THE TARIFF ACT OF 1890 DEFENDED. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OR, 
 
 OF RHODE ISLAND, 
 
 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1892. 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 1892.
 
 THE TAEIFF ACT OF 1890 DEFENDED, 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 NELSON W. ALDRICH, 
 
 OF RHODE ISLAND, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1892. 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 1892.
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. NELSON W. ALDRICH. 
 
 The Senate having under consideration the resolution submitted by Mr. 
 HALE, June 27, 1892, directing the Committee on Finance to inquire into the 
 effect of a policy of "tariff for revenue only" upon the labor and industries 
 of the United States- 
 Mr. ALDRICH said: 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: It is evident that the tariff question is to be- 
 come, by common consent, the leading issue in the approaching 
 Presidential campaign. The radical declarations of the Demo- 
 cratic platform adopted at Chicago, and the equally radical utter- 
 ances of leading representatives of the party, insure this result. 
 At no time in the history of the country have the lines between 
 the two great parties upon this question been so clearly defined. 
 The party platforms of 1892 declare with much greater candor 
 than is customary in papers of this kind the doctrines of their 
 respective parties. The Republicans enter the campaign dis- 
 tinctively favoring the continuance of the protective policy, and 
 announcing definitely the principles which should control tariff 
 legislation, while, on the other hand, the Democrats denounce 
 protection as a fraud, declare the unconstitutionality of protec- 
 tive tariff duties, and make a special and vicious attack upon the 
 tariff act of 1890 as the culminating atrocity of tariff legislation. 
 The Democratic platform is in many respects a radical de- 
 parture from any of the previous official utterances of the party. 
 At no time in the history of the country, except in the course of the 
 movement for nullification, has any attempt heretofore been made 
 to make the doctrine of the unconstitutionality of protective duties 
 the essential element of a political creed. The steps by which 
 the Democracy have reached the radical position they now oc- 
 cupy have been very gradual. The Democratic platforms of 1884 
 and 1888 were so constructed as to secure the approval of a large 
 
 2 727
 
 number of incidental protectionists who then held a place, nomi- 
 nally, at least, in the Democratic ranks; but in the platform of 
 1892 all disguises are thrown off and for the first time the party 
 is arrayed in emphatic antagonism to tariff rates which contain 
 any element of protection. 
 
 This clear alignment of parties greatly simplifies the discus- 
 sion of the question. It removes all opportunity for possible 
 differences of opinion in regard to the Republican plan of cam- 
 paign. The friends of protection must wage aggressive warfare 
 upon the revolutionary doctrines which, although long secretly 
 cherished by Democratic leaders, are now for the first time 
 openly avowed. The attack upon the indefensible Democratic 
 position must be vigorous and persistent. 
 
 I regret that a purpose to confine my remarks to-day to an ex- 
 amination of Democratic criticisms and attacks upon the tariff 
 act of 1890 precludes me from entering this attractive field. I 
 shall not, on the other hand, attempt to-day any general defense 
 of the Republican policy of protection. The progress which the 
 country has made under its beneficent influences during the 
 past thirty years furnishes the best proof of the wisdom shown 
 in its adoption and retention as a national policy. 
 
 Before entering upon a defense of the act of 1890, however, I 
 will say that the f ramers and supporters of this measure have 
 never claimed that it was- perfect in all of its details; but not- 
 withstanding this limitation, which, I infer, must be applied to 
 all legislative enactments covering so wide a field, I believe that 
 all protectionists are willing to accept the measure as a success- 
 ful embodiment of Republican principles and to have the wisdom 
 of the policy they advocate adjudged by its practical results. 
 
 The tariff plank of the Chicago platform formulates the Dem- 
 ocratic declaration of faith; but it has been left to the Senator 
 from Missouri [Mr. VEST], who seems to be the acknowledged 
 representative of his party in this Chamber in all matters per- 
 taining to tariff legislation, to announce in detail the Democratic 
 programme. That Senator has been zealous at all times in the 
 advocacy of tariff reform, and his eloquence and ability in the 
 treatment of the subject have made him one of the most con- 
 spicuous champions of the cause. 
 
 727
 
 His acknowledged leadership, however, in this regard has 
 never been quite so marked as at this session of Congress. If 
 any other Senators on the opposite side of the Chamber have 
 views upon this subject th ey have not declared them to the pub- 
 lic. 
 
 With an intrepidity and ability worthy of a better cause, the 
 distinguished Senator has singly and alone upheld the free- 
 trade standard of his party 
 
 In view of this condition of affairs I shall assume that the two 
 rather remarkable speeches made by that Senator in the Senate 
 on the 6th and 28th of June fairly represent the line of argu- 
 ment which is to be followed by his party in the political cam- 
 paign upon which we are about to enter. 
 
 As I shall have occasion to criticise severely most of the state- 
 ments contained in these speeches, I am bound to say in advance 
 that I do not think the distinguished Senator can be fairly held 
 responsible for their frequent and alarming inaccuracies. The 
 honorable Senator has undoubtedly in his great zeal allowed 
 himself to be misled by designing and interested parties, who 
 have sought to use his great reputation and high character to 
 give the weight of authority to their own absurd attempts to 
 further mislead and deceive the American people. Most of 
 these attempts at deception are so transparent, and their inac- 
 curacies are so grotesquely absurd that they would not be worthy 
 of notice if it had not become evident that they were to be given 
 a wide circulation in the approaching campai gn upon the au- 
 thority of my distinguished friend. 
 
 The principal objection made by the Senator from Missouri 
 to the tariff act of 1890 is that which was urged with erreat force 
 and effect in the political campaign which immediately followed 
 its enactment, namely, that through a large advance in rates it 
 had effected a considerable increase in the prices of the neces- 
 saries of life and greatly augmented the cost of living of all 
 classes of people, especially of the poor. 
 
 In his speech of June 28, page 6177 of the RECORD, the Sen- 
 ator from Missouri makes the following plain and unequivocal 
 statement: 
 
 I am prepared to show that the McKinley act has had the effect of Increas- 
 ing prices upon the necessaries of life to the people of this country, and that 
 727
 
 the statement In his resolution [referring to the Senator from Maine] that 
 an area of cheapness in the necessaries of life Is being brought to the people 
 of the United States is absolutely and unconditionally false. 
 
 One of the principal purposes of the tariff inquiry ordered by 
 the Senate resolution of March 3, 1891, was to ascertain with 
 accuracy whether this claim of the opponents of protection was 
 justified by the actual results. An investigation into the course 
 of prices and cost of living 1 , much more extensive and thorough / 
 than was ever before attempted, was instituted. The committee 
 determined to ascertain the relative prices paid by actual con- 
 sumers for all articles of general consumption at retail in every 
 part of the United States on the first of each month from June, 
 1889, to September, 1891. This embraced a period of seventeen 
 months prior to the passage of the act of 1890 and eleven months 
 subsequent to that date. The quotations were in all cases se- 
 cured from actual sales, taken from the books of merchants in 
 seventy different cities and towns in the different States and 
 Territories. The places at which quotations were obtained were 
 selected with the view of covering the entire country geograph- 
 ically, and included typical commercial, manufacturing, and ag- 
 ricultural communities. The prices were secured by the trained 
 experts of the Department of Labor with the greatest care. 
 
 The list of two hundred and fifteen articles on which monthly 
 prices were thus obtained was carefully selected by the unani- 
 mous action of the committee, with a view of covering every 
 possible expenditure of a family in the average condition of life, 
 that is with an income of $500 to $1,000 per annum. 
 
 The results of this comprehensive and exhaustive inquiry are 
 contained in the report recently made by the Finance Committee. 
 This report covers 2,300 printed pages and contains more than 
 1,200,000 different quotations. 
 
 The inquiry was thoroughly nonpartisan, and every possible 
 care was taken to give to it a character which would entitle the 
 results secured to the highest weight of authority. This investi- 
 gation clearly establishes the fact that a decline instead of an 
 advance has taken place in the prices of the necessaries of life 
 and the resulting cost of living since the adoption of the act of 
 1890. 
 
 727
 
 6 
 
 The articles on which prices were obtained were divided into 
 the following groups: 
 
 1. Food. 
 
 2. Cloths and clothing. 
 
 3. Fuel and lighting. 
 
 4. House furnishing goods. 
 
 5. Drugs and chemicals. 
 
 6. Metals and and implements. 
 
 7. Lumber and building materials. 
 
 The percentage of decline in the various groups embraced in 
 the schedule is shown by the following table, prices for June, 
 July, and August, 1889, being taken as a basis for comparison 
 and represented by the number 100. changes being shown by per- 
 centages of that number: 
 
 Group. 
 
 Food 100. 53 
 
 Cloths and clothing 99.65 
 
 Fuel and lighting 98.69 
 
 Metals and implements 97.49 
 
 Lumber and building materials 98.28 
 
 Drugs and chemicals 95.96 
 
 House-furnishing goods 99.83 
 
 Miscellaneous... ..100.52 
 
 Average 99.36 
 
 The Finance Committee also investigated for the same period 
 the course of wholesale prices at the great distributing centers. 
 While this investigation disclosed greater fluctuations in price 
 of the articles selected, the general result was the same, the fall 
 in wholesale prices running substantially parallel with that of 
 retail prices. 
 
 It will be observed that the greater percentages of decline are 
 in the groups of manufactured articles, where it was claimed the 
 greatest advance had taken place. 
 
 In addition to the inquiry stated above, the committee caused 
 retail prices of the different articles included in these lists to be 
 taken on May 1, 1892, at three of the points at which the original 
 inquiry was made, namely, Fall River, Mass., Chicago, 111., and 
 Dubuque, Iowa. The result of this latter inquiry shows that a 
 still further decline in prices and in the cost of living had taken 
 place between September 1, 1891, and May 1, 1892, clearly estab- 
 lishing a continuance of the tendency to lower prices and lower 
 cost of living. 
 
 737
 
 It is shown as a net result of the investigation that prices and 
 the cost of living, based on the expenditures of a family in or- 
 dinary circumstances, had declined 3.4 per cent in May, 1892, 
 as compared with the period prior to the adoption of the tariff 
 act of 1890. 
 
 It is difficult to see how the results of this thoroughly exhaust- 
 ive inquiry could be a surprise to anyone, unless he should be a 
 professional tariff reformer. It has, I believe, been for many 
 months apparent to the great mass of the people of the United 
 States that none of the Democratic predictions in regard to 
 higher prices and greater cost of living, as the result of the 
 tariff legislation of 1890, had been fulfilled. 
 
 There can be no longer any question as to the course of prices 
 for the period covered by the committee's investigation. Even 
 the Democratic platform, which undertakes to enumerate the 
 evil effects of the act of 1890, abandons the claim that its adop- 
 tion resulted in increased prices, and I am greatly surprised to 
 find that the cry is now being revived for the campaign of 1892. 
 I do not believe it is possible , however, for the same men to deceive 
 the American people twice with the same misstate ments in re- 
 gard to the same subject, espscially when the second attempt is 
 made after the facts have been ascertained and are well known 
 to the people of the country. The allegations made in regard 
 to prices in October, 1890, were then made with such vehemence 
 and pertinacity that many honest men were deluded. This ex- 
 perience can not, in my opinion, be repeated. 
 
 It is true that the percentages of decline of prices and cost of 
 living and the advance in wages, as shown by the report, are not 
 large. Movements of this kind, from the nature of the case, are 
 always siow. The price of a single article or even a group of 
 articless may change greatly, or the wages in a single occupa- 
 tion or group of occupations may advance or decline rapidly, and 
 still the average of all the great mass of prices or wages not be 
 changed perceptibly. A slight change in the total average, how- 
 ever, makes a great difference in the aggregate result. The de- 
 cline in the cost of living from June, 1889, to May, 1892, as shown 
 by the report of the Finance Committee, was 3.4 per cent. The 
 advance in wages., as shown by the same report, was .75 of 1 per 
 
 727
 
 8 
 
 cent. This makes an average advance in the purchasing power 
 of wages of 4.15 per cent. Assuming $600 as the average income 
 of the families of the country, this would be equivalent to, say, $25 
 per family, or an aggregate saving for 13,000,000 families of $325,- 
 000,000 for each year. 
 
 The addition of this vast sum annually to the national earn- 
 ings and wealth is an achievement which speaks with a more 
 eloquent voice than I can command in behalf of a policy under 
 which such results are possible. 
 
 It is very significant that while the cost of living in the United 
 States declined for the period covered by the investigation of 
 the Finance Committee, the cost of living in England increased 
 1.9 per cent. If the conditions had been reversed, our Demo- 
 cratic friends would have insisted that this was the direct and 
 logical result of rival revenue systems. I am curious to see 
 what explanation they will now make. The result is unques- 
 tionably a very surprising one to them, and one which they will 
 have difficulty in explaining away. While the attempt to com- 
 pare average retail prices in England and the United States is 
 not satisfactory, I am convinced that for a family buying the 
 same quantity and quality of articles at retail in the two coun- 
 tries, that the cost of living would not be higher in America. 
 These relative conditions, however, do not exist, as the scale of 
 living for the masses of people in the respective countries is 
 vastly different. 
 
 At no time in our history have the earnings of the American 
 people been as great, measured by their power to purchase the 
 comforts and necessaries of life, as they are to-day. Measured 
 by the same standard they are vastly greater than those of any 
 other people in the world. 
 
 The Senator from Missouri based his broad statement, so strik- 
 ingly at variance with understood facts, that the recent tariff act 
 has increased the prices of the necessaries of life, on two state- 
 ments which he submitted, with every appearance of confidence, 
 and to which he was kind enough to invite my special attention. 
 The first of these was a table prepared by Mr. Daniel McKeever, 
 of the importing house of H. Herman Sternbach &Co., of New 
 York, purporting to show the relative cost to import twenty-one 
 
 727
 
 articles before and after the passage of the act of 1890. As the 
 articles named in Mr. McKeever's list were selected by that gen- 
 tleman from the very large number of imported articles that go 
 into consumption, for the purpose of showing a general advance 
 in prices, his compilation is deserving of notice. 
 
 It is evident from the language used by the Senator from Mis- 
 souri in reference to this table that he was willing to rest his 
 case upon the accuracy of its representations. It will be noticed, 
 however, that Mr. McKeever does not claim that the cost of the 
 articles named had been increased to consumers. It is evident, 
 however, that the Senator from Missouri intended to create the 
 impression, both by his language and his triumphant manner, 
 that the paper would in some manner prove beyond all question 
 that a general advance in the price of the necessaries of life had 
 taken place. 
 
 Under these circumstances I feel justified in making an ex- 
 amination of the document, which otherwise I should pass by 
 unnoticed, as entirely unimportant and irrelevant to the ques- 
 tion at issue as to the effect of the tariff act of 1890. The table 
 purports to show the relative foreign cost in New York, duty 
 paid, of the articles named therein, of which samples were ex- 
 hibited, before and after October, 1890, the relative rates of 
 duty assessed by existing law and the equivalent ad valorem rate; 
 and the duties in force prior to the date the act of 1890 went into 
 effect. 
 
 I will first ask your attention to the statement of relative rates 
 of duties. I assume that it was Mr. McKeever's intention, as it 
 certainly was that of the Senator from Missouri, to create the in- 
 ference that the increase of rates shown in the table furnishes a 
 fair indication of the character of the general changes in rates 
 effected by the act of 1890. I believe I shall be able to show that 
 the statement has no value for this purpose. Such of its com- 
 parisons as are not grossly inaccurate are wholly misleading. 
 For instance, Mr. McKeever states that the rates upon astra- 
 chans, samples 18, 19, 20, and 21, prior to the act of 1890 varied 
 from 12 to 24 cents per pound and 35 per cent ad valorem, and 
 that the duties at the present time are 49i cents per pound and 60
 
 10 
 
 per cent ad valorem, equivalent to an ad valorem rate of from 
 140 to 186 per cent. 
 
 The goods in question, unless made up into garments as is cer- 
 tainly not contemplated by the description, would be dutiable 
 under paragraph 392 of the act of 1890, at 44 cents a pound and 
 50 per cent ad valorem, instead of at 49 cents per pound and 60 
 per cent ad valorem. 
 
 If classified as manufactures of worsted, they would have paid 
 a duty prior to the passage of the act of 1890 of 35 cents per 
 pound and 35 per cent ad valorem, instead of from 12 to 24 cents 
 per pound, as stated by Mr. McKeever. 
 
 It is singular that Mr. McKeever should have taken as a basis 
 for his comparison of the rates imposed on astrachans, in one case 
 the lowest rate levied by the wool schedule of the act of 1883, that 
 upon flannels and blankets, and in the other case the highest 
 rate impos3d upon manufactures of wool by the act of 1890. that 
 upon ready-made, clothing, when neither of the rates was ap- 
 plicable to th3 goods in question. 
 
 Mr. McKeever is a man of keen intelligence, wonderfully fa- 
 miliar with tariff rates and the effect of tariff changes upon 
 his business as an importer, and it is difficult to understand how 
 he couii have subscribed to a statsment so strangely inaccurate. 
 
 Samples Nos. 10 to 17, inclusive, are at present dutiable, under 
 paragraph 394, as women's and children's dress goods, coat 
 linings, etc. By the provisions of the act of 1890 the dividing 
 line of value in this class of goods, upon which higher duties 
 were levied, was reduced from 20 to 15 cents per yard. This 
 change was made to meet the great decline that had taken place 
 in the price of goods of this character between 1883 and 1890. It 
 will be noticed that Mr. McKeever has taken in all instances for 
 his comparison of rates goods that are included within this 
 changed limit. In no other manner could such disparity in rates 
 be shown. 
 
 There is another feature of this statement in regard to the 
 change in the rates on dress goods which requires attention. 
 By a construction of the act of 1883, which was clearly erroneous, 
 certain goods weighing over 4 ounces per square yard were ad- 
 mitted upon the payment of the square-yard duty, instead of the 
 
 727
 
 11 
 
 pound-duty, which it was the purpose of the act of 1883 to impose. 
 This manifest defect in the law was remedied by the provisions of 
 the act of 1890. and the effect of this remedial legislation is rep- 
 resented in the table as an increase in rates. It is true the duties 
 were advanced, as stated in the table, on samples Nos. 1 to 9, in- 
 clusive. The purpose of these advanced rates was clearly stated 
 at the time the bill was passed. Neither cotton velvets, cordu- 
 roys, nor silk-striped sleeve linings had been made to any con- 
 siderable extent in the United States prior to the passage of the 
 act, and it was the intention of the framers of the bill to give to 
 these articles adequate protection, in order that the American 
 producer could have an equal chance to secure the American 
 market. Their success in this direction has been especially 
 gratifying. 
 
 This disposes, I believe, of the question of relative rates, and 
 I will now take up the question, Does the table show an increase 
 in prices or cost of necessaries of life, as claimed by the Senator 
 from Missouri? 
 
 The articles named are not in any sense necessaries of life, and 
 it will be extremely difficult for the Senator from Missouri to 
 make the plain people of the country believe that silk-striped 
 sleeve linings, astrachans, cotton velvets, and corduroys belong 
 to that class. They certainly do not, and none of the articles 
 in McKeever's list, with the possible exception of coat linings, 
 gfo into use to any considerable extent in the households of the 
 poor. 
 
 But whatever their character, the most important fact to be 
 inquired into in connection with this table, and the purposes for 
 which it is exhibited, is whether the provisions of the act of 1890 
 had the effect to advance the cost to consumers of these articles 
 or others similar in character or used for similar purposes. 
 
 As I have already said, Mr. McKeever's statement contains no 
 evidence that the prices of the articles named have advanced, 
 but that the cost to import them is slightly greater since the 
 passage of the act of 1890. The fact is disclosed, however, that 
 the increased cost as stated does not in any case equal the addi- 
 tional duty. The consumers of the country, however, for whom 
 the distinguished Senator from Missouri assumes sometimes to 
 
 727
 
 12 
 
 speak, are not especially interested in the slight increase of cost 
 to import the goods in question, or in the percentage of profit 
 which Mr. McKeever and his associates realize from their im: 
 portations. The question to be determined in their behalf is 
 whether the prices that they pay for these or similar goods have 
 been advanced. 
 
 I shall endeavor to satisfy Senators that every purchaser of 
 these goods or similar goods for consumption, whether of domes- 
 tic or foreign manufacture, can buy them to-day at lower prices 
 than those current prior to 1890. 
 
 While the articles named by Mr. McKeever as " women's and 
 children's dress goods " are exceptional in their character and 
 comparatively unimportant, it is true that the general class of 
 goods included in the designation is very important, and we may 
 well address ourselves to an investigation of the fact whether 
 the articles included in this class, in common use. have increased 
 in price. I submit herewith a statement showing the prices at 
 which goods of domestic manufacture, the general class of dress 
 goods which enter most largely into consumption, sold in the 
 month of July in the years 1890, 1891, and 1892: 
 
 Prices of coat linings and woman's and children's dress goods. 
 
 
 Width. 
 
 July, 
 1890. 
 
 July, 
 1891. 
 
 July, 
 1892. 
 
 COAT LININGS AND ITALIAN CLOTH. 
 
 Fair Alpaca Company. Holyoke. Mass. : 
 Double-warp coat linings ... 
 
 Inches. 
 32 
 
 Cents. 
 28 
 
 Cents. 
 28 
 
 Cents. 
 27} 
 
 Single-warp coat linings ... ..... 
 
 32 
 
 27 
 
 27 
 
 
 DRESS GOODS. 
 
 Manchester Mills, Manchester, N. H. : 
 "813" cashmere .. . 
 
 35 
 
 19 
 
 18) 
 
 18 
 
 Arlington Mills. Lawrence, Mass. : 
 Cotton warp cashmere, No. 100.... 
 
 34 to 35 
 
 18i 
 
 181 
 
 18 
 
 Cotton warp cashmere. No. 200........ 
 
 35 to 36 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 211 
 
 Atlantic Mills, Providence, R. I. : 
 Atlantic's Fs 
 
 35 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 Atlantic's FFs 
 
 35 
 
 25 
 
 23} 
 
 23} 
 
 Hamilton Woolen Company, Southbridge, 
 Mass. : 
 Cashmere .... ... 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 9} 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 It will be noticed that the Farr Alpaca Company, of Holyoke, 
 Mass., quote double and single warp coat linings at a lower rate 
 in July, 1892, than in either of the previous years. The other 
 quotations submitted by me are the prices at which the goods
 
 13 
 
 manufactured by the five leading American producers of women's 
 and children's dress goods sold their product at the respective 
 dates named. These quotations show a decline in price in every 
 case. 
 
 These quotations refer only to domestic goods; but a very large 
 proportion of the goods of this class consumed in the United 
 States is produced by the domestic manufacturers, who have 
 practically the control of the American market. 
 
 It can, however, be conclusively established that the cost to 
 import the great mass of women's and children's dress goods is 
 less to-day than it was before the passage of the act of 1890, and 
 it is certainly true that both foreign and domestic goods of this 
 character are sold at retail at lower prices now than they were 
 prior to October, 1890. I have been furnished by Messrs. William 
 H. Burgess & Co., of Paris and New York, with a statement 
 showing the foreign cost and the cost to lay down in New York, 
 duty paid, of all-wool cashmeres, standard quality, 12 to 13 
 twill. Other descriptions of all-wool dress goods vary in price 
 with these at a fixed ratio. This statement shows that the cost 
 to import the goods in question, duty and other charges paid, in 
 1887, was 44.2 cents; in 1888, 42.8 cents; in 1889, 41.4 cents, and 
 in 1892, 40 cents per yard. This would seem to clearly establish 
 the fact that for the great mass of women's and children's dress 
 goods used in the United States the cost laid down in New York 
 to the importer is less prior to-day to than was it tariff changes. 
 
 In regard to the price of astrachans there is very little to be 
 said. The demand for this fabric is extremely limited, and fluc- 
 tuations in the price are of very little importance to the people 
 of the country. I have, however, been furnished with samples 
 and a price list of astrachans of domestic manufacture by the 
 Goodall Worsted Company, of Sanford, Me. This list shows 
 that the company referred to sells 54-inch astrachans, 50 ounces 
 in weight, at $3.63 per yard net to their customers, or at 97 
 cents per yard less than the cost of importing similar goods, as 
 reported by Mr. McKeever. 
 
 I submit a table showing the comparative prices at which silk 
 sleeve linings were sold for consumption prior to October, 1899, 
 and in 1892: 
 
 727
 
 14 
 
 Prices of silk striped sleeve linings. 
 
 Quality. 
 
 Width. 
 
 Price in 
 
 1889. 
 
 Price in 
 1890 after 
 bill was 
 passed. 
 
 Price in 
 
 1892. 
 
 Difference 
 in price, 
 lower. 
 
 No. 1... 
 
 Inches. 
 40 
 
 Cents. 
 87.5 
 
 Cents. 
 36 
 
 Cents. 
 34.7 
 
 Vents. 
 2.8 
 
 No. 2... 
 
 40 
 
 56 
 
 40.5 
 
 38.30 
 
 17.7 
 
 No. 3... 
 
 40 
 
 60 
 
 49.5 
 
 47.25 
 
 12.75 
 
 No. 4... 
 
 40 
 
 62.5 
 
 54 
 
 51.8 
 
 10.7 
 
 No. 5 
 
 40 
 
 73 
 
 60 
 
 58.5 
 
 14.5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This table shows a decline in prices in all cases varying from 
 2.8 cents per yard to 17.7 cents per yard. I will also have printed 
 in the RECORD a letter from the Royal Weaving Company, of 
 Pawtucket, R. I., explaining this statement. 
 
 T have in my possession samples of all the goods on which 
 prices are quoted in the various tables I have submitted. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that the price of most descriptions of 
 cotton velvet and corduroys included in Mr. McKeever's table 
 are somewhat higher to-day than they were in 1889 and 1890, just 
 prior to the passage of the McKinley act. An effort was made 
 in the years 1887, 1888, and 1889 to establish the industry of the 
 manufacture of cotton velvets in this country; but in 1889 and 
 1890 the prices were reduced so low by the foreign manufac- 
 turers as to drive most of the American producers out of the mar- 
 ket; and while it is true that there has been a reaction in prices, it 
 is also true that prices in 1892 on all classes of goods are less than 
 they were in 1885. The rapid decline which took place in 1889 
 and 1890 is shown by the fact that goods which sold in 1885 for 
 29i cents, sold in 1889 for 17 1 cents, and the price of similar goods 
 in 1892 was 23i cents. Another quality which sold in 1885 for 36 
 cents, sold in 1890 at 27 cents, and the present price is 28 cents. 
 The slight increase which has taken place since 189 has by no 
 means restored prices to the level of the years 1885-1887. 
 
 In what I have said in regard to the increased cost of cotton 
 velvets and corduroys this year as compared with 1890, 1 have 
 only had reference to the prices at which the goods were sold 
 either by importers or manufacturers. The retail prices of these 
 goods to consumers are in most cases lower now than prior to 
 the passage of the act of 1890. 
 
 727
 
 15 
 
 The great disparity between the retail price and wholesale 
 price of cotton velvets was shown by me in the course of the 
 discussion of the tariff bill of 1890. It was then claimed by the 
 importers that certain cotton velvets were sold abroad at 12 
 cents a yard. The lowest price at which any cotton velvet could 
 then be purchased at any dry-goods store in Washington at re- 
 tail was 60 cents per yard. It is very evident that the slight 
 reduction in the importers' profits which has been recently ef- 
 fected would have no perceptible influence upon the re tail price. 
 
 I think I have effectually disposed of Mr. McKeevers state- 
 ments as the basis of a claim that prices have been advanced by 
 the tariff legislation of the Fifty-first Congress. 
 
 The table which I have had under examination contained the 
 only evidence furnished by the Senator from Missouri in support 
 of his claim , except a statement m ade in regard to the pric3 of hard- 
 ware. Giving a New York evening paper as authority, he stated 
 that the price of hardware had ad vanced from 30 to 57! per cent. It 
 is apparent, however, that instead of hardware the Senator from 
 Missouri intended to say cutlery, as certainly the pricss of gen- 
 eral hardware, are very much lower to-day than prior to 1890. 
 Bearing upon the question as to whether an increase has taken 
 place in the price of table cutlery, I will state, upon the author- 
 ity of Charles S. Landers, of Landers, Prary & Clarke, of New 
 Britain, Conn., large table-cutlery manufacturers, that the prices 
 on the entire line of goods manufactured by them are at least 7! 
 per cent lower now than they were in October, 1890, and that no 
 advance has taken place since that time. I will print Mr. Lan- 
 der's letter in the RECORD. 
 
 In regard to the price of pocket cutlery, I have received a let- 
 ter from Mr. W. F. Rockwell, of Miller Brothers' Cutlery Com- 
 pany, which contains the following statement: 
 
 As to prices on American pocket cutlery. Many patterns have not been 
 advanced at all. Several styles that have been sold below actual cost have 
 teeen advanced so they now pay a small profit. 
 
 The average advances do not exceed 10 per cent to the jobbing trade. The 
 margin of profit between the jobber and consumer was sufficient, so there 
 was no reason or necessity of advancing the price to the consumer, and it 
 ias not been done. 
 
 The wages of pocket-cutlery workers have been advanced from 5 per cent 
 to 25 per cent in the different operations. One of the oldest foremen in the 
 country estimates that the advances which have been made In wages, to- 
 727
 
 16 
 
 getter with the more steady work given the men, will furnish them at least 
 an average of 20 per cent more annual income. 
 
 Many of the factories have more than doubled their capacity in buildings 
 and machinery, and all of them show increased production. The gain in 
 output, of course, reduces incidental expenses. 
 
 The fact that the value of the pocket cutlery imported last year, with the 
 duty added, so closely approximates the amount made here, shows the con- 
 ditions of competition pretty accurately adjusted. 
 
 I have taken pains to make a very full and complete analysis, 
 which I fear the Senate has found technical and tedious in its 
 character, of the statements made by the Senator from Missouri 
 for the purpose of showing how completely they fail in every 
 respect to establish the claim that articles in general use have 
 been advanced in price as a result of the tariff legislation of two 
 years ago. 
 
 After having attempted to show that the rates imposed by the 
 acts of 1890 had increased the cost of necessaries of life, the Sen- 
 ator from Missouri attempts to establish the fact that these rates 
 were not necessary for the protection of the labor employed in 
 the different industries in this country. He even goes so far as 
 to say that labor at the present time is cheaper in the United 
 States than anywhere else in the world. To use his own lan- 
 guage: 
 
 It is well known to those who make these statements that the American 
 operatives, from their superior energy and intelligence, can successfully com- 
 pete with any labor in the world, and that American labor is the cheapest in 
 the world, because it produces a better article. 
 
 To confirm this assertion the Senator quotes from statements 
 made by Mr. J. Shosnhof, which purp3rt to show that the cost of 
 labor in the production of leading articles manfactured in the 
 United States is but little if any more in any case, and in many 
 cases less than in competing countries in Europe. Statements 
 of this nature are frequently made for the purpose of showing 
 that tariff rates are excessive. Their inaccuracy has been fre- 
 quently exposed. All must admit that there are no statistics 
 in existence that can be possibly made to show that the earn- 
 ings of labor in any occupation or profession are not much 
 greater in the United States than in any of the countries with 
 whom we compete in the production of manufactured articles. 
 
 The recent investigation of the Finance Committee showed 
 that in certain general occupations wages in the United States 
 were 77 per cent higher than in England. I have submitted tables 
 
 727
 
 17 
 
 showing the relative wages in cotton and worsted mills in the 
 two countries, with American wages in many cases more than 100 
 per cent higher. The tables in reference towages in the produc- 
 tion of tin plate, which I submit, show a difference of 152 per cont 
 in favor of the United States as compared with Wales. Similar 
 statistics are abundant. Wages in the United States show a 
 still greater excess when compared with those of the countries 
 of Continental Europe. This difference is undoubtedly greater 
 in certain occupations and localities than in others. 
 
 There is no evidence, moreover, to show that Mr. Shoenhof 's 
 figures relate to the labor cost of production of the same descrip- 
 tions of goods in the United States and in England. For in- 
 stance, in the statement in regard to weaving and finishing 6-4 
 worsted cloths, there is nothing to indicate the character of the 
 goods except the width. 
 
 These and similar statements of Mr. Shoenhof 's have been fre- 
 quently published, and practical manufacturers, familiar with 
 the conditions on both sides of the ocaan, have repeatedly de- 
 monstrated in this Chambar and elsewhere that they are not 
 only worthless, but sometimes grotesque in their excess of mis- 
 information. 
 
 Tariff reformers, as a rule, admit that American earnings 
 are greater than any others, but assume that the higher rates 
 of wages here insure lower cost of production on account of the 
 greater skill and efficiency of American workmen. This, they 
 assert, is the necessary result of the general economic law that 
 high wages produce low cost of production. 
 
 There are many instances in which the producers of the United 
 States, through the superior energy, skill, and genius of our 
 mechanicsand inventors, or by the greater or more effective use 
 of machinery, have reduced the cost of production to a point 
 lower than that in competing countries. In thesa cases import 
 duties ara of course inoperative. The number of cases in which 
 this is true is constantly increasing. If the act of 1890 is allowed 
 to remain upon the statute books until the full benefit of its pro- 
 visions can ba realized the list of articles in which we can suc- 
 cessfully compete is certain to be greatly enlarged. 
 
 Notwithstanding the superior activity and intelligence of 
 
 727 2
 
 18 
 
 American workmen and all the other industrial advantages 
 which we have, it is undoubtedly as true to-day as it was in 1888 
 that the cost to the American manufacturer of accomplishing 
 certain equivalent results, that is of producing say a yard of cot- 
 ton or woolen cloth, or a ton of iron or steal of the same or sim- 
 ilar quality, is in most instances much greater than to his foreign 
 competitor, owing to the much greater cost here of labor and 
 services in production, and in all collateral employments. The 
 actual relative conditions which govern production are with the 
 exceptions I have noted, these: The American manufacturer and 
 his foreign competitor both use the same machinery, which runs 
 at the same speed, an equal number of hours, turning out the 
 same quantity and kind of goods. Under these circumstances it 
 is evident that the higher wages paid in tha United States re- 
 sult in a greater cost of production, and it is to maintain this 
 higher level of wages and at the same time to equalize condi- 
 tions of production tha" protective duties are levied. 
 
 It is of course impossible to determine the exact rate of duty 
 to be levied upon any article by a comparison of the single ele- 
 ment of wages, or even the relative earnings of labor in differ- 
 ent countries. This proposition seems too plain to need discus- 
 sion. Itis equally impossible to adjust tariff rates levied to equal- 
 ize conditions, on the basis of the mathematical relation which the 
 labor cost at one stage bears to the finished product, as, for in- 
 stance, the proportion which the cost of weaving bears to the 
 completed fabric. 
 
 The rule that should apply in fixing the rates of protective 
 duties is that they should in all cases equal the difference be- 
 tween the cost of production and distribution, under normal con- 
 ditions, of the article in question in our own and in that compet- 
 ing country where the cost of production is lowest. This was the 
 rule which was followed in the preparation of the act of 1890, and 
 of the Senate tariff bill of 1888, which formed the basis of this 
 measure. 
 
 Protective duties levied in this manner have but one purpose 
 and can have but one effect, that is, to protect American labor 
 and to maintain the existing high level of wages and earnings of 
 American workmen. When such duties are removed or reduced 
 
 727
 
 19 
 
 below the protective point labor receives the full force of the 
 blow. 
 
 While it is not claimed that protective tariffs guarantee any 
 particular scale of wages in any particular industry and while 
 tariff rates can not be based directly on the difference in ascer- 
 tained wages, or even in the relative earnings of people in com- 
 peting countries, it will be readily seen that, by the rule I have laid 
 down, this difference becomes really the basis upon which all 
 duties are levied, as tariff rates are fixed by the difference in the 
 cost of production between competing countries, and the differ- 
 ence in the cost of production in the final analysis, consists of a 
 difference in wages or earnings. 
 
 This rule for fixing rates should only apply, however, to arti- 
 cles in the production of which the United States has equal 
 natural advantages with other countries. As a protectionist I 
 believe that the United States can not afford, having in view the 
 most rapid development of her great resources, to levy duties 
 upon articles in the production of which other countries have 
 permanent natural advantages. Such articles should be admit- 
 ted free. In the case of articles fairly entitled to protection, the 
 rule that I have laid down, I believe, is the only one that should 
 be followed. 
 
 Tariff rates are frequently criticised because certain statisti- 
 cal reports show that the so-called percentage of labor cost of 
 production in a particular article is less than the rate of duty im- 
 posed upon that article, and it is assumed therefore that the rates 
 are unnecessarily high. For instance, these reports purport to 
 show that the percentage of labor cost in producing woolen goods 
 is from 22 to 25 per cent of the total cost of the product, and there- 
 fore it is argued that the rate of duty should not exceed that 
 rate. Statistics of this nature, taking into consideration only 
 the labor employed in a single stage in the long process of manu- 
 facture as a basis for the ratio, may have some value statistically, 
 but they have no value whatever in determining the rate of 
 duties which should be imposed by a protective tariff. For in- 
 stance, knowledge of the exact percentage of cost in each case 
 which the cost of riveting a blade into a pocket knife bears to 
 the total cost of the knife in Meriden, in Sheffield, or in Sol- 
 
 727
 
 20 
 
 ingen, would be of no special value to a legislator. Protective 
 duties are levied to equalize conditions, ana it is the total rela- 
 tive cost of producing the completed knife at these competing 
 points and not the relation which the cost of riveting or polish- 
 ing the blade has to this that should determine equalizing rates. 
 
 All refinements of calculation in regard to percentages of labor 
 cost are therefore entirely useless in a discussion of the tariff 
 rates. If it costs $1 to produce a yard of woolen cloth in Massa- 
 chusetts, and 60 cents in France, the natural advantages of the 
 United States being equal to France in the production of woolen 
 cloth, it would be necessary in order to equalize conditions to 
 levy a duty of 40 cents a yard. It is comparatively easy for a 
 legislator to ascertain differences in the total cost of production, 
 but quite impossible for him to determine the mathematical re- 
 lation of partial costs at different stages. 
 
 From this point of view much valuable time has also been wasted 
 in the collection and discussion of statistics in regard to so-called 
 total labor cost of production. Most of these statistics leave out|of 
 the computation sums paid for clerical service, for superintend- 
 ence, for taxes and insurance, for labor in repairs and materials, 
 and all the great mass of incidental expenses which go to make 
 up the cost of doing business, and the ultimate cost of produc- 
 tion. These all represent labor or services. The sums collected 
 for taxes, for instance, go to pay school-teachers, fire men, police- 
 men, tax assessors, collectors, and various other employes in the 
 public service. All the essential elements in the cost of produc- 
 tion can be reduced to an expanditure for labor or services in 
 some form, and labor cost of production and total cost of product 
 are equal terms. 
 
 Among the many remarkable statements made by the Senator 
 from Missouri in his speech of June 28, I find the following: 
 
 I am prepared to show by irrefutable testimony that never in the history 
 of this country has there been such disturbance of labor, never such hostile 
 and inimical relations between employer and employe^ never such prostra- 
 tion of agricultural interests, never such a limiting and narrowing of for- 
 eign markets, never such disaster brought about in so short a time as by 
 this infamous legislation. 
 
 It will be noticed that this sentence contains three distinct 
 charges in regard to the operations of the act of 1890, and these 
 
 727
 
 I propose to take up seriatim. The first of these is that there 
 had never been such disturbance in labor, never such hostile re- 
 lations between employer and employe, as were brought about 
 by the act referred to. In support of this allegation the Senator 
 submitted and had printed in the RECORD a long list of alleged 
 " wage reductions, shut-downs, lock-outs, and strikes in pro- 
 tected manufactures which had taken place sinbe the passage of 
 the McKinley bill from data collected by Hon. JOHN DE WITT 
 WARNER for the New York World." This list covers the time 
 between December 4, 1890, and June 18, 1892, a period of eighteen 
 months. 
 
 The statement shows that during this period seventy-seven 
 strikes occurred in the United States. If we assume that these 
 figures are accurate, and it will be seen from an examination of 
 the other papers furnished by the same gentleman that he has 
 a decided tendency to overstate in his statistics, it may be profit- 
 able to make a comparison between the number of strikes occur- 
 ring as alleged since the passage of the act of 1890 and in the 
 years which preceded it. 
 
 Having this comparison in mind, I requested the Commissioner 
 of Labor to furnish me with statistics of strikes in this country 
 for the years prior to 1890, and if possible to give me comparative 
 statistics of strikes which have taken place in G reat Britain 
 within the period covered by his American statistics. 
 
 In answer to this request I have received the following table, 
 showing the number of strikes and the number of employes in- 
 volved in each year, from 1880 to 1890, inclusive, in the United 
 States: 
 
 Years. 
 
 Number 
 of 
 strikes. 
 
 Employe's 
 striking 
 and 
 involved. 
 
 1880 
 
 610 
 
 
 1881 
 
 471 
 
 120, 521 
 
 1882 
 
 454 
 
 154, 671 
 
 1883 ' 
 
 478 
 
 149,763 
 
 1884... 
 
 443 
 
 147.054 
 
 1885 
 
 645 
 
 242,705 
 
 1886... 
 
 1,411 
 
 499, 489 
 
 1887 
 
 872 
 
 345,073 
 
 1888 ... 
 
 679 
 
 211,016 
 
 1889... 
 
 613 
 
 177,298 
 
 1890 
 
 798 
 
 201,682 
 
 
 
 
 727
 
 22 
 
 It will be noticed that the number of strikes in this country 
 varied from 443 in 1884 to 1,411 in 1886; the average number of 
 each year for the whole period being 625. The number reported 
 in 1890 is 798, being more than ten times as many in this single 
 year as reported by Mr. WARNER for the eighteen months cov- 
 ered by his statistics. 
 
 Available statistics show that in Great Britain, the paradise 
 of tariff reformers, 3,164 strikes occurred in 1889. The British 
 Board of Trade officially report 1,028 strikes in 1890, with 392,- 
 981 persons involved in 738 of these. 
 
 It will be seen by a comparison of the relative number and im- 
 portance of strikes in the United States and in Great Britain for 
 the year 1890 that the number was much greater in the latter 
 country, and that the number of persons involved was more than 
 three times as great in proportion to the number of persons en- 
 gaged in useful occupations in the respective countries. 
 
 In the recent strike in the Durham (English) district 100,000 
 coal miners went out and remained idle from March 12 to June 
 1, when they accepted a reduction of 10 percent in wages. This 
 strike involved the closing down of one hundred blast furnaces 
 in addition to the suspension of mining operations. 
 
 The statistics submitted by the Senator from Missouri confirm 
 in a striking manner the judgment of every intelligent observer, 
 that there has been a remarkable freedom from strikes and labor 
 troubles in this country since the passage of the tariff act of 1890. 
 It can be said that at no time in the history of the country has 
 labor been so constantly and profitably employed, and at such 
 satisfactory wages as in the period referred to. No person in 
 the United States with the capacity and willingness to work is 
 out of employment. 
 
 It is true that a reduction of wages has taken place in a limited 
 number of establishments producing iron and steel; but the fact 
 should not be overlooked that even with this reduction, the 
 average wages are still much higher than in any of the other 
 great industries. The earnings in some departments are ex- 
 ceptionally high; for instance, the average net earnings of bar 
 rollers in all the Pittsburg mills is $15.25 per day, and the net 
 earnings in wire rod roiling are even higher than this. 
 
 727
 
 23 
 
 Mr. WARNER'S table contains several items in regard to re- 
 ductions in wages said to have been made in the Rhode Island 
 and Fall River cotton mills, in November, 1890, and in 1891. T 
 can say on the authority of the representatives of the mills in 
 question that these statements are entirely untrue, and that no 
 such reductions took place. 
 
 Prom such examination as I have been able to make, I can say 
 that the various statements in regard to reductions of wages in 
 cotton mills are equally untrue. 
 
 Many of the items contained in Mr. WARNER'S list of reduc- 
 tions are of the most absurd character. For instance, we find 
 the following under date of September 24, 1891: 
 
 Reduction of wages in the entire cotton industry is feared by the workmen 
 at Providence, Pawtucket, and other cities in Rhode Island, but they will re- 
 sort to a general strike rather than submit to a reduction in their miserable 
 pittance, which is already bordering on the starvation level. 
 
 There was not the slightest foundation for this sensational re- 
 port. On the contrary, at the time named considerable cotton 
 machinery was idle in Rhode Island from the fact that the sup- 
 ply of help was not equal to the demand. 
 
 Mr. WARNER'S list is largely made up of similar inconsequen- 
 tial and absurd statements. 
 
 It is perhaps proper that I should say a word in regard to the 
 condition and earnings of the operatives in Rhode Island. 
 
 That they do not work for a miserable pittance is shown by a 
 statement which I submit and will have printed in the RECORD, 
 of the relative wages paid in a cotton mill in Rhode Island and 
 one in Oldham, England, showing the much greater wages in 
 Rhods Island. The mills have each about 63, 000 spindles and 
 make the same kind of goods. This table was furnished me by 
 my friend, lately an honored member of the Senata, Hon. Jon- 
 athan Chace. 
 
 Instead of working at " starvation wages" the working people 
 of my State are enabled from their earnings to live as well and as 
 comfortably as any similar class of people in the world; and their 
 savings, averaging nearly $1,000 for each family, deposited in 
 the saving banks of the State, furnish the best evidence of their 
 prosperous and satisfactory condition. These savings, accumu- 
 lated since the inauguration of the protective policy of the United 
 
 727
 
 24 
 
 States, are greater per capita. I believe, than those of any other 
 industrial community in the world. 
 
 Many of the items in the list of strikes and reductions are in- 
 serted several times, apparently in order to swell the number. 
 
 The following- letter from S, N. D. North, secretary of the Na- 
 tional Association of Wool Manufacturers, answers the state- 
 ments contained in that portion of the table submitted by the 
 Senator from Missouri which relates to reduction in wages, 
 strikes, etc., in woolen mills: 
 
 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION or WOOL MANUFACTURERS, 
 
 Boston, Mass., July 20, 1892. 
 
 DEAR SIR: Such inquiries as I have been able to make justify my previous 
 statement that there have been no reductions of wages in the wool manu- 
 facture since the passage of the McKinley law: on the contrary, there have 
 been many increases, and there was never a time when so many operatives 
 were so steadily employed in this industry as at present. 
 
 The Warner list of alleged "strikes and reductions," so far as relates to 
 woolens and worsteds, is a mass of falsehoods, duplications, errors, and mis- 
 statements. Of the twenty-five entries that appear under this head, five are 
 duplications of each, other : eight are about cotton mills, and one relates to 
 a silk mill. So far as items 6, 17, and 21 are concerned, I refer you to the 
 inclosed letter of the Titus Sheard Company, of Little Falls, N. Y., which 
 shows them all to be false, the facts being directly the reverse of those 
 stated. 
 
 Items 9 and 20, stating reductions and strikes at the Arlington Mills, are 
 both false. There have been readj ustments of the method of payment in this 
 mill, under which both the weavers and the wool-sorters earn as much, if 
 not more, than before these readjustments were made; and, as a matter of 
 fact, the Arlington Mills' operatives are now receiving sixty hours pay for 
 fifty-eight hours' work, which involves an increase of 3J per cent. 
 
 No. 22, regarding the Atlantic Mills, is wholly false. There has been no 
 change of wages or trouble of any kind in that mill since it passed under the 
 present management. 
 
 The only item in the whole twenty-five for which I can find any basis in 
 truth is the Wanskuck Mills, who did attempt a reduction in weavers' wages, 
 which led to a strike of 350 weavers. The complaint in the Weybosset was 
 adjusted by placing the weavers on the same tariff that prevailed in the 
 neighboring mills. 
 
 No. 23. There has been no strike or reduction in the mills of Switz Condfi 
 at Oswego. 
 
 The only cases remaining are No. 2, in Illinois, and No. 24, in Delaware, 
 about which I know nothing. If investigated, I have no doubt the facts 
 would show that there have been no reductions in these cases. Mr. WARNER 
 has made up a formidable-looking list by seizing upon every item of news- 
 paper gossip and failing to ascertain in any instance the real facts or the 
 actual outcome. To one familiar with the facts it seems as though Mr. 
 WARNER ought to be heartily ashamed of himself. 
 
 I have now answered, to the best of my ability, every ques tion you have 
 addressed to me. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 S. N. D. NORTH, Secretary. 
 
 Hon. NELSON W. ALDRICH, 
 
 United States Senate. 
 727
 
 25 
 
 [Inclosure.] 
 TITUS SHEABD COMPANY, EAGLE MILLS, 
 
 Little Falls, N. Y., July 14, 1892. 
 
 DEAR SIR: In reply to yours of the 13th would say that the claim made 
 that we reduced wages in 1891 or since is entirely false; in fact, we have in- 
 creased the wages of a number of our operatives since the above date. This is 
 about the same condition intheother mills mentioned in your correspondence. 
 We think it can be safely said that never in the history of the knitting in- 
 dustry have the employe's been making as good wages as at the present time 
 and for the past year; also, that the mills are well employed ; in fact, a num- 
 ber running over time, some all night with two sets of hands. Some time 
 during 1891 we went on a new class of work, and in adjusting the wages we 
 were obliged to do it entirely by guess. After running a few months we 
 found that we were paying too much, and the girls which were on this class 
 of work were able to earn from $5 to $6 a day. We made a slight reduction 
 on this work alone, and they are now able to make from $3 to $3 a day when 
 steadily on this class of work. 
 
 We shall be pleased to furnish you with any further information in our 
 power. 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 TITUS SHEARD COMPANY. 
 Mr. S. N. D. NORTH, Boston, Mass. 
 
 I believe that I have conclusively shown the worthless char- 
 acter of the evidence submitted by the Senator from Missouri 
 to substantiate his claim that the relations between employer 
 andemploye are of a hostile and unsatisfactory character. 
 
 That there is constant movement towards a higher level of 
 wages in this country is shown by the reports of the Eleventh 
 Census on the textile industries of the United States. These re- 
 ports show a considerable increase in wages in every branch. 
 The investigation by the Senate Finance Committee into wages 
 from June, 1889, to September, 1891, showed an average increase 
 for the occupations included in the inquiry of three-fourths of 
 1 per cent. All similar examinations reveal the existence of a 
 tendency to higher rates. 
 
 Contentions between employers and employes over rates of 
 wages, hours of employment, etc., occur in times of prosperity 
 and in periods of business depression. No country in the world 
 is free from them, and their recurrence does not usually indicate 
 hostile relations. They are not the outgrowth of any revenue 
 system, but their number and importance has been, as I have 
 shown, reduced to a minimum under recent protective legisla- 
 tion. The process of evolution is often a process of disturbance, 
 and through disputes over rates of wages, usually of friendly 
 character, just conclusions are reached. 
 
 727
 
 26 
 
 The next statement by the Sanator from Missouri to which I 
 shall call attention is that there has never been such prostration 
 of agricultural interests as was effected by the act of 1890. In 
 support of this statement no evidence whatever was submitted. 
 No asssrtion could be more diametrically opposed to the actual 
 facts of the case than this. 
 
 In no class of people in the United States has the improvement 
 in condition been so marked as in the farmers during the period 
 under consideration. 
 
 The relative condition of the agricultural interests, as shown 
 by the inquiry of the Finance Committee, to which I have already 
 alluded, is briefly this: 
 
 The prices received for farm products subsequent to the pas- 
 sage of the act of 1890 shows an average increase on all crops of 
 18.67 per cent. The percentage of increase on many important 
 articles corn, for instance, at 47 par cent was greatly above 
 this average. 
 
 It will be seen by an examination of the raport of the commit- 
 tee that the advance in the average price of all cereals, the com- 
 putation being made according to their relative importance, was 
 33.59 per cent. The price received for meats of all kind averaged 
 4 per cent higher in September, 1891, than in June, 1889. 
 
 The most striking result shown by the inquiry was the fact 
 that while there was a considerable decline in the prices of manu- 
 factured acticles which enter into general consumption there was 
 an advance in the price of nearly all agricultural products; and 
 if it had not been for the great decline that took place in the price 
 of sugar, owing to removal of duties by the act of 1890, that large 
 portion of the cost of living which is embraced in expenditures 
 for food would have shown an increass instead of diminution. 
 
 During the period covered by the investigation of the Finance 
 Committee there were several months in which the prices were 
 higher than for the initial period of the investigation. In each, 
 of these cases the increased average grew solely out of the ad- 
 vances in price of agricultural products. This is illustrated by 
 the list which follows, of the articles which were advanced in 
 
 727
 
 27 
 
 price in April, 1891, to such an extent as to increase the average 
 for that month to a point considerably above the general average: 
 
 Milk, fresh; turkey, dressed; cheese, mutton, beef, roasting; 
 oysters, prunes, California; peaches, canned; oleomargarine, 
 meal, corn, butter, best creamery; eggs, apples, dried; turnips, 
 butter, dairy; onions, cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, fresh. 
 
 The prices of the articles which it is necessary for the farmer 
 to buy for the support of his family and for carrying on the op- 
 erations of his farm, were reduced in the period subsequent to 
 the passage of the act on an average 2 per cent below the prices 
 current prior to that time. 
 
 The percentage of reduction which took place in the prices of 
 the class of articles the farmer has to purchase is shown by the 
 following table taken from the report of the committee, the price 
 prior to passage of the act being represented by 100: 
 
 Group. 
 
 Retail. 
 
 Cloths and clothing 
 
 Fuel and lighting 
 
 Metals and implements 
 
 Lumber and building material . 
 
 Drugs and chemicals 
 
 House-furnishing goods 
 
 Miscellaneous ... 
 
 99.65 
 98.69 
 97.49 
 98.28 
 95.96 
 99.82 
 100.52 
 
 It is not necessary for the purposes of my argument to assume 
 that the advance in farm prices of agricultural products was 
 due entirely to the operations of the act of 1890. I am treat- 
 ing at this time the statement of the Senator from Missouri as to 
 the actual facts. I believe that in no period of equal length in 
 the history of the country has there been such a marked im- 
 provement in the condition of any class of people as can be shown, 
 using the language of the Senator from Missouri, by irrefutable 
 testimony, to have taken place in the condition of the farmers 
 of this country since the passage of the act of 1890. 
 
 There has been a great advance in the sum received by them 
 for their crops and a substantial decline in pricas of articles, es- 
 pecially manufactured products, which they are obliged to pur- 
 chase. The farmer to-day, with an equal numbar of bushels of 
 72r
 
 28 
 
 grain or pounds of meat, can buy more and better clothing, ma- 
 chinery, or supplies, than ever before. Within this period hun- 
 dreds of millions of dollars of their indebtedness have been paid 
 off, and as a class their financial condition vastly improved. By 
 the operations of the act of 1890 the farmers were given larger and 
 more profitable markets both at home and abroad; as an instance 
 of this our exports to Cuba largely of agricultural products 
 were increased during the ten months ending June 30, 1892, as 
 compared with the corresponding ten months of the previous fis- 
 cal year, $5,700,000, or an increase of 54.86 per cent. 
 
 It is quite natural for all classes of people to believe that their 
 condition ought to be and might be improved, but the assurance 
 displayed in this Chamber in the attempts to convince'the farmer, 
 in the face of the facts which I have recited, that he is suffering 
 untold evils as the result of tariff legislation, has no parallel. 
 
 The next statement made by the Senator from Missouri, to 
 which I will call attention, is "That there had never been such 
 a limiting and narrowing of foreign markets " as since the passage 
 of the act of 1890. This statement is equally astounding with the 
 others I have alluded to, and equally at variance with the facts. 
 
 The foreign commerce of the United States for the fiscal year 
 ending June 30. 1892, consisted of imports of the value of $827,- 
 391,284, and of exports of the value of $1,030,335,626, or a total 
 value of imports and exports of $1,857,726,910. 
 
 The following shows the rapid growth of our foreign com- 
 merce: 
 
 foreign commerce of the United States. 
 
 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Annual aver- 
 age. 
 
 Per 
 capita. 
 
 Total Imports and exports: 
 1847 to 1861 
 
 $553 000 000 
 
 $17 08 
 
 187610 189a... 
 
 1,356,000,000 
 
 25 20 
 
 1892 
 
 1,857,724 910 
 
 28 32 
 
 Imports : 
 1847to 1861 
 
 348,000,000 
 
 9 35 
 
 1876 to 1890 
 
 626, 000, 000 
 
 11.63 
 
 1892 
 
 827,391,284 
 
 12 61 
 
 Exports: 
 1847 to 1881 
 
 205 000 000 
 
 7 73 
 
 1876 to 1890... 
 
 730,000 000 
 
 13 57 
 
 1892 
 
 1,030,335 626 
 
 15 71 
 
 
 
 
 727
 
 29 
 
 This table contains a comparison of the annual values of total 
 commerce and of imports and exports, and the amount of each 
 per capita for the fifteen years of the revenue-tariff period, 
 1847-1861, and the fifteen years which preceded the adoption of 
 the act of 1890, and for the first fiscal year after all the provi- 
 sions of this act went into effect. No other country can show 
 such a record of expansion and development. 
 
 I submit a table showing the total imports and exports of 
 merchandise and the excess of exports over imports for the fiscal 
 years 1884 to 1892, inclusive. 
 
 It will be seen that the excess of exports over imports, or bal- 
 ance of trade in our favor was $202,944,342, in 1892 an excess oi 
 exports over imports that has been exceeded in amount but three 
 times in the history of the country. 
 
 I also submit a table showing the proportion of dutiable to free 
 imports, and the average ad valorem rate collected on dutiable 
 imports and on all imports for the years 1889 to 1892, inclusive. 
 
 It will be observed that the ad valorem rate on all importations 
 for the fiscal year 1892 was 20.65 per cent, the lowest rate since 
 1861, and a lower rate than the average imposed by the act of 
 1846. 
 
 The following table shows the percentage of free and dutiable 
 importations under each of our tariff laws enacted since 1847: 
 
 Importationsunderthe various tariff laws, from 1847 to 1892. Percentages of free 
 and dutiable. 
 
 Period. 
 
 Dutia- 
 ble. 
 
 Free. 
 
 1847 to 1857... 
 
 Perct. 
 88 
 
 Per ct. 
 12 
 
 1858 to 1861 
 
 78 
 
 22 
 
 18T9to 1883 
 
 70 
 
 30 
 
 1884tol890 
 
 66.5 
 
 33.5 
 
 1892 
 
 44.6 
 
 55.4 
 
 
 
 
 This table discloses the rapid growth of the free list with ad- 
 vances in protective legislation. The tables taken together fur- 
 nish convincing evidence to disprove the statement so freely 
 made as to the restrictive effects of such legislation on foreign 
 
 commerce. 
 
 727
 
 30 
 
 An analysis of details of both imports and exports will develop 
 the fact that desirable changes have taken place in the charac- 
 ter of each. The exports of manufactured and other articles ex- 
 clusive of all farm and agricultural products and petroleum, 
 amounted in value in 1892 to $237,665,370. This value of expor- 
 tation of manufactured articles, etc., it will be observed, is $32,- 
 000,000 greater than the total average annual value of all exports 
 for the period 1847 to 1861. 
 
 I also present a table, which I will have printed, showing the 
 value of the exports of the leading products for each year from 
 1888 to 1892, inclusive. The amount of duty per capita collected 
 during the fiscal year 1892 was $2.62; that is, less than half the 
 relative amount collected in 1872, the amount for the latter year 
 having been $5.28 per capita. 
 
 These statements and comparisons must be extremely gratify- 
 ing to every patriotic American. They show beyond any possi- 
 bility of doubt that the expansion of our foreign commerce was 
 accelerated rather than narrowed and limited by the act of 1890, 
 as stated by the Senator from Missouri. 
 
 A considerable portion of the speech delivered by the Senator 
 from Missouri on the 6th of June was devoted to a consideration 
 of the duties on wool and woolens, in which the Senator endeav- 
 ored to prove that these duties have been injurious alike to wool- 
 growers, woolen manufacturers, and consumers. 
 
 In discussing the effect which the tariff on wool has upon the 
 American wool-grower, the Senator from Missouri said: 
 
 The wool-grower in this country has not received one cent of this protection ; 
 and I shall prove by figures that every dollar of it has gone into the pockets 
 of the manufacturers and will continue to go there. * * * No man can 
 show that these enormous tariffs benefited the wool-growers of the United 
 States. It was impossible that they could have done so, because the wool- 
 growers received no part of the bounty. * * * For twenty-three years 
 the wool-grower of the United States had never received more than one- 
 fourth of a cent a pound higher price for his wool than the wool-grower of 
 England. 
 
 In reply to a question by the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. 
 GEORGE] in regard to this latter statement, the Senator from 
 Missouri said that these prices " were for the same quality of 
 wool." 
 
 727
 
 31 
 
 This assertion that the prices of wool of equal quality are and 
 have been for many years substantially the same in the United 
 States and in Great Britain is made the basis of most of the ar- 
 guments that have recently been made in favor of the removal 
 of the duties on wool. 
 
 In support of the assertion, the Senator from Missouri relies, 
 first, upon a comparison of certain reports of the Treasury De- 
 partment, giving the average foreign price of all wools imported, 
 with the reports of the Department of Agriculture, giving the 
 farm prices of the wool produced in the United States; and 
 second, a statement prepared by Mr. S. N. D. North, the secre- 
 tary of the National Wool Manufacturers' Association, giving 
 the relative prices for a series of years of medium Ohio fleece 
 in the United States, and Port Phillip fleece in London. 
 
 The reports of the Treasury Department and the Department 
 of Agriculture, referred to by the Senator, afford no basis what- 
 ever for a comparison between the prices of foreign and domes- 
 tic wool of the same or similar grades or qualities, as they are 
 the average of prices for all kinds, and just what kinds are in- 
 cluded in the average in any case is not known. It is true, how- 
 ever, that the statement furnished by Mr. North does apply to 
 specific grades of wool and to grades that for many years have 
 sold in London and the United States at substantially the same 
 prices. They are, however, sold in their respective markets in 
 very different conditions, and the net cost of cleaned wool to 
 purchasers is widely different. The Senator from Missouri was 
 not aware, I am sure, that Mr. North had protested in a pub- 
 lished letter against the use which had been made of his figures. 
 Mr. North's calculations of the relative shrinkage of the two 
 grades of wool establishes the fact that the difference in their 
 actual value was about equal to the wool duties levied by our tariff. 
 The Australian wools are sold skirted, while the Ohio wools are 
 not. 
 
 For the purpose of showing the actual cost to an American 
 manufacturer of a pound of scoured domestic wool purchased in 
 the United States as compared with the cost to his English 
 
 competitor of a pound of scoured wool of similar quality in 
 727
 
 32 
 
 London, I submit the following table, which shows the average 
 annual price for each of the twelve years, 1881 to 1892, inclusive, 
 of a scoured pound of fine Ohio fleece in the United States, and 
 of average Australian fleece in London: 
 
 Comparison of prices of Ohio and Australian wools. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Price of 
 fine Ohio 
 fleece, 
 scoured. 
 
 Price in 
 London of 
 Austra- 
 lian aver- 
 age fleece, 
 scoured. 
 
 Difference 
 of the two 
 prices. 
 
 1881 
 
 80.95J 
 
 $0.53 
 
 $0.421 
 
 1882 
 
 .90 
 
 .53 
 
 .37| 
 
 1883 
 
 !8r 
 
 .51 
 
 .35 
 
 1884 
 
 .80J 
 
 .48 
 
 .32i 
 
 1885 
 
 .7l| 
 
 .41 
 
 .301 
 
 1886 
 
 .74* 
 
 .41 
 
 .33* 
 
 1887 
 
 .731 
 
 .42 
 
 .311 
 
 1888 
 
 .68 
 
 .42 
 
 .26 
 
 1889 
 
 .73J 
 
 .48 
 
 .25J 
 
 1890 
 
 
 .44 
 
 .29i 
 
 1891 
 
 .70$ 
 
 .40 
 
 .30J 
 
 1892 
 
 
 .32 
 
 .30i 
 
 
 
 
 
 Average difference for the twelve years, 32 cents. ^ 
 
 The prices for Ohio fleece are furnished by Messrs. Mauger & 
 A very, of Boston, Mass., and the London prices are furnished by 
 Helmuth, Schwartze & Co. , the well-known London wool-brokers. 
 
 It will be seen by these figures which are furnished by those 
 highest in authority in their respective countries, that the 
 American farmer or wool-grower received the full benefit of the 
 tariff on wool, and that he obtains on an average 32 cents more 
 per pound for his wool, not including dirt and other impurities, 
 than his Australian competitor. The price of the pound of 
 clean wool is of course the only test of actual relative value to 
 the manufacturer, as this fixes the cost of his material. 
 
 I also submit a table of prices for the years 18S1 to 1891, in- 
 clusive, taken from a similar statement published by Justice, 
 Hut . 111:111 & Co. , of Philadelphia. In this table the comparison is 
 made between Ohio medium fleece and New Zealand crossbred, 
 ana the quotations for each grade are the average price for each 
 year: 
 
 727
 
 33 
 
 Comparison of prices of American ami Australian scoured wools. 
 [Justice, Bateman & Co.'s bulletin, May 2, 1892.] 
 
 Year. 
 
 American 
 scoured 
 Ohio 
 medium. 
 
 Australian 
 scoured 
 New 
 Zealand 
 crossbred. 
 
 Difference 
 between 
 the two 
 prices. 
 
 1881 
 
 JO. 81i 
 
 $0.34 
 
 80.47J 
 
 1882 
 
 .76? 
 
 .31 
 
 451 
 
 1883 . 
 
 .7H 
 
 .26 
 
 .45* 
 
 18s4... 
 
 .66^ 
 
 .27 
 
 .394 
 
 1885 
 
 .55 
 
 .29 
 
 .26 
 
 1886... 
 
 .60 
 
 .31 
 
 .29 
 
 1887 
 
 .634 
 
 .331 
 
 .301 
 
 1886... 
 
 .581 
 
 .31 
 
 .274 
 
 1889 . . . . . 
 
 .634 
 
 .33 
 
 .30i 
 
 1890... 
 
 .61J 
 
 33j' 
 
 .27J 
 
 1891. 
 
 .61J 
 
 .34 
 
 .274. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Average difference for the eleven years 
 
 
 
 .34 
 
 
 
 
 
 Justice, Bateman & Co. make the following statement in re- 
 gard to the wools included in this latter table: 
 
 Both of the above grades are three-eighths or one-half blood merino. They 
 each shrink about 40 per cent in the scouring. There are perhaps no other 
 wools in the world so nearly alike and so suitable for a fair comparison of the 
 European and American prices as Ohio medium and the grade of Australasian 
 medium known as New Zealand crossbred, as they are both spun to the same 
 numbers or counts. 
 
 The English figures given in this table are furnished by Messrs. 
 Windeler & Co., of London, and the American figures by Messrs. 
 Mauger & A very. 
 
 It will be noticed that the average difference between Amer- 
 ican and English wools in this case is 34 cents a pound. Upon 
 the basis of these comparisons it must be evident: 
 
 That the successful prosecution of wool-growing as an Amer- 
 ican industry depends upon the maintenance of a wool tariff. 
 I know of no single instance in which protective duties have been 
 more effectual or where the direct and positive benefits are so 
 apparent as in the duty upon wool. 
 
 The results of thjs examination also establish the necessity of 
 maintaining existing specific rates upon woolen goods, if the duty 
 is to be maintained on wool and the business of manufacturing 
 woolens is to be carried on in the United States. 
 
 I have elsewhere referred to the Senator's claim that labor in 
 the United States is as cheap as anywhere in the world; but to 
 show how far wide of the mark this statement is when applied 
 727 3
 
 34 
 
 to operatives in woolen mills, I will print in the RECORD a table 
 of the relative wages paid. 
 
 This table furnishes the most complete and authoritative state- 
 ment of relative wages in worsted mills that I know of. The 
 rates were collected by an expert from the boaks of manufac- 
 turers and show that American wages are on an average more 
 than 100 per cent higher than those in competing countries. 
 
 The Senator from Missouri was troubled with conflicting emo- 
 tions when considering the case of the woolen manufacturers. 
 After claiming that the wool duties did not benefit the farmer, 
 he said: 
 
 Every dollar of it that is, the duty upon wool has gone into the pockets 
 of the manufacturer, and will continue to go there. * * * It is nothing 
 but a bounty that goes to the manufacturer. 
 
 In this connection he stated that the profits of a single estab- 
 lishment, the Arlington Mills, had bean 50 per cent in a single 
 year; and yet in another portion of his spesch he said: 
 
 The general wool-manufacturing industry of the country has gone down. 
 The men who are the legitimate wool manufacturers have lost money. 
 
 It may be profitable to pay some attention to the question 
 raised by the honorable Senator in regard to the profits of woolen 
 manufacturers, especially in view of the statements that are con- 
 stantly reiterated that protective tariff benefits the few at the 
 expense of the many, and that manufacturers are reaping enor- 
 mous rewards in all protected industries. The Senator from 
 Iowa [Mr. ALLISON] will answer in respect to the profits of the 
 Arlington Mills, and I will invite your consideration to the re- 
 port of the bureau of statistics of labor of Massachusetts for 1890, 
 which contains an elaborate examination into the net profits of the 
 manufacturing industries of that State. As a result of this ex- 
 haustive examination, it is shown that the average net profits 
 in establishments producing woolen goods in Massachusetts for 
 the year for which the statistics were obtained were 5.21 per 
 cent of the selling price, equivalent to 5.47 per cent of the capi- 
 tal invested. Similar investigations in regard to the production 
 of worsted goods showed that the net profits in this industry 
 amounted to 2.34 per cent on the selling price, equivalent to 2.21 
 per cent on the capital invested. 
 
 727
 
 35 
 
 The report of the bureau of labor statistics of Connecticut 
 contains similar statistics in regard to the profit of woolen 
 manufacturers in that State. This report shows that the net 
 profits on the capital invested in 1890 were 7.57 per cent and on 
 the value of goods manufactured 7.19 per cent. In 1889 the 
 profits on capital were 4.27 per cent, and on the value of goods 
 3.43 per cent. In 1888, on capital, 4.73 per cent; on goods manu- 
 factured, 4.83 per cent. In 1887, a loss of seven teen-hundredths 
 of 1 per cent on the capital, with a profit of two-tenths of 1 per 
 cent on the value of goods manufactured. 
 
 These statistics prove that the average profit to the manufac- 
 turer of woolen goods for the years covered by the inquiry is not 
 greater than the average rate of interest, and effectually dis- 
 pose of the statement of the Senator from Missouri in regard to 
 exorbitant profits of wool manufacturers. The reports alluded 
 to contain similar statistics showing that the profits on other 
 manufactures approximate those in woolen manufactures. 
 
 Tt would be perilous for the Senator from Missouri to place 
 the various parts of his wool tariff argument in proximity. 
 
 If, as he asserts, with so muqh assurance in each case, (1) the 
 cost of wool to the American woolen manufacturer is no greater 
 than to his foreign competitor; and (2) if labor is even cheaper 
 he re than abroad; and (3) if the legitimate woolen manufacturers 
 lose money; and (4) if the tariff on woolens is 100 per cent ad va- 
 lorem, it must be evident, with annual importations of manu- 
 factures of wool valued at from forty to fifty millions of dollars, 
 paying these high duties, that the generous foreign manufac- 
 turer pays from his own pocket the full amount of the high duty 
 for the privilege of selling his products to the American people. 
 The unsoundness of each of the Senator's premises, however, 
 saves him from an embarrassing choice of absurd conclusions. 
 
 The framers of the act of 1890 were confident that the adoption 
 of its provisions would lead to the establishment of new and the 
 enlargement and development of old industries. Notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that the elections of 1890 greatly hindered the march 
 of improvement in this direction, the result attained has been 
 satisfactory. Many new industries have been established which 
 
 787
 
 36 
 
 had no existence in 1890. Of these the most notable is that of 
 the manufacture of tin plate. 
 
 No portion of the act of 1890 received such severe criticism 
 when the measure was under discussion in Congress as the pro- 
 vision which levied 2.2 cents a pound duty upon importations of 
 tin and terne plate; and the debate in regard to the wisdom of 
 this feature of the act continues with unabated vigor. The men 
 who were active in presenting the case in behalf of the tin-plate 
 industry to the committees of Congress, and who have been the 
 pioneers in its establishment, have been subjected to undeserved 
 villifi cation and abuse . It would appear that in the eyes of a tariff 
 reformer, to suggest the inauguration of a new industry in the 
 United States is a misdemeanor, and to achieve even partial suc- 
 cess in such an enterprise is a crime for which no punishment is 
 too severe. 
 
 None of the pioneers I have alluded to were rich men, but they 
 were ardent, enthusiastic, and certainly deserve credit from the 
 American people for their energy and persistence. 
 
 While the bill was under discussion, the principal objection 
 urged against the imposition of the duty was that the industry 
 could never be established here; it was said that the people of 
 Wales had attained such a degree of skill and experience that 
 it was useless to think of competing with them in a production of 
 which they were the complete masters. It was further urged 
 that even if the necessary skill could be secured, that the processes 
 by which tin plates were made were so unhealthy and degrading 
 that American workingmen never would engage in them. 
 
 These cries of the opposition have been abandoned, and from 
 time to time new objections, each one more trivial and absurd than 
 its predecessor, have been discovered by the political or busi- 
 ness opponents of the tin-plate duties. Notwithstanding all the 
 clamor and plain downright lying that has been indulged in by the 
 men who are putting every obstacle in the way of success in the 
 establishment of this great industry of the United States, the 
 work of building it up has gone steadily forward. The number 
 of pounds of tin and terne plate manufactured in each of the 
 
 727
 
 37 
 
 quarters of the fiscal year, which closed on the 30th of June, 1892, 
 was as follows: 
 
 Quarter ending Pounds. 
 
 September 30, 1891 826,922 
 
 December 31, 1891 1,409,821 
 
 March 31, 1892 3,004,087 
 
 June 30, 1892 8,225,691 
 
 Of the 8,225,691 pounds produced in the last quarter over 5,000,- 
 000 pounds were made from black plates produced in the United 
 States. The competent special agent of the Treasury Depart- 
 ment who has the collection of statistics in regard to tin plates 
 in charge, estimates in a letter which I submit and will have 
 printed in the RECORD, that the production for the current fis- 
 cal year will be at least 100,000,000 pounds, and that by the close 
 of the year the production will be at the annual rate of 203,000,- 
 000 pounds. 
 
 The special agent has also prepared for me a list of the twenty- 
 six firms and corporations who have produced tin or terne plates 
 in the last quarter, with the amount produced by each. Seven 
 of these names appear in the list of producers for the first time, 
 and Mr. Ayer reports that some eight or ten addition al firms 
 expect to begin the manufacture within t he present quarter. 
 Many of the names included in the list represent the strongest 
 firms in the country, several of whom were among the most ar- 
 dent opponents of the imposition of the additional duties. 
 
 There can be no doubt but that the elections of 1890 and the 
 possibility of Democratic success in 1892 have much to do with re- 
 tarding the progress of the manufacture in the United States. 
 That this is perfectly well understood in Wales is shown by the 
 following extracts from the Industrial World, published in 
 Swansea, Wales, the official organ of the Welsh tin-plate work- 
 ers. The extract is taken from the issue of June 10, 1892: 
 
 Do not be deceived. The victory of the Republicans at the polls means the 
 retention of the McKinley bill, and means the rapidly accruing loss of the 
 80 per cent of the export American trade. Had there been no Democratic 
 victory in 1890 the spread of the tin-plate manufacture in the United States 
 would have been both rapid and bona fide. That victory was a stupendous 
 shock to the Republicans, and it almost paralyzed the would-be tin-plate 
 manufacturers of America. Nevertheless they pulled themselves together, 
 and at once saw that they must make as brave a showing as possible in time 
 tor the double election of November, in 1892, viz, a new Congress and a 
 727
 
 38 
 
 President. * * * They have put up, or have appeared to put up, a good 
 many works. * * * 
 
 Now, I contend that If the masters and men had at once seen the need of a 
 desperate flght to upset the American programme; had met together, had 
 sunk their fierce antipathies and jealousies and had boldly agreed to divide 
 the hardship of the struggle for a few months, a different state of things 
 would have been in existence now, and fewer American tin-plate establish- 
 ments would have seen the light. * * * Plates ought to be cheaper as 
 November approaches and the battle begins. It is not yet too late to do some- 
 thing to reduce the price of plates. Put them down to 11. per box of 1C, 
 14 by 20, full-weight basis. Let the workmen take half pay for a few months, 
 and turn out more. Then let the masters forego profits for the same time. 
 The merchants will help to save the trade and their skins depend upon that. 
 
 This discloses the state of feeling in Wales. On this side the 
 water, unfortunately, the allies of the Welch manufacturers are 
 numerous and boisterous. It will be a disgrace to American enter- 
 prise if the opportunity to establish this great manufacture in 
 our midst, which is now within the reach of success, is allowed 
 to fail. 
 
 All patriotic Americans should agree as to the benefits that 
 would accrue from the addition of this manufacture to the cata- 
 logue of national industries. 
 
 While the Senate tariff bill of 1888 was pending in the Com- 
 mittee on Finance much testimony was taken in regard to the 
 relative cost of producing tin plate in Wales and in the United 
 States. These statements showed that the duty then asked for, 
 would be necessary in order to thoroughly protect the American 
 producer. For the purpose of ascertaining what changes if any 
 had taken place in the relative cost of production, I have re- 
 quested a gentleman who is thoroughly familiar with conditions 
 on both sides of the Atlantic to furnish me a statement of the 
 relative cost of producing tin plates at the present time. This 
 statement, which I submit, and will have printed in the RECORD, 
 shows the details of cost in the two countries. These figures 
 show that the cost of making 1C coke plate to-day in the United 
 States is $5. 32 per box. and in Wales $3.20 per box. 
 
 A close analysis of this table will show that the difference in, 
 cost is really a difference in the wages paid in the two countries. 
 To substantiate this more fully, I submit and will have printed 
 in the RECORD a table showing the wages actually paid per box 
 in tin and black plate mills in Wales and in the United States. 
 This table shows the actual difference in the cost of labor in the
 
 39 
 
 production of tin plates from the bars to the finished sheet. They 
 are the wages established by the Tin Plate Workers' Union in 
 Wales and by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel 
 Workers in the United States, and there can be no question about 
 their accuracy. 
 
 Statements of the relative cost of production have recently 
 been published by Mr. J. D. Weeks in the American Manufac- 
 turer, which show the foreign cost at $2.97 and the American 
 cost at $4.90. Mr. Weeks's figures do not allow for wastage, and 
 are made up for Pittsburg, and show a lower cost of bars than 
 those submitted by me, which take as a basis the cost to Eastern 
 manufacturers. The estimated difference in cost in the two 
 countries is practically the same in both cases and establishes 
 the fact that existing duties are not excessive. 
 
 In order to show how completely the Welch manufacturers 
 control the price of tin plates and how they have been accustomed 
 to manipulate the market for their own benefit, usually at the 
 expense of consumers in the United States, I submit herewith a 
 statement which shows the relative price of I C coke plates and 
 of Bessemer tin-plate bars and tin at London and Liverpool at 
 the dates named: 
 
 
 First week in 
 
 September, 
 1890. 
 
 May, 1891. 
 
 July, 1892. 
 
 1C coke tin plate, per box ... 
 
 $3.41 
 26.76 
 457.45 
 
 $4.06 
 24.94 
 444.67 
 
 $3.03 
 23.04 
 
 489.85 
 
 Bessemer tin-plate bars, per ton 
 
 Tin, per ton 
 
 
 By this table it appears that while the price of 1C coke tin 
 advanced between September, 1890, and May, 1891, 65 cents abox, 
 the price of Bessemer bars declined $1.82 per ton, and the price 
 of pig tin declined $12.78 per ton. 
 
 With the decline which took place in bars alone between Sep- 
 tember and May, other things being equal, the price of tin plate 
 should have declined 11 cents per box. Instead of this, there 
 was an advance of 65 cents per box , made possible by the condition 
 of affairs in America, the American tin-plate duties going into 
 effect July 1, 1891; and the profits of the Welsh manufacturers 
 were increased 76 cents per box in 1891, as compared with 1890. 
 
 727
 
 40 
 
 The price of coal also declined in this period 36 cents per ton. 
 Wages and other costs undoubtedly remained substantially un- 
 changed, as the wages paid, union prices, in tin-plate works in 
 Wales have not changed for fifteen years. 
 
 An equally striking exhibition is made in the comparison be- 
 tween May, 1891, and July, 1892. In this period the price of bars 
 further declined $1.90 per ton, and the reduction in a box of tin 
 plates based upon this decline should have been 12 cents a box, 
 other things remaining equal. Instead of this, the actual de- 
 cline was $1.03 per box, or a reduction in this casa of the profits 
 of the Welsh manufacturer of 91 cents per box. 
 
 It is evident from these statements that the Welsh prices are 
 put up and down in responsa to existing exigencies in the United 
 States. When the prophesies of their allies on this side of the 
 water in regard to high prices were to be verified, prices were 
 put up 90 cants per box in the face of a sharp decline in materials; 
 but when American manufacturers are to be discouraged and if 
 possible driven out of the market, on the eve of an election, the 
 price is put down $1.03 per box. 
 
 In the absence of an American industry, American consumers 
 are thus always at the mercy of the foreign producers. It will 
 be noticed that with the advance in duties of 1.2 cents per 
 pound there is a decline in the Welsh market of more 'than a 
 cent a pound on light-weight plates, the present price of these 
 plates being, as I have already shown, more than a dollar a box 
 less than the price in 1891, and 3s. Qd. lower than the average 
 price for the twelve years from 1878 to 1889, inclusive. 
 
 From this showing it is very uncertain whether any saving in 
 cost to the American consumer would be effected by the removal 
 of the tin-plate duties, as it would probably result in a restora- 
 tion of price by the Welsh manufacturer. 
 
 When the act of 1890 was before the Senate, I expressed great 
 confidence that within three years, if the tin-plate duties were 
 imposed, that a considerable portion of the tin plate consumed 
 in the United States would be of American production. I have 
 no reason whatever to change the views then expressed. Every- 
 thing that has transpired since confirms their correctness. The 
 tin-plate industry of the United States is now an accomplished 
 
 727
 
 41 
 
 fact. But one thing is necessary for its triumphant success, and 
 that is the maintenance of the protective duties. 
 
 The exports from Great Britain to the United States for the 
 last four years have been as follows, amounts stated in gross 
 tons: 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1889 331,673 
 
 1890 296,218 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1891 442,306 
 
 1892 203,941 
 
 The exports of the last twelve months being 238,365 tons less 
 than for the previous year; 92,277 tons less than in 1890; and 127,- 
 732 tons less than in 1889. 
 
 Of this amount, however, it should be understood that probably 
 about 150,000,000 pounds, or about 67, 000 tons, are used in the 
 manufacture of cans for export. On these exportations a draw- 
 back is paid to the exporter practically equal to the full amount 
 of the duties. As long as anything like the present difference 
 in the cost of production exists between the United States and 
 Wales the American producers can not hope to compete for this 
 trade; so that the portion of the market which the American 
 producer can have any expectations of securing will be repre- 
 sented this year by an importation of 136,000 tons. Unless we 
 should have a reversal of the policy of the United States grow- 
 ing out of the elections next November, it is entirely safe to pre- 
 dict that within two years from this time very much the larger 
 part of this amount will be produced in the United States by 
 American labor. 
 
 The Senator from Missouri, in his speech of June 28, called 
 attention to a statement made by the Tin Plate Consumers' Asso- 
 ciation, that the present output amounted to a very small per- 
 centage of the entire consumption of the United States. If we as- 
 sume the consumption of the United States for last year to be 600,- 
 000,000 pounds, or less the amount exported, 450,000,000 pounds, 
 we should have a domestic production, based upon the returns of 
 the last quarter, equal to about 7 per cent of the total consump- 
 tion. Considering the difficulties which the tin-plate manufac- 
 turers have had to overcome, many of them difficulties which 
 are inherent to the introduction of any new industry, and taking 
 into consideration the discouraging effect of the political influ- 
 ences to which I have referred, it seems to me that the progress 
 
 727
 
 42 
 
 made is very satisfactory and will compare very favorably with 
 the progress made at the inception of the steel rail manufacture 
 or in the inauguration of any of the other great branches of the 
 iron and steel industry. 
 
 Another point which was made by the Senator from Missouri 
 finds a place in the speech of every opponent of tin-plate duties. 
 It is the claim, which has often been controverted, that the move- 
 ment to put an additional duty upon tin-plate originated with the 
 galvanized sheet-iron manufacturers of Pittsburg, whose sole ob- 
 ject was to advance the price of their own product and prevent 
 the competition that might arise from the use of tin-plate for 
 roofing purposes. It is further claimed in this connection that 
 these gentlemen had no idea of establishing the tin-plate manu- 
 facture in the United States, and that no serious attempt in 
 that direction is now being made. 
 
 In proof of their alleged purpose, the Senator from Missouri 
 claims that an advance of 1 cent per pound in the price of galvan- 
 ized sheet iron followed closely upon the imposition of the addi- 
 tional tin-plate duties of 1.2 cents per pound. The following list 
 of prices of galvanized sheet iron, No. 24 gauge, for each of the 
 yeai's from 1888 -to 1892, inclusive, has been furnished me by the 
 McDaniel & Harvey Company, one of the largest manufacturers 
 of galvanized sheet iron in the country. 
 
 Average price oj galvanized sheet iron, No. 24 gauge. 
 [The same proportion holds good for all other gauges.] 
 
 Year. 
 
 List price 
 per pound. 
 
 Discount. 
 
 Net price 
 per pound. 
 
 1888... 
 
 Cents. 
 13 
 
 65 and 5 per cent 
 
 Cents. 
 4.32J 
 
 1889 
 
 13 
 
 67i and 2 per cent 
 
 4.12 
 
 1890 
 
 13 
 
 67* per cent 
 
 4.22$ 
 
 1891 
 
 13 
 
 67J and 5 per cent 
 
 4. OH 
 
 1892 (up to July) 
 
 14 
 
 70 and 10 per cent . 
 
 3.78 
 
 
 
 
 
 This statement shows that while the list price was advanced 
 1 cent per pound, as claimed, that the discounts from this list 
 were simultaneously increased from 67 and 5 per cent to 70 and 
 10 per cent, resulting in a net reduction instead of an increase 
 in price. The table submitted shows a gradual decline in price 
 from 1888 up to the present time. I will print in the RECORD 
 the letter of the company referred to transmitting the table. 
 
 727
 
 43 
 
 It disproves in every respect the other allegations contained in 
 the statement of the Senator from Missouri. 
 
 There is another allegation made by the critics of the tin-plate 
 duty which perhaps should he noticed. It is that a considera- 
 ble portion of the tin plate produced here is manufactured from 
 imported black plates. Fortunately, however, the statistics of 
 production for the quarter just closed state the proportions made 
 from foreign and domestic plates, and establishes the inaccuracy 
 of the claim. This allegation was based upon certain compara- 
 tive statistics of the importation of rolled sheets. This compar- 
 ison does not take into account, however, the amount of sheets 
 thinner than No. 25, wire gauge, that were imported prior to Oc- 
 tober, 1890, as taggers' iron. Most of the thin black sheets im- 
 ported under the old tariff law were imported as taggers' iron, 
 whatever might have been their character, on account of the 
 lower rate of duty on this description. Importations under this 
 classification were more than 12,000,000 pounds in 1889. 
 
 Under the tariff act of 1883 the cotton-ties used in the United 
 States were imported. Since the enactment of existing law 
 the American manufacturer of cotton- ties has supplied the entire 
 demand, and they are said at a lower cost to the consumer. 
 The imposition of adequate protective duties upon lace window- 
 curtains, silk and mohair plushes, pearl buttons, and many other 
 articles has transferred important industries to the United 
 States. 
 
 We are now producing a large variety of the finer and more 
 expensive manufactures of cotton, wool, and iron, all of which 
 were imported prior to 1890. Manufacturers are enlarging 
 their capacity for production, and in every branch of industry 
 the- greatest activity prevails. Some manufactures, notably 
 that of woolen goods, were dull and lifeless for a considerable 
 period subsequent to the adoption of the act on account of exces- 
 sive competition with the enormous amounts of foreign goods 
 that had been imported in anticipation of an advance of duties 
 and prices. These stocks have been largely dispossd of. 
 
 The condition of the woolen industry is shown by the following 
 extract from the Boston Herald, the leading tariff-reform news- 
 paper in the country, under date of July 15, 1832: 
 
 727
 
 44 
 
 Where is the idle woolen mill to-day? Indeed there is none, or the number 
 is so few that they are not worth counting. Not only is the great majority of 
 the woolen mills employed, but many of the manufacturers are contemplat- 
 ing enlargements and improvements, or such enlargements and improve- 
 ments are already begun. What does this all mean? It means simply the 
 greatest consumption of wool that the country has known for years. 
 
 In the iron and steel industry the work of expansion is going 
 on, but prices are very low and profits small. 
 
 A comparison of the value of dutiable merchandise imported 
 in 1892 with the importation of the same articles in 1889 will 
 furnish an indication of the extent to which the market of the 
 American producer has been enlarged by the direct operations 
 of the act of 1890. 
 
 The importations of these articles in 1889 amounted in value to 
 $389,000,000, and in 1892 to $363,500,000, or a decline in three years 
 of $25,350,000. If the value of the imported articles of this class 
 had increased at the same ratio with the increase in the value of 
 all importations, the importations in 1892 would have been $50,- 
 000,000 greater than in 1889, instead of $25,500,000 less. It would 
 appear from this comparison that articles of the foreign value of at 
 least $75,000,000, were produced in the United States in the fiscal 
 year 1892, which, if it had not been for the adoption of the act of 
 1890, would have been imported. If we add a portion of average 
 rate of duty to this sum we should have a value of domestic pro- 
 duction redeemed from foreign competitors of at least $100,000,000. 
 This production would furnish employment to 200,000 people and 
 support nearly a million. All of this is of course an add ition to the 
 natural growth of our industries. 
 
 Perhaps the most extraordinary statement made in either of 
 the Senator's speeches is the following: 
 The wool manufacture of the United States is in the hands of a trust. 
 
 This allegation, that there is a trust which controls the man- 
 ufacture of woolens, is repeated by the Senator from Missouri 
 several times in the course of his argument. 
 
 It is the climax of absurdity to say that the business of woolen 
 manufacturing in the United States is or ever has been controlled 
 to any extent by a trust. No such trust or even a combination 
 of any kind has ever existed. It would be quite impossible to make 
 any combination that would or could control prices or production 
 
 727
 
 45 
 
 of woolen goods, as the number of establishments is so great, and 
 the styles manufactured of such infinite variety. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive how the Senator from Missouri could 
 have been misled into making this statement. I have never 
 seen the allegation anywhere else; and yet his objections to the 
 wool and woolen duties rest largely upon the positive statement 
 of the existence of such a trust. 
 
 But the Senator from Missouri does not stop with the wool 
 manufacturers' trust. He presented to the Senate and had printed 
 in the RECORD on the 28th of June an additional list of so-called 
 tariff trusts, one hundred in number. These trusts, the Senator 
 from Missouri claimed, were the necessary results of our recent 
 tariff legislation, and he insists that by their operation competition 
 had been stifled and prices advanced. The Senator was gracious 
 enough to admit that, "If there were no trusts, and factories 
 were increased in any department of industry in the United 
 States, the competition between manufacturers would bring down 
 the prices;" but he assumes "that this legitimate result is never 
 allowed to obtain, because as soon as the manufacturers secure 
 the tariff duty, they get together to destroy the competition and 
 form combinations." 
 
 For the purpose of ascertaining the truth in regard to these 
 alleged trusts, whose imaginary history covers more than twenty 
 pages of the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, I addressed a letter to 
 at least one well-known manufacturer connected with each of 
 the principal industries that were included in the list. I sub- 
 mit and will have printed in the RECORD a copy of my letter of 
 inquiry, and of the replies received. No attempt was made to 
 secure replies in regard to industries of no special commercial 
 importance, or where the nature of the manufacture was such 
 as to preclude the possibility of a combination to control prices 
 and production. 
 
 These classes, twelve in number, include brooms, burial cas- 
 kets, skewers, snaths, vapor stoves, umbrellas, borax, pitch, 
 sponges, teazles, and trunks. There is another class of which 
 no replies were requested, but where the existence of combina- 
 tions that control production and prices to a greater or less ex- 
 tant is well known; and still another, to whom the letter of in- 
 
 727
 
 46 
 
 quiry was sent, but who failed to respond. Both these latter 
 classes, eight in number, include celluloid, matches, oatmeal, 
 rubber gossamers, smelters, sugar, stove boards, and spool bobbin 
 and shuttle. As there is no duty on anthracite coal I did not 
 take the trouble to investigate the so-called anthracite coal trust. 
 
 The representatives of seventy-nine industries replied to my 
 letter of inquiry. Of these the representatives of seventy-two 
 deny in the most emphatic manner the existence of any trust 
 in the industries with which they are connected. Most of them, 
 as will be seen by an examination of the letters, denying in de- 
 tail all the statements published by the Senator from Missouri. 
 Seven of the parties denied the existence of a trust, but admit- 
 ted in a qualified way the existence of combinations which were 
 intended to be more or less effective in controlling prices. 
 
 It appears from the answers received that in none of the in- 
 dustries reported upon is there a trust in existence, or even a 
 combination created with a view to control prices and produc- 
 tion, whose creation was the result of the tariff or of protective 
 duties, and it does not appear that any of the small number of 
 existing combinations has had the effect to increase the cost of 
 the articles manufactured to consumers. 
 
 The complete and crushing character of the denials can only 
 be appreciated by a carefuL examination of the letters them- 
 selves. I would be glad, if time permitted, to read them all in 
 the presence of the Senate. I will ask to have a few read by the 
 Secretary to indicate the character of the whole. 
 
 I feel that I owe you an apology for taking the time of the 
 Senate in the extended examination of Mr. WARNER'S list of 
 socalled trusts. The statement as a whole bore upon its face 
 convincing evidence of its unreliable character. It is simply a 
 collection of miserable libels on the men who control and con- 
 duct the great business enterprises of the country. I am in- 
 clined to think that the time spent in exposing its true charac- 
 ter has been wasted, as I can not believe that the intelligent 
 people of any community would give credence to such prepos- 
 terous statements. 
 
 It is very evident, however, from the declarations of the Sen- 
 ator from Missouri that this paper is to be printed and circulated 
 
 697
 
 47 
 
 in large numbers throughout the country in the approaching 
 campaign, and for this reason I have been induced to place the 
 facts upon the public records, where they can be known and read 
 of all men. 
 
 I have attempted to answer all the objections to the act of 1890 
 that have been brought to my attention; but I have no idea that 
 the work of the friends of protection in this direction is ended, 
 as the crop of such misrepresentations is perennial. 
 
 There is no limit to the ingenuity or resources of the persons 
 employed in manufacturing statistics for the purpose of break- 
 ing down the protective system. 
 
 There has been heretofore, however, no halting or turning 
 aside in the triumphal march of the American people to indus- 
 trial success and independence by reason of the fabrications' 
 prophesies, or hysterical cries of professional reformers; and as 
 I have unbounded faith in the brave and vigorous men, the best 
 fruits of American civilization, who are now leading the way to 
 greater achievements, I do not bslieve that their progress in 
 the future will be retarded by those who stand by the wayside 
 and make faces at the moving column. 
 
 There is no permanent place in American politics for a party 
 that bases its claims for popular support on the failures and dis- 
 appointment of the people. 
 
 The purpose of the act of 1890, as repeatedly stated by its advo- 
 cates on this floor, was to provide for the better security and the 
 greater development of American industries and to maintain 
 the high level of wages then existing in the United States. The 
 claims and expectations of the framersof the measure have been 
 more than realized. Through its various provisions it has en- 
 larged the markets, both foreign and domestic, of American 
 producers. It has secured the establishment of new industries 
 and given vitality and expansion to old ones. 
 
 It has quickened the pulsations of trade, given a new impetus 
 to agriculture as well as to manufactures and commerce. By its 
 revival of activities in every direction it has given profitable 
 employment and certainty of earnings to all classes of the people. 
 It has directed American enterprise into new channels and given 
 wider scope to the genius of American inventors. It has afforded 
 
 727
 
 48 
 
 the opportunity for production in the United States of all the 
 finer and more difficult manufactures in every branch, indus- 
 tries which will demand from our artisans and skilled workmen 
 greater artistic taste and a higher mental development. 
 
 The beneficial effect which the entrance upon these new and 
 broader industrial fields will have in quickening the national 
 life and broadening the national experience can not be measured 
 by the sum which the establishment of these industries will add 
 to the national income. 
 
 The declared purpose of the Democratic party to repeal this 
 act immediately upon their return to power is certain to pro- 
 voke a lively opposition to their political restoration. 
 
 We can await the result of this contest with calm confidence. 
 The plain people of the United States have too much good sense 
 and discernment to mistake pretentious platitudes for philosophy. 
 They are not likely to exchange the certainty of satisfactory 
 earnings and savings, of constant employment and comfortable 
 homes, for Democratic promises of a millennium that is to follow 
 revolution. These promises are but the shadows of the unknown 
 for which an intelligent people will not surrender the substance 
 of a present and abundant prosperity. 
 
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