amerlcnn monojf arc now being be-ing invested in manufacturing Indus-nrles Indus-nrles in Canada and other foreign countries where advantage can be had of cheaper labor. Mr. Smoot closed by declnrlng that the Tnrlff must measure the difference differ-ence between tho cost of production nt home nnd nbrond, or clso tho manufacturing man-ufacturing progress of this country will come to n standstill. Factories will bo closed and worklngmen forced Into Idleness. |