Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1884 — Plate-Glass Outrage. [ARTICLE]

Plate-Glass Outrage.

■ Mr. W. C. DePatnvhas furnislie d tlie ■'Journal a tabulated statement showing Hihat the wages of men and women enHgaged in the manufacture of plateHglass in the United States are higher ■than are paid in France, Germany, ■Belgium and England. As a matter of ■course Mr. DePauw would have it un■derstood that he went into the plateBglasa business and stays in it for the ■benevolent purpose of paying his workling men and women high wages. The ■Journal says that “the plate-glass ■business, after years of precarious exHistence, during which hundreds of ■thousands of dollars were sunk, has ■ begun to pay, and since 1879 capital ■thus invested has begun to realize a ■ small return.” Who has the manu- ■ facture of plate-glass “begun to pay ?” ■ The people? By no means. It has ■ "begun to pay” the monopolists who I have invested their money and have I been able to persuade Congress to ex- ■ tort from the pockets of the people the I money required to make it “pay.” It I should be understood distinctly that I Mr. DePauw don’t pay out of 1 any legitimate profits of his busi- ■ ness the amount of wages which he I claims to be in excess of wages paid in I Europe. He persuades Congress to I levy a tax on plate glass for his special I benefit, and with the money thus ,exI torted from the people he pays the exI cess of wages. He adroitly compels I the people to pay an enormous *tax on 8 plate glass that he may make annual I fortunes on his investments. He says, Ito Congress, we will suppose: “I have I invested $500,000 in the plate glass I business, but my capital don’t pay me. I I want to be helped out of the sad conI sequences of my mistake. Now, if you I will compel the people to pay me 120 fer cent, more than the article is worth, can increase my profits. lean make ;j money; if not, I shall have to abandon the business.” Congress responds, and I Mr. DePauw begins to make money for I himself. Let us see about this plate ' glass business. In 1882 the United States imported “plate glass above ''24x60,” 1,455,218 square feet, valued at $301,66 3. The tariff tax on this glass amounted to $727,609, more than double its appraised value, in round numbers $120,9*6 more than- it was wo. th. This $727,609 tax was imposed on $801,663, the value of the glass, to help Mr. DePauw get rich. This plate glass outrage ought to be thoroughly understood simply for the reason that it illustrates a number of other outrages perpetrated by the Bepublican tariff. We will suppose that Mr. De P-ttiiw had in the New York market a lot of plate glass 24x60, worth $601,filvf. We will suppose that the amount named is the actual cost of production, and, if he sells at the valuation named, he makes no money, Wo will say Mr, DePauw ought to make a profit of 25 per cent, on the lot, $601,663. This would amount to , $150,415. He finds it difficult to sell at that profit, because of foreign competition. He askß Congress to interfere in his behalf. He bemoans his fate. He is profoundly interested in

his workmen; sell is scarcely con* aidered at all. "While Mr. De Pauw’s plate glass waits for a customer, a 6hip enters the port of New York with plate glass on Iward, amounting in valne to $601,663. Congress makes a note of the fact, and says the imported glass shall pay a duty of 120 per cent., or $727,609, and the moment that Congress so decides, Mr. De Pauw’s lot of plate glass, valued at $601,663, advances until it is held on the market at a valuation of $1,329,272. Congress has not onlv given him 25 per cent, profit, but almost five times 25 per cent. Congress has taken the $727,609 out of the people's pockets and placed it in Mr. De Panw’s pocket, and yet Mr. De Pauw’s organ remarks that foreign manufacturers “pay the duty on plate glass.” When Mr. De Pauw aDd th editor of the Journal had succeeded in constructing the article in question, and had arrived at the conclusion that foreign manufacturers paid the tariff tax on glass and other imported commodities, they must have been in a condition to contemplate each other in speechless admiration. —lndianapolis Sentinel.